The WordPress SEO checklist we run on every build

WordPress powers a huge share of the business sites we rescue and rebuild. Out of the box it is SEO-neutral; with the right twelve settings it becomes a ranking machine. This is the checklist we run before every WordPress launch.

Foundation settings

1. Permalinks to post-name. Default numeric URLs waste your one chance at descriptive addresses. Settings - Permalinks - Post name. Do this before launch, never after.

2. WWW versus non-WWW, one redirect. Pick one canonical form and 301 the other. Both resolving is duplicate content by stealth.

3. SSL everywhere. HTTPS is table stakes; mixed-content warnings kill trust and rankings together.

4. Search Console verified, sitemap submitted. If Google cannot see your sitemap, the rest is folklore. Our builds ship with the sitemap generated and split per section.

Content structure

5. One H1 per page, descriptive titles. The title tag is still the strongest on-page signal. Put the buyer’s words in it, not the brand’s.

6. Image alt text and compression. Every image described, every image compressed. WordPress out of the box will happily serve 4 megabytes photos to a 3G phone.

7. Internal links between sibling pages. Your service pages should reference each other like a knowledgeable salesperson would - “if you need X, see our X page”.

Technical hygiene

8. Caching plugin, configured once. Page caching turns a 4-second WordPress load into under a second. One good plugin, not five.

9. Plugin diet. Every plugin is a liability and a load. If it is not earning its keep monthly, delete it - deactivated is not deleted.

10. Theme that does not fight you. Heavy multipurpose themes bundle hundreds of scripts. A lean theme plus a few honest plugins beats a Swiss Army knife every time.

11. 404 monitoring. Broken links leak authority. Search Console’s pages report shows every one; fix them monthly.

12. Updates on a schedule. Core, theme, plugins - monthly, tested, with backups taken first. An outdated WordPress is a slow-motion hack, and a hacked site loses every ranking it earned.

That is the checklist. It ships standard in every WordPress build we deliver and every care plan keeps it true after launch. Want your existing WordPress audited against it? The site teardown lists exactly what is missing.