WordPress SEO is primarily about correct configuration rather than extensive custom development. The platform’s flexibility is both its strength and its source of problems — themes and plugins can introduce SEO-breaking issues that aren’t immediately visible but significantly impact rankings.
WordPress Default Settings to Address
Reading settings: WordPress has an option to “discourage search engines from indexing this site” (Settings → Reading → Search Engine Visibility). A newly installed WordPress site often has this checked. Verify it’s unchecked — this setting adds <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> to every page on the site.
Permalink structure: Default WordPress permalinks use query strings: ?p=123. This is terrible for SEO — no keywords in URL, not human-readable. Change to Post Name: /sample-post/ or a date-based structure if freshness matters: /%year%/%postname%/.
Category and tag archives: WordPress generates archive pages for every category and tag. With many tags, this creates hundreds of thin pages. Options:
- Noindex thin tag archives
- Use a limited, meaningful category taxonomy and avoid tags for SEO-indexed content
Author archives: If a blog has one author, the author archive (/author/[name]/) duplicates the blog index. Noindex author archives for single-author sites or canonical them to the homepage.
Date archives: /2024/05/post-name/ URL structure creates duplicate content via date archives (/2024/, /2024/05/). Avoid date-based URLs if not necessary; if used, noindex date archive pages.
Yoast SEO vs. Rank Math vs. AIOSEO
All three major SEO plugins provide similar core functionality. Configuration matters more than plugin choice.
Core features all three provide:
- Title tag and meta description templates per post type
- XML sitemap generation
- Canonical tag management
- Basic schema markup (Article, BreadcrumbList, Organization)
- Social meta tags (Open Graph, Twitter Card)
- Robots tag control per post/page
Yoast SEO: Most established, largest user base, comprehensive documentation. Slightly heavier than alternatives.
Rank Math: More features in free tier, faster performance, more schema types included. Aggressive upselling in admin UI.
AIOSEO: Clean UI, good for beginners. Enterprise features in paid tier.
Configuration priorities regardless of plugin:
- Set default title tag templates for each post type:
%post_title% - %site_name%for posts,%category_title% | %site_name%for archives - Enable XML sitemaps and submit to Search Console
- Verify canonical tags are generating correctly
- Set homepage Open Graph image and description
WordPress and Core Web Vitals
WordPress Core Web Vitals challenges are primarily theme and plugin-related:
LCP issues:
- Full-size images served without compression or format conversion (JPEG when WebP would be 30% smaller)
- Hero images loaded without
fetchpriority="high"orpreloadhints - Render-blocking CSS from unused theme styles
INP issues:
- Contact form 7 and similar plugins loading full JavaScript even on pages without forms
- Elementor/Divi page builder scripts loading on every page
- WooCommerce scripts loading on non-shop pages
CLS issues:
- Google Fonts loaded via web font API causing FOUT
- Ad blocks without reserved dimensions
- Cookie consent banners appearing above content
Performance plugins: WP Rocket, Perfmatters, LiteSpeed Cache (for LiteSpeed servers) — handle JavaScript/CSS minification, image lazy loading, and caching. These address symptoms; root cause fixes (removing unused plugins, optimizing theme code) are more durable.
WordPress Multisite SEO
WordPress multisite runs multiple sites from a single installation. SEO considerations:
Subdomain vs. subdirectory: Subdomain multisite (uk.example.com) allows independent geotargeting; subdirectory multisite (example.com/uk/) consolidates domain authority. Same trade-offs as international SEO architecture decisions.
Shared vs. independent SEO plugins: SEO plugins can be network-activated (single configuration for all sites) or site-activated (independent configuration per site). International multisite networks benefit from independent SEO plugin activation with site-specific configuration.
Cross-site canonical issues: On multisite, ensure pages don’t inadvertently canonical to the wrong site in the network.
Common WordPress SEO Mistakes
Using noindex on pages while building: Sites that are noindexed during development and never properly re-indexed. Use a staging environment with password protection instead of sitewide noindex.
Plugin canonicals conflicting: Two active SEO plugins can generate conflicting canonical tags. Ensure only one SEO plugin is active and managing canonical tags.
Redirection plugin dependency: Using redirect plugins for 100s of redirects is fine; using them for critical site architecture redirects creates plugin dependency. Important redirects (domain migration, URL restructuring) should be implemented at the server level.
WooCommerce duplicate content: WooCommerce generates multiple URLs for product variations, sorting parameters, and cart/checkout pages. Configure canonical tags for all WooCommerce page types and noindex cart, checkout, and account pages.
Autogenerated image alt text: WordPress generates empty alt text for images when alt text isn’t provided. Images without descriptive alt text miss both accessibility requirements and image SEO opportunities.