This episode covers two essential topics for anyone running a WordPress site: backing up your data and optimizing your site for search engines. I also sit down with Shane Eubanks, an SEO professional with over 15 years of experience, to discuss his top WordPress SEO tips.
Back Up Everything
Before we talk about SEO, let us talk about protecting the work you have already done. Backups are one of those things everyone knows they should do but most people neglect until it is too late.
What you need to back up:
- Your computer. Use your operating system's built-in backup tools. On Mac, Time Machine handles this automatically. On Windows, use the built-in backup or a third-party solution. Mirror your boot drive periodically so you can recover quickly from a drive failure.
- Your WordPress site. Back up both your files and your database. The database contains all your posts, settings, and critical data. Use a plugin like UpdraftPlus to automate backups to cloud storage like Google Drive or Dropbox.
- Your hosting account. If you are running cPanel, create periodic full backups. Most hosts also offer their own backup tools. Use them.
- Your phone. iCloud handles this for Apple devices. For Android, use Google's built-in backup or a third-party solution.
- Critical documents. Scan your important personal documents and include them in your backup routine.
The golden rule of backups: keep at least one copy offsite. If your house floods, a backup sitting on a hard drive next to your computer is worthless. Cloud backup services handle this automatically. I recommend Backblaze for continuous cloud backup of your computer. It is affordable and has saved my skin more than once.
The Two Sides of SEO
Search engine optimization boils down to two things: helping Google understand what your page is about, and proving that your page is important enough to rank.
On-page SEO is about clarity. Make sure your target keyword appears in the title tag, the URL, the headings, and naturally within the content. This tells Google what the page is about. In 2026, on-page SEO also includes Core Web Vitals (page speed and user experience), proper heading hierarchy, internal linking, and structured data markup.
Off-page SEO is about authority. Who links to your page? What do they say when they link to it? Are people sharing your content on social media? Google uses these signals to determine whether your page deserves to rank above the competition.
The real secret of SEO is deceptively simple: create genuinely valuable content that people want to share and link to. Do the technical basics right, and the rest takes care of itself over time.
Shane Eubanks' Top WordPress SEO Tips
Shane Eubanks is a professional SEO who manages search strategy for a major corporation by day and builds his own WordPress sites at night. Here are the tips from our conversation that still hold up, updated for 2026.
1. Set Up Google Search Console
Register your site with Google Search Console immediately after launch. It takes less than five minutes and gives you invaluable data about how Google sees your site, including indexing issues, search queries driving traffic, and manual actions.
2. Install Google Analytics
Set up Google Analytics 4 and link it to Search Console. Together they give you a complete picture of how people find and interact with your site. Use the Google Site Kit plugin for easy integration with WordPress.
3. Use an SEO Plugin
Install Yoast SEO or Rank Math. These plugins help you optimize title tags, meta descriptions, and content for your target keywords. They also generate XML sitemaps automatically and handle technical SEO details you should not have to think about.
4. Generate an XML Sitemap
An XML sitemap tells search engines about every page on your site. Both Yoast and Rank Math create and update sitemaps automatically when you publish new content. Submit your sitemap URL in Google Search Console.
5. Use a Well-Coded Theme
Use a premium, well-maintained theme or framework. In 2026, excellent options include GeneratePress, Kadence, and Astra. These themes are lightweight, fast-loading, properly coded for SEO, and regularly updated for security. A well-coded theme handles much of the technical SEO automatically.
What Has Changed Since the Original Episode
Google's algorithm has evolved dramatically. The original episode discussed backlinks as the primary off-page ranking factor. While backlinks still matter, Google now weighs E-E-A-T (Experience, Expertise, Authoritativeness, Trustworthiness), user engagement signals, Core Web Vitals, and helpful content assessments. The emphasis has shifted firmly toward content quality and user experience.
Social signals play a larger role. Shane mentioned Google Plus in the original conversation. Google Plus is long gone, but social media's influence on SEO has only grown. Content that gets shared widely on social platforms generates natural backlinks and brand signals that Google recognizes.
The plugin landscape has changed. Many plugins mentioned in the original episode have been replaced by better alternatives. The core advice remains the same: use an SEO plugin, generate a sitemap, install analytics, and choose a quality theme.
Key Takeaways
- Back up your WordPress database and files automatically to cloud storage
- On-page SEO tells Google what your page is about; off-page SEO proves it deserves to rank
- Set up Google Search Console and Analytics before you do anything else
- Use an SEO plugin like Rank Math or Yoast to handle technical details
- Invest in a well-coded, fast-loading theme from a reputable developer
- Create genuinely valuable content that people want to share, and the SEO will follow
For more WordPress SEO strategies, listen to the Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast on Apple Podcasts.
