Search engine optimization (SEO) for membership websites on WordPress feels like a tough nut to crack.
Membership sites are built differently compared to regular websites. They feature a “home” page with information about the platform and landing pages that provide context on what awaits potential customers when they avail of exclusive content and services.
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Thus, premium content needs to be accessed behind a paywall. So it’s inaccessible to search engines. This makes it harder to implement SEO strategies over regular websites.
In this article, you’ll learn how SEO strategies relate to membership websites and the benefits you’ll gain when implementing these. Follow these tips to rank higher on the search engine results page (SERP).
What is a membership site?
A membership site restricts content access to subscribed members only. Businesses and individuals use the platform to gatekeep content to provide additional value to their intended audience.
For example, membership sites are prevalent among streaming providers such as Netflix or Disney+, which provide exclusive content to subscribers.
They are also in demand among fitness clubs that offer exclusive live-demand classes. To complement their strategy, they may tease exclusive health content to encourage users to sign up.
Lastly, membership sites are helpful for online education and e-learning platforms that advertise online accelerated bachelor’s degrees, online courses, and certifications. Some may even post videos that showcase the authority of renowned experts in their fields. FlexClip’s AI Noise Reducer can significantly enhance the quality of these educational videos by eliminating background noise, making the content more professional and engaging.
Why SEO is a powerful tool for membership sites
Before diving into the strategies, it is essential to know what SEO is.
According to Google Developer, SEO helps search engines understand the website’s content and informs users to decide why they should visit the suggested website through a search engine.
It is also the process of refining the website to improve visibility when people search for products or services related to your business in search engines.
When a website ranks higher and has better visibility, it will attract traffic and convert potential visitors into customers. Think of SEO as a form of free marketing.
Why businesses use WordPress
WordPress is used by millions since it is flexible and easy to use. Plus, it features powerful plugins and themes, which are customizable to suit SEO needs. This ease extends to creating membership sites.
Membership sites improve online presence and generate regular income. Aside from these benefits, hosting membership sites on WordPress allows:
Offer different membership options
Create customizable and multiple membership levels featuring different access, privileges, and pricing. Memberships are a powerful tool to establish and nurture customer relationships. These exclusive benefits create a sense of community and loyalty while generating revenue.
Member management
WordPress provides membership plugins to handle user registrations, manage different user roles, and monitor member activity.
Protect content
WordPress restricts access to specific posts, pages, and other content types to registered users only.
Community Building
With WordPress, owners can create a forum where members can post messages or submit blog posts.
Why SEO is essential to membership sites
SEO strategy delivers brand awareness, revenue, and credibility to any business. Here’s why SEO matters and the benefits it contributes to businesses’ success:
SEO brings organic research
Organic traffic consists of visitors who land on the website from unpaid sources. These include search engines such as Google, Yahoo, or Bing. An essential tip to building an organic search is that the website must offer the most relevant answers to the questions people are asking.
According to Clicta Digital Agency, Google handles 99,000 searches per second, totaling 8.5 billion daily. Businesses can compete for the keywords to stand out when implementing the correct SEO strategies.
Cost-effective
Compared to paid advertising, SEO strategies offer free visibility and marketing. It’s also cost-effective and a long-term solution for promoting a membership website. An optimized membership website will continue to attract visitors in the long run.
Ranking high means more authority
SEO isn’t just limited to traffic; building trust and credibility is also essential. If the site ranks higher, people will think it is worth visiting. Users will see the business online and associate the site as an expert in a niche and a reliable source of products and services. Plus, an optimized membership site will stand out in a competitive market.
SEO provides data
It’s no longer reliable to trust one’s gut when making decisions. Any move businesses make needs to be backed by data, which provides valuable insights into member behavior. For example, when they type a specific keyword, they will be able to know their intent and consider it when making a move.
SEO may attract people to a brick-and-mortar store
Online businesses incorporating a membership model into a traditional brick-and-mortar store allow them to enhance engagement and open new revenue channels. And when boosted by SEO efforts, it may generate sales.
People searching for “near me” signifies a strong intent. Google will use the individual’s location to determine the service that fits their search query. According to Think With Google, 88% of people who conduct a local search on their smartphone visit a related store within a week, and 76% will visit within a day. Thus, new customers might be gained through an SEO strategy.
So, if a membership site has a physical store location, it has to be searchable online. Google must know its location and the services it provides to increase traffic to the store.
Improve SEO on WordPress
To start implementing strategies, start configuring SEO on WordPress. Here are the ways:
Check visibility settings
In the WordPress dashboard, see that Engine Visibility under Settings > Reading is unchecked. This will make the membership site more visible to search engines.
Permalinks
Set permalinks and check the post name for a clean and SEO-friendly URL structure. Permalinks provide clear and descriptive URLs that reflect the content of the webpage. An effective permalink can be easily indexed and ranked by search engines. Go to Settings > Permalinks and select Post name.
Install SEO plugins
WordPress already provides built-in tools and functionality to optimize pages and their content for search engines. However, SEO plugins can be helpful with keyword optimization. They can recommend title templates and how to write meta descriptions.
According to WordPress, some tools give an overview of changes businesses can make to each page to increase the chances of appearing in search engine results.
WordPress explains that SEO plugins give a “cheat sheet” to check optimized SEO content. However, the results will still depend on the type of content and how good and competitive it is.
XML Sitemap
WordPress or an SEO plugin generates an XML sitemap, which enhances crawling and indexing by providing search engine crawlers with a layout of a website’s structure and content. A sitemap improves how search engines crawl the pages of a website.
Improve navigation with categories and tags
Categories and tags are an efficient way to make content discoverable. Categories indicate the genre of the post, while tags point to a more specific topic the post seeks to cover. When members click a category or tag, it will filter content related to what they are searching.
In WordPress, click on Posts and select either Categories or Tags to add, edit, or delete them. Keep them consistent for visibility, as a confusing category or tag structure may affect SEO.
Pick SEO-friendly themes
An SEO-friendly theme supports SEO efforts. In WordPress, select themes that are labeled SEO-friendly. These themes are optimized to ensure fast loading times and mobile responsiveness—two factors that search engines value. Check if the theme follows the latest web standards and supports scheme markup to enhance readability.
Optimize website content
Now that WordPress is set up, it’s time to refine the content on the membership website. Here are tactics on how to optimize content for search engines.
Define the audience
It’s a common misconception that SEO is creating content for search engines. SEO is putting people first, then search engines second.
Businesses need to create content that is useful to their audience. Then, optimize it so search engines can find it.
Here are guide questions to determine a target questions:
- Who will benefit from the content?
- Who is the ideal member?
- What are their needs and concerns?
- Will they be able to afford the membership plan once they visit the website?
- What are they interested in?
- What type of content are they seeking?
- What are the keywords they search when finding a site?
Keyword research
A clear picture of the target persona will help membership sites create content that resonates with them. Businesses will understand their search intent and the keywords users use to find the site.
Search “keyword research tool” to find ideas and tailor them to the content. Aim for long-tail keywords, which are longer and more specific, revealing the searcher’s intent.
Focus on free, quality content
Membership sites struggle with SEO strategy because content is locked and restricted to members.
To leverage SEO strategy, try to create free and valuable content or release a portion of the content as an excerpt or snippet.
Post regularly and ensure the content is relevant to the target audience. Use the free content to promote the membership and drive traffic using well-researched keywords.
Keyword density
Before, keyword stuffing may help content rank high on search engines. Today, Google may penalize businesses for this practice.
The keywords should be incorporated 0.5% to 2.5%. For example, when writing a 1000-word article, the keyword should appear five to 25 times naturally.
Apply E-E-A-T when creating content
When content is useful or relevant, chances are it would be likely shared on social media. If it goes viral, it may gain higher rankings on search engines.
Google Developer suggests creating content aligned with E-E-A-T or “Double E-A-T framework.
E-E-A-T stands for experience, expertise, authority, and trustworthiness.
Here’s a short explanation:
- Experience: The best way to make content stand out is to borrow from the business’ experience.
- Expertise: This refers to the businesses’ knowledge, skills, and credentials. Can users rely on and trust the information the content provides?
- Authoritativeness: This is the site’s reputation as a reliable source. Google gauges authoritativeness by looking at backlinks (links to the site from other sites).
- Trustworthiness: The site must protect visitors from potential harm. This means the site is secure, content is updated, and users can get assistance when needed.
Spice things with mixed media
It’s not advisable to drown visitors with a massive block of text. Make the article readable and engage them with charts, videos, GIFs, PDFs, and more. This would also likely improve dwell time, making them stay much longer.
At the end, place a call to action (CTA) to encourage them to subscribe. Users may share the content on their social media or link them to their blogs.
Images are a powerful SEO tool
Some businesses take for granted the capabilities of images to improve user experience. Like mixed media, images break long text to avoid eye strain. This boosts user engagement and dwell time.
Images also drive traffic from image search engines. If the infographics are authoritative, they may earn backlinks, brand mentions, and traffic for the membership site.
Also, images must be optimized for faster loading. Avoid heavy images. If the content management system suggests using a 900 x 500px image for the blog post, follow it. Use an image tool to downsize the image.
The image’s file name must also be accurate for SEO. So, rename “IMG_001.jpg” to “best-education-courses.jpg.”
Faster website and UX earn higher ranking
If content takes a while to load, users will likely close the tab, move on, and look for other websites. But how does that affect membership site SEO?
Slow sites incur higher bounce rates, which means users will leave without exploring the site further. The bounce rates may show that readers don’t find the website useful. So, content is deemed low quality. The SEO ranking may drop.
Before consulting a web developer, businesses may troubleshoot their site first. They may need to switch to a new web host. Second, as mentioned, optimize media for fast loading. Third, they may install a caching plugin. Lastly, they can borrow tools to remove unused cascading style sheets (CSS) and JavaScript (JS).
Build a backlink
Earning good backlinks from reputable websites will make search engines see the site as a source of high-value content. Think of backlinks as a vote of credibility from other sites.
It’s not easy to gain quality backlinks. It takes time, effort, and good strategy. Businesses can earn backlinks naturally if they have relevant content that people share. Others may engage in guest blogging and be featured in expert interviews.
Link building is a powerful alternative to boost SEO for a membership site. This may prove helpful since most content is behind a paywall.
Implementing SEO for membership sites is manageable
Studying SEO for membership sites doesn’t need to be complicated. However, it takes time to implement these strategies. Ensure the website’s performance, then tweak the content.
When creating content, make it engaging for the people. Develop it for them, and then optimize it for search engines. Try the mentioned techniques to improve SEO rankings.
