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Technical SEO on WordPress is mostly about removing self-inflicted problems. The content might be excellent and the backlinks fine — and the site still underperforms because search engines cannot reliably index it. Work through this list in order.
1. Confirm the pages are actually indexed
Open Search Console and compare submitted pages against indexed pages. The usual culprits: accidental noindex directives, canonical tags pointing at the wrong URL, thin pagination and parameter pages flooding the index. Nothing else on this list matters until this one is clean.
2. Fix titles and descriptions
Every indexable page needs a title that matches its intent and a description a human would click. The fallback hierarchy is simple: custom metadata where it exists, page title otherwise, site name only as the last resort. Pages should never ship duplicated, auto-generated metadata. Technical SEO work usually starts exactly here.
3. Check structure
- One H1 per page, with H2s and H3s forming a logical outline.
- Clean URLs without parameters or dates baked in.
- Canonical URLs on every page, including paginated ones.
- An XML sitemap that only contains indexable, canonical pages.
4. Structured data that tells the truth
Schema should describe what is actually on the page: an FAQ only where FAQs are visible, a Product only where a product is sold, breadcrumbs where a trail exists. Never generate ratings or reviews you do not have — search engines penalize fabricated structured data, and so should you.
5. Speed as an SEO asset
Core Web Vitals are ranking-relevant and conversion-relevant at once. LCP under 2.5s, CLS under 0.1, INP under 200ms on real mobile conditions is the floor. Most WordPress sites fail on plugin overhead and images — both are engineering problems, not plugin problems.
If the audit finds more than a page of issues, prioritize by impact and fix in that order — or have the audit run for you.
