On May 27, 2023, WordPress celebrates 20 years of extraordinary growth. It powers approximately 43% of all websites and is the leading content management system by far.

How did WordPress achieve this milestone and will it be able to continue as arguably the most successful open source project ever?

About This Article

This article was initially conceived as a comparison between Duda, WordPress, and Wix.

However, as I spoke to the developers and people behind the scenes at each company I realized that each platform was the best at solving the problems they set out to solve.

So, what began as one article about three platforms became a three-part series about each platform individually.

Today we look at why WordPress is popular with web design agencies, search marketers, enterprise publishers and ecommerce sites, to name a few successful uses of WordPress.

This article features Josepha Haden Chomphosy (LinkedIn), the Executive Director of WordPress, as well as others who partner with WordPress, to discuss why WordPress is so successful.

WordPress Democratized the Internet

Previous to WordPress one had to spend a small fortune for an enterprise Content Management System (CMS) to obtain what WordPress gives away for free. The alternative was to learn how to code or at the very least to know how to use software like Dreamweaver.

The launch of WordPress democratized online publishing, and arguably became the single most important innovation to spring from the Internet.  The positive economic impact on millions of people worldwide cannot be overstated.

A strong case could be made that WordPress, a free open source software, is the most important innovation of the Internet age today.

Secret to Success: Make it Easy to Use

What makes drove the success of WordPress is the fact that it is purposely designed to be easy to install and get publishing fast. This is literally a guiding principle of virtually every decision made in the development of WordPress.

This principle is laid out in an official statement of the WordPress philosophy:

“Great software should work with little configuration and setup. WordPress is designed to get you up and running and fully functional in no longer than five minutes. You shouldn’t have to battle to use the standard functionality of WordPress.

We work hard to make sure that every release is in keeping with this philosophy. We ask for as few technical details as possible during the setup process as well as providing full explanations of anything we do ask.”

Underlying their philosophy is the dedication to freedom.

The webpage on philosophy promises WordPress users:

• “The freedom to run the program, for any purpose.
• The freedom to study how the program works, and change it to make it do what you wish.
• The freedom to redistribute.
• The freedom to distribute copies of your modified versions to others.”

Launched Millions of Businesses

This focus on simplicity, freedom and fostering an ecosystem of innovation has, over the course of the past 20 years, resulted in the launch of millions of websites and the success of millions of businesses around the world.

Tom Zsomborgi, Chief Business Officer at managed web hosting company, Kinsta, had this to say about the power of WordPress:

“Smaller merchants benefit tremendously from WordPress. For them, budget is often limited when it comes to building and maintaining a site, not all can afford a developer.

WordPress gives them the software for free without the need to pay a monthly fee for using it, which includes the free WooCommerce ecommerce plugin that unlocks ecommerce capabilities.

Tens of thousands of plugins give the freedom and flexibility to merchants to tailor WordPress for their custom needs.

Plus it doesn’t require a steep learning curve. Learning how to use WordPress is easy.

But all these benefits attract not just smaller merchants but also big enterprises and huge media companies, too.

I’ve seen many times a store starting with one product turning into a big e-commerce store with thousands of offerings in just a few years or a blogger sharing her thoughts and turning that little blog into an industry news site with millions of visitors.”

WordPress Is  Adaptable

A major reason why WordPress is so popular is that it is adaptable for seemingly any use case, from simple blogging to ecommerce and even enterprise level publishing.

Leading websites such as TechCrunch, Southern Bancorp, Vogue, Sony Music, The Nieman Journalism Lab at Harvard University, all use WordPress.

Jason Cross, SVP of Digital Presence and Commerce, Newfold Digital (parent company of Bluehost) offered his observations on the remarkable adaptability of the WordPress publishing platform.

He shared:

“WordPress delivers broad compatibility with existing technologies and rapid compatibility with emerging ones.

WordPress’ greatest advantage is its flexibility and the way you can incorporate practically any imaginable feature through plugins.

If a feature does not yet exist, the open platform allows web developers to build custom functionality.

Managed WordPress, in turn, bridges the best of open-source and proprietary CMS by providing powerful all-in-one solutions and the relative ease many closed platforms offer, but with significantly more control and long-term reliability via open-source software and data formats.

All of the data and code on your site is yours; you can take it with you as you upgrade to more powerful platforms, switch domains, make a backup or move the data to another platform or service.

Since WordPress is portable, you can start out on an affordable shared hosting plan with a low barrier to entry given the cost, flexibility and functionality available.

Once your site picks up in popularity, you can upgrade to a Managed Hosting plan for additional peace of mind and a much of the same functionality a closed platform provides.

Many hosts, Bluehost included, are actively working to simplify the website setup journey.”

Managed WordPress hosting takes care of the technical overhead typically associated with using WordPress, allowing publishers and ecommerce stores to focus on publishing and selling products.

Factors such as site speed, automatic backups, hacking defense, software updates and maintenance are all handled by the managed WordPress hosting provider.

That a web host can configure WordPress to provide an experience similar to a closed source system is an example of the remarkable adaptability of the WordPress publishing platform.

Interview With Executive Director of WordPress

We interviewed Josepha Haden Chomphosy, the Executive Director of WordPress, to explore why WordPress is the first choice for so many publishers and developers around the world.

WordPress was initially known as a blogging platform but it’s actually a good platform for ecommerce, as simple or as complex as is needed.

What kinds of merchants benefit most from creating in WordPress?

WordPress’ mission is to democratize publishing, meaning merchants of all sizes and types can benefit from creating with it.

Whether they use WordPress to build their entire business—from stores and customer management to marketing and communications—or as part of a suite of tools, they get more control and ownership of their brand over time.

However, if I were to choose a single group that benefits the most, it would have to be small to medium business owners. They can get high-quality sites and tools at costs that work for any business budget while ensuring that their software is here to stay.

Can WordPress scale with a business?

“The versatility and freedom of tools offered by WordPress are key advantages for businesses of all sizes over other solutions.

It’s software that gives you everything you need but lets you remove anything you don’t want, no matter your size or what you’re doing.

But on top of being flexible, it is absolutely scalable.

WordPress is a high-performance platform with strict security standards that powers millions of sites ranging from blogs to internationally recognized corporations and media outlets, attracting millions of daily page views.

This demonstrates how powerful and trusted WordPress is as an open source content management system (CMS) and its scalability to meet the needs of the highest volume, most security-conscious, and most demanding digital properties.”

What is the cost-benefit of a platform like WordPress versus closed-source solutions?

“While owning a copy of the WordPress software is free and requires no licensing fees, like any site solution, there are some costs associated with hosting, domain registration, and premium upgrades.

Yet, the cost-benefit of choosing WordPress lies in long-term predictability and ownership.

No matter what platform you choose to create your online presence, it can take a few days to get started.

And after that, it can take you a few months or years to build your audience.

The benefit of choosing WordPress is that you own all that hard work (and that hard-won audience attention) for as long as you want to keep your site.

We have no centralized content recommendation algorithms, no claims of ownership over your published work, and no terms of service changes that can cut you off from the effort you put in.

It’s yours. And that’s it.”

How does managed hosting add value to WordPress?

From the outside, managed hosting of WordPress has the same benefits as any hosted proprietary solution—namely, the convenience of not managing your own server.

As a bonus, content and configurations made on a managed host are still yours to keep. So you can move your sites from a GDPR-conscious host to a sustainability-conscious host if you want and not have to start over from scratch each time.

WordPress Creates Opportunity

WordPress enables people to create a business and livelihood online.

But it also helps create thousands of jobs around the world, from web hosts and domain registrars to theme and plugin developers, and web developers whose jobs exist because WordPress exists.

WordPress comes with a massive community of supporters that help make anything possible with it.

Josepha had this to say about the WordPress community:

“WordPress creates jobs around the world. I’m thinking of web developers, plugin developers, and so on.

The WordPress ecosystem creates opportunities that no other closed system can claim.

WordPress owes so much of its success to the open source community, and one of the key elements that being open source gives us is that we are open by design, which lets us be inclusive by design.

Contributors explore problems, test solutions, and teach each other all in public, creating an environment of innovation for the software and a vibrant town square mentality for the people who contribute to it.

By staying true to the guiding principles of free, open source software, we can recognize that ‘good ideas can come from anywhere‘ applies to all parts of our ecosystem, including who can participate and thrive in it.

This understanding led us to create the Five for the Future program and initiatives, ensuring the software’s continuity and the future sustainability of the project and its ecosystem.”

WordPress Is Here to Stay

What makes WordPress a viable product is that it has  a strong community supporting it, which means that it is here to stay.

The Five for the Future is a program that encourages WordPress related businesses to give back to the community in order to help keep it healthy and viable.

According to the WordPress Five for the Future webpage, contributing can take many forms:

“Anyone can contribute to Five for the Future.

Many contributors focus on the technical side of WordPress, such as core development, but there are also teams working in other areas like marketing, translation, training, and community.

There is always a way to get involved, whatever your skill set.”

WordPress is the most popular publishing platform today with an ecosystem of support that can help anyone start a site and grow their business, no matter what kind of business it is.

It has transformed the face of the Internet and is the reason for millions of jobs. The websites published on the platform are quite easily a part of everyone’s life today, even if a reader discovering something new doesn’t know it.

Happy 20th birthday, WordPress!

Featured image by Shutterstock/Ink Drop

When it comes to acquiring high-quality backlinks, SEOs are always looking for new and innovative ways to land killer links that their competitors can’t easily replicate. Event link building is a unique way to do exactly that.

Building event links is relatively easy. But it can be difficult for beginners, as it requires an understanding of SEO and event planning in some cases. In this article, we will look at event link building and how to get started in six easy steps.

Event link building is all about getting links to your website by participating in local, national, or global events. These links can be obtained in two ways, either by hosting an event or sponsoring one.

As an event host, you can obtain links from third-party event sites like Eventbrite, blogs, and press. These sites are designed to feature both in-person and online global events like conferences and seminars.

By sponsoring events, you can earn a link to your website from the event site itself. 

Not only are event links earned, making them “Google-approved,” but they are also highly relevant (topically but also geographically if you’re the event host).

Building event links is a powerful strategy for improving search engine rankings, diversifying your backlink profile, and promoting brand awareness.

Event link building allows you to build super high-quality links from not only the biggest names in your industry but also editorial links from local and national press. 

This will improve your website’s perceived authority (with both competitors and Google). Also, event links offer diversity more than traditional link building techniques like guest blogging.

You can also boost your local SEO game by hosting or sponsoring geographically relevant events. Acquiring links from local companies, venues, and press can significantly improve your rankings for local queries.

Hosting an event is one of the best link building strategies. However, it takes a lot of preparation, planning, time and, of course, money.

A much easier (but just as powerful) way to build event links is through event sponsorships.

Sponsoring different types of events depends on your industry. The following are some examples of events that may work for you:

• Concerts
• Associations or clubs
• Event meetups
• Conferences
• Seminars and workshops
• Training seminars
• Sporting events
• Various academic events and lectures

Of course, to get started, you will need to both find and vet potential events to see if they are worth investing your time and money into. There are two things you can do to find great events to sponsor.

First, you can start by focusing on industry-specific events. There’s no doubt you are already familiar with several of the most popular events in your industry. Some good examples for our industry are brightonSEO and SaaStr. 

Most events will have a page dedicated to sponsors where you can register to sponsor an upcoming event. Here’s an example from the Engage conference (formally SearchFest).

As you most likely already have an understanding of the quality and expected attendance of these events, it cuts down on the time needed to find and vet them. 

However, do note that sticking only to popular events in your industry will limit the number of high-quality event links you can acquire for your website.

So you’ll want to start looking to sponsor events that may be outside the scope of your industry. These may fall into some of the categories listed above (such as concerts or sporting events) that are happening locally. 

The easiest way to find these is to use Google with search operators. For example, to find different events happening in your area, you can use (events AND football club) Newcastle Upon Tyne.

With Ahrefs’ SEO Toolbar, you can see metrics for each resulting website right in Google search, including the Domain Rating, referring domains, and organic traffic. This can help you to quickly vet potential websites and see which are worth looking into further.

Remember, the goal is to build links from quality events. Don’t look to sponsor just anything and everything. A popular event will have more people linking to it, increasing link equity. Look for events that are already popular with:

• The media.
• Influencers and bloggers.
• Your target audiences/customers.
• Other industry leaders.

One quick pro tip: be sure to add a “sponsored events” page to your own website. 

This should list the events you sponsor. Do include a section below informing visitors of the types of events you are willing to sponsor and contact details for event organizers looking for sponsorship.

This is a great way to bring you relevant events and save time researching further events. 

Although sponsoring events takes the hassle out of planning and running an event, hosting events is a great way to get your name out in your industry. 

It builds brand awareness (and links) and can also help relay your values and mission to your audience. For example, by hosting local charity events, you can show that your company is philanthropic and cares about the community. 

You don’t have to be a huge brand with unlimited funding to host events. Even small businesses and “solopreneurs” can host small local events to earn awesome links from local companies and the press. 

Here are some tips on how you can go the extra mile to promote your events to ensure they acquire as many high-quality links as possible.

1. List events on your website

Create an events page on your website dedicated to any upcoming events you are hosting.

Be sure to list all the events with all the relevant information, including who or where to get in touch for tickets. Getting the searcher to register is the next step after getting the initial click from the SERP. 

Your event page should include the following key details:

• Title of the event
• Description of the topics covered
• Venue of the event
• Full event schedule
• List of prominent figures such as speakers for conferences or judges for competitions
• Provide attendees with a compelling reason to attend
• Proof from social media
• Effective call to action

2. Implement event schema on all listings

When searching for “events near me,” Google search will display the relevant results. Some rich results in the SERPs show relevant information, including the event’s location, date, and time. 

By adding code to your event page, you can organize your webpage content and add specific details about your event using Google’s event structured data markup. 

Not only does implementing event schema allow your events to be eligible for display on Google’s event experience, but it also increases the chance of your event being discovered.

In fact, Google states that through event structured data, “Eventbrite saw a 100% increase in the typical year-over-year growth of traffic from Google Search.”

Your events page should include an event schedule that can be shown in Google’s event experience to drive registration.

There are a number of ways to implement structured data. If you’re using WordPress as your CMS, the Event Schema WordPress plugin is the quickest and easiest way to add event schema to your site.

If you’re not using WordPress, you can also use Google’s Data Highlighter to mark up your pages.

3. Add listings to third-party event sites

Most event organizers only list their events on bigger platforms like Eventbrite. Needless to say, this is not the only event website out there. 

Sites like brownpapertickets.com, petaluma360.com, punchbowl.com, and more all host event listings.

Note that most third-party sites already have schema built into their listings, so you don’t need to worry about it for these sites.

4. Craft an effective outreach strategy

Once your events are listed and ready to be promoted, you need to develop an effective outreach strategy. 

Find bloggers, websites, and social media influencers who may be interested in your event. 

You can use Ahrefs’ Content Explorer to find and reach out to websites and authors who are likely to promote your event. 

For example, to identify people writing about SEO events, you can enter something like "SEO" AND ("conferences" OR "events"). Use the “In title” path to only show the most relevant pages.

Toggle between “authors” and “websites” to find relevant people to reach out to.

Tell people why they should share your event with a concise and clear personalized message. Links to event pages should be descriptive, and you should also explain why their readers will benefit from your event. 

5. Promote your event further

You can take event promotion one step further in several ways. Not only can you utilize digital PR techniques, but you can also use social media to create more brand awareness and drive additional traffic to your event listings. These include:

• Creating Facebook events.
• Adding events’ links to your social profiles.
• Promoting your events through your email list.

All of these methods can successfully build some buzz around your event. 

A teaser campaign is another great method of building buzz. This means adding a secondary event page on your website that can attract more links.

Using a “coming soon” landing page and social media graphics is one of the easiest and most popular ways to start a teaser campaign. Don’t tell too much, but point out the exciting things that will happen during the event. 

6. Use paid promotions close to the event

In the days leading up to your event, social media can work wonders to build buzz since many users check their newsfeeds daily. Getting more exposure for your event can be achieved through paid social media posts. 

Although many attendees will #doitforthegram during the event, research from Buffer shows that “there were nearly as many posts leading up to an event as there were during the event itself 40% and 42% of total posts, respectively).”

This means just as many people will be keen to share the buzz around your event before it happens and when it actually happens. By building anticipation for your event in the days leading up to it, you can promote additional, last-minute ticket sales. 

This number can be even higher by boosting organic social media buzz with paid ads and posts, resulting in more likes, shares, retweets, and links.

Final thoughts

Hosting and sponsoring local, national, and even global events is a relatively easy way to build high-quality backlinks. Plus, by hosting an event, you can build links that your competitors can’t easily replicate. 

However, you must plan and execute your events carefully to build successful connections. By carefully selecting events to host and sponsor, you can build links, promote your brand, company message, and values, and become an authority within your industry. 

Got questions? Ping me on Twitter. 

Google Search Advocate Daniel Waisberg recently presented an in-depth video on bulk data exports, a feature that allows you to export, store, and analyze Search Console data.

This novel solution surpasses capabilities and makes managing enormous data volumes a breeze.

Here’s how.

An Overview of Current Data-Exporting Solutions

Before introducing the bulk data export feature, Waisberg recapped the existing methods to export Search Console data.

The most accessible way is through the user interface. You can directly export up to 1,000 rows of data with a simple click on the export button.

Looker Studio and the API provide solutions for people requiring larger data volumes. Both channels allow you to retrieve performance data, URL inspection data, sitemaps, and site data, with an export limit of up to 50,000 rows.

Introducing Bulk Data Export

The final and most advanced method to export data from Search Console is bulk data export.

This unique feature lets you extract vast amounts of data via Google BigQuery without row limits. This is beneficial for large websites with numerous pages or extensive traffic.

Waisberg states, “A bulk data export is a scheduled daily export of your Search Console performance data. It includes all the data used by Search Console to generate performance reports. Data is exported to Google BigQuery, where you can run SQL queries for advanced data analysis or even export it to another system.”

Setting Up Bulk Data Export

Given its complexity and power, Bulk Data Export requires existing knowledge of the Google Cloud Platform, BigQuery, and Search Console.

Be aware that leveraging this tool might incur costs, so it’s crucial to consider the potential charges before setting up a new export.

Setting up a bulk data export involves Google Cloud and Search Console.

Step One: Google Cloud

First, switch to the relevant project in Google Cloud and ensure the BigQuery API is enabled.

1. Open your Google Cloud Console and switch to the project you’re exporting data to.
2. Navigate to APIs & Services > Enabled APIs & Services, and enable BigQuery API if it isn’t.
3. Navigate to IAM and Admin, click + GRANT ACCESS, and paste [email protected] in New Principals.
4. Grant two roles to this account: BigQuery Job User and BigQuery Data Editor, then Save.

Step Two: Search Console

In Search Console, complete the following steps:

1. Navigate to Settings > Bulk data export.
2. Input your Google Cloud project ID into the Cloud project ID field.
3. Choose a dataset name. The default is ‘searchconsole’.
4. Select a location for your dataset. This can’t be easily changed later.
5. Click Continue to start the exports. The first export will happen up to 48 hours after successful configuration.
6. After table creation, set a partition expiration if needed but avoid schema alterations.
7. For historical data preceding the initial setup, use Search Console API or reports.

Monitoring & Managing Data Exports

The new data export system has a built-in feature that lets you monitor data exports using BigQuery. For example, you can track exports using an export log table.

Note that data will accumulate indefinitely unless you set an expiration time. The export process will continue until manually deactivated or if Search Console faces issues.

In case of any errors, Search Console will notify all property owners.

In Summary

In conclusion, the bulk data export feature can enhance how you manage large amounts of Search Console data.

Stay tuned for upcoming content from Google that will delve deeper into processing data after setting up export and best practices for extracting data from BigQuery.

Source: YouTube

Featured image generated by the author using Midjourney.