Best SEO Checklist
ONE FOCUSED ACTION

Audit WordPress site for consistent SEO plugin use and sitemap index accuracy.

Indexability optimization

1 checklist items

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    Why this matters

    Consistent use of a single SEO plugin and accurate sitemaps ensure proper crawling and indexation without metadata duplication or conflicting directives.

    A STARTING-POINT EXAMPLE

    Hypothetical standard operating procedure

    Adapt this example to your site, access, tools, and change process. It is our suggested procedure, informed by the sources below.

    1. Review installed SEO plugins and confirm only one manages core SEO metadata and sitemaps.
    2. Audit XML sitemap to ensure it only lists canonical, indexable URLs without redirects or noindex pages.
    3. Verify robots.txt does not block important pages and references the sitemap.
    4. Check canonical tags for correctness and absence of conflicts across key pages.
    5. Test with Google Search Console URL Inspection tool for crawl and index status of key URLs.

    Watch for

    Using multiple SEO plugins can cause duplicate metadata, conflicting canonicals, and sitemap duplication leading to indexing issues.

    Definition of done

    Confirmed one primary SEO plugin manages titles, meta, canonicals, and sitemap; sitemap excludes non-canonical, redirecting, or noindex URLs.

    Sources & attribution

    1. WordPress SEO Checklist for Publishers: On-Page and Technical Basics ↗
    2. Multilingual SEO checklist: What to verify before launch ↗

    Original checklist wording and example SOP by Best SEO Checklist, using source-grounded AI assistance. Editorial contact: Ted Kubaitis, @tedkubaitis on Teams. Check current source guidance before implementation.