This is a working checklist, not a theoretical overview. You will find specific tools, exact configuration steps, and clear targets for each item. Work through it section by section when setting up a new site, or use it as an audit checklist for an existing one.
Choose the Right SEO Plugin
For WordPress sites, your SEO plugin handles critical functions: XML sitemaps, meta tag management, schema markup, breadcrumbs, social preview images, and redirect management. The three serious options are Yoast SEO, RankMath, and SEOPress.
| Plugin | Free Tier | Pro Price | Standout Feature | Best For |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Yoast SEO | Solid, includes most basics | $99/year per site | Content readability analysis, trusted brand | Agencies, sites with editors who need guidance |
| RankMath | <Very generous, includes schema, redirects | $69/year (unlimited sites in Pro) | Built-in rank tracking, advanced schema, AI suggestions | Most new WordPress sites |
| SEOPress | Good, includes core features | $49/year (unlimited sites) | Best value for unlimited sites | Agencies with many client sites |
RankMath is the strongest choice for most new sites in 2025: its free tier includes schema types that Yoast charges for, it has built-in 404 monitoring and redirect management, and the Pro plan covers unlimited personal sites. Yoast remains a solid choice, especially for teams where editorial staff need guidance through content writing – its content analysis UI is more intuitive for non-technical users.
Schema Markup: Structured Data for Rich Results
Schema markup is code that tells Google exactly what your content is about – a product, a recipe, an event, an FAQ, a review. When Google understands your content type, it can display rich results in search: star ratings, prices, FAQ dropdowns, how-to steps, event dates. Rich results get significantly higher click-through rates.
Most Valuable Schema Types for Website Owners
| Schema Type | Rich Result It Enables | Who Needs It |
|---|---|---|
| Article | Article rich results, Discover carousels | Blogs, news sites |
| Product | Price, availability, reviews in search results | E-commerce stores |
| FAQPage | FAQ dropdowns in search results | Any site with FAQ sections |
| HowTo | Step-by-step guide results with images | Tutorial and guide sites |
| LocalBusiness | Knowledge panel, maps integration | Local businesses |
| Review/AggregateRating | Star ratings in search results | Review sites, products |
| Event | Event date, location in results | Event listings |
| BreadcrumbList | Breadcrumb trail shown in URL in results | All sites |
| WebSite (with SearchAction) | Sitelinks search box in results | Large sites |
RankMath handles most of these automatically based on your post type settings. For custom schema needs or e-commerce product schema beyond what plugins offer, implement JSON-LD directly in the page head. JSON-LD is Google’s preferred format because it does not mix with the visible page content:
Always test schema with Google’s Rich Results Test tool (search.google.com/test/rich-results) after implementation. Errors in schema can prevent rich results from appearing, and warnings should be resolved.
XML Sitemap Configuration
Your XML sitemap tells Google which pages exist on your site and when they were last modified. Without it, Google discovers pages only by following links – which means new content may take weeks to index.
What to Include and Exclude
- Include: Published posts, pages, product pages, category pages (if they have unique content), author pages (if they have content)
- Exclude: Admin pages, checkout pages, cart, account pages, thank-you pages, search results pages, paginated archives (optional), tag pages with thin content
- Set priority: Most plugins default to 0.5 for all pages. Set your most important pages (homepage, main product/service pages) to 0.8 or 1.0. This is a hint to crawlers, not a ranking factor.
- Update frequency: Accurate change frequencies help crawlers schedule revisits. Blog posts: monthly. Static pages: yearly. Homepage: daily.
Submit your sitemap URL (usually yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml or yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml) to Google Search Console under Indexing > Sitemaps. Also submit to Bing Webmaster Tools via bing.com/webmasters.
Robots.txt Best Practices
Robots.txt tells search engine crawlers which parts of your site to crawl and which to skip. It is not a security measure (any crawler can ignore it), but well-configured robots.txt conserves crawl budget on large sites and prevents indexing of admin areas.
For most WordPress sites, this is a reasonable starting robots.txt:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php
Disallow: /wp-login.php
Disallow: /?s=
Disallow: /search/
Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml
Always include your sitemap URL in robots.txt. Search engines use it as the definitive content map even when they ignore other directives. Never block CSS and JS files – Google needs to render your pages to assess them.
Core Web Vitals: The Technical UX Metrics Google Measures
Core Web Vitals are Google’s user experience metrics that directly affect your search rankings (as part of the page experience signal). They measure loading speed, interactivity, and visual stability.
| Metric | What It Measures | Good | Needs Improvement | Poor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) | How fast the main content loads | Under 2.5s | 2.5s – 4s | Over 4s |
| INP (Interaction to Next Paint) | How quickly the page responds to clicks/taps | Under 200ms | 200ms – 500ms | Over 500ms |
| CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) | How much page content shifts unexpectedly | Under 0.1 | 0.1 – 0.25 | Over 0.25 |
Check your scores using Google Search Console (Experience > Core Web Vitals for field data) and PageSpeed Insights (pagespeed.web.dev) for lab data. Field data reflects real user experience across different devices and connections – this is what Google uses for ranking.
Keyword Research Process
Keyword research is not about finding high-volume keywords. It is about finding keywords where you can rank and where ranking will bring you the right visitors. Volume means nothing if you cannot compete for the keyword or if the searchers are not your target audience.
Keyword Research Tools
| Tool | Monthly Cost | Best For | Free Tier |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs | $99-$199 | Comprehensive backlink and keyword data | Ahrefs Webmaster Tools (for your site) |
| Semrush | $99-$200 | Competitive research, PPC data | 10 queries/day |
| Ubersuggest | $12-$20 (or $120 lifetime) | Budget-friendly keyword research | Limited daily searches |
| Google Search Console | Free | Real search data for your existing site | Fully free |
| Google Keyword Planner | Free (requires Google Ads account) | Volume estimates, CPC data | Fully free |
| Keyword Surfer (Chrome extension) | Free | Quick volume check while browsing | Fully free |
Keyword Research Workflow
- Start with your existing GSC data – find queries where you are ranking on page 2 (positions 11-20). These are low-hanging fruit for quick wins with content updates.
- Map your content topics – what are the 5-10 main topics your site covers? Each topic becomes a content cluster with a pillar page and supporting articles.
- Research competitor keywords – enter your main competitor’s domain into Ahrefs or Semrush and see which keywords drive their traffic. This is the fastest way to find proven opportunities.
- Evaluate difficulty vs. opportunity – target keywords where your site’s domain authority is competitive. New sites should focus on long-tail keywords (3+ words) with lower difficulty scores first.
- Check search intent – look at the top 10 results for your target keyword. Are they blog posts, product pages, or tool pages? Your content type must match what Google already favors for that query.
On-Page SEO Checklist for Every Post and Page
Title Tags
- Keep under 60 characters to avoid truncation in search results
- Include your primary keyword, ideally near the beginning
- Make it compelling – it must earn the click, not just describe the page
- Each page should have a unique title tag
- Avoid keyword stuffing (repeating the keyword multiple times)
Meta Descriptions
- Keep under 155 characters (displayed limit varies by screen width)
- Include your primary keyword naturally – Google bolds it in results
- Write it as a pitch, not a description. What is in it for the searcher?
- Include a soft CTA (Learn how, See how, Find out)
- Every page should have a unique meta description
Heading Structure
- One H1 per page – usually the page title, include primary keyword
- H2s for main sections – include secondary keywords naturally
- H3s for subsections within H2s
- Do not skip heading levels (do not jump from H2 to H4)
- Headings should describe the section that follows – do not be clever, be clear
Image Alt Text and SEO
- Every image needs descriptive alt text that describes what is in the image
- Include keywords naturally in alt text for key images, but do not stuff
- File names should be descriptive (email-authentication-flow.png, not IMG_4892.jpg)
- Use WebP format for better compression
- Enable lazy loading for images below the fold
- Set explicit width and height attributes to prevent layout shifts (CLS)
Internal Linking Strategy
Internal links distribute link equity across your site, help search engines understand your content hierarchy, and keep visitors reading more of your content. A strong internal linking strategy can significantly improve rankings for pages that have good backlinks pointing at the domain but few links pointing at the specific page.
Internal Linking Best Practices
- Use descriptive anchor text that tells both readers and crawlers what the linked page is about. Never “click here.”
- Link to your most important pages most often – pillar pages, service pages, high-converting pages
- Add links from high-traffic pages to lower-traffic pages that deserve more visibility
- When publishing new content, go back and add links from older relevant posts
- Aim for 2-5 internal links per blog post as a baseline
Link Whisper for WordPress
Link Whisper (linkwhisper.com, around $77/year) automates internal link discovery. It scans your existing content and suggests relevant internal links as you write new posts. It also generates reports showing which pages have no internal links pointing to them (orphan pages) – a common SEO problem on sites with many posts.
Broken Links and Redirect Management
Finding Broken Links
Screaming Frog SEO Spider (free for up to 500 URLs, $259/year for unlimited) is the standard tool for technical site audits. Run it against your domain to find:
- Broken internal links (pages on your site linking to pages that return 404)
- Broken external links (links to other sites that are now dead)
- Redirect chains (page A redirects to B which redirects to C – each hop loses some link equity)
- Missing or duplicate meta descriptions and titles
- Missing alt text on images
- Canonicalization issues
301 vs 302 Redirects
| Redirect Type | HTTP Code | Meaning | Link Equity Passed | When to Use |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permanent redirect | 301 | This page has permanently moved to a new URL | ~90-99% | When the URL change is permanent (slug update, site migration) |
| Temporary redirect | 302 | This page is temporarily at a different URL | Minimal | A/B testing, temporary maintenance pages |
| See Other | 303 | Response to POST/DELETE, redirect to a GET | Minimal | After form submissions (to prevent resubmission) |
For SEO purposes, almost all redirects you create should be 301 permanent redirects. Using 302 when you mean 301 is a common mistake that prevents link equity from passing to the destination page.
Local SEO Basics
If your business serves customers in a specific geographic area, local SEO should be a priority. Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is the foundation.
- Google Business Profile: Claim and verify your listing. Keep name, address, and phone (NAP) consistent across the profile and your website. Add photos regularly. Respond to all reviews.
- Local schema: Add LocalBusiness schema to your homepage with your address, phone, hours, and geographic service area.
- Citation building: Ensure your NAP is consistent across Yelp, Yellow Pages, Bing Places, Apple Maps, and industry-specific directories.
- Location pages: For businesses serving multiple areas, create dedicated location pages with genuinely unique content about each location. Do not just swap the city name.
- Reviews: Ask satisfied customers for Google reviews. Volume and recency of reviews are local ranking factors.
International SEO: Hreflang
If your site serves multiple languages or regional variants (en-US vs en-GB, for example), hreflang tags tell Google which version to show to users in each region. Without them, Google might show the wrong language version to users or split rankings across versions.
Hreflang is implemented either in the page head, in your sitemap, or via HTTP headers. The basic pattern for each page:
Each page should reference all its alternate language versions, including itself. If you have 3 language versions, each version should have 3 hreflang tags. The x-default tag specifies the fallback version for unmatched regions.
Technical SEO Audit Process
Run a full technical audit when you launch a new site, after a major redesign or migration, and quarterly for ongoing maintenance.
- Crawl the site with Screaming Frog. Export all URLs. Note any 404s, redirect chains, and duplicate content.
- Check Search Console for crawl errors, coverage issues, and manual actions.
- Review Core Web Vitals by page group in Search Console.
- Check index coverage – search for site:yourdomain.com in Google. Compare count to your actual page count. Large discrepancies mean indexing issues.
- Test mobile usability with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. Google indexes mobile versions of pages first.
- Check HTTPS – all pages should load on HTTPS. HTTP pages should 301 redirect to HTTPS. No mixed content warnings.
- Verify canonical tags – every page should have a canonical tag pointing to its preferred URL. Check for self-referencing canonicals on all pages.
- Check structured data with Google’s Rich Results Test for key page types.
Content Optimization Workflow
Publishing content is the easy part. Keeping it competitive is the ongoing work.
- Identify declining pages in GSC – filter Performance by date comparison. Pages with 20%+ drop in clicks over 90 days need attention.
- Check competitors – search your target keyword and read the top 3-5 results. What are they covering that you are not? What angle or depth do they have that yours lacks?
- Update, do not just add – rewrite weak sections, update outdated statistics, add new sections that address gaps, update the publish date.
- Add or improve internal links to and from the updated page.
- Request re-indexing via Search Console URL Inspection after significant updates.
SEO Monitoring and Reporting
Effective SEO monitoring catches problems early and shows you what is working. Here is a practical monitoring setup:
| Frequency | What to Check | Tool |
|---|---|---|
| Daily | Manual actions, security issues | Search Console alerts |
| Weekly | Click and impression trends, top query changes | Search Console Performance |
| Monthly | Ranking changes for target keywords, page performance comparison | Ahrefs/Semrush position tracking |
| Quarterly | Full technical audit, content audit, backlink profile review | Screaming Frog + Ahrefs |
Set up Google Search Console email alerts for significant traffic drops. Combine this with uptime monitoring (covered in Part 16 of this series) so you are notified immediately when something goes wrong rather than discovering it during your weekly review.
Complete SEO Setup Checklist
- SEO plugin installed and configured (RankMath, Yoast, or SEOPress)
- XML sitemap generated and submitted to Search Console and Bing
- Robots.txt reviewed and configured
- Google Search Console verified
- HTTPS active across all pages (no mixed content warnings)
- Core Web Vitals checked – LCP under 2.5s, INP under 200ms, CLS under 0.1
- Schema markup implemented for relevant page types
- Title tags and meta descriptions written for all key pages
- Heading hierarchy correct (one H1, logical H2/H3 structure)
- Image alt text on all images
- Internal linking strategy in place (minimum 2-5 internal links per post)
- No broken internal links (verified with Screaming Frog)
- Keyword research complete with content calendar planned
- GSC and GA4 linked for combined reporting
- Quarterly technical audit scheduled
Series Navigation
This post is part of the Website Owner’s Toolkit – a 21-part series covering every essential service your website needs.
Return to the series hub: Essential Services Every Website Owner Needs (Complete Guide)
Related posts in this series:
