WordPress SEO Checklist

How I’d prioritise

Uncheck 'Discourage search engines' in WordPress settings — it's the #1 mistake.
Generate an XML sitemap and submit it to Google Search Console.
Use clean permalinks like /post-name/.
Check robots.txt isn't blocking important resources.
Run a crawl to find broken links and redirect issues.

What I'd do first

Go to Settings > Reading and confirm 'Discourage search engines from indexing this site' is unchecked.
Set permalinks to 'Post name' under Settings > Permalinks.
Install an SEO plugin (I use Yoast or Rank Math) and let it generate your XML sitemap.
Submit that sitemap to Google Search Console.
Check your robots.txt file — make sure it's not blocking /wp-content/ or your sitemap URL.

The list

How I prioritize

I start with anything that blocks crawling or indexing — that's the 'discourage search engines' setting, robots.txt, and sitemap submission. Then I fix URL structure and HTTPS. After that, I tackle on-page elements (titles, headings, images) because they directly affect rankings. Performance and Core Web Vitals come last, but I don't skip them — they're increasingly important for user experience and rankings.

What I got wrong

I once left 'Discourage search engines' checked for three weeks after launch. The site was invisible. Check this first.
I blocked /wp-includes/ in robots.txt without realizing it also blocked some CSS/JS that Google needed to render the page. Now I only block what I'm sure about.
I used to obsess over meta keywords. Don't. Google ignores them. Focus on title tags and meta descriptions instead.
I assumed my SEO plugin handled everything. It doesn't — you still need to manually set canonical tags and check for conflicts between plugins.

Next step

Technical SEODive deeper into crawl budget, canonical tags, and structured data.

Quick answers

What is a WordPress SEO checklist?

A WordPress SEO checklist is a step-by-step list of technical and on-page setup tasks that help WordPress pages get crawled, indexed, and understood by search engines.

Why is a WordPress SEO checklist important?

It standardizes the launch and audit process so important technical issues are not missed, especially crawlability, indexing, speed, and duplicate-URL controls.

Where to go next

More from Site ops

A step sideways

Sources

Primary documentation is linked directly. Anything commercial is marked nofollow.

Google Search Central — Most authoritative source for indexing, crawling, sitemaps, robots.txt, canonicalization, and structured data guidance.
WordPress Developer Resources — Best reference for WordPress core settings, permalink behavior, and platform-specific implementation details.
Google Search Console Help — Useful for sitemap submission, coverage, crawl errors, and indexing diagnostics.
Google SEO Starter Guide — Clear baseline guidance for SEO fundamentals that map well to WordPress setup checklists.
Yoast SEO Help — Widely used WordPress SEO plugin documentation for practical implementation of sitemaps, titles, and indexing controls.