SEO

WordPress Technical SEO Checklist (Step-by-Step)

Technical SEO can sometimes be very tricky. You publish strong content and still wonder why you don’t rank well in search results. And many times, the issue sits behind the scenes. Technical problems can stop search engines from finding, reading, and showing your WordPress site.

For this reason, we have compiled a step-by-step checklist that helps you spot common technical SEO issues. 

1. Check Your Site’s Visibility

First, you need to make sure your site is visible to search engines. Go to Settings → Reading in your WordPress dashboard. Check that the “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” box is not selected.

You can also run a quick test in Google. Type site:yourdomain.com. If your pages show up, that means search engines can access your site.

2. Set Up HTTPS Security

Google prioritizes secure sites only. For this reason, you need to look for the padlock icon in your browser’s address bar when visiting your site. And if you don’t have a padlock, that means you need an SSL certificate.

Most good hosting companies offer free SSL certificates. You can contact your host to set this up. Then use a plugin like Really Simple SSL to handle the switch from HTTP to HTTPS.

3. Find and Fix Broken Links

Broken links very often hurt both user experience and SEO. They stop search engines from discovering all your content.

Install the free Broken Link Checker plugin from AIOSEO or another similar tool. It scans your site and lets you fix bad links right from your dashboard. 

4. Check for Duplicate Site Versions

Your site might exist in multiple versions:

• https://example.com
• https://www.example.com
• http://example.com
• http://www.example.com

This confuses search engines. But there is an easy fix. Just pick one version and redirect the others to it. The All-in-One SEO plugin can help set canonical URLs, so Google knows which version to index.

5. Create SEO-Friendly URLs

Good URLs help search engines know what your content is about. They should be:

• Short and descriptive
• Include relevant keywords
• Use hyphens between words
• Avoid uppercase letters
• Skip unnecessary numbers

Bad URL: example.com/p=123

Good URL: example.com/wordpress-seo-checklist

6. Optimize for Mobile

Google now uses mobile-first indexing. In simple terms, Google reviews your mobile site before your desktop site.

This means your mobile design matters a lot. Just run the Google Mobile-Friendly Test tool to see if your site passes. And if your result has a problem, there is an easy fix. Just grab a responsive WordPress theme that fits all screen sizes. Some themes may look great on computers but break on phones.

7. Speed Up Your Site

Slow sites rank poorly. Test your speed with GTmetrix or PageSpeed Insights.

Easy ways to speed up your site:

• Use a caching plugin like WP Rocket
• Optimize your images
• Minify CSS and JavaScript files
• Choose a fast hosting company

8. Improve Internal Linking

Help search engines find all your content through proper internal linking. Link related posts and pages to each other using descriptive anchor text.

The AIOSEO Link Assistant feature can find link opportunities and automatically add links to your old content.

9. Create XML Sitemaps

Sitemaps tell search engines about all the pages on your site. They help with faster indexing.

All-in-One SEO creates sitemaps automatically. You can then submit them to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. And this will enable the search engines to find your content faster.

10. Add Schema Markup

Schema markup helps search engines better show your content in search results. It can give you those fancy rich snippets with stars, images, and extra info.

AIOSEO makes adding schema easy. You can set up markup for articles, products, recipes, and more without any coding skills.

11. Optimize Your Robots.txt File

This file tells search engines which parts of your site to crawl or ignore. It helps them focus on your important content.

You can edit robots.txt through AIOSEO. Block search engines from crawling admin areas and other unimportant sections to save your “crawl budget” for the pages that matter.

WordPress SEO Plugin Comparison: Yoast vs Rank Math

You’ve probably heard about Yoast SEO and Rank Math if you are looking to boost your WordPress site’s search rankings. Yoast has been the leader for many years. They have over 10 million active installs. But Rank Math is catching up fast with 3 million installs. Let’s compare these popular plugins to help you pick the right one for your site.

Free Features

Right out of the box, Rank Math packs a ton of free features that would cost extra with Yoast:

• SEO titles and descriptions
• Social media descriptions
• Analysis for up to 5 keywords per page
• XML sitemap creation
• Local SEO schema
• Image optimization
• Internal link suggestions
• 404 error monitoring
• Redirect options (301 and 302)
• Basic WooCommerce SEO

 You can also turn these modules on or off as needed. Yoast offers many of these same tools, but keeps several locked behind its premium paywall. If you want redirects, multiple focus keywords, or local SEO with Yoast, each will incur an additional cost.

Rank Math gives you more bang for zero bucks if you are a budget-conscious site owner.

Readability

One area where Yoast truly shines is readability analysis. It separates this score from the overall SEO rating. This matters because search engines factor readability into rankings.

Yoast uses the Flesch-Kincaid test to assess sentence length, word complexity, transition words, and passive voice. It also gives specific tips on how to fix problems. The premium version even includes an inclusive language checker that analyzes content for accessibility and bias.

Rank Math doesn’t separate readability from the overall SEO score. It only shows errors, with no clear guidance on how to fix them. Yoast offers better support if you are a content creator who needs help crafting reader-friendly posts

Website Builder Integration

Both plugins let you set global SEO defaults for your content types. This saves tons of time compared to editing each page individually.

But Rank Math does more than basic page checks. It also provides additional global settings for builders such as Elementor, Divi, and Beaver Builder. Rank Math also covers templates and widgets if Elementor is part of your setup and you use the Header & Footer Builder plugin. That way, your SEO settings follow your design system, and not only your pages.

Yoast only allows global SEO settings for three content types in its free version (homepage, posts, and pages). It integrates with Elementor, but only on individual pages, not in global settings.

Rank Math offers more comprehensive control if your sites are built with page builders.

Optimization Display

Both plugins show how well your content is optimized through color-coded indicators on your pages and posts lists.

Yoast takes a more straightforward approach. It uses dots that work like a traffic light. Green is good, yellow is okay, and red is poor. It also separates SEO and readability into different columns. On each page, you will notice the indicator in the corner. The Yoast box below your content provides detailed notes.

Rank Math shows a numerical score out of 100. It color-codes them for easy reading. It includes keyword, schema, and hyperlink data right in your posts list. On individual pages, your score appears in the top-right corner with detailed feedback in the side panel.

Both do a good job showing optimization status, but Yoast’s separate readability score provides clearer guidance.

AI Features

Both plugins now offer AI tools. But they have different purposes.

Rank Math’s Content AI includes 40+ tools. They also have 125+ prompt templates for everything from content creation to optimization. It can generate content suggestions, provide insights on meta tags, and improve existing content. But they’re an add-on starting at $60/year.

Yoast, on the other hand, takes a more focused approach, including two AI tools in its premium version: AI Generate for titles and meta descriptions, and AI Optimize for content suggestions. They’re simpler but cost nothing beyond the premium subscription.

Which Should You Choose?

Go with Yoast if you:

• Need help improving content readability
• Run a site in a language besides English (Yoast supports 18 languages)
• Want to learn SEO through their courses

Pick Rank Math if you:

• Manage multiple websites
• Want more free features
• Use website builders and need global SEO control