Does SEO require coding?
Technically SEO does not require any coding knowledge or experience in order to be successful, but it can help. What this means is that SEO is a process that involves several aspects, and having an understanding of coding can help to achieve a better situation with regards to how much Google favors your website. SEO itself is the process of manipulating elements of a website in order to have Google recognize that site as being the best authority on a subject or topic. In order for Google to recognize this, several elements must all come together to be better than all the other websites out there hoping for the same top positions. While the overwhelming majority of the things that Google is looking for on a website involve text, and the answers to questions that people are asking in the search bar, it helps the process to make it easier for Google to understand your text by having an ability to see what kinds of coding mistakes may be hindering the process. While there are many systems that you can use on a website to present content, there are always those sites that are using a better system, and as a result the content is easier for Google and customers to digest. WordPress and other content management systems like it involve the use of templates that render pages on your website for display. Unless that WordPress theme was specifically built for you and your business, there is a good chance that it involves code that is designed to make it applicable to several different business types. It may have extraneous aspects that you can use if you choose, but can ignore if you do not feel they fit. All this code works together to ultimately present your website content to Google and to customers, and all this extra stuff can work to slow the site down. Having an understanding of code allows you to streamline things in a way that makes this presentation more effective and correct.
Can I Do SEO Without Coding?
Yes, you can do many of the aspects of SEO without having coding knowledge. Since Google is placing the majority of what it is looking for on the content that is on your site, then you can “do SEO effectively” by simply developing content that is positioned on the site as well as on other sites that link back to yours. If you have chosen a theme or system to make the website that is good enough, then the knowledge of coding in order to improve that system is not necessarily necessary to achieve success. Keep in mind that rankings are a competition, and all you have to do in order to outrank your competitors is “more than them.” This means that even if you have not done everything in the toolbox, you may have still done enough to gain higher rankings than they have. Since this is the true goal of SEO, then doing the things that you understand can cause the improvements that can possibly get you higher rankings than everyone else. Generally, this will be less effective the more competitive the industry is, and the more things that the competition is doing. If you only concentrate on providing the answers to questions customers are asking, then you are “doing good SEO.”
Can I Use Plugins To Improve Code?
Yes, you can technically use plugins on WordPress sites in order to improve the way your website displays, and provide more of what Google is looking for. As an example, when Google decided that the display of website content on a phone was gaining in importance, they developed a system called “AMP” which provided everything they were looking for. This system means “accelerated mobile pages” and represents a bunch of aspects that Google likes when it comes to displaying web pages quickly and in a way that provides fast information to customers. Google does not REQUIRE AMP, but it does PREFER it. You can attempt to go into each of your web pages and work on the code which will create an appropriate AMP display, or you can simply install a WordPress plugin which converts all your blog posts and pages to AMP when they are displaying on a mobile device. In this way, plugins can improve the display of your website the same way coding knowledge can.
Conclusion
Yes, you can do SEO without knowing coding. You can even do EFFECTIVE SEO without coding knowledge, as long as the competitive landscape means that you have done enough. Knowledge of coding can help to get better rankings, but it is not necessary if you are good enough at providing the other things that Google is looking for.
