WordPress SEO checklist: 15 steps to get found on Google

WordPress SEO is the work of making a WordPress site easy for Google to find, understand and show to people searching for what you offer. Work through this WordPress SEO checklist in order: first the WordPress settings, such as the box that asks search engines not to index your website, then a plugin, Google's tools and each post you publish.

Is WordPress good for SEO?

Yes. In our experience, your search engine optimisation results depend on how you set WordPress up and what you publish. Since version 5.5, WordPress creates a sitemap by itself: a file that lists your pages for search engines. It also lets you choose readable web addresses, and it has a setting that asks search engines to stay away while you build. Choosing your keywords, writing your page titles and making your posts worth reading are still up to you.

The WordPress SEO checklist, step by step

Start with the settings, then set up your tools and work through each post. The examples follow one post on your bike repair shop's website, mendandridebikes.co.uk: "How to fix a puncture on your bike".

If you run an online shop with WooCommerce, the same steps apply to it. Our ecommerce SEO guide covers what product and category pages need on top.

1. Check that search engines can see your site

On the Reading page under Settings, WordPress has a box called Discourage search engines from indexing this site. When it's ticked, WordPress asks search engines not to index your website, so your pages stay out of the results. If you ticked it while you built your website, untick it as soon as the site goes live and click Save Changes.

It's a request, not a lock: visitors can still open your website, and it's up to each search engine to honour it. So don't rely on it to keep a page private.

2. Set short, readable permalinks

A permalink is the permanent web address of a post or page. If your website is already live, set up redirects first, as we explain below. To make yours readable, choose Post name on the Permalinks page under Settings and click Save Changes, so each address ends in words instead of a number. With that setting, the puncture post lives at mendandridebikes.co.uk/fix-bike-puncture/ instead of mendandridebikes.co.uk/?p=123. Google also recommends readable words in addresses rather than long ID numbers, with hyphens between the words. Keep the last part short, as in fix-bike-puncture, rather than using the full title.

Choose your permalink structure early, before you publish many posts, because a post's address should stay the same for good. If your website is already live with other addresses, make sure the old addresses lead to the new ones with permanent redirects (301 redirects). That way, visitors and Google still find your posts. Rank Math, the plugin in step 3, has a redirection manager where you set these up once you put Rank Math in Advanced mode and switch on its Redirections module, so install it before you change the setting.

3. Install an SEO plugin

There are many WordPress SEO plugins, and we recommend Rank Math, because it handles several steps of this checklist in one place. With it, you control how each post appears in search results and which pages search engines may index. It also sets up redirects for moved pages, creates sitemaps and analyses each post for SEO as you write.

If you install WordPress with our Hosting for WordPress, you can choose the free version of Rank Math during the 1-click installation. If WordPress is already installed, find Rank Math on the Add New page under Plugins, then install and activate it. Its paid version, Rank Math PRO, adds keyword rank tracking and Google Analytics 4 integration. We compare the two versions at the end of this checklist.

4. Add your site to Google Search Console

Google Search Console helps you measure your website's search traffic, see which of your pages Google has indexed and fix problems. To use it, add your website and verify that it's yours. Rank Math can help with this, because it lets you verify your website with several search engines. Then submit your sitemap in the Sitemaps report.

With Rank Math, that sitemap is at mendandridebikes.co.uk/sitemap_index.xml. Without an SEO plugin, WordPress's own sitemap is at mendandridebikes.co.uk/wp-sitemap.xml. Either way, the sitemap only tells Google where your pages are. It's a hint, so Google can take time to crawl them and might not crawl every page.

The results take time, too. Some changes can show in Google within a few hours, while others can take several months. Google suggests waiting a few weeks before you judge whether a change worked. Our guide on how long SEO takes explains what affects the wait, from your website's age to the competition you face.

5. Set up Google Analytics

Where Search Console shows what happens before someone clicks, Google Analytics shows what happens after the click, such as how engaged visitors are with each page. Google offers it free of charge. Together, the two tell you which posts bring visitors and which ones keep them reading.

To use it, you create a Google Analytics account for your website and connect it to WordPress. Our guide shows how to set up Google Analytics step by step. When you choose an SEO plugin, it's worth picking one that works with Google Analytics. Even in its free version, Rank Math can add the Analytics code to your website with a single click. Rank Math PRO also shows your Analytics data inside WordPress, but you can always read the same data in Google Analytics itself.

6. Find the keywords your customers use

A keyword is the phrase someone types into the search box when they need what you offer. For the puncture post, that phrase might be "how to fix a bike puncture". Choose one keyword per post and use it where it fits naturally, such as in the title, the first paragraph and a heading.

Keyword tools help you find the words people actually use, and each does a different job. Google Trends shows how interest in a search topic differs from one region to another, down to city level. Ahrefs' free keyword generator suggests many keyword ideas in seconds. Marketgoo, an SEO tool you can add with us for a paid monthly subscription, tracks how your website ranks for the keywords you choose.

If you're just starting, Google Trends is a good place to compare a few phrases. Keyword research then helps you choose between them. To follow your rankings over time, you need one tracking tool, not two. Marketgoo and Rank Math PRO are both paid add-ons that track keyword rankings, so pick the one that fits the rest of your set-up.

7. Write content that answers the search

Keywords bring the right people to your post, but the content decides whether they stay. To help you judge it, Google's guide to creating helpful content asks questions like these:

• Does the post offer something of your own, such as your own information, research or analysis?
• Does it cover the topic fully, so the reader doesn't need to look elsewhere?
• Would someone bookmark it, share it with a friend or recommend it?
• Is it free of spelling and style mistakes?

Google also says it has no preferred word count, so write at whatever length the topic takes. For the puncture post, that means the steps, the tools you need and when to bring the bike in, all from what you see in your workshop.

8. Break each post up with headings

Long text is easier to read when it's well organised, so Google's SEO starter guide advises splitting it into paragraphs and sections. Headings then help readers find their way. In WordPress, you add a heading with the Heading block. In the puncture post, headings such as "What you need", "Find the hole" and "Patch the inner tube" let readers jump to the step they're on.

9. Write a page title and meta description for each page

The page title is the clickable headline in Google's results, and the meta description is the short text that can appear under it. Google builds that text mainly from the page itself, but it can use your meta description when it describes the page better. Rank Math lets you edit both, even for many posts at once. Since both can show in the results, include the post's keyword in each.

For the puncture post, you could use a title that starts with the post's keyword and ends with your shop's name. A matching meta description could say in one short line what the reader gets from the post.

There's no fixed length to aim for. Google sets no limit on how long a title can be, but in its results it shortens titles and descriptions as needed, typically to fit the screen. So put the important words at the start, and write a different title and description for each page. Our guide to metadata for SEO also covers other tags, such as the canonical tag and Open Graph tags.

10. Link your pages to each other

Internal links are links from one page of your website to another. They help visitors find related content and help Google find your pages. Google advises giving every important page at least one link from another page on your website.

In the puncture post, a sentence about a worn tyre can link to your service page. Make that link text say where it goes, rather than "click here". Our guide to internal links has more examples.

11. Add alt text to your images

Alt text is a short description of an image. Screen readers read it aloud to people who can't see the image. Google uses it, together with the rest of the page, to understand what the image shows. For the puncture post, you could write "A punctured inner tube with a repair patch". To add alt text in the block editor:

1. Open the post or page in the block editor.
2. Select the image: its block settings open in the sidebar.
3. If you don't see the sidebar, click Settings next to Save or Publish.
4. In the Content tab, write your alt text under Alternative text, or mark the image as decorative if it adds no information.

Alt text you add in the block settings applies only to the image in that post or page. If you add it to the image in the Media Library instead, it becomes the default whenever you insert the image elsewhere.

12. Compress and name your image files

Large image files slow your pages down, so compress each image before your post goes live. Imagify does this inside your Media Library and also converts images to web-friendly formats such as WebP. If your WordPress site is hosted with us, we've preinstalled Imagify, so you can compress your images for free. On the Media page under Settings, WordPress also lets you set the largest sizes it uses when you insert an image into a post.

Name each file before you upload it, too. Google says a file name gives it a small clue about what the image shows. For the puncture post, you could name the photo fixing-a-bike-puncture.jpg rather than leaving a camera number such as IMG_0245.jpg.

13. Check speed, HTTPS and mobile display

Google's ranking systems use Core Web Vitals, which measure how a page loads, how quickly it responds and how stable it looks while loading. To check yours, open the Core Web Vitals report in Search Console. It shows how your pages perform, based on what real visitors experience. Google's page experience checklist also asks whether your pages use HTTPS and display well on mobile devices. So open the puncture post on your phone and check that you can read the steps without zooming in.

If your pages are slow, WP Rocket can help. It caches your pages, which means it keeps ready-made copies to show your visitors, and it optimises your website's files, so they load faster. If you buy it from us with an Explorer or higher hosting plan, you can add it by ticking the WP Rocket box when you install WordPress with our 1-click installation. For HTTPS, our Hosting for WordPress plans include an SSL certificate, which encrypts the connection between your website and your visitors.

14. Tell people about new posts

Google mainly finds new pages through links from pages it already knows, so a post nobody links to can take a while to be found. Share the puncture post where your customers already are, such as your social media, your newsletter or a local cycling club. Google counts word of mouth among the most effective and lasting ways to promote a website, though it takes time to build.

15. Keep older posts up to date

SEO isn't something you finish. Google's starter guide suggests checking older content now and then, updating what has changed and deleting what's no longer relevant. If the puncture post recommends a repair kit you no longer stock, swap in the one you sell now. Keep the same address when you update the post, so the links to it keep working.

Choosing your SEO plugin: free or PRO

Rank Math comes in a free version and a paid one: Rank Math PRO, an add-on we offer with tools for following your results over time.

Rank Math counts keywords in two different ways. Focus keywords are the keywords Rank Math checks a post against as you write it. One per post is enough for this checklist, so the free version's limit won't hold you back. PRO's rank tracking is separate: it follows where your website ranks for the keywords you choose.

Our advice: start with the free version while you work through this checklist. Move to PRO when you want to follow your keyword rankings and see your Analytics data in WordPress, so you know which posts to improve next.

Rank Math PRO tracks your rankings for up to 500 keywords and adds Google Analytics 4 integration, so you see your results in WordPress.

Once Rank Math is set up, the steps that keep paying off are sharing each new post and updating older ones. WordPress itself needs upkeep too: updates, and the speed you checked in step 13. Managed Hosting for WordPress takes that off your hands, with automatic updates and caching built in, so your time goes into your posts.