WordPress SEO: The Settings and Templates I Change on Every Site

WordPress SEO comes down to a short list of settings and template fixes that most sites never get right: indexing switched on, clean permalinks, one SEO plugin, sensible archives, fast templates and properly handled images. WordPress gives you a strong base for search and AI answers, but the defaults and a heavy theme can quietly undo it.

The short answer

• WordPress is a good platform for SEO because it produces clean HTML, readable URLs and an automatic sitemap, but the platform does not rank a page on its own.
• The settings that matter most are search engine visibility, permalinks, one SEO plugin, noindex on thin archives and a sitemap listing only pages you want found.
• Templates decide more than plugins do: one H1 per page, headings in order, real HTML links and a first image that loads early.
• Image SEO in WordPress means descriptive filenames, honest alt text, modern compressed formats and lazy loading only below the fold.
• The same foundations help AI assistants read your site, because Google’s AI features and most AI search tools work from the same crawled pages.

Is WordPress a good choice for SEO?

WordPress is a good choice for SEO when it is set up properly. The platform gives you editable permalinks, a built-in XML sitemap, semantic block markup and mature SEO plugins. It does not give you rankings. A bloated theme, too many plugins or a slow host can make a WordPress site perform worse than a simple static page.

I have built on the web since 2005 and worked with WordPress since 2008. The CMS gives my team control, but it does not explain a ranking by itself. I start with configuration, templates, useful content and a technical SEO review. Choosing a platform is the beginning of that work.

WordPress SEO is one part of a wider plan. I set out the rest in my SEO strategy for the AI search era.

Which WordPress settings should you change for SEO?

The WordPress settings to change for SEO are the ones that control indexing and URLs: make sure search engines are allowed to index the site, set permalinks to the post name, install a single SEO plugin, keep thin archive pages out of the index and check that the XML sitemap lists only pages worth finding.

Setting	Where in WordPress	What I set it to	Why
Search engine visibility	Settings, Reading	“Discourage search engines” unticked on the public live site	Check the rendered robots meta tag and response headers too; this box is not the only possible noindex control
Permalinks	Settings, Permalinks	Post name on a new site; on an existing site, only with a full redirect plan	Readable URLs that describe the page, instead of ?p=123. Changing the structure changes every URL that already ranks
SEO plugin	Plugins	One plugin only (I use Rank Math on this site)	Two SEO plugins print duplicate titles, canonicals and schema
Titles and meta descriptions	SEO plugin, per post	Written by hand for key pages	The title shapes how the page is understood and shown in results
XML sitemap	SEO plugin, or core at /wp-sitemap.xml	Indexable canonical posts, pages, useful taxonomies and relevant public custom types, such as products or services	Tells Google which URLs matter; leaves out thin archives
Tag, date and author archives	SEO plugin settings	Review their purpose; noindex genuinely thin duplicates while retaining useful archives	An author page or category can help readers; the archive type alone does not make it harmful
Attachment pages	Core or SEO plugin	Disabled by default for new installations since WordPress 6.4; audit older sites before changing	Core redirects disabled attachment pages to the media file. A plugin may use different behaviour
Redirects	Redirect manager (free in Rank Math, paid in Yoast) or a redirect plugin	301 for every changed or merged URL	Keeps the links an old URL earned
Bot access	robots.txt, security plugin and CDN	Allow the search crawlers you intend to serve, with training preferences handled separately	Check verified requests and actual responses rather than trusting a toggle

A warning on permalinks. Post name is the right choice for a new site. On a site that already ranks, switching the permalink structure changes every post URL at once, and each old URL needs a one-to-one 301 redirect to its new address. Map the old and new URLs, test the redirects on staging, then watch Search Console for 404s for a few weeks. If the current structure is readable, leaving it alone is often the safer call. My page on website migration covers how my team plans and tests redirects.

Test one representative URL from every public content type, not just a blog post. WordPress core can include public custom post types in its sitemap, while an SEO plugin or custom code can change that output. Check that a useful service, product or case-study URL appears in the intended sitemap, has the right canonical and is not accidentally noindexed by a separate template setting.

Check the controls outside WordPress too. OAI-SearchBot and GPTBot have separate purposes, so allowing ChatGPT search does not require allowing OpenAI’s training crawler. Blocking OAI-SearchBot prevents inclusion in ChatGPT search answers, with a navigational-link exception. Cloudflare’s July 2025 default applied to newly added domains. Google’s separate Search generative AI control defaults to Include but can inherit a parent exclusion. Check effective access rather than installing another AI plugin.

Which theme and template changes improve WordPress SEO?

The theme and template changes that improve WordPress SEO are structural: one H1 per page set from the post title, headings in order, navigation and related posts built from real HTML links, breadcrumbs, an author box with a genuine bio, and a first image that loads immediately instead of waiting behind a lazy-loading script.

• One H1. Many older themes wrap the logo in an H1 on every page. Make the post or page title the only H1. It is a convention rather than a ranking rule, but one clear H1 keeps the page outline tidy for screen readers and for any tool that parses the page.
• Heading order. H2 for sections, H3 inside them. Headings shaped as the questions people ask are easier for search engines and AI answers to match.
• Real links. Use <a> elements with valid href attributes for menus and related pages. JavaScript can insert them, but script-only click handlers are not reliable crawlable links.
• Breadcrumbs. Visible breadcrumbs with BreadcrumbList markup give search engines and agents the site hierarchy.
• Author templates. A real author bio and a consistent author page support Google’s “who created this” test in its helpful content guidance.
• Tables and lists as HTML. Use the block editor’s table and list blocks, not screenshots. Some search and AI tools can read text in images, but HTML text is far more reliable to index, quote and read aloud with a screen reader.
• The first image loads first. Lazy loading the hero or featured image delays Largest Contentful Paint.

That last point is easy to miss. An optimisation plugin can be set to lazy-load every image, including the hero, so the biggest thing on the screen waits behind a script. I check which element is actually responsible for LCP before changing settings. Load that image promptly and give it the right priority; lazy-load images that are genuinely below the fold. The useful test is the rendered template, not whether an optimisation switch says it is on.

Templates are where design and SEO meet. I go deeper on that in how web design affects SEO.

How do you optimise images for SEO in WordPress?

Optimising images for SEO in WordPress means giving each image a descriptive filename, writing alt text that describes what the image shows, uploading it at the size it is displayed in a compressed modern format, keeping width and height set, placing it near the text it supports and lazy loading only the images below the fold.

1. Name the file before you upload it. “sydney-office-fitout.jpg” tells search engines something; “IMG_4821.jpg” does not. Use hyphens between words.
2. Write alt text in context. Describe an informative image for someone who cannot see it. Decorative images need an empty alt attribute. Avoid keyword lists; useful descriptions also support accessibility.
3. Resize and compress. Upload close to the largest display size and compare output quality. WordPress supports WebP and, from 6.5, AVIF when the host’s image library supports it. Check Media Handling in Site Health before making AVIF your workflow.
4. Let WordPress serve responsive sizes. Core generates several sizes and a srcset, so phones download smaller files. Keep width and height attributes so the layout does not shift as images load.
5. Lazy load below the fold only. WordPress adds lazy loading automatically. Make sure no plugin lazy-loads the first, largest image.
6. Place images near the text they support, with a caption where it adds meaning. Google uses the surrounding text to understand an image.
7. Use original images where you can. Your own photos, diagrams and screenshots say more than stock that appears on thousands of other sites.
8. Keep images in the sitemap. Rank Math and Yoast can list images in their XML sitemaps; check the setting is on, because it helps Google find images that matter.

Google’s own image SEO best practices cover filenames, alt text, surrounding text and image sitemaps in more detail.

How fast does a WordPress site need to be for SEO?

Aim for good Core Web Vitals on real visitors: LCP of 2.5 seconds or less, INP of 200 milliseconds or less and CLS of 0.1 or less, each at the 75th percentile. Check mobile and desktop separately. These measures help assess experience; passing all three does not guarantee a ranking or a sale.

The thresholds come from Google’s web.dev guidance. On WordPress, the usual causes of a slow site are the same every time:

• A page builder or multipurpose theme loading scripts and styles on every page.
• Too many plugins, each adding its own CSS and JavaScript.
• Oversized images and sliders above the fold.
• No page caching, or caching set up badly. My guide to WordPress cache covers the layers.
• Cheap shared hosting with a slow server response.

For the fixes I reach for first, see quick fixes for speeding up a WordPress website.

Which old WordPress SEO tips should you ignore?

The old WordPress SEO tips to ignore are the ones built for search engines of 2014: exchanging or buying backlinks, hunting for a special “SEO theme”, stuffing keywords into alt text and captions, adding social share buttons for rankings, and trusting that an SEO plugin’s green light means a page will rank.

I wrote some of that advice myself in 2014. Here is what replaced it:

• Link exchanges and bought links break Google’s spam policies. Earn links with content worth citing.
• “SEO themes” do not exist. Choose a fast, well-coded theme with clean heading structure, then test it.
• Keyword-stuffed alt text hurts accessibility and helps nobody. Describe the image.
• Social buttons are for distribution. Each one adds script weight, so keep only the ones people use.
• Plugin scores check a checklist, not whether the page answers the question better than the alternatives.

What to do next

1. Open Settings, Reading and confirm search engines are allowed to index the live site.
2. Check you run exactly one SEO plugin, then open your XML sitemap and remove anything thin.
3. View the source of a post template and confirm there is one H1, headings in order and real HTML links.
4. Run your top three pages through PageSpeed Insights on mobile and fix the Largest Contentful Paint element first.
5. Audit images on your top pages: filenames, alt text, file size and lazy loading.
6. Check robots.txt and your CDN rules for blocked search and AI bots.
7. Want my team to look at your WordPress set-up with you? Book a free call.

Frequently asked questions

Is WordPress better for SEO than Wix or Squarespace?

WordPress gives more control over SEO than Wix or Squarespace: templates, markup, redirects, sitemaps, speed and hosting are all yours to change. That control cuts both ways. A well-built WordPress site is hard to beat, while a badly configured one can trail a simple hosted builder. Choose WordPress when content and search matter to the business and someone owns the set-up.

Which SEO plugin should I use on WordPress?

The SEO plugin matters less than using only one and configuring it properly. Rank Math and Yoast both handle titles, meta descriptions, canonicals, sitemaps and schema; Rank Math includes a redirect manager in its free version, while Yoast keeps redirects in its paid version. I use Rank Math on this site. Pick one, switch off the features you do not need, and never run two SEO plugins at once, because duplicate titles and conflicting canonicals follow.

Does image alt text help SEO?

Image alt text helps SEO because it tells search engines what an image shows, and Google uses it alongside the filename and surrounding text to rank images. Alt text exists first for people using screen readers, so write it as a plain description of the image. A natural keyword is fine. A list of keywords is not, and it makes the page worse for real visitors.

Does WordPress SEO help with AI search?

WordPress SEO gives AI search a useful technical foundation: accessible pages, reliable discovery, clear content and accurate metadata. Google’s AI features use its Search systems; other assistants have different retrieval and crawler controls. Check those controls and measure actual visibility. No WordPress plugin or technical pass guarantees that an assistant will quote you.

How many plugins are too many for SEO?

The number of plugins matters less than what each one loads and how well it is maintained. Ten lean plugins can be faster than three heavy ones. Remove any plugin you cannot name a reason for, check what each loads on the front end, and replace page builders and sliders that add weight to every page with native blocks.