Search engine optimization on WordPress

Settings to check first

1. Search engine visibility. In Settings, Reading, the box "Discourage search engines from indexing this site" must be unticked. Developers tick it during building and forget.
2. Permalinks. Choose "Post name" so URLs read /service-name/ and not /?p=123.
3. Site address. Pick https and either www or non-www, and redirect the rest.
4. Time zone and language. They affect dates in search results.

SEO plugin

1. Install one SEO plugin, not two. Yoast SEO, Rank Math and SEOPress all do the job.
2. Set title and description templates for posts, pages, categories and products.
3. Generate the XML sitemap and submit it in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.
4. Noindex thin archives. Tag, date and author archives on small sites add duplicate pages.
5. Fill in organisation details so the plugin outputs correct schema.

Speed

1. Choose a light theme. Multipurpose themes with page builders load a lot of unused code.
2. Compress images and serve WebP. Set the right dimensions before uploading.
3. Use caching, from your host or one caching plugin.
4. Audit plugins. Each one adds code and risk. Remove any you can live without.

Security and upkeep

1. Update core, theme and plugins, and back up. Hacked sites get spam pages injected and can be flagged in search results.

Content structure

Use pages for services and evergreen content, posts for articles and news. Give each a single H1, the title. Link between related posts and from posts to service pages. Use categories sparingly and write a short introduction on each category page.

WooCommerce

Write unique product descriptions, set up product schema through your SEO plugin, control which filtered URLs get indexed and keep out-of-stock products live when they will return.

Common WordPress SEO problems

• Demo content and "Hello world" posts left indexed
• Attachment pages indexed for every image
• Staging site indexed alongside the live one
• Dozens of plugins slowing every page
• A page builder producing heavy pages that fail Core Web Vitals

WordPress or a custom build?

WordPress is a sound choice when you want a huge range of ready features and are prepared to maintain it. For small business sites that need a few specific features, a lean custom build on PHP and MySQL is faster and has less to update. That is the approach we take in our dynamic website packages. We also audit and fix WordPress sites under the SEO plan.