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  • 7 Best Yoast SEO Alternatives For WordPress

    Are you looking for the best alternatives to Yoast SEO?

    Yoast SEO is one of the most popular WordPress SEO plugins, but it isn’t right for every website. If you choose the wrong SEO plugin, then you’ll struggle to appear in relevant search engine results and attract visitors to your website.

    In this article, we will show you the best alternatives to the Yoast SEO plugin.

    Best Yoast SEO Alternatives For WordPress

    Why Look for a Yoast SEO Alternative?

    Search engines are a major source of traffic for most websites, so it’s important to optimize your content for the search engines. However, WordPress SEO is a big topic that can be daunting, especially if you’re just getting started.

    That’s where an SEO plugin comes in.

    A good SEO plugin allows you to optimize for the search engines, without requiring any specialist skills or knowledge. Some SEO tools can even scan your content and suggest changes you can make, in order to improve your rankings.

    With that in mind, it’s important to find the best SEO plugin for your particular website. While Yoast SEO is a good choice for many sites, it does have some drawbacks.

    Firstly, Yoast offers many important SEO features as paid addons, rather than including them in the core plugin. For example, you’ll need to buy separate Yoast addons if you want to optimize your local SEO, video SEO, or news SEO.

    The core Yoast plugin also doesn’t have any WooCommerce features, which is a big problem if you run an online store.

    You’ll also need to buy a separate Yoast SEO subscription for every website where you want to use the plugin, as there’s no option to buy a multi-website license.

    That being said, let’s take a look at the best Yoast SEO alternatives that you can install. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the plugin you want to learn about.

    1. AIOSEO

    The All In One SEO (AIOSEO) WordPress plugin

    All in One SEO for WordPress (AIOSEO) is the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market. Used by over 3 million users, it is the most comprehensive SEO toolkit that shows how to improve your rankings without any complicated SEO jargon.

    The free version of AIOSEO has all the essential SEO features, but the pro version gives you everything you need to outrank the competition.

    Upon activation, the user-friendly setup wizard will help you choose the best SEO settings for your website. Yoast SEO has a setup wizard with similar options, but the AIOSEO wizard has fewer steps.

    To help optimize your blog posts, AIOSEO adds a new section to the page and post editor. Here, you can type in the focus keyword and any additional keyphrases you want the content to rank for.

    Adding a focus keyphrase to AIOSEO

    Unlike Yoast SEO, AIOSEO gives your content a clear score out of 10 so you can immediately see how well the content is optimized.

    AIOSEO also creates an actionable, easy-to-understand SEO checklist showing the exact steps you should take, in order to improve your score.

    Adding a target keyword or phrase to a WordPress SEO plugin

    Simply work your way through the list, and your content will stand a good chance of appearing higher in the search results.

    AIOSEO also comes with rich snippet schema markup, which encourages search engines to add rich content to your site’s search results. For example, you can show a product’s star rating, pricing, and other information by adding schema markup in WordPress.

    Adding Product schema to an online store or marketplace

    AIOSEO also integrates with the WordPress site health feature.

    If you visit the Site Health page after activating AIOSEO, then you’ll see some extra SEO health checks.

    The WordPress site health feature

    Both Yoast SEO and AIOSEO automatically generate XML sitemaps for your website. However, AIOSEO also allows you to manage your sitemap directly in the WordPress dashboard.

    Sometimes you may create pages outside of WordPress. For example, you might build stand-alone custom landing pages or sales pages. AIOSEO makes it easy to add these external pages to your sitemap, so search engines can find them.

    The AIOSEO SEO plugin and Yoast alternative

    AIOSEO has a built-in social media integration to add Open Graph metadata, so you can easily optimize your content for social platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

    AIOSEO will automatically use your post title and description for the Open Graph title and description. However, you can manually change the title, description, and thumbnail for each page and post.

    AIOSEO's Twitter and Facebook social settings

    If you use WooCommerce, then AIOSEO comes with built-in WooCommerce SEO tools.

    This includes optimizing your product titles and slugs, creating product meta descriptions, adding SEO titles and descriptions to your product categories, and more.

    AIOSEO's WooCommerce SEO settings

    By contrast, if you’re using Yoast then you’ll need to install a separate Yoast WooCommerce SEO plugin.

    Do you have a physical store, or sell to people in the local area? Then you can set up your local business schema with just a few clicks, including your address, phone number, and opening hours. Search engines will then include this information in local search results and Google Maps.

    Adding local SEO to your website or blog

    If you manage a multi-author WordPress blog, then AIOSEO comes with permissions and user roles so you can control exactly what features users can access.

    For example, you might allow guest bloggers to optimize their own posts, without giving them access to the rest of AIOSEO.

    Controlling access to your site's SEO plugin and settings

    Unlike other SEO plugins, AIOSEO offers a Link Assistant that will automatically suggest places where you may want to add more internal links.

    In this way, you can optimize your internal linking for SEO.

    Adding internal links to a blog or website

    For a more in-depth comparison of these two plugins, please see our guide on Yoast SEO vs All in One SEO – Which is the Best WordPress SEO Plugin?

    Pros:

    • A complete SEO toolkit
    • Easy to set up and use, even for SEO beginners
    • TrustSEO on-page analysis and score
    • SEO custom user roles
    • Robotos.txt editor
    • Built-in WooCommerce SEO
    • If you have only one website, then the Yoast and AIOSEO pricing plans are quite similar. However, if you run multiple websites then AIOSEO offers multi-website licenses, unlike Yoast SEO.

    Cons:

    • Although you can perform important SEO tasks using the free plugin, you’ll need to upgrade to unlock the most powerful features
    • If you want to track your keyword rankings, then you’ll need to buy an AIOSEO Elite plan. Another option is to invest in an analytics solution such as MonsterInsights.

    Why we chose AIOSEO: Overall, AIOSEO is the most beginner-friendly and comprehensive WordPress SEO plugin on the market. It allows you to optimize every part of your site, even if you’re new to SEO.

    Since it’s such a board and feature-packed plugin, you don’t need to install any extra plugins or software. This can save you a ton of time and money.

    Pricing: AIOSEO plans start at $124 per year. If you want to use AISEO on more than 1 website, then you’ll need to upgrade to the Plus plan ($249 per year) or higher. There’s also a free version of AIOSEO that can optimzie your site for the search engines, no matter what your budget.

    2. SEOPress

    The SEOPress WordPress SEO plugin

    SEOPress is a simple yet powerful WordPress SEO plugin. It includes all the features you would expect from an SEO plugin like meta title, description, open graph support, image and content XML sitemaps, redirects, and more. It also comes with a redirect manager, broken link checker, and 404 tracking.

    SEOPress has a straightforward setup wizard that’ll optimize your site with just a few clicks.

    SEOPress can generate news and video sitemaps, to help you get listed in Google News and Google Video search results.

    Even better, YouTube videos are added to your video XML sitemap automatically. This is perfect if you show videos from your YouTube channel in WordPress.

    Configuring your site's XML sitemap

    Similarly, SEOPress can automatically add your images to the XML sitemap to improve visibility in Google Images.

    This includes featured images, image galleries, and WooCommerce product images.

    Fine-tuning your website's image SEO

    You can also create custom XML sitemaps by adding custom post types and custom taxonomies. SEOPress will even automatically notify search engines when you publish new pages and posts, so they can rank your new WordPress content faster.

    If you’re looking to migrate away from Yoast, then SEOPress can import all your metadata from Yoast SEO, including title tags, Open Graph tags, meta robots, and more.

    Importing your SEO settings

    Unlike Yoast SEO, SEOPress uses AI to automate many of the basic SEO optimization tasks.

    For example, it can automatically generate meta titles and descriptions based on the content of your post, page, or custom post type.

    Automatically generating SEO metadata using a WordPress plugin

    If you want to connect with people and customers in your local area, then SEOPress can add local business schema to your WordPress website.

    It also has a local business widget that can show this information on your website. In this way, SEOPress can help improve your E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness).

    Pros:

    • Automatically adds WooCommerce product images and WooCommerce image galleries to your sitemap
    • Shows Google Analytics and Google Search Console data in the WordPress dashboard
    • Powerful schema generator with full support for a long list of schema including local business, product, video, event, and recipe schema
    • Set up unlimited redirects
    • Deploy SEOPress to your customers as a white-label tool complete with your own custom logo and branding
    • Integrates with Astra, Easy Digital Downloads, AMP, BuddyPress, and many other WordPress plugins, themes, and services.

    Cons:

    • The free SEOPress plugin is quite limited, compared to the free version of Yoast SEO. For example, you can edit your robots.txt file using the free version of Yoast, but you’ll need to upgrade to SEOPress Pro in order to optimize your robots.txt file for SEO.

    Why we chose SEOPress: The free plugin may be slightly lighter on features compared to some of its competitors, but the premium version has everything you need to optimize your site. This includes some features you don’t often see in SEO plugins such as AI-powered suggestions, plus integrations with both Google Analytics and the Google Search Console.

    Pricing: SEOPress licenses range from $49-$148 per year. There’s also a free plugin that you can download from the official WordPress repository.

    3. Rank Math

    The Rank Math WordPress SEO plugin

    Rank Math is another user-friendly SEO plugin.

    It comes with a setup wizard that checks your site’s settings and recommends any changes you need to make, in order to improve your SEO.

    The Rank Math setup wizard

    To get started, simply type in the focus keyword you want to rank for.

    Rank Math will then show actionable suggestions inside the WordPress content editor. In this way, you can fine-tune your content as you’re writing it.

    Adding focus keywords to your WordPress website

    You can also easily add a meta title, description, and Open Graph metadata to your WordPress blogs.

    The panel also shows how the post will look in the search engine results, and when it’s shared on social media. You can use these settings to fine-tune the preview, so you get more clicks and increase your blog traffic.

    Creating eye-catching snippets for social media and the search result pages

    To help you track the impact of your SEO activities, Rank Math shows information from Google Search Console directly in the WordPress dashboard. This includes the keywords you rank for, your sitemap status, and any indexing issues.

    Rank Math even displays Google URL Inspection API data, so you can see your site’s overall presence on Google, your content’s advanced index status, the last time your posts were crawled, and much more.

    Pros:

    • Advanced schema generator
    • Give yourself a head start by importing schema markup from any page, post, or URL
    • Check your schema markup against Google’s Rich Results validation tool
    • Build custom schemas and even add multiple schemas to a single post without having to write a single line of code
    • Integrates with Google Trends to show the latest search trends for keywords
    • Use Rank Math on an unlimited number of personal sites, even if you choose the least expensive plan

    Cons:

    • You’ll need to upgrade to a Business or higher plan if you want to use Rank Math on client sites
    • All the paid plans limit the number of keywords you can track

    Why we chose Rank Math: Rank Math shows an impressive range of tracking data and statistics inside the WordPress dashboard. This makes it a good choice if you haven’t installed Google Analytics in WordPress, or set up a similar analytics tool.

    Pricing: Rank Math Pro licenses start at $59 per year. However, if you want to use Rank Math on client websites then you’ll need to purchase a Business license ($199 per year) or higher. There’s also a free Rank Math plugin that you can download from WordPress.org.

    4. Slim SEO

    The Slim SEO WordPress plugin

    Slim SEO is a lightweight Yoast SEO alternative that aims to do all the heavy lifting for you.

    This plugin can automatically generate meta titles, meta descriptions, Open Graph, Twitter card tags, and more.

    Adding metadata to your website using a Yoast SEO alternative

    It can also generate schema types for all your content, image alt text, and XML sitemaps for search engines.

    To help visitors find interesting content on your website, Slim SEO comes with fully-customizable breadcrumb navigation that you can add to any page, post, or widget-ready area using a shortcode.

    Adding breadcrumbs to a site using a Yoast alternative

    If a third-party scrapes your site, then the duplicate content can hurt your rankings.

    To help prevent blog content scraping, Slim SEO can show excerpts in your RSS feed rather than the full content. It will also automatically add a link to each post in the WordPress RSS feed, so you’ll get a backlink even if someone successfully scrapes your content.

    If you need to set up a redirect, then Slim SEO supports 301 redirects, temporary redirects, 410 content deleted messages, and more.

    Adding a redirect to your website using a Yoast SEO alternative

    Sometimes, you may need to add third-party code to your website. For example, you might add code from Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Meta Pixel, or other webmaster tools.

    Unlike some other SEO tools, Slim SEO makes it easy to add custom code to WordPress. In the Slim SEO settings, simply paste the custom code into the boxes labeled header, body, or footer. Slim SEO will then go ahead and insert the code for you.

    Adding custom code to a WordPress website using an SEO plugin

    Pros:

    • Configures many important SEO settings automatically
    • Very lightweight and easy to use
    • Optimized for speed and performance
    • Automatically checks if a page needs to be indexed and will exclude it from the search results if necessary
    • Redirect broken or outdated URLs with just a few clicks
    • Integrates with many popular WordPress plugins including AffiliateWP, WooCommerce, and WPForms.

    Cons:

    • With its focus on ease of use, Slim SEO is missing some of the more advanced features you’ll find in plugins like Yoast SEO and AIOSEO.
    • While the automation can save you a ton of time, Slim SEO lacks the level of customization found in competing plugins.

    Why we chose Slim SEO: If you’re looking for a straightforward plugin that makes SEO feel effortless, then Slim SEO may be your ideal plugin. With its focus on automation, Slim SEO promises to deliver a significant SEO boost, without you having to learn complicated features and settings.

    Pricing: You can download Slim SEO for free from the official WordPress repository.

    5. SmartCrawl

    The SmartCrawl WordPress SEO plugin

    It’s easy to get started with the SmartCrawl Pro plugin, thanks to a one-click setup wizard.

    Once you’re up and running, SmartCrawl continues to make things easy with a straightforward user interface that allows you to see different modules with the click of a button.

    The SmartCrawl SEO dashboard

    The SEO Audits module is powered by Google Lighthouse and highlights any issues with your site’s SEO on both mobile and desktop devices.

    You can start a scan manually at any point, or set up an automated schedule. SmartCrawl will then email you the results, or notify you when your score drops below a certain percentage.

    SmartCrawl adds a new section to the WordPress All Posts and All Pages screens where you can see some basic information about your content. This includes the readability score and whether the title and description are within the recommended character count.

    Additional SEO data, in the WordPress dashboard

    SmartCrawl also adds a custom meta box to the post editor where you can fine-tune important content such as the SEO title and description, and OpenGraph elements.

    It also shows how easy the content is to read, based on the Flesch-Kincaid readability.

    An example of a Yoast alternative

    To save time and improve your internal linking, SmartCrawl can turn certain words or phrases into URLs automatically. For example, you may want to link to your pricing table every time you mention a particular product.

    You can also use SmartCrawl to set up redirects, edit your robots.txt file, set up breadcrumb navigation, add product schema to your WooCommerce store, and more.

    Adding breadcrumb navigation to your WordPress website or blog

    Pros:

    • Provides actionable recommendations on how to improve your content’s search engine rankings and readability
    • Automated SEO audits and sitemap crawler reports
    • Preview how your content will look in the search engine results
    • Analyze each post for up to three keywords
    • Integrates with WPML (WordPress Multi-language) so you can optimize the pages you’ve translated for search engines

    Cons:

    • No in-depth integration with WooCommerce
    • The free plugin doesn’t include many of SmartCrawl’s best features, including automated scanning, automatic linking, and built-in reports.

    Why we chose SmartCrawl: SmartCrawl is easy to set up, even if you’re just getting started with SEO. In fact, all its features are enabled automatically, so if you’re happy to use the default settings then you can set up SmartCrawl with just a few clicks.

    For advanced users, there are some more powerful features to explore, but this is a great plugin for anyone who wants to make SEO quick and easy.

    Pricing: SmartCrawl’s premium licenses start from $7.50 per month, which allows you to use the plugin on up to 10 sites. There’s also a free plugin that you can download from the official WordPress repository.

    6. Squirrly SEO

    The Squirrly Yoast SEO alternative

    Squirrly SEO is an AI-powered SEO toolkit that comes with 650 features pre-configured.

    To start, you can find the best keywords to target using Squirrly’s advanced keyword research tool, which shows important information such as the search volume data, and the level of competition for each keyword.

    The Squirrly SEO keyword research tool

    Squirrly SEO also comes with SEO AI Assistant. Simply enter the keywords you want to target, and Squirrly will use AI to create a personalized checklist on how to improve your rankings.

    Squirrly doesn’t just help you optimize for the search engines. As you create content, its Live Assistant will suggest ways to improve the article for human readers. For example, Squirrly will monitor your content for repetitiveness, keyword stuffing, and many other factors that can hurt the reader experience.

    Optimizing your WordPress website using an SEO plugin

    The Live Assistant is compatible with many popular page builder plugins including Divi, WP Bakery, and Thrive Architect. In fact, it can show complete audits and reports for pages created with these builders.

    Similar to many other SEO plugins, Squirrly lets you control exactly how your pages appear in the SERPs and on social media.

    Previewing a post in the SERPs using an SEO plugin

    When it comes to tracking the impact of your SEO activities, Squirrly SEO provides detailed audits, in-depth performance metrics, and performance scores. To provide even greater insight, Squirrly SEO integrates with Google Search Console and Google Analytics.

    Pros:

    • A complete SEO toolkit that can help you perform keyword research, content optimization, technical SEO, site audits, rank tracking, and more.
    • Track and optimize for over 113 ranking factors
    • A Master Control Board where you can quickly check if your website is SEO optimized
    • Built-in Google SERP Checker
    • WooCommerce SEO
    • Support for custom post types

    Cons:

    • A steeper learning curve compared to some SEO plugins
    • Limited keyword research that doesn’t show many long tail keywords

    Why we chose Squirrly SEO: With its built-in analytics and keyword research tools, this is a comprehensive SEO toolkit. The combination of an AI Assistant and Live Assistant also encourages you to optimize for both audiences: the search engines that index your content, and the people who visit your website.

    Pricing: Squirrly SEO licenses range from $29.99-$75.99 per month. There’s also an SEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO that you can download for free.

    7. Semrush SEO Writing Assistant

    The Semrush SEO Writing Assistant

    Semrush SEO Writing Assistant is a smart editor tool that helps you write more SEO-friendly content and improve your ranking for your focus keyword.

    This tool integrates with the WordPress post editor and offers actionable suggestions based on the top-performing content in Google’s SERPs.

    Based on this information, it gives the post an overall score, so you can easily see how well the content is optimized.

    The SEO Writing Assistant also uses the Flesch-Kincaid score to assess your content’s readability and make suggestions on how to improve the reader experience.

    Semrush's readability score

    The Semrush SEO Writing Assistant checks if your tone of voice is consistent, and also comes with an AI-powered rephraser.

    This rephraser will suggest ways to paraphrase any areas of text that are unclear, wordy, or awkward to read.

    Testing your content's tone using a Yoast SEO alternative

    When you type in a focus keyword, SEO Writing Assistant will suggest related keywords that you may also want to target.

    In this way, you can optimize your content for multiple keywords and get even more visitors.

    Semrush's recommended keyword settings

    With its focus on improving copy, SEO Writing Assistant is also a great tool for editors, proofreaders, and anyone who edits posts on their WordPress website.

    If you do allow users to submit posts on your WordPress site, then SEO Writing Assistant has a plagiarism checker. Duplicate content can hurt your site’s SEO and your reputation. In the worst-case scenario, search engines such as Google might even blacklist your website so you stop appearing in relevant search results.

    With SEO Writing Assistant, it’s easy to make sure each writer submits original content.

    Pros:

    • Features that improve the editorial workflow, including a plagiarism check and an AI-powered rephraser
    • A complete SEO toolkit that can optimize your content for search engines and human readers
    • An easy-to-understand overall SEO score
    • Identifies potential issues with links and alt tags

    Cons:

    • Limited built-in keyword research tools. If you want to research potential focus keyphrases, then you’ll need to create a separate Semrush account.
    • Depending on how you use the tool, you may also need to buy a Semrush subscription

    Why we chose Semrush SEO Writing Assistant: If you already have a Semrush subscription, then this plugin allows you to access Semrush features directly inside the WordPress dashboard.

    Pricing: You can download Semrush SEO Writing Assistant for free, but you will need to create a Semrush account before you can use any of the features. To use some of the more advanced settings, you may also need to buy a Semrush subscription (prices range from $129.95-$499.95 per month).

    The AIOSEO Broken Link Checker WordPress plugin

    There are many reasons why you might get broken links, but they commonly happen when you move a site to a new domain name, or delete a page without setting up a redirect. These broken URLs can hurt your SEO and the visitor experience, so it’s important to fix them.

    The Broken Link Checker plugin by AIOSEO is a simple tool that scans your posts, pages, and custom post types for broken links every three days.

    The AIOSEO broken link checker

    Every time it finds a broken URL, it’ll show the link’s HTTP status code, response headers, and how long the link has been broken.

    To fix the link, simply click on ‘Edit URL’ in the WordPress dashboard.

    Fixing broken URLs in WordPress using AIOSEO

    You can also simply remove the link, by clicking ‘Unlink.’

    Unlike some other plugins, Broken Link Checker is built as a SaaS service, so it won’t slow your website down. It also won’t be blocked by managed WordPress hosting companies like WP Engine because it pings for broken links using an external private server.

    Pros:

    • A simple and straightforward plugin that you can download for free
    • Automatically identifies broken links
    • Designed so it won’t slow down your website, or get blocked by managed WordPress hosting providers
    • Minimal settings to configure

    Cons:

    • This plugin is designed to do one job, and do it well. With that in mind, you’ll still need an SEO toolkit to manage all your other SEO tasks

    Why we chose Broken Link Checker: Fixing broken links is an important SEO task, but not every plugin manages broken URLs, especially if you’re using the free version of a premium plugin. If this is the case, then Broken Link Checker is a free, simple plugin that provides this missing feature.

    Pricing: You can download the Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO plugin for free.

    Conclusion: What is the Best Yoast SEO Alternative?

    If you’re looking for the best Yoast SEO alternative, then we recommend AIOSEO. Similar to Yoast, AIOSEO is a complete SEO toolkit that has everything you need to optimize your site for search engines. This means you don’t need to install any additional SEO plugins.

    Unlike Yoast SEO, AIOSEO has a range of plans including subscriptions for multiple websites. This makes AIOSEO a great option if you own more than one website, or need a plugin that you can use on multiple client websites.

    AIOSEO also supports WooCommerce SEO out of the box, without you needing to pay for an additional eCommerce SEO plugin. This is a big win if you run an online store, marketplace, or sell digital products.

    If you’re just getting started, then there’s even a free version of AIOSEO that gives you access to advanced SEO features, no matter what your budget.

    FAQs About Yoast SEO Alternatives

    In this guide, we have covered several popular Yoast SEO alternatives. If you still have questions, then here are our FAQs about choosing the right SEO plugin for your WordPress blog or website.

    What Are the Best Yoast SEO Alternatives?

    The best alternatives to Yoast SEO are AIOSEO, Rank Math, SEOPress, Slim SEO, SmartCrawl, and Squirrely SEO.

    However, we recommend AIOSEO as it’s easy to set up, easy to use, and creates a complete SEO checklist for every page, post, and custom post type across your WordPress website.

    What Is the Best Yoast SEO Alternative for WooCommerce?

    When it comes to eCommerce SEO, AIOSEO comes out on top. It has built-in support for WooCommerce, so you don’t need to install a separate plugin.

    AIOSEO allows you to optimize your product pages and automatically generates XML sitemaps for your products and product categories.

    You can also add product schema to your inventory, which encourages search engines such as Google to create rich snippets for your products. This includes showing the product’s average star rating, how many reviews it has, and its pricing.

    Is Rank Math Better Than Yoast?

    If you’re looking for a plugin that’s easy to set up and use, then Yoast is a great choice especially if you’re new to SEO. However, Rank Math has more advanced features including the ability to generate fully-customizable schema, perform detailed keyword analysis, create custom XML sitemaps, and even optimize your image SEO for smart displays and devices such as Alexa.

    For that reason, we recommend choosing Rank Math, despite the slightly steeper learning curve compared to Yoast.

    Is AIOSEO Better Than Yoast SEO?

    Both AIOSEO and Yoast SEO are powerful, user-friendly SEO plugins. However, AIOSEO offers more schema types, and gives you greater control over your XML sitemap.

    Both plugins can scan your content and create an SEO checklist, but AIOSEO tends to provide a clearer, more actionable plan thanks to its TruSEO score and Focus Keyphrase features.

    If you have multiple websites, then AIOSEO’s plans represent much better value for money. You can use AIOSEO on up to 100 websites, using a single license.

    By contrast, all of Yoast SEO’s plans are limited to a single website, so you’ll need to buy multiple licenses if you own multiple websites.

    How Do I Set up an SEO Plugin for WordPress?

    The first thing you need to do is install and activate your chosen SEO plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Upon activation, you’ll typically see a setup wizard that will guide you through the setup process. For example, if you’re using AIOSEO then you can simply click on the ‘Let’s Get Started’ button.

    The AIOSEO startup wizard

    You can then follow the onscreen instructions to set up the plugin and start optimizing your site. For detailed instructions, please see our guide on how to setup All in One SEO for WordPress correctly.

    We hope this article helped you find the best Yoast SEO alternative for your WordPress website. You may also want to go through our guide on how to make money online blogging with WordPress, or see our expert pick of the must-have WordPress plugins.

    If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

    The post 7 Best Yoast SEO Alternatives For WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Add a Shipping Calculator to Your WordPress Site

    Do you want your visitors to easily calculate the cost of shipping on your website?

    Using a shipping calculator, customers can accurately estimate the total cost of a product they’ll have to pay with delivery. It helps keep your business transparent and builds trust with potential customers.

    In this article, we will show you how to add a shipping calculator to your WordPress site.

    How to add a shipping calculator to your WordPress site

    What is a Shipping Calculator & Why Use It?

    A shipping calculator helps estimate the total cost of shipping automatically. It shows delivery charges and other relevant fees to customers, so they don’t have to manually figure out shipping rates and expenses.

    There are different factors that come into play when calculating shipping costs. Some of these include the price of the product, destination, origin of a shipment, weight, dimensions, type of shipping service, and other variables during the calculation.

    Manually calculating shipping costs can be time-consuming if there are multiple orders on your online store. Plus, the manual calculation would also lead to mistakes, which can impact customer satisfaction.

    You’ll save a lot of time and simply automate the process by using a shipping calculator plugin for your WordPress site or WooCommerce site.

    Customers can simply select their location and see what the product will actually cost after delivery. This helps strengthen your relationship with your customers and builds trust.

    That said, let’s see how you can easily add a shipping calculator to your WordPress site. We’ll also show a way of adding it to your WooCommerce store.

    You can click the links below to jump ahead to your preferred section:

    Adding a Shipping Calculator to WooCommerce

    The best way to add a shipping calculator in WooCommerce is by using the Product page shipping calculator for WooCommerce plugin. It is a free plugin that allows customers to calculate the cost of shipping before adding a product to the cart.

    First, you’ll need to download and install the Product page shipping calculator for the WooCommerce plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Upon activation, you can go to WooCommerce » Shipping Calculator to configure the plugin.

    Configure shipping calculator settings

    The plugin works out of the box, and you can use default settings to get started. However, there are options to edit them and customize your shipping calculator.

    It’s important to note that the plugin will use the information from the shipping zone settings in WooCommerce when calculating shipping fees.

    Setting Up Shipping Zones in WooCommerce

    If you haven’t set up shipping zones, then you will need to go to WooCommerce » Settings from your WordPress dashboard and switch to the ‘Shipping’ tab.

    Add a shipping zone

    Under the Shipping zones section, simply click the ‘Add shipping zone’ button.

    Next, you’ll need to enter a zone name and select regions from the dropdown menu. You can add multiple countries or cities under a single zone.

    Enter shipping zone details

    After that, you can click the ‘Add shipping method’ button.

    A popup window will now open.

    WooCommerce offers 3 shipping methods to choose from. You can select a ‘Flat rate’ and then enter an amount that will be charged for shipping. Or you can choose ‘Free shipping’ and ‘Local pickup’ options.

    Select a shipping method

    When you’re done, simply click the ‘Add shipping method’ button.

    You can add multiple shipping methods for the zone and set up conditions when they’ll apply.

    Next, you’ll need to click the ‘Edit’ option under your shipping methods.

    Edit shipping method

    After that, a small window will open where you can change the title of the method, select whether you’d like the shipping method to be taxable or not, and enter a cost.

    For costs, you can enter a flat rate that will be charged when a customer adds a product to a cart. There is also an option to multiply the shipping cost by the quantity.

    Enter details of shipping method

    Once you’re done, click the ‘Save changes’ button.

    You can now head back to the shipping zone section to view your zones, regions, and shipping methods.

    View shipping zone details

    Edit Shipping Calculator Settings

    After setting up shipping zones, you can head back to WooCommerce » Shipping Calculator to change the settings of the Product page shipping calculator for the WooCommerce plugin.

    In the Basic setting tab, you can edit the position of the calculator on the product page and the position of the calculator results.

    If you scroll down, you’ll see more settings. For instance, the plugin lets you edit the messages used in the plugin, auto-load the shipping method, and more.

    Save changes to shipping calculator

    When you’re done, simply click the ‘Save Changes’ button on the side or at the bottom of the page.

    Next, you can switch to the ‘Remove fields’ tab. Here, you’ll see options to remove any field from the shipping calculator.

    For instance, the plugin will show country, state, town/city, and postcode/zip fields by default. You can disable any of the fields that don’t match your shipping zones.

    Remove fields from shipping calculator

    After that, head to the ‘Design’ tab. The plugin gives you multiple options to edit the appearance of the shipping calculator.

    For example, you can change the background color and text color to show shipping methods. Or you can choose colors for the buttons that appear in the calculator.

    Edit design of shipping calculator

    Don’t forget to click the ‘Save Change’ button to store your settings.

    Next, you can visit your WooCommerce store to see the shipping calculator in action.

    In the screenshot below, customers will first need to select a delivery location and click the ‘Update Address’ button.

    Select your delivery location

    Once that’s done, the plugin will automatically calculate the shipping cost that you set up in the shipping zone section and will add it to the total cost.

    This way, customers will know the shipping charges they’ll have to pay in addition to the cost of the product.

    View shipping charges

    Adding a Shipping Calculator to WordPress Site

    If you don’t have a WooCommerce store and want to add a generic shipping calculator to your WordPress site, then you can use Formidable Forms.

    It is a popular contact form plugin for WordPress that lets you create advanced and complex forms. For instance, you can add a contact form, calculators, surveys, directories, and web applications using the plugin.

    For this tutorial, we will use the Formidable Forms Pro plan because it includes pricing fields and more customization options.

    First, you’ll need to install and activate the Formidable Forms Lite and Formidable Forms Pro plugins. The Lite plugin is free to use, and the premium plugin adds more advanced features to it.

    If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Upon activation, you’ll need to go to Formidable » Global Settings from the WordPress dashboard. From here, you can click the ‘Click to enter a license key manually’ link.

    The Formidable Forms license page

    Next, you’ll need to enter the license key and click the ‘Save License’ button.

    You can find the license key in your Formidable Forms account area.

    Enter Formidable Forms license key

    After that, you must go to Formidable » Forms to add a new form.

    Simply click the ‘+ Add New’ button at the top.

    Create a new form

    Next, Formidable Forms will show different templates to choose from. You can choose from multiple categories, like business operations, calculator, conversational forms, and more.

    Formidable Forms doesn’t offer a pre-built template for a shipping calculator. However, you can create one using a blank form template.

    Go ahead and select the ‘Blank Form’ template.

    Select formidable forms template

    On the next screen, you’ll need to enter a name for your form.

    There is also an option to insert the template into an application. However, you can leave this to the default setting for this tutorial.

    After entering the form name, click the ‘Create’ button.

    Enter a name for new form template

    Next, you’ll see the drag-and-drop form builder.

    You can simply drag any form field from the menu on the left and drop it on the template.

    Add form fields to blank form

    For instance, you can add form fields like name, email, phone number, and more to the template.

    To create a shipping calculator, you can scroll down to the Pricing Fields section on the left and add a ‘Product’ form field.

    Add a product form field

    Next, you can select the product form field and further customize it.

    For instance, we changed the label of the field and product type. Formidable Forms also lets you show products as checkboxes, dropdowns, radio buttons, single products, or user-defined.

    Edit product form field

    Besides that, you can add your products and their prices under the Product Options on the menu on the left.

    Now that you’ve added your products, the next step is to add your shipping regions and charges. To do that, you can again add a Product form field under the Pricing Fields section in the menu on the left.

    After that, you’ll need to edit its label and product type, and then enter each region individually and its shipping cost.

    Add shipping regions to form

    In the screenshot above, we changed the label to Shipping Regions and changed the Product Types to Checkboxes. From here, we added different shipping zones and their cost under the Product Options section.

    Once this is done, you’ll need to show a total for your shipping calculator. To do that, simply add the Total form field under the Pricing Fields section to the template.

    Add a total form field

    Next, you can select the Total form field and edit its label, add a description, and more.

    Formidable Forms also lets you add conditional logic to the form fields and show them based on user responses.

    Edit total form field

    After that, you can switch to the ‘Style’ tab from the top.

    Formidable Forms offers pre-built styles for your form. Simply select one or create a new style. For this tutorial, we will use the default Formidable Style.

    Select form style

    Next, you can also change form settings in Formidable Forms.

    Simply switch to the ‘Settings’ tab at the top. Here, you’ll find general settings for changing the form title, adding a description, and more.

    Change form settings in formidable

    There are also options for actions and notifications, form permissions, and scheduling your shipping calculator form.

    After you’ve configured the settings, save your changes. You’re now ready to embed your calculator anywhere on your site.

    To start, you can click the ‘Embed’ button in the form builder at the top. This will give you multiple options, like add the form to an existing page, create a new page, or insert manually.

    Embed your shipping calculator form

    For the sake of this tutorial, we will choose the ‘Create new page’ option.

    Next, you can enter a name for your new page and click the ‘Create page’ button.

    Enter a name for new page

    From here, you’ll see a preview of the shipping calculator form in the WordPress content editor.

    Go ahead and publish your page and visit your site to see the shipping calculator in action.

    Shipping calculator preview

    We hope this article helped you learn how to add a shipping calculator to your WordPress site. You may also want to see our guide on how to set up form tracking in Google Analytics and the best WooCommerce plugins.

    If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

    The post How to Add a Shipping Calculator to Your WordPress Site first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Understand WordPress Website Visitors Intent (7 Tips)

    Do you want to better understand your website visitors?

    By figuring out the intent of your visitors, you can offer what they’re looking for. This helps you create more helpful content, improve your website experience, offer the right products, and more.

    In this article, we will show you how to understand WordPress website visitors’ intent and also share helpful tips.

    How to understand website visitors intent

    What is Website Visitor Intent?

    Website visitor intent simply refers to what a user is trying to do or find on your WordPress website, or why they clicked on your site in search results in the first place.

    To better understand what is a visitor or user’s intent, you can break it down into 4 types:

    • Navigational – When a user searches for your brand name in the search engine to find the website URL or visits your site to find a link to the contact form, then this is called navigational intent. For instance, a visitor might be looking to fill out a contact form and get in touch with you about guest posting.
    • Informational – This is when people are in the research phase and are looking for information about a product or service. Informational intent allows visitors to gain more knowledge about a topic or solve a problem. For example, a user might be looking for an article to learn more about your software before making a purchase.
    • Commercial – A user might visit your website to compare different products and services. When this happens, then the visitor intent is said to be commercial. The purpose of the visit is to find out which product or service is better and which they should buy.
    • Transactional – When someone visits your site to make a purchase, then the intent is transactional. Users are in the final stage of buying a product or service. They can also visit your site or online store to find discount coupons and deals before purchasing.

    Why Understand WordPress Website Visitor Intent?

    As a website owner or a marketer, trying to understand visitor intent is like reading minds. It uncovers a wealth of information that can help grow your business.

    If you have a WordPress blog, then you can find out which content your visitors like. This way, you can create content that your audience prefers and boost your website traffic.

    Similarly, understanding visitor intent on a WooCommerce can help you better understand your customer’s needs. You can offer products that people are looking for and get more conversions.

    Knowing user intent can also help improve your website experience. You can see the path a user takes on your website before converting. This way, you’ll be able to fix any issues, like making the checkout process straightforward or providing a table of contents in an article for better navigation.

    That said, let’s look at how you can better understand website visitor intent. You can click the links below to jump ahead to any tip.

    Understanding WordPress Website Visitor Intent

    Uncovering the true intention of users and why they’re on your website can be challenging.

    However, there are many WordPress plugins and tools that you can use better understand your audience and their behavior.

    Here are a few ways you can learn about your website visitor’s intent.

    1. Ask Users for a Quick Feedback

    The easiest way of understanding your visitors’ intent is by asking them for feedback. You get to know what your audience is looking for on your website and uncover their pain points.

    For instance, if you have an online store, then you can run surveys to find out what buyers are actually looking for or where they are satisfied with their purchase.

    Similarly, you can also get feedback on your articles and landing pages. This helps you figure out whether the content you’re creating is helpful for users. You can then tweak your content to match the correct intent.

    For example, a user might be visiting with informational intent and looking for basic information about your service. However, if you show an article that has a transactional intent, then the user might not be satisfied and would eventually exit your site.

    MonsterInsights runs a quick survey and asks its visitors what content it should create. This is really useful in coming up with new content ideas.

    User feedback preview

    The best way of adding collecting feedback from your audience is by using the UserFeedback plugin. It is a free and powerful plugin that lets you launch surveys and get quick feedback in real-time.

    The plugin comes with built-in templates and questions that help create a quick feedback survey. There is also a UserFeedback premium version that offers more templates, questions, and customization options.

    For example, you can choose templates for website experience, post-purchase review, competitive research, NPS survey, and more.

    userfeedback surveys

    Please see our guide on how to get quick feedback on your articles in WordPress to learn more.

    2. Add Interactive Polls to Understand Visitor Intent

    Another way of quickly understanding your WordPress website visitor intent is by adding interactive polls on your site.

    While surveys can be open-ended, polls are focused. You can show multiple options for users to choose from, show a rating scale, or show a simple yes/no question. The highest votes for an option will help you uncover the intent behind using your website.

    UserFeedback popup poll example

    The best way to create interactive polls in WordPress is by using WPForms. It is the best contact form plugin for WordPress and offers a Survey and Polls addon.

    It offers pre-built form templates, a drag-and-drop form builder, and multiple customization options.

    Edit your poll form template

    Check out our tutorial on how to create an interactive poll in WordPress.

    Once you know why people use your website, you can then divide them into different segments. This will help you send targeted push notifications, show personalized campaigns, and display relevant content.

    3. Track the User Journey of Your WordPress Forms

    If you have different forms on your website, then wouldn’t you want to know how users interact with them and what’s their intent when submitting one?

    Forms are a great way to stay connected with your users. They help you get feedback from people, resolve their queries, collect online payments, accept file uploads, gather leads and newsletter subscribers, and more.

    However, some users fill out forms while others don’t. By tracking the user journey, you can see the steps people take before submitting a form.

    This way, you’ll learn a lot about user behavior and what compels them to fill out forms on your website. Using the insight you get from understanding your visitor’s intent, you can create forms that help gather more leads and grow your business. Plus, you’ll also be able to reduce form abandonment.

    The best way to track the user journey of your WordPress forms is by using WPForms. It offers a User Journey addon that shows where a user came from and which pages they visited before submitting a form.

    View user journey in WPForms

    To learn more, you can follow our guide on how to track user journeys on WordPress lead forms.

    4. Setup Customer Journey Tracking on Your Online Store

    You can also track customer journeys on your eCommerce store and learn more about your visitors’ intent. Customer journey tracking will help you see which pages each user visited, how long they stayed there, and what they did before completing a purchase.

    This will help you uncover transactional intent and see the reason why people are buying some products but not others. You can then improve your sales funnel and optimize it for more conversions.

    Plus, you’ll see how users navigate your website. Using this information, you can uncover the navigational intent of users and make it easier for them to find the right products, smoothen the checkout process, optimize the product pages, and more.

    With MonsterInsights, setting up customer journey tracking is very easy. It offers a User Journey addon that automatically works with popular eCommerce plugins like WooCommerce, MemberPress, Easy Digital Downloads, and more.

    You can then view a report inside your WordPress dashboard and learn more about the path your customers took.

    MonsterInsights user journey report

    Simply select a transaction ID to view the entire journey of the customer.

    In the screenshot below, you can exactly see on which page the customer arrived, which pages they then visited, and how long they stayed there before buying a product.

    User journey in MonsterInsights

    For more details, please see our guides on how to enable customer tracking in WooCommerce and how to track customer journeys using MemberPress.

    5. Find Out How People Use Your Website

    Next, you can discover website visitor intent by looking at how they interact with your WordPress site.

    For instance, you can see where they click, which pages they visit the most, which files they download, which videos they watch, and more.

    You can track all this using MonsterInsights. It is the best Analytics plugin for WordPress and makes it very easy to install Google Analytics in WordPress without editing code.

    The plugin automatically sets up advanced tracking in Google Analytics for you. The best part, you can see reports in your WordPress admin panel and better understand your visitors.

    For instance, MonsterInsights tracks outbound links and affiliate links on your site. This helps understand user behavior and lets you see where they click.

    Outbound and affiliate links report

    Similarly, you can uncover your most important pages.

    MonsterInsights shows the top pages and posts that people visit on your site. Using this insight, you can uncover content that your audience likes.

    Top pages and posts report

    If you have videoes embedded in your content, then MonsterInsights can also help see which videos get the most engagement. For instance, if an informational video is getting more plays, then you can create similar videos to attract more visitors.

    In the report, you can see the number of plays, average watch time, average percentage watched, and completion rate for each video. To learn more, please see our guide on how to track video analytics in WordPress.

    Media report

    Besides that, you can also use MonsterInsights to better understand your visitors by tracking file downloads, viewing top traffic sources, finding which region your visitors are from, and more.

    It even shows which device and browser your visitors use, which marketing campaigns are performing the best, and top referral sources.

    6. See What Search Terms People Use on Your Website

    Do you have a search feature on your WordPress website? If so, then you can understand user intent by finding out what search terms people use on your site to find products, services, and content.

    You can use SearchWP to uncover the search terms people use on your website or eCommerce store. It is the best WordPress search plugin that lets you customize your search on a WordPress site.

    You can create custom search engines and algorithms to include custom fields, tables, categories, tags, documents, products, and more in the search process.

    With SearchWP, you’ll get to see stats inside your WordPress dashboard. It will display all the queries and the number of times users searched them on your site.

    Site search statistics

    To learn more, check out our guide on how to improve WordPress search with SearchWP.

    7. Use SEO Tools to See the Search Intent of Keywords

    Aside from tracking site searches, you can also look up keywords people use on search engines to find your website. While this may not show user behavior on your website, but it reveals a key part of user intent.

    For instance, let’s say a user enters a search term on Google looking for information about your products. Instead, you’re offering them a sales page with transactional intent that has limited details about the product. This will be bad for your WordPress SEO and user experience.

    Understanding the search intent of a keyword helps you fulfill your visitor’s needs. You get to see what type of content to create or products to offer.

    To start, you will first need to see what keywords people are entering in search engines. You can do that by using Google Search Console. It is a free tool by Google that helps monitor your site’s presence in search results.

    You can follow our step-by-step guide on how to add your WordPress site to Google Search Console to get started.

    Next, Search Console will show all the keywords your site is ranking on. If you’re using MonsterInsights, then you can see the Search Console report inside your WordPress dashboard.

    It will show the number of impressions, clicks, click-through rate (CTR), and average position for top 50 Google search terms people use.

    Search console report

    After you’ve uncovered the keywords people are searching for, the next step is to perform keyword research and figure out their user intent.

    You can do that by using an SEO tool like Semrush. It is a powerful tool used by SEO experts, marketers, and business owners. Simply enter the keyword in the tool, and you’ll see different variations.

    Keyword intent in SEO tool

    It will also show the intent behind each search term. For instance, if the intent is informational, then your users are looking for answers to a specific question or topic. Or if it is transactional, then people are looking complete an action like purchasing a product or service.

    You can then use these details to create the right content and satisfy user intent. In turn will help you rank higher on Google, better assist your visitors, and boost conversions.

    Alternative Method: To get more keyword ideas for your website, you can use WPBeginner’s Keyword Generator Tool. It will show over 300 search term ideas to target on your site.

    We hope this article helped you learn how to understand WordPress website visitor intent. You may also want to see our guide on how to increase your blog traffic and the best push notification software.

    If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

    The post How to Understand WordPress Website Visitors Intent (7 Tips) first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Easily Lazy Load Images in WordPress (2 Ways)

    Do you want to learn how to lazy load images in WordPress?

    Lazy loading allows your website to only load images when a user scrolls down to a specific image, which reduces the website load time and improves website performance. Many popular image-heavy sites use lazy loading to boost website speed and performance.

    In this article, we will show you how to easily lazy load images in WordPress, step by step.

    How to Easily Lazy Load Images in WordPress

    Why Lazy Load Images in WordPress?

    Lazy loading WordPress images can speed up your website and offer a better user experience.

    No one likes slow websites. In fact, a performance study found that a 1-second delay in page load time leads to 7% fewer conversions, 11% fewer pageviews, and a 16% decrease in customer satisfaction.

    Strangeloop case study

    Search engines like Google don’t like slow-loading websites, either. This is why faster sites rank higher in the search results.

    Images take the most time to load on your website compared to other web elements. If you add a lot of images to your articles, then each image increases your page load time.

    One way to handle this situation is to use a CDN service like BunnyCDN. A CDN will let users download images from a web server closest to them and reduce website loading speeds.

    However, your images will still be loaded and affect the overall page load time. To get past this issue, you can delay image loading by implementing lazy load on your website.

    How does lazy loading for images work?

    Instead of loading all your images at once, lazy loading downloads only the images visible on the user’s screen. It replaces all other images with a placeholder image or blank space.

    As a user scrolls down the page, your website loads images that are visible in the browser’s viewing area.

    Lazy loading can be very beneficial to your WordPress blog:

    • It reduces the initial web page loading time so that users will see your site faster.
    • It conserves bandwidth by only delivering images that are viewed, which can save you money on WordPress hosting costs.

    The release of WordPress 5.5 added lazy loading as a default feature.

    However, if you want to customize how your images lazy load and also lazy load background images, then you will need to use a WordPress plugin.

    Let’s take a look at how to lazy load images in WordPress using two different plugins. You can use the quick links below to jump straight to the method you want to use:

    1. Lazy Load Images in WordPress With WP Rocket (Recommended)
    2. Lazy Load Images in WordPress With Optimole (Free)
    3. Bonus Tips to Optimize Your WordPress Images

    Method 1: Lazy Load Images in WordPress With WP Rocket

    We recommend using the WP Rocket plugin to lazy load images in WordPress. It’s the best WordPress caching plugin on the market that lets you easily turn on image lazy loading.

    Aside from that, it’s a very powerful plugin that helps you optimize your website speed without knowing complex technical terms or configuring expert settings.

    Right out of the box, all of their default recommended caching settings will greatly speed up your WordPress website.

    The first thing you will need to do is install and activate the WP Rocket plugin. For more details, you can see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    To enable image lazy loading, all you have to do is check a few boxes. You can even enable lazy loading for videos, which will improve your website speed even more.

    All you need to do is go to Settings » WP Rocket in your WordPress dashboard and click on the ‘Media’ tab. Then, you can scroll to the ‘LazyLoad’ section and check the boxes next to ‘Enable for images’ and ‘Enable for iframes and videos’.

    Enabling Lazyload in WP Rocket

    For more details, see our guide on how to properly install and set up WP Rocket in WordPress.

    Note: If you are using Siteground as your WordPress hosting provider, then you can use the free SiteGround Optimizer plugin that has similar lazy loading features.

    Method 2: Lazy Load Images in WordPress With Optimole

    This method uses the free Optimole plugin. It’s one of the best WordPress image compression plugins that lets you easily enable image lazy loading.

    If you get over 5,000 visitors per month, then you will need the premium version of Optimole.

    First, you need to install and activate the Optimole plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Upon activation, you will see a screen asking you to sign up for an API key. You can also find this screen by navigating to Optimole in the admin menu.

    Sign Up for an Optimole API Key

    You’ll need to make sure that the email address listed is correct and then click the ‘Create & connect your account’ button. Alternatively, if you are an existing user, then just click the ‘I already have an API key’ button.

    You may need to wait for a few seconds while the plugin connects to Optimole. After that, the plugin will automatically start to optimize your images so that your visitors will now see the best images for their devices.

    While that is happening, you can click on the ‘Settings’ tab to configure lazy load.

    Here, you need to make sure the ‘Scale images and & Lazy load’ setting is enabled. This will generate images based on your visitor’s screen size and improve loading speeds.

    Make Sure Optimole's Lazyload Setting Is Enabled

    Next, click on the ‘Advanced’ menu option and select ‘Lazyload’. On this screen, there are a few different settings that let you customize how your images will lazy load.

    First, you can adjust the ‘Exclude first number of images from lazyload’ setting. This will stop images at the top of your posts or pages from lazy loading, so images above the fold will always appear.

    Optimole's Advanced Lazyload Settings

    You can set this to 0 if you want every image to lazy load.

    There are a few other advanced lazy load settings in Optimole that you can check. These settings are enabled by default.

    The first is the ‘Scale Images’ setting. This will scale images to the visitor’s screen size and make your page load faster.

    Further Advanced Lazyload Settings in Optimole

    After that, you will see the ‘Enable lazyload for background images’ setting. This will lazy load your background images, which may be the largest images on your website.

    Another setting is lazy loading embedded videos and iframes. If you have a lot of embedded video content, then you will want to leave this setting on. It will load a placeholder image in place of the video. When the placeholder is clicked, the full video will load.

    You can continue to customize these settings and see what works best for your website and your images.

    Before you exit the plugin settings, make sure to click the ‘Save changes’ button at the bottom of the page.

    Bonus Tips to Optimize Your WordPress Images

    Although lazy loading will help to improve website loading speed, there are a few other ways to optimize your WordPress images for the best performance.

    For example, we recommend compressing your images before uploading them to your website using a tool like TinyPNG or JPEGmini. Alternatively, you can use an automated image compression plugin such as Optimole or EWWW Image Optimizer.

    It’s also important to choose the right WordPress image size and file format for your images. JPEGs are best for photos or images with many colors, PNGs are suitable for simple or transparent images, and GIFs are only for animated images.

    We hope this article helped you learn how to lazy load images in WordPress. You may also want to see our tutorial on how to easily optimize images for the web without losing quality and our expert picks of the best web design software.

    If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

    The post How to Easily Lazy Load Images in WordPress (2 Ways) first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Create a Viral Waitlist Landing Page in WordPress

    Are you wondering how to create a waitlist landing page for your WooCommerce store or WordPress website?

    You can easily generate excitement for a product or service that hasn’t been launched yet by making a waitlist landing page. This prompts visitors to sign up for the waitlist using their email addresses and share the promotion with others.

    In this article, we will show you how to easily create a viral waitlist landing page in WordPress.

    Creating a viral waitlist landing page in WordPress

    Why Create a Viral Waitlist Landing Page in WordPress?

    Making a waitlist landing page on your WordPress website will allow your visitors to enter their email addresses and join your waiting list.

    For example, if you have a WooCommerce store that sells clothes and is about to launch a new collection for summer, then you can create a waitlist for interested users to sign up.

    Waitlist landing page preview

    This way, interested users will get an email notification as soon as your new summer clothing collection goes live.

    A viral waitlist page can also help you build your email list and social media following, making it an effective lead-generation tool for WordPress.

    Moreover, it can also create a sense of urgency and excitement among potential customers, making them more likely to sign up for your waitlist.

    That being said, let’s see how to easily create a viral waitlist landing page in WordPress.

    How to Create a Viral Waitlist Landing Page in WordPress

    You can easily create a waitlist landing page in WordPress using SeedProd. It is the best WordPress landing page plugin with a drag-and-drop builder to create themes and landing pages.

    First, you need to install and activate the SeedProd plugin. For detailed instructions, you may want to see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Note: You can also use the free version of SeedProd to create a waitlist landing page. However, some of the advanced blocks used in this tutorial will only be available with the paid plan.

    Upon activation, you need to head over to the SeedProd » Settings page to enter your license key. You can find this information in your account on the SeedProd website.

    Paste license key in the field

    Once you have done that, it’s time for you to start creating a waitlist landing page.

    Step 1: Create a Waitlist Landing Page

    To create a waitlist landing page, head over to the SeedProd » Landing Pages screen from the WordPress admin sidebar.

    Once you are there, just click on the ‘Add New Landing Page’ button.

    Click the Add New Landing Page button

    This will take you to the ‘Choose a New Page Template’ screen, where you can select a pre-made SeedProd template for your landing page.

    Upon doing that, a prompt will open up on your screen, asking you to enter a page name and URL. Go ahead and enter the details and then click the ‘Save and Start Editing the Page’ button to continue.

    Enter waitlist page details

    This will launch the template in SeedProd’s drag-and-drop builder. From here, you can now start customizing your waitlist landing page as you want.

    Step 2: Customize Your Waitlist Landing Page

    Once the drag-and-drop builder has been launched, you will notice that all the available blocks are in the left column, with a landing page preview on the right side of the screen.

    From here, you can drag any block you want onto your waitlist landing page, including an image, video, button, heading, or text block.

    Landing page will be launched on the screen

    For example, if you want to add a headline for the new product that you are launching in your online store, then you can just drag and drop the Headline block onto the landing page.

    Once you’ve done that, simply click on the block again to open its settings in the left column. From here, you can insert dynamic text and change the font size, alignment, color, and more.

    Configure heading settings from the left column

    Next, scroll down to the ‘Advanced’ section in the left column. From here, you can add a giveaway, optin form, contact form, social profiles, countdown timer, and more.

    Since you are creating a waitlist, you should add a contact form to your landing page. That way, your visitors can sign up for notifications when new products are available, and they can also be added to your general email list.

    To do this, just drag and drop the Contact Form block from the left column onto the page.

    Add a form to the waitlist landing page

    Next, click on the block to open its settings in the sidebar on the left. From here, you can select a contact form that you created with WPForms from the dropdown menu.

    For more detailed instructions, you may want to see our tutorial on how to create a contact form in WordPress.

    Select a form from the dropdown menu

    After that, you can also add the Social Sharing block to the waitlist landing page so that users will be able to share it with their friends and followers, making your waitlist viral.

    Upon adding the block, click on it to configure its settings in the left column. You can now add a social media button from the dropdown menu and configure its size and alignment.

    Add the social sharing block to the viral waitlist page

    Once you’ve done that, it’s time for you to add the Countdown block from the left column to create a sense of urgency among your customers.

    Next, click on the block to open its settings in the sidebar. From here, you can choose an end date, timezone, size, template, and more.

    Add the countdown block to create urgency

    You can also choose an action to take once the countdown on your waitlist expires.

    For example, if you choose the ‘Show Message’ option from the ‘Action To Take On Expires’ dropdown menu, then a message will be displayed to your customers upon waitlist expiration.

    However, you can also choose the ‘Redirect’ option and add a URL that users will be redirected to if they visit the waitlist page after its expiration. This could be the WooCommerce product page with the items from your new collection.

    Add an action for countdown expiration

    Step 3: Add WooCommerce Blocks to Your Waitlist Landing Page

    If you have a WooCommerce store, then you can also add the WooCommerce blocks offered by SeedProd. Keep in mind that the WooCommerce plugin will need to be activated for these blocks to work.

    To add these blocks, just scroll down to the ‘WooCommerce’ section in the left column of the drag-and-drop builder.

    From here, you can add the featured products, add to cart, or best-selling products block to your waitlist page to showcase other products from your store.

    Add WooCommerce blocks

    This way, users visiting your waitlist landing page will also be able to see other products that are currently available and may end up making a purchase.

    You will also be able to limit the number of products that are shown and control the block’s alignment, typography, pagination, button color, and more.

    Configure WooCommerce block settings

    Step 4: Connect Your Waitlist With Your Email Marketing Provider

    You can also connect your waitlist landing page with an email marketing provider to build your email list and capture leads.

    To do this, switch to the ‘Connect’ tab at the top of the landing page builder. Then, simply choose your email marketing provider from the ‘Email Marketing’ section.

    Choose an email marketing service

    By default, SeedProd offers seamless integration with popular email marketing services like Drip, Brevo (Formerly Sendinblue), Constant Contact, AWeber, and more.

    Once you have chosen your provider, you will need to provide an API key or account details, depending on the service you chose. You can get this information from the account dashboard of your email marketing service provider.

    After that, just click the ‘Connect’ button to move forward.

    Connect to Constant contact

    Upon connecting your SeedProd with an email marketing provider, you will also have to choose the email list that you want to use with your waitlist landing page.

    Next, click on the ‘Save Integration Details’ button. You have now successfully connected your landing page with the marketing service.

    Step 5: Save and Publish Your Waitlist Landing Page

    Now, you need to switch back to the ‘Design’ tab from the top of the SeedProd page builder.

    Once you’ve done that, click the ‘Save’ button at the top to store your settings.

    Save and publish the waitlist page

    Next, open the ‘Save’ dropdown menu and click the ‘Publish’ button to make your waitlist landing page live.

    Now, you can visit the landing page on your WordPress site to see how it looks.

    Waitlist landing page preview

    Bonus Tips to Build Excitement and FOMO in Your Online Store

    Other than designing a great landing page, you can use a few other methods to easily build excitement and FOMO among your customers. This can encourage them to sign up for your waitlist.

    For example, you might create a personalized popup using OptinMonster that shows that a product that hasn’t been launched yet is in limited supply.

    Since scarcity is a key element of FOMO, shoppers will now be more likely to sign up for your waitlist.

    Popup preview

    Other than that, you can also create website banners using Thrive Leads to show users that other visitors are already interested in your product and signing up for it.

    For more detailed instructions, you may want to see our tutorial on how to use FOMO on your WordPress site to increase conversions.

    Banner for waitlist

    Additionally, you can also build excitement and hype around the product or service that you are launching by hosting a giveaway. A viral giveaway can help you can reach a wider audience, increase your conversions, and urge more visitors to sign up for your waitlist.

    For example, you can use RafflePress, which is the best WordPress giveaway plugin, to give away a few items from your new clothing collection in exchange for a referral or follow on social media.

    If you are interested, then you can see our tutorial on how to run a giveaway/contest in WordPress with RafflePress.

    Another tip is to run a live blogging session with your customers to further hype up the product/service that will soon be launched. This way, you will be able to interact with your audience and convince them to sign up on your waitlist landing page.

    We hope this article helped you learn how to easily create a viral waitlist landing page in WordPress. You may also want to see our tutorial on how to create coming soon pages in WordPress and our comparison of the best WordPress drag and drop page builders.

    If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

    The post How to Create a Viral Waitlist Landing Page in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Create a Custom Instagram Photo Feed in WordPress

    Do you want to create a custom Instagram feed in WordPress?

    An Instagram feed can keep your site fresh and engaging while also getting you more likes, shares, and Instagram followers.

    In this article, we will show you how to create a custom Instagram photo feed for your WordPress website.

    How to create a custom Instagram photo feed in WordPress

    Why Include an Instagram Feed on Your WordPress Site?

    Adding an Instagram feed on your WordPress site lets you show fresh content to your visitors without lots of extra work. It also encourages readers to follow you on Instagram.

    Instead of manually adding images in the WordPress block editor, you can simply create a feed that updates automatically every time you post new photos to Instagram. You can even show other people’s photos on your site by creating a hashtag feed.

    In the following image, you can see an example of a brand that uses a custom Instagram feed to show user-generated content.

    An example of user-generated Instagram content

    In this way, you can use a custom Instagram feed to provide valuable social proof and make more money online.

    That being said, let’s see how you can create a custom Instagram photo feed in WordPress.

    How to Create a Custom Instagram Photo Feed in WordPress

    The easiest way to add an Instagram photo feed to your site is by using the Smash Balloon Instagram Feed plugin. It is the best Instagram plugin for WordPress that allows you to display content from your Instagram account in an instant.

    It’s also the easiest way to fix the Facebook and Instagram oEmbed issue in WordPress.

    We will cover several steps in our tutorial, and you can use the quick links below to jump to the different sections:

    How to Connect an Instagram Account to WordPress

    First, you will need to install and activate the Smash Balloon Instagram Feed plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Note: In the guide, we are using the premium version of Smash Balloon, as it allows you to create a completely custom Instagram feed. with hashtag feeds and shoppable images. If you are just getting started or have a small budget, then there’s also a free Smash Balloon Social Photo Feed plugin.

    After you’ve installed the plugin, head over to Instagram Feed » Settings.

    You can now enter your Smash Balloon license key into the ‘License Key’ field.

    Adding a license to Smash Balloon's Instagram plugin

    You can find this information in the confirmation email you got when you purchased Smash Balloon and also in your Smash Balloon account.

    After adding your license key, go ahead and click on the ‘Activate’ button.

    Once you’ve done that, you are ready to create a custom Instagram feed. To get started, select Instagram Feed » All Feeds and then click on the ‘Add New’ button.

    Creating an Instagram feed for WordPress

    Smash Balloon will now show all the different types of Instagram feeds that you can create.

    Simply select the type of feed you want to add to WordPress, and click on ‘Next’.

    How to add an Instagram timeline feed to WordPress

    If you just want to display your Instagram photos, then you can use a Personal Instagram account. However, you will need a Business Instagram account if you want to create a hashtag feed or show the posts that your account is tagged in.

    Tip: Don’t have a Business Account? To convert your Personal Instagram account into a Business Account, simply follow Smash Balloon’s step-by-step instructions.

    If you select ‘Publish Hashtag’, then you will need to type in the hashtags you want to use. To show multiple hashtags in the same feed, simply separate each hashtag with a comma.

    Adding Instagram hashtags to your WordPress website

    Once you have done that, just click on ‘Next’.

    Do you want to show posts that your account is tagged in? You will need to select ‘Tagged Posts’ instead and then click on ‘Next’.

    How to show tagged posts in a custom Instagram feed

    No matter what kind of feed you are creating, you will need to connect WordPress to your Instagram account.

    To get started, click on the ‘Add Source’ button.

    Creating a custom Instagram photo feed in WordPress

    After that, choose whether you want to show images from a personal or business account.

    If you select the button next to ‘Personal’, then Smash Balloon won’t include the Instagram avatar and bio in your header by default. However, you can always add the Instagram avatar and bio manually in the plugin’s settings.

    Choose between a personal and business Instagram account

    After choosing ‘Personal’ or ‘Business’, just click on ‘Login with Facebook’.

    You can now select the Instagram account that you want to feature on your WordPress website and click on ‘Next’.

    Connecting to an Instagram account

    After that, check the box next to the Facebook page that’s linked to the Instagram account you want to use.

    With that done, you need to click on the ‘Next’ button.

    Connecting a Facebook page to WordPress

    You will now see a popup with all the information Instagram Feed Pro will have access to and the actions it can perform.

    To restrict the plugin’s access to your Instagram account, simply click any of the switches to turn it from ‘Yes’ to ‘No’. Just be aware that this may affect the photos that appear on your WordPress blog or website.

    With that in mind, we recommend leaving all the switches enabled. When you are happy with how the feed is set up, go ahead and click on ‘Done’.

    Giving Smash Balloon access to your Instagram account

    You will now see a popup with the Instagram account you just added to your website.

    Simply check the box next to that account and then click on ‘Add’.

    How to connect Instagram to WordPress using Smash Balloon

    Instagram Feed Pro will now take you back to the Instagram Feeds » All Feeds screen.

    To create a custom Instagram feed, just check the box next to the Instagram account that you want to use. Then, click on ‘Next’.

    Creating a new Instagram feed in WordPress

    The plugin will now create an Instagram photo feed that you can add to any page, post, or widget-ready area.

    How to Customize Your Instagram Photo Feed

    By default, Smash Balloon will open your feed in its editor, ready for you to customize.

    On the right, you will see a preview of your Instagram photo feed. On the left-hand side are all the settings you can use to customize the social media feed.

    How to create a custom Instagram feed with Smash Balloon

    Most of these settings are self-explanatory, but we will quickly cover some key areas.

    To change the layout, simply click on ‘Feed Layout’ in the left-hand menu. You can now choose from a Grid, Masonry, or Carousel layout.

    Switching to a different Instagram layout

    There is also a Highlighted layout that highlights every third photo by default.

    As you click on the different options, the live preview will automatically update to show the new layout. This makes it easy to try different designs and find the one you prefer.

    By default, Smash Balloon shows the same number of photos on desktop computers and mobile devices. You can preview how the Instagram feed will look on desktop computers, tablets, and smartphones using the row of buttons in the upper-right corner.

    Previewing an Instagram feed on desktop, mobile, and tablet

    Smartphones and tablets typically have smaller screens and less processing power, so you may want to show fewer Instagram photos and videos on mobile devices.

    To do this, just type a different number into the ‘Mobile’ field under ‘Number of Posts’.

    How to show a different number of Instagram posts on mobile

    By default, Smash Ballon will split your photos into 4 columns on desktop, 2 columns on tablet devices, and a single column on mobile.

    Do you want to use a different number of columns? Then just scroll to the ‘Columns’ section in the left-hand menu.

    You can now type a new number into the Desktop, Tablet, or Mobile fields.

    Showing a different number of columns in a custom Instagram feed

    To make sure your Instagram feed looks good on mobile devices, it’s smart to view the mobile version of your WordPress website.

    After making your changes, click on the ‘Customize’ link. This will take you back to the main Smash Balloon editor, ready for you to explore the next settings screen, which is ‘Color Scheme’.

    Changing the Instagram feed color scheme

    By default, Smash Balloon uses a color scheme inherited from your WordPress theme, but it also has ‘Light’ and ‘Dark’ themes that you may want to use for your Instagram feed.

    You can even create your own color scheme by selecting ‘Custom’ and then using the settings to change the link color, background color, text color in WordPress, and more.

    Changing the Instagram color scheme

    By default, Smash Balloon adds a header to the Instagram feed, which is your profile picture and the name of your page. This can provide some useful extra context so that visitors understand where these images are coming from.

    To change how this section looks, return to the main settings screen and then select ‘Header’.

    Adding a header to a custom Instagram photo feed

    On this screen, you can change the background color, show your Instagram bio, change the header size, and more.

    By default, the header includes your Instagram profile picture. However, you may want to show a different image, such as your site’s custom logo.

    To change the profile picture, click on ‘Add Image’ under ‘Show custom avatar’. You can then either choose an image from the WordPress media library or upload a new photo.

    Adding a custom Instagram avatar to your WordPress website

    You can also add a different bio. For example, you might add a call to action that encourages people to visit your Instagram page.

    To create a unique Instagram bio, simply type into the ‘Add custom bio’ box.

    Adding a custom Instagram bio to your WordPress website

    When you are happy with how the header looks, click on the ‘Customize’ link to go back to the main settings screen.

    Now, you need to click on ‘Posts’.

    Creating a custom Instagram photo feed in WordPress

    To start, you can switch between boxed and regular layouts for the individual posts inside the Instagram feed.

    To do this, select ‘Post Style’.

    Customizing an embedded Instagram photo feed

    You can now click to select the layout you want to use.

    If you select ‘Boxed’, then you can change the background color, add a box shadow, and increase the border radius to create curved corners.

    Adding a box style to an embedded social media feed

    When you are happy with your changes, just click on the ‘Posts’ link to return to the previous Smash Balloon screen.

    This time, select ‘Images and Videos’.

    Changing the resolution of an embedded Instagram feed

    Smash Balloon automatically analyzes your Instagram photos and shows them at the best resolution. We recommend using these default settings, as they are designed to boost your WordPress speed and performance. However, you can make the Instagram images bigger or smaller if you need to.

    To change the image size, simply open the ‘Resolution’ dropdown and choose one of the default WordPress image sizes from the list.

    Changing the resolution for an embedded Instagram feed

    Once again, click on the ‘Posts’ link to return to the previous screen.

    This time, select ‘Caption’. On the next screen, you can show the Instagram caption next to each image by clicking on the ‘Enable’ slider.

    Showing Instagram captions on your WordPress website

    If you add Instagram captions to your feed, then you can change the text size and color and set a maximum text length.

    With that done, just click on the ‘Posts’ link to return to the previous screen.

    Showing social media captions on a website or blog

    The next setting is ‘Like and Comment Summary’.

    Here, you can add or hide the total number of likes and comments on each image. If your Instagram posts get a good amount of engagement, then these numbers can encourage people to visit your Instagram page or start following you on social media.

    Showing social media comments and likes on a website or blog

    As always, you need to click on ‘Posts’ to return to the earlier screen.

    The final option is ‘Hover State’, which is the overlay that Smash Balloon adds to a post when you hover your mouse over it.

    Customizing the hover state for an embedded social media photo feed

    Here, you can choose the information that Smash Balloon shows when someone hovers over a post using the settings under ‘Information to display’.

    You can also change the color of the hover overlay.

    Adding a custom Instagram feed to WordPress

    When you are happy with the changes you have made, click on the ‘Customize’ link.

    This takes you back to the main Smash Balloon settings page, where you can click on ‘Load More Button’.

    Adding a load more button to a custom Instagram photo feed in WordPress

    Here, you can help the ‘Load More’ button stand out by changing its background color, text color, and hover state.

    You can also try adding your own messaging to the button by typing into the ‘Text’ field.

    Customizing the load more button on a custom Instagram photo feed

    While we recommend leaving this button enabled, you can remove it. For example, you might encourage people to visit your Instagram by limiting the number of photos they can see on your site.

    To remove the button, simply toggle off the ‘Enable’ slider so that it turns grey.

    Removing the 'Load More' button on a custom Instagram photo feed

    If visitors like what they see, they may decide to subscribe using the ‘Follow on Instagram’ button that appears below the embedded feed.

    Since it’s such an important button, you might want to add some custom styling to help it stand out. To do this, select ‘Customize’ to return to the main settings screen. Then, select ‘Follow Button’ in the left-hand menu.

    Here, you can change the button’s background color, hover state, and text color.

    Customizing the Instagram follow button

    By default, the button shows a ‘Follow on Instagram’ label.

    You can replace this with your own messaging by typing into the ‘Text’ field.

    Adding your own messaging to an Instagram CTA button

    Smash Balloon comes with a built-in lightbox that allows visitors to open your Instagram photos and videos without leaving your website.

    To configure this feature, go back to the main Smash Balloon settings screen and then click on ‘Lightbox’.

    The Smash Balloon lightbox feature

    Here, you can change how many comments Smash Balloon will show in the lightbox.

    If you don’t want to use the lightbox feature, then you can disable it using the ‘Enable’ slider.

    Enabling the WordPress lightbox feature

    When you are happy with how the Instagram feed looks, don’t forget to click on ‘Save’ to store your changes.

    You are now ready to add the Instagram feed to your WordPress website.

    Showing a Feed of Your Instagram Photos in WordPress

    You can add the custom Instagram feed to your website using a block, a widget, or a shortcode.

    If you have created more than one feed using Smash Balloon, then you will need to know the feed’s code to use a widget or block.

    To get this code, you must go to Instagram Feed » All Feeds and then copy the text under ‘Shortcode.’

    In the following image, we will need to use instagram-feed feed=4.

    Getting a shortcode for your custom Instagram feed

    If you want to embed the Instagram feed in a page or post, then you can use the Instagram Feed block.

    Just open the page or post where you want to embed your custom Instagram feed. Then, click on the ‘+’ icon to add a new block and start typing ‘Instagram Feed’.

    When the right block appears, click to add it to the page or post.

    Adding the Feeds for Instagram block to your WordPress website

    The block will show one of your Instagram feeds by default. If you want to show a different Smash Balloon feed, then find ‘Shortcode Settings’ in the right-hand menu.

    Here, simply add the shortcode and then click on ‘Apply Changes.’

    Adding a social media feed to WordPress using shortcode

    If you are happy with how the custom Instagram feed looks, then you can go ahead and publish or update the page.

    Another option is to add the Instagram Feed widget to your website. This is a great way to show an Instagram feed on every page of your site. For example, you might add the Instagram widget to the WordPress theme’s sidebar or footer.

    To add the Instagram Feed widget to your site, head over to Appearance » Widgets. You can then click on the blue ‘+’ icon towards the top of the screen.

    Adding an Instagram feed to a widget-ready area

    In the panel that appears, type in ‘Instagram Feed’ to find the right widget.

    As you can see in the following image, there are two Instagram Feed widgets, so make sure you use the right one.

    Adding the Instagram feed widget to a WordPress sidebar

    Next, simply drag the widget onto the area where you want to show the Instagram feed, such as the sidebar or similar section.

    The widget will automatically show one of the feeds you created using Smash Balloon. If this isn’t the custom Instagram feed you just created, then type the feed’s code into the ‘Shortcode Settings’ box.

    After that, click on ‘Apply Changes.’

    You can now make the widget live by clicking on the ‘Update’ button. For more information, please see our step-by-step guide on how to add and use widgets in WordPress.

    An example of an embedded Instagram feed

    Another option is embedding the Instagram feed on any page, post, or widget-ready area using a shortcode.

    Simply go to Instagram Feed » All Feeds and copy the code in the ‘Shortcode’ column. You can now add this code to any Shortcode block. For help placing the shortcode, please see our guide on how to add a shortcode.

    Are you using a block-enabled theme? Then you can use the full site editor to add the Instagram Feed block anywhere on your WordPress website.

    In the dashboard, go to Appearance » Editor.

    How to add an Instagram feed to WordPress using the full-site editor

    By default, the full-site editor will show the theme’s home template.

    If you want to add the Instagram feed to a different area, then click on either ‘Template’ or ‘Template Parts’.

    Adding an Instagram feed to a WordPress template

    The editor will now show a list of all the template parts that make up your WordPress theme.

    Simply click on the template where you want to show the Instagram feed.

    A list of templates, in the WordPress full-site editor (FSE)

    WordPress will now show a preview of the design.

    To edit this template, go ahead and click on the small pencil icon.

    Editing the WordPress homepage template using the full-site editor

    After choosing a template, just hover your mouse over the area where you want to add the Instagram photo feed.

    Then, click on the blue ‘+’ button.

    How to add a block to a template using full-site editor (FSE)

    Once you have done that, you need to type in ‘Instagram Feed’.

    When the right block appears, click to add it to the template.

    Adding a Instagram feeds block using the full-site editor (FSE)

    As always, Smash Balloon will show a feed by default. You can change this feed by adding a shortcode following the same process described above.

    Bonus: Let Customers Buy Your Products Through Instagram

    If you have an online store, then you can also use your custom Instagram feed to easily sell your products.

    Smash Balloon Instagram Feed Pro allows you to tag your Instagram images with product links so that users are able to click on them and buy them directly instead of navigating through your product pages. This can increase sales and boost profits in your store.

    How to add a shoppable link to an Instagram post

    For more details, you can see our complete guide on how to add Instagram shoppable images in WordPress.

    We hope this article helped you learn how to create a custom Instagram feed in WordPress. You might also want to see our comparison of the best WordPress giveaway plugins to grow your social following and learn how to create an email newsletter.

    If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

    The post How to Create a Custom Instagram Photo Feed in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • What Is Google’s INP Score and How to Improve It in WordPress

    Are you wondering what Google’s INP score is and how to improve it on your WordPress website?

    Interaction to Next Paint (INP) is a Core Web Vitals metric from Google. Improving this score will make your website feel more responsive to your users.

    In this article, we will show you how to improve your Google INP score in WordPress and explain what Google’s INP score is.

    What is Google INP score and how to improve it in WordPress

    Here is a quick overview of the topics we will cover in this guide:

    1. What Are Google Core Web Vitals?
    2. What Is Google INP?
    3. Why Is Google Changing the FID Metric to INP?
    4. How to Measure Google INP Score in WordPress
    5. How to Improve Google INP Score in WordPress
    6. How Website Owners Can Optimize Their Sites for INP
    7. How Developers Can Optimize Their Code for INP
    8. Examples of Good JavaScript Coding Practices for Developers

    What Are Google Core Web Vitals?

    Google Core Web Vitals are website performance metrics that Google considers important for overall user experience. These web vital scores are part of Google’s overall page experience score, which will impact your SEO rankings.

    These metrics are useful because, even if your WordPress website loads fast, it may not be fully functional for users. Even if a page has loaded, a visitor might not be able to do what they want or access the information they need.

    Core Web Vitals are designed to help with this. They let you measure how quickly your website loads, becomes visible, and is ready for your visitors to use.

    To do that, Google uses three quality tests:

    • Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
    • First Input Delay (FID)
    • Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

    You can learn more about these tests in our ultimate guide on how to optimize Core Web Vitals for WordPress.

    However, Google is replacing FID with a new test called INP (Interaction to Next Paint).

    This change currently has the status of ‘Pending’ and will be finalized in March 2024. This gives you time to prepare so that your SEO rankings are not impacted, and we will show you how later in this article.

    What Is Google INP?

    INP stands for ‘Interaction to Next Paint’. It is a new Google Core Web Vital metric that measures the user interactions that cause delays on your website.

    The INP test measures how long it takes between a user interacting with your website, like clicking on something, and your content visually updating in response. This visual update is called the ‘next paint’.

    For example, a user might submit a contact form on your site, click on a button, or select an image that opens in a lightbox. The INP test will measure the time taken between the user performing these interactions and actually seeing the updated content on your website.

    The Google test then comes up with a single INP score based on the duration of most user interactions on your website. The score will either be ‘Good’, ‘Needs Improvement’, or ‘Poor’, depending on how long your website takes to update visually.

    Why Is Google Changing the FID Metric to INP?

    The current FID test measures how quickly your website responds to the first user input after the page loads, such as a mouse click or keyboard press. It does this by measuring the time between the first input from the user and when your website starts to act on that input.

    In other words, it measures how responsive your website is when it first loads and the first impression that it gives to real users.

    However, this metric isn’t as helpful as it could be. There are two limitations to the FID test:

    1. It only measures the first user interaction, not all of them.
    2. It only measures until the website starts to process the interaction, not when the user can actually see the visual feedback on the screen.

    So Google is changing the test to give a more complete picture of the overall responsiveness of a web page. INP will measure the entire time the user spends there until they leave the page.

    How to Measure Google INP Score in WordPress

    The easiest way to test your Google Core Web Vitals score is by using the PageSpeed Insights tool. Simply enter the URL you want to test and click the ‘Analyze’ button.

    Analyzing a Web Page for Page Speed Insights

    The tool will analyze the web page for a few seconds and then show you the test results.

    Note: You can also view Core Web Vitals using DebugBear’s Free Website Speed Test or Site Speed Chrome Extension, which are preferred by some developers.

    Now, along with other Google Core Web Vitals, you will also see the page’s Interaction to Next Paint (INP) score.

    There will be different scores for mobile and desktop users.

    Page Insights Results

    In the screenshot above, you can see the INP score for desktop users viewing this web page on WPBeginner is 47 ms. The green dot means that this is a good score.

    Once you can see the score for your own site, you will probably be wondering how it compares with other websites and whether it needs to be improved.

    Google has provided some guidelines for interpreting your INP score:

    • Faster than 200 milliseconds – good responsiveness
    • 200-500 milliseconds – needs improvement
    • Slower than 500 milliseconds – poor responsiveness
    Interpreting Your INP Score

    Make sure you check your score for both mobile and desktop users and aim for good responsiveness.

    You can then improve your INP score by following the guidelines in the sections below.

    Case Study: Finding Slow Interactions on Awesome Motive’s Websites

    But first, it may be helpful to look at a case study. We have started measuring the INP scores on our brand sites, including All in One SEO, MonsterInsights, and WPForms.

    When our team checked our website’s INP scores, the initial results showed that our most popular pages needed improvement.

    Using the Chrome User Experience (CrUX) dashboard, we could see that:

    • 80% of our sessions were rated ‘good’
    • 12% of our sessions were rated ‘needs improvement’
    • 8% of our sessions were rated ‘poor’

    Now, we don’t yet know which specific interactions on our pages are slow and need to be optimized. This information isn’t provided by Google while testing.

    That means that next, we will need to run our own tests to find slow interactions on pages with lower INP scores. This is a detailed and advanced task that is best performed by a developer.

    It is done by going to each page that needs improvement and then testing each interaction with actual clicks, taps, and key presses. These need to be timed and evaluated using tools.

    The Chrome Developers Blog lists a number of tools that can be used for testing, such as the Chrome Web Vitals extension and the new timespan mode in the Lighthouse Panel in DevTools. You can also see Google’s article on how to debug using the Web Vitals extension.

    It’s important to note that the sessions with lower ratings most likely took place on slower devices or connections. That means that while testing, it is recommended to throttle your browser’s speed, or you may not spot the slow interactions.

    You can do that using Chrome’s Inspect Element feature by going to View » Developer » Inspect Elements. You can switch to the ‘Network’ tab and select a throttling option from the dropdown menu.

    Using Chrome Inspect Elements to Throttle Your Browser

    Once you have found the INP scores for your pages, you can use the tips in the next section of this tutorial to improve them.

    How to Improve Google INP Score in WordPress

    Most of the INP score optimization work will need to be done by developers. That includes the authors of the theme and plugins you use on your website, plus the developers of any custom JavaScript you are running.

    That’s because the INP score is mostly related to the time required to perform JavaScript interactions on your website.

    For example, when a user clicks a button, some JavaScript code is run to perform the function expected by clicking the button. This code is downloaded to the user’s computer and runs in their web browser.

    To optimize your INP score, the delays that happen during JavaScript user interactions must be reduced. There are three components to this delay:

    1. Input delay, which happens when your website is waiting for background tasks on that page that prevent the event handler from running.
    2. Processing time, which is the time required to run event handlers in JavaScript.
    3. Presentation delay, which is the time required to recalculate the page and paint the page content on the screen.

    As a website owner, there are steps you can take to improve the first and third delays. We will show you how in the next section.

    However, to make real improvements to your INP score, you will need to improve the second delay, which is the processing time of the code itself. That’s not something that you can do yourself.

    The developers of your WordPress theme, plugins, and custom JavaScript may need to optimize their code to give feedback to your users immediately. The good news is they are probably already working on this to meet the March 2024 deadline.

    We offer some specific tips for developers with examples later in this article.

    How Website Owners Can Optimize Their Sites for INP

    While the most significant impact on your website’s INP score will come from developers optimizing their code, there are a few things that website owners can do.

    In particular, you can make sure that your users’ mouse clicks and keystrokes are recognized as soon as possible by optimizing background processes on your site. Also, you can make sure the response to their input is displayed on the screen as quickly as possible.

    Here are some steps you can take to achieve that.

    1. Make Sure You Are Running the Latest Version of WordPress

    The first thing you should do is make sure you are running the latest version of WordPress.

    That’s because WordPress versions 6.2 and 6.3 introduced significant performance improvements. These will improve your website’s performance on the server side and client side, which will improve your INP score.

    For detailed instructions, you can see our guide on how to safely update WordPress.

    2. Optimize Background Processes in WordPress

    Background processes are scheduled tasks in WordPress that run in the background. They might include checking for WordPress updates, publishing scheduled posts, and backing up your website.

    If your website gets too busy running these background tasks, then it may not realize right away that the user has clicked the mouse or pressed a key, resulting in a poor INP score.

    You may be able to configure your background scripts and plugins to reduce the amount of work they are doing, placing less strain on your website. Otherwise, you might be able to run them only when they are needed instead of leaving them running in the background.

    For detailed instructions, you can see the Optimize Background Processes section of our ultimate guide on how to boost WordPress speed and performance.

    3. Check the PageSpeed Insights Performance Recommendations

    After you run the PageSpeed Insights test on your website, you can scroll down to the Performance section of the test results.

    Here, you will find some opportunities to improve your site’s performance along with the estimated time savings if you follow the advice.

    PageSpeed Insights Performance Opportunities and Diagnostics

    For example, you may see recommendations to eliminate render-blocking resources. You can do this by following our guide on how to fix render-blocking JavaScript and CSS in WordPress.

    You may also see a recommendation to reduce unused JavaScript. You will find a setting to do this in many of the best WordPress caching plugins, such as WP Rocket.

    4. Minify JavaScript in WordPress

    JavaScript needs to be downloaded to the user’s computer before it can be run. By making your JavaScript files as small as possible, you can make some small gains in performance.

    Minifying your JavaScript makes the files smaller by removing white spaces, lines, and unnecessary characters from the source code.

    This won’t have a dramatic effect on your performance, but if you are looking to shave a few extra milliseconds off your INP score, then you may find it worthwhile.

    WP Rocket minify JavaScript files

    To learn how, you can see our guide on how to minify CSS and JavaScript files in WordPress.

    How Developers Can Optimize Their Code for INP

    If you are a developer, then the biggest INP score gains will come from optimizing your code. Here are a few things you can do.

    1. Visually Acknowledge User Input Immediately

    Here’s the one thing that will make the most difference when optimizing your code’s INP score: You need to give visual feedback to all user input immediately.

    The user should see right away that their input has been recognized and that you are acting on it. This will make your code feel more responsive to the user and result in a great INP score.

    Here are a few examples:

    • If a user clicks on an element, then you should display something that shows that the element was clicked.
    • If a user submits a form, then you need to immediately display something to acknowledge that, such as a message or spinner.
    • If a user clicks on an image to open it in a lightbox, then don’t just wait for the image to load. Instead, you should show a demo image or spinner immediately. Then, when the image is loaded, you can display it in the lightbox.

    More than anything else, this will improve your INP score, especially if you need to do heavy JavaScript processing in response to user input.

    Just make sure you update the UI before starting the task. After that, you can do the CPU-heavy work in a setTimeout callback or on a separate thread using a web worker, and then finally present the results to the user.

    Once you get that right, there are a few more things you can do to optimize your code.

    2. Optimize Where the Browser Spends Most of Its Time

    The next thing you should do is investigate where the browser is spending most of its time and then optimize those parts.

    In Google Chrome, when you navigate to View » Developer » Developer Tools » Performance, it is possible to inspect the JavaScript functions and event handlers that are blocking the next paint.

    With that knowledge, you can see what can be optimized in order to reduce the time until the next paint after user interaction.

    3. Reduce Your Layouts

    Sometimes, a lot of CPU activity consists of layout work.

    When that happens, you should check to see if you can reduce the number of relayout functions in your code.

    4. Show Above-the-Fold Content First

    If rendering the page contents is slow, then your INP score may be affected.

    You can consider showing only important ‘above-the-fold’ content first to deliver the next frame more quickly.

    Examples of Good JavaScript Coding Practices for Developers

    It may be helpful to show you some examples of how bad code can result in a poor INP score.

    We put together an example project on CodePen that you can experiment with. You can examine our sample code, read our short explanations, and see the difference it makes by clicking the buttons.

    Here’s an animation from that CodePen project. You can see that the unoptimized sample code results in a poor INP score of 965 milliseconds. The button press will feel laggy to users.

    By contrast, the optimized code updates the button text immediately, resulting in the best possible INP score.

    Animation of CodePen Example Project for Optimizing INP Score

    Read on to see four examples of how you can improve your code to optimize the INP score.

    Example 1: Update the Screen Before Running a Heavy CPU Task

    CPU-heavy tasks take time, and this can lead to poor INP scores unless you write good code. In this case, it’s best to update the screen before running that task.

    Here is a bad example where the user interface is updated after a heavy CPU task. This results in a high INP:

    // Bad example
button.addEventListener('click', () => {
  // Heavy CPU task
  for (let i = 0; i < 10000000; i++) {
    console.log(i);
  }
  // UI update
  button.textContent = 'Clicked!';});
    Hosted with ❤️ by WPCode

    1-click Use in WordPress

    In this improved example, the user interface is updated immediately when the button is clicked.

    After that, the heavy CPU task is moved to a setTimeout callback:

    // Better example
button.addEventListener('click', () => {
  // UI update
  button.textContent = 'Processing...';

  // Heavy CPU task
  setTimeout(() => {
    for (let i = 0; i < 10000000; i++)
 {
      console.log(i);
    }
    // Final UI update
    button.textContent = 'Done!';
  }, 0);
});
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    1-click Use in WordPress

    This allows the browser to update the screen before starting the slow task, resulting in a good INP score.

    Example 2: Schedule Non-Urgent Processing

    You should also make sure that you don’t run non-urgent or non-essential work in a script immediately when it may delay the response the user is expecting.

    You should start by updating the page immediately to acknowledge the user’s input. After that, you can use requestIdleCallback to schedule the rest of the script when there is free time at the end of a frame or when the user is inactive.

    Here is an example:

    button.addEventListener('click', () => {
  // Immediate UI update
  button.textContent = 'Processing...';

  // Non-essential processing  window.requestIdleCallback(() => {
    // Perform non-essential processing here...    button.textContent = 'Done!';
  });
});
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    1-click Use in WordPress

    This will make the web page feel more responsive to the user and get you a better INP score.

    Example 3: Schedule a Function to Run Before the Next Paint

    You can also userequestAnimationFrame to schedule a function to be run before the next repaint:

    button.addEventListener('click', () => {
  // Immediate UI update
  button.textContent = 'Processing...';

  // Visual update
  window.requestAnimationFrame(() => {
    // Perform visual update here...    button.style.backgroundColor = 'green';    button.textContent = 'Done!';
  });
});
    Hosted with ❤️ by WPCode

    1-click Use in WordPress

    This can be useful for animations or visual updates in response to user interactions.

    Again, you should give the user feedback by acknowledging their input immediately.

    Example 4: Avoid Layout Thrashing

    Layout thrashing occurs when you repeatedly read and write to the DOM (Document Object Model), causing the browser to recalculate the layout multiple times.

    Here is an example of layout thrashing:

    // Bad example
elements.forEach(element => {
  const height = element.offsetHeight; // read  element.style.height = height + 'px'; // write});
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    1-click Use in WordPress

    This can be avoided by batching your reads and writes.

    This is a better example:

    // Good example
const heights = elements.map(element => element.offsetHeight); // batched read
elements.forEach((element, index) => {
  element.style.height = heights[index] + 'px'; // batched write
});
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    1-click Use in WordPress

    We hope this tutorial helped you learn how to improve your Google INP score in WordPress. You may also want to see our ultimate guide to WordPress SEO or our expert picks for the best WordPress SEO plugins and tools.

    If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

    The post What Is Google’s INP Score and How to Improve It in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Track User Engagement in WordPress with Google Analytics

    Are you properly tracking user engagement on your WordPress site?

    User engagement is one of the most important metrics to track because it helps you better understand your audience and what they want. With Google Analytics, you can easily see how people interact with your website.

    In this article, we will show you how to track user engagement in WordPress with Google Analytics.

    How to Track user management with Analytics

    Why Track User Engagement With Google Analytics?

    Generally, WordPress website owners consider traffic and pageviews to be the most important indicators of their website’s performance. They assume that higher traffic will result in more conversions and sales.

    While that is generally true, you can get even better results by tracking and optimizing user engagement.

    User engagement shows you what users do when they arrive on your website. It helps you identify patterns of highly engaged user behavior that lead to more conversions and sales.

    For example, you may realize that users visiting a specific page are 10X more likely to make a purchase than any other visitor on your website. You can use this insight to redirect the user’s attention to that page.

    Similarly, tracking engagement can help you see which affiliate links or banner ads your visitors are clicking. Using this data, you will be able to optimize your content to get more clicks and boost conversions.

    That said, let’s see how you can set up user engagement tracking in WordPress using Google Analytics.

    Tracking User Engagement in WordPress Using Google Analytics

    The best way to set up user engagement tracking in WordPress is by using MonsterInsights. It’s the best analytics plugin for WordPress that helps you configure Google Analytics without writing code.

    MonsterInsights automatically sets up outbound link tracking, form conversion tracking, scroll depth, affiliate link clicks, and other advanced tracking features in Google Analytics out of the box.

    It automates the process of pasting different analytics codes and event tracking in WordPress, so you don’t have to deal with the hassle of code and configuration.

    The MonsterInsights Google Analytics plugin

    For this tutorial, we will use the MonsterInsights Pro version because it includes advanced tracking features and more dashboard reports. However, there is also a MonsterInsights Lite version that you can use for free and get started with user engagement tracking.

    First, you will need to install and activate the MonsterInsights plugin. If you need help, then please see our guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Upon activation, you will see the MonsterInsights welcome screen. Go ahead and click the ‘Launch the Wizard’ button. You can then follow the setup wizard to get everything ready in minutes.

    Launch setup wizard

    For more details, please see our guide on how to install Google Analytics in WordPress.

    Now that you have Google Analytics with MonsterInsights ready to go, let’s take a look at what user engagement metrics are best to track and how you can track them.

    These aren’t all of the metrics you can track with MonsterInsights and Google Analytics, but they are the most important ones to start with. You can click the links below to jump ahead to any section:

    1. Tracking Your Most Popular Content

    The first thing you want to figure out is which posts and pages on your WordPress blog are popular amongst your users. These important pages and posts on your website get the most traffic.

    Figuring out what your users like on your site can help you plan a content strategy that expands on what’s already working.

    MonsterInsights makes it really simple. You just need to visit the Insights » Reports page in your WordPress admin area and go to the ‘Overview’ report.

    Overview report in MonsterInsights

    After that, you can scroll down to see other reports with different data.

    You will find your most popular content in the ‘Top Posts/Pages’ section.

    Top posts and page report

    On most websites, 90% of the traffic goes to 10% of the top pages and posts.

    Once you find these top pages, you can optimize them for maximum conversions by adding content upgrades or targeted lead magnets on these posts.

    2. Tracking How Users Engage With Forms on Your Website

    Most websites rely on contact forms to collect user leads and feedback. Sadly, most WordPress contact form plugins don’t give you accurate tracking and conversion data.

    MonsterInsights lets you leverage the events tracking feature in Google Analytics to see how many times your forms are viewed and submitted.

    To enable form tracking, you need to visit the Insights » Addons page. On this page, you will need to install and activate the Forms addon.

    Install forms addon

    Once you have activated the addon, MonsterInsights will automatically start tracking all forms on your website.

    It works with popular contact forms plugins like WPForms, Formidable Forms, and others. MonsterInsights also tracks your website comment forms, user registration forms, and more.

    You can check these settings by going to Insights » Settings in your WordPress dashboard and then clicking on the ‘Conversions’ tab.

    MonsterInsights settings - conversions tab

    Next, MonsterInsights shows the performance of your WordPress forms inside your dashboard.

    Simply go to Insights » Reports from the admin panel and click on the ‘Forms’ tab. The report shows the number of impressions and conversions, as well as the conversion rate for your different WordPress forms.

    Forms report in MonsterInsights

    For more details, please see our guide on how to track form conversions in WordPress.

    3. Tracking eCommerce Store Performance in Google Analytics

    Google Analytics offers many features specifically for eCommerce websites. However, these features are not turned on by default in Google Analytics, and most users don’t even know that they exist.

    eCommerce tracking lets you see shopping behavior, checkout behavior, product performance, sales performance, and so much more. The best part is that you can combine this data with your overall website traffic to gather better insights.

    With MonsterInsights, you can easily set up Enhanced eCommerce on your website without editing code. It seamlessly works with popular plugins like WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, GiveWP, MemberPress, and more.

    You can see our guide on how to set up eCommerce tracking in WordPress for more information.

    Once you have configured tracking, you can head to Insights » Reports from your WordPress admin menu and click on the ‘eCommerce’ report and select ‘Overview’.

    View eCommerce report in MonsterInsights

    Using the report, you can quickly see how your online store is performing.

    It shows stats like conversion rate, number of transactions, revenue, and average order value. It also helps identify products that users engage with the most and where they are coming from.

    Ecommerce overview report in MonsterInsights

    MonsterInsights also lets you track coupons in your online store.

    You can go to eCommerce » Coupons in MonsterInsights reports to view the report.

    Coupons report in MonsterInsights

    You can also view the eCommerce report in your Google Analytics property.

    Simply visit your Google Analytics account and go to Reports » Monetization » Ecommerce purchases.

    Ecommerce report GA4

    You may also want to see our guide on how to set up WooCommerce conversion tracking.

    4. Tracking Who’s Clicking on Your AdSense Ads

    Many websites rely on ads to make money online while creating useful content. With Google Analytics, you can actually see how users interact with ads on your site.

    For instance, you will be able to track how many clicks each ad is receiving, discover which ads your audience is ignoring, identify the most effective ad placements, and more.

    First, you need to sign up for a Google AdSense account and integrate it with your website. You can follow our guide on how to add Google AdSense to your WordPress site.

    Next, you can link your Google Analytics account with Google AdSense. To do this, log in to your AdSense account and head to Account » Account and Authorization » Google Analytics Integration from the menu on your left.

    Google AdSense ga4 integration

    From here, you can click the ‘+ New link’ button and select your Google Analytics property.

    Once your accounts are connected, you can visit Google Analytics to view the reports.

    To view your AdSense reports, go to your Google Analytics 4 account and visit Monetization » Publisher Ads.

    AdSense report in ga4

    If you have a Universal Analytics property, then you can view the data by going to the Behavior » Publisher page.

    Note: Universal Analytics is no longer collecting your website data. However, you can still access its reports and view old data.

    View AdSense report

    5. Tracking How Far People Scroll Your Website

    When tracking user engagement in WordPress, it’s also important to see how far visitors scroll your website.

    It gives you insights into how people use your site and helps improve your page length. Plus, you can use the data to place your AdSense ads, call-to-action buttons, and affiliate links where they will get the most visibility and conversions.

    MonsterInsights automatically enables scroll-depth tracking. You can view the report by going to Insights » Reports from the WordPress admin panel and clicking the Publishers » Overview tabs.

    Publisher overview report in MonsterInsights

    Next, scroll down and view the ‘Scroll’ report.

    It will show the average scroll depth percentage. MonsterInsights will trigger events in Google Analytics 4 as users scroll 25%, 50%, 75%, and 100% of a page and compute the percentage from those results.

    View scroll depth report

    Most marketers use affiliate plugins to manage and cloak affiliate links. This makes your affiliate links look more user-friendly.

    Here is an example of a cloaked affiliate link:

    https://example.com/recommends/product-name/

    MonsterInsights allows you to track affiliate links in Google Analytics. This data helps you figure out which affiliate products are doing well, which pages are generating more affiliate revenue, and more.

    To enable affiliate link tracking, you need to visit the Insights » Settings page. Next, you can switch to the ‘Publisher’ tab and head to the Affiliate Links section.

    Change affiliate link settings

    First, you need to enter the prefix for your link under the Path field, like ‘/refer/’ or ‘/recommend/.’ After that, you must provide a Label that you would like to use for those links in your Google Analytics reports.

    When you are done, click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

    Next, you can view your top affiliate link clicks in MonsterInsights reports. Simply head to the Publishers tab and scroll down to the ‘Top Affiliate Links’ section.

    Outbound and affiliate links report

    Here, you will see which affiliate links are getting the most clicks so that you can promote them more on your site and boost sales.

    Additionally, MonsterInsights will also show your Top Outbound Links. These are external links that people click and exit your site. You can use insights from this report to get more backlinks, form partnerships, sign up for affiliate programs, and exchange guest posts.

    For more detailed instructions, see our guide on how to track outbound links in WordPress.

    7. Tracking Video Engagement in Google Analytics

    Do have you videos embedded on your WordPress website? If so, then you can track how people engage with them.

    With the MonsterInsights Media addon, you can automatically track YouTube, Vimeo, and other HTML 5 video embeds on your website. The best part is that you don’t have to edit code to set up tracking. The plugin takes care of everything.

    You can view the data inside your WordPress dashboard. Simply head to Insights » Reports and then click the ‘Media’ tab.

    View media report

    Next, you will see stats about your top videos.

    For instance, you can see how many people played the video, the average watch time, the completion rate, and more.

    Media report

    To learn more, please follow our guide on how to track video analytics in WordPress.

    8. Tracking Marketing Campaigns in Google Analytics

    If you are running different campaigns on your website, then you can track their performance in Google Analytics. This data helps you see which campaigns get the most engagement so that you can replicate them.

    To start, you can add UTM parameters to your campaign links. These are special tags that pass additional information to Google Analytics and help differentiate campaign URLs from regular links.

    If you are using MonsterInsights, then you can use the URL Builder tool to create links with UTM parameters. Simply head to Insights » Tools from your WordPress dashboard and select the ‘URL Builder’ tab.

    Go to tools in MonsterInsights

    Next, you can fill in the details of your URL.

    For instance, you can add your website link, a campaign source like a newsletter, a campaign medium such as email, a campaign name, and other details.

    Enter campaign source and medium

    After entering these details, MonsterInsights will create a custom URL with UTM parameters. It will look something like this:

    https://example.com?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=spring_sale

    You can simply copy the link and use it in your campaigns.

    Copy custom link with UTM parameter

    Once you have added custom links with UTM parameters, MonsterInsights will start to track them in Google Analytics.

    You can then view a report inside your WordPress dashboard and see which campaign is generating the most engagement.

    Simply head to your MonsterInsights reports and then go to Traffic » Campaigns.

    View campaigns report in MonsterInsights

    Next, you can scroll down to see campaign details.

    The report will show the number of sessions, engaged sessions, purchases, conversion rate, and revenue for each campaign.

    Campaign details in MonsterInsights

    9. Tracking Bounce Rate in Google Analytics

    The bounce rate is the percentage of users who land on your website and decide to leave without going to a second page.

    In the latest version of Google Analytics, you won’t find bounce rate as a default metric that’s visible on your reports. This is one of the key differences you will notice between Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Universal Analytics.

    You will need to manually add the bounce rate to pages and screens reports in GA4. This can be tricky for beginners, especially for anyone who isn’t familiar with the Google Analytics interface.

    However, an easier way to view the bounce rate is by using MonsterInsights. Simply go to Insights » Reports from your WordPress admin menu and click on the Publishers » Overview tabs. The plugin shows the bounce rate for your important pages.

    Top landing pages report

    A higher bounce rate indicates that you were unable to convince the user to visit other pages. Users can leave your website by clicking on the back button in their browser, clicking on an outgoing link, or closing the window.

    Every site has a bounce rate. However, higher bounce rates can indicate problems with your website that are affecting user experience and causing low engagement.

    To lower the bounce rate, you can speed up your website, improve internal links, ensure that your content meets the search intent, improve the readability of your articles, show popular posts, and more.

    For more tips, you can see our guide on how to increase pageviews and reduce the bounce rate in WordPress.

    10. Tracking Time Spent on Your Website

    Another indicator that shows user engagement is session duration or the amount of time users spend on your site.

    If users are abandoning your site without spending enough time to look at it, then something is wrong, and you need to fix it.

    In the MonsterInsights Overview report, you can see the average session duration for your website in the past 30 days.

    Session duration report

    If you are using Google Analytics 4, then you will see a new metric called average engagement time. It tells you the average time your webpage was being focused on by a user.

    You can view the report by logging in to your GA4 account and then heading to Reports » Engagement » Overview.

    See average engagement time report

    Using the data, you can better understand your user journey. If the engagement time is low, then you can look into issues like fixing slow site speed, debugging any errors, and making your site’s interface user-friendly.

    11. Tracking Pageviews Per Visit With Google Analytics

    Pageviews per visit is another excellent indicator of how engaged your users are. A higher number of pageviews per session means that people are visiting multiple landing pages and articles on your site. This helps increase the time users spend on your site and decreases the bounce rate.

    In Google Analytics 4, you can view the sessions per user metric based on different traffic sources and see how many pages users view in a single session.

    Just head to Reports » Acquisition » User acquisition from your GA4 property.

    Engaged sessions per user metric

    This helps you see which traffic channels are converting the best for your website. You can then focus your content marketing efforts on areas that are actually driving results.

    Universal Analytics will also show you the total page views for a given period on the Audience » Overview page. However, to track engagement, you want to see pageviews per session.

    See pages per session metric

    You can also break down page views per session by source and channel.

    Simply go to the Acquisition » All Traffic » Channels page.

    View pages per session based on channel

    As a bonus, you can also use the UserFeedback plugin to find out what your visitors really think about your website.

    This is something that analytics can’t track.

    UserFeedback popup poll example

    UserFeedback, built by the MonsterInsights team, lets you easily create popup widgets to collect real-time feedback about your website.

    You can ask questions like what information is missing from your site, why users didn’t buy a product, what type of content they are interested in, and more. This will help you better understand intent and improve engagement. There’s also a free version of UserFeedback that you can try out.

    For more details, you can see our guide on how to get quick feedback on your articles in WordPress.

    We hope this article helped you track user engagement in WordPress with Google Analytics. You may also want to see how to create an email newsletter the right way and our expert pick of the best SEO plugins and tools to optimize your website for search engines.

    If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

    The post How to Track User Engagement in WordPress with Google Analytics first appeared on WPBeginner.