The WordPress SEO checklist you can run with AI

By the WPMate team · · 9 min read

Most WordPress SEO problems aren't mysterious. They're the same dozen basics, repeated across dozens of posts: a missing meta description here, a 90-character title there, an image with no alt text. Each fix takes a minute. Finding and fixing all of them takes an afternoon.

This checklist goes through those basics in order of impact. For each item you'll find what to check, why it matters and a prompt you can give an AI assistant connected to your site. You can follow it by hand too.

1. Make sure search engines can index the site

WordPress has a setting under Settings → Reading called “Discourage search engines from indexing this site”. It's often turned on while a site is being built and then forgotten. While it's on, search engines are asked not to index anything. Check it first: no other fix matters until it's off.

Check whether my site is hidden from search engines. If it is, tell me before changing anything.

2. Serve every page over HTTPS

Browsers mark plain-HTTP sites as “Not secure”, and HTTPS is a basic expectation for any site that wants to rank. Most hosts offer free certificates. Once the certificate works, the WordPress Address and Site Address in Settings → General should both start with https://.

URLs like /?p=123 tell readers and search engines nothing. Under Settings → Permalinks, “Post name” gives you URLs like /sourdough-starter-guide/. On an established site, changing permalinks changes every URL, so make sure old URLs redirect to the new ones (SEO plugins and redirect plugins can handle this).

4. Have an XML sitemap

A sitemap lists the URLs you want indexed. WordPress creates a basic one at /wp-sitemap.xml, and SEO plugins such as Yoast SEO and Rank Math replace it with their own. Submit it in Google Search Console so you can see which pages are indexed and why others aren't.

5. Write a unique title for every page

The title tag is the blue headline in search results. Good titles are specific, include the main topic near the start, and stay under roughly 60 characters so they don't get cut off. Two pages with the same title compete with each other.

List posts whose SEO titles are over 60 characters or duplicated, and suggest a shorter, unique title for each. Don't change anything yet.

6. Write meta descriptions

The meta description is the snippet under the title in search results. Search engines don't always use it, but a good one makes people more likely to click. Aim for about 120–155 characters that say what the page offers and who it's for. This is usually the biggest batch job on an older site.

Find every published post without a meta description and write one for each: 120–155 characters, specific to the post, no clickbait.

If you use Yoast SEO, Rank Math, All in One SEO or SEOPress, descriptions must be saved in that plugin's field to take effect. WPMate does this automatically.

7. Use one H1 and clear subheadings

Most themes already show the post title as the page's H1. A second H1 inside the content muddles the structure; use H2 for sections and H3 for sub-sections. Long posts with no subheadings are hard to scan, for readers and search engines alike.

Find posts that have an H1 inside the content and change those headings to H2.

8. Expand or merge thin content

A 150-word post rarely answers anyone's question well enough to rank. There's no magic word count, but posts under about 300 words are worth reviewing. For each, choose: expand it with genuinely useful detail, merge it into a stronger related post (and redirect), or leave it unindexed if it's only a short announcement.

List my posts under 300 words with a one-line suggestion for each: expand, merge or leave.

Review AI-expanded content before publishing. Make sure the facts, prices and claims are right for your business.

9. Add alt text to images

Alt text describes an image for people using screen readers and helps images appear in image search. Describe what the image shows, briefly and specifically: “Golden sourdough loaf on a wooden board”, not “image1” or a list of keywords. Decorative images can have empty alt text.

Find images in the media library without alt text and write a short, literal description for each.

Internal links help readers find related content and help search engines understand which pages matter. Each substantial post should link to two or three related posts or service pages with descriptive anchor text.

For my five newest posts, suggest two internal links each to related posts or pages, with the sentence where each link should go.

Featured images appear in blog lists, related-post widgets and, through your SEO plugin's social tags, in link previews on social media and messaging apps. Posts without one look unfinished when shared.

12. Fill in the site identity

Set a real tagline (not “Just another WordPress site”) under Settings → General and a site icon under Appearance → Customize → Site Identity or the Site Editor. Both show up in places you might not expect, including browser tabs and some search results.

Run the whole checklist at once

Every item above is covered by WPMate's WordPress SEO audit. Connect your site, then ask your assistant:

Run an SEO audit, group the issues by type and tell me which three to fix first.

The audit lists each issue with the affected post and a suggested fix, and your assistant can apply the fixes in the same conversation. Edits keep WordPress revisions, so you can undo anything you don't like.

What this checklist doesn't cover: keyword research, backlinks, page speed and Core Web Vitals, and structured data. Those matter too; tools like Google Search Console and PageSpeed Insights are the place to start.

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