Audit WordPress settings for crawlability and canonical correctness.
- Audit WordPress settings for crawlability and canonical correctness1 cited source1 category
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Why this matters
Proper configuration of WordPress SEO settings ensures search engines can crawl and index key pages effectively, avoiding duplicate or conflicting signals.
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.
- Ensure only one primary SEO plugin manages titles, meta, canonical tags, and sitemaps.
- Verify permalinks are stable and avoid unnecessary changes to prevent redirect chains.
- Check robots.txt and XML sitemap for inclusion of only canonical, indexable URLs.
- Audit rendered HTML for duplicate or conflicting canonical tags and metadata.
- Confirm plugin and theme generated schema markup matches visible content without duplication.
Watch for
Incorrect permalink changes or multiple SEO plugins can cause indexing issues and duplicate content problems.
Definition of done
Key WordPress pages are crawlable, canonical URLs correct, and no duplicate meta tags or sitemap duplications exist.
Sources & attribution
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.