Specialist SEO
WordPress SEO Services That Fix What the CMS Adds on Its Own
WordPress will publish almost anything you ask it to, plus a few things you never asked for: tag archives, attachment pages, author listings and builder markup nobody reads. Ranking well on it is mostly about deciding which of those Google should see.
- years in SEO
- 6+
- client websites worked on
- 60+
- person doing the work
- 1
Why WordPress SEO is mostly about settings, archives and add-ons
WordPress SEO is the work of configuring the CMS, its theme and its plugins so Google indexes the pages you want to rank, reads them quickly and understands what each one is about. Installing an SEO plugin is the start, not the finish. On most WordPress sites I review, the content is reasonable; what holds rankings back is the machinery around it.
The pattern repeats. An old theme outputs the site name as the H1 on every page. Two plugins both print a canonical tag. Hundreds of one-post tag archives sit in the index next to the posts they duplicate. None of this is visible in the editor, which is why it survives redesign after redesign.
There is no single correct setup. A twenty-page service business and a publisher with thousands of posts need different archive rules, sitemap contents and speed priorities. I set those deliberately for your site and write them down, so the next plugin update does not undo them.
Key takeaways
- Most WordPress ranking problems are configuration, not content: thin archives in the index, two plugins writing competing tags, a theme that hides the real headings.
- An SEO plugin is a set of switches, not a strategy. Its defaults suit a generic blog, so every archive, post type and taxonomy needs a deliberate indexing decision.
- Page builders and stacked plugins are the usual reason a WordPress site is slow, and caching only hides part of it.
- Theme and builder changes can silently drop titles, schema and body copy, so they get checked like a small migration.
- I fix what I can in the dashboard and write developer tickets for the rest, so your site stays maintainable after I leave.
What's included in my WordPress SEO services
The scope follows the layers of a WordPress install, from the settings screen out to the server. Most sites need every tab looked at once, then only the parts that keep drifting.
Core settings and permalinks - the WordPress SEO basics most installs get wrong
I start with the screens people set once and forget. The Discourage search engines box under Settings > Reading, the permalink structure, the www or non-www address and HTTPS redirects decide how every other page is crawled. A wrong choice here repeats across the whole site.
- Search engine visibility setting confirmed on production
- Permalink structure reviewed before any change is proposed
- Single preferred hostname with permanent redirects
- Staging copies checked for accidental indexing
Yoast, Rank Math or SEOPress configured for your content, not the defaults
Whichever plugin you run, I go through its settings for every post type and taxonomy: title templates, meta robots, canonical handling, breadcrumbs, schema type and which items enter the XML sitemap. Where a second SEO plugin or a theme is also writing tags, one of them gets switched off so the page carries a single set.
- Title and description templates per content type
- Index or noindex decision for every taxonomy
- Sitemap contents matched to what should rank
- Duplicate canonical, meta and schema output removed
Tag, category, author and date archives sorted into keep, improve or hide
WordPress creates a listing page for every tag, category, author and month, and many sites have hundreds of tags used once. I decide which archives deserve to rank and give those an introduction and a clear title; the rest are noindexed, merged or removed, with redirects where they ever earned links.
- Tag clean-up with a merge and redirect list
- Category pages given intro copy and proper headings
- Author and date archives handled for single-author sites
- Attachment pages and internal search URLs kept out of the index
Theme and page builder markup checked against what Google actually reads
Elementor, Divi, WPBakery and heavy multipurpose themes often wrap one paragraph in many layers of divs, use headings for styling, and hide copy in tabs or sliders. I check the rendered HTML of each key template, fix heading order, and flag widgets that load scripts on every page whether they are used or not.
- One H1 per template and a logical heading order
- Important copy present in the HTML, not injected later
- Unused builder modules and global widgets listed
- Leftover shortcodes from removed builders found and cleaned
A plugin inventory that weighs each one's SEO and speed cost
Every active plugin is listed with what it does, what it adds to the front end and whether anything else already does the same job. Sliders, social feeds and chat widgets are common culprits. You get a short remove, replace or restrict list, tested on staging first.
- Front-end scripts and styles each plugin loads
- Overlapping plugins doing the same task
- Abandoned or unmaintained plugins flagged
- Remove, replace or load-only-where-needed recommendations
Images and media handled so they help rankings instead of slowing pages
The media library tends to fill with full-size uploads straight from a camera or design tool. I check file sizes, modern formats, the image sizes your theme registers, alt text on images that carry meaning, and whether lazy loading is delaying the main image above the fold.
- Oversized uploads and missing compression
- Hero image excluded from lazy loading
- Alt text written where the image carries information
- Unused registered image sizes trimmed
WordPress page speed work across caching, database and server
I measure real templates on mobile, then work through page caching, CSS and script delivery, font loading and database bloat such as autoloaded options and old revisions. Caching plugins like WP Rocket or LiteSpeed Cache are configured carefully, because aggressive settings can break menus and forms. If hosting is the ceiling, I say so plainly.
- Core Web Vitals per template, measured on mobile
- Caching and asset delivery settings reviewed
- Database clean-up list for your developer
- Hosting limits stated with evidence
Multisite setups with shared themes, plugins and several sites to keep apart
A WordPress multisite network shares one codebase across several sites in subdirectories or on subdomains. That makes a single plugin decision affect every site at once. I check each site's indexing settings, sitemaps, canonicals and, for language or country networks, hreflang between sister sites, and set rules the network admin can follow.
- Per-site visibility and sitemap checks
- Network-activated plugins reviewed for side effects
- Hreflang between language or country sites
- Rules for adding a new site to the network
Experience
Wordpress SEO from someone who has done it many times
You work with me from the first call to the last report. No account managers, no hand-offs to a junior team.
Book a free call- years in SEO
- 6+
- client websites worked on
- 60+
- documented case studies
- 35
URLs WordPress generates and what I usually do with them
These page types appear on most installs whether or not anyone planned them. The right treatment depends on your site, so treat this as a starting position rather than a rule.
| Page type | Typical URL | Common problem | Usual treatment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Category archives | /category/name/ | Bare post lists with no introduction | Keep and improve if they match a real topic people search |
| Tag archives | /tag/name/ | Hundreds of tags used once or twice | Merge into fewer tags, noindex the rest |
| Author archives | /author/name/ | Copies the blog index on single-author sites | Noindex or redirect when there is one author |
| Date archives | /2025/03/ | Thin listings nobody searches for | Noindex or disable |
| Attachment pages | /post-name/image-name/ | A page per image with no text | Redirect to the file or parent post |
| Internal search results | /?s=term | Spam queries creating indexable pages | Noindex and keep out of sitemaps |
| Paginated listings | /page/2/ | Deep pages blocked or wrongly canonicalised | Leave crawlable, self-canonical, linked in sequence |
| Comment pages and feeds | /comment-page-2/, /feed/ | Duplicate copies of posts | Avoid comment pagination; leave feeds out of sitemaps |
Exact URL formats depend on your permalink and SEO plugin settings. I check what your site actually outputs before changing anything.
How a WordPress engagement runs
I can work with dashboard access alone, but a staging copy and a developer contact make the later stages faster and safer.
- 1
Crawl and inventory
A full crawl alongside Search Console's indexing reports, matched against the post types, taxonomies and plugins in your dashboard. This shows which URLs WordPress publishes that nobody intended.
- 2
Settings review
Core settings, SEO plugin configuration and theme options are checked screen by screen, with every change I propose written down before it is made.
- 3
Template and plugin analysis
Rendered HTML and speed for each main template, plus the plugin inventory, so heading, markup and loading problems are traced to the theme, builder or plugin that causes them.
- 4
Fixes on staging, then live
Dashboard changes I make myself where you are happy for me to; code changes go to your developer as tickets. Anything risky is tested on staging before production.
- 5
Settings record and handover
A short document of every indexing rule and plugin decision, so whoever runs the site next knows why each switch is set the way it is.
Free review
Get a free Wordpress SEO review
Send me your site. Before the call I look at your rankings and pages, then tell you what I would fix first and what it is likely worth.
Plugin defaults versus a WordPress install configured on purpose
Both sites have an SEO plugin installed and a green light on every post. Only one has had someone decide what each part of the site is for.
Installed and left on defaults
- Every taxonomy indexable, including tags used once
- Theme and plugin both printing titles, canonicals or schema
- Sitemap listing attachment pages and empty archives
- Builder scripts and plugin styles loaded on every URL
- Settings undone by the next theme change and nobody notices
Configured for this particular site
- Indexing decided per post type and taxonomy, with reasons
- One source for every tag in the page head
- Sitemaps containing only pages meant to rank
- Scripts restricted to the templates that use them
- A written settings record checked after every major update
Theme and builder changes
A new WordPress theme is a migration, even if no URL changes
Switching themes or page builders keeps your URLs but can drop body copy stored in builder modules, settings saved in the old theme's options, schema the theme used to print and internal links baked into templates. I compare titles, headings, word counts and structured data on key pages before and after the switch, so losses are caught on staging. If URLs are changing too, the project moves to full SEO migration planning.
Signs your WordPress site needs this work
Any one of these is worth a look. Several together usually mean the CMS is working against your content.
Indexed pages far outnumber real pages
Search Console shows many more indexed URLs than the posts and pages you have written, usually archives, attachments or parameter URLs.
Slow on mobile despite a caching plugin
Speed scores barely move after caching because the weight comes from builder libraries, sliders and third-party scripts.
Rankings dipped after a theme or plugin update
Titles reverted, noindex tags appeared or schema vanished after an update, and nobody had a record of the old settings.
Where WordPress platform work ends and other services begin
This service is about the platform: how WordPress, your theme and your plugins shape what gets crawled and how fast it loads. Crawl budget, rendering and server-level issues that are not specific to WordPress belong to technical SEO, and the wording of titles, headings and body copy on individual pages is on-page SEO. In practice I often do the WordPress review first, because fixing the platform makes page-level work stick.
If you sell through WooCommerce, product templates, attributes and filtered category URLs add a separate set of problems, covered on my WooCommerce SEO page. If you want the whole picture of content, links and technical health before choosing where to start, a fixed-scope SEO audit covers WordPress issues as part of it.
Getting more from a WordPress site once the platform is sound
With archives tidied and templates fixed, the gains come from what you publish. A content strategy decides which categories become real topic hubs and which posts should be merged, and keyword research gives each page a query it can win. Sites serving several countries from one install, or from a multisite network, should pair this work with international SEO so hreflang and market folders are set up once and correctly.
If analytics came from a plugin installed years ago, a GA4 setup rebuild is the clean option when the data cannot be trusted. The SEO services overview shows everything else I offer.
Growth from real projects
Learn more about wordpress seo
Often needed alongside this
Wordpress SEO Services FAQs
Do I need WordPress SEO help if I already use Yoast or Rank Math?
Usually, yes. These plugins give you the controls, but their defaults are written for a generic site. Someone still has to decide which taxonomies to index, what the sitemap should contain, how titles are built for each post type and whether the theme is duplicating the plugin's output. That decision-making is the work.
Is WordPress bad for SEO compared with other platforms?
No. WordPress gives you more control over URLs, markup and indexing than most hosted builders, which is exactly why it can go wrong. The problems come from themes, builders and plugins added without a plan, not from WordPress itself. A well-configured install ranks as well as anything else.
Should I stop using Elementor or another page builder?
Not necessarily. Rebuilding is expensive and often unnecessary. I first measure what the builder costs you in speed and markup, then trim unused modules, fix headings and restrict scripts. Only if the builder is the clear performance ceiling do I recommend replacing it, with a migration plan.
Should tag pages be noindexed on WordPress?
It depends on how tags are used. If you have a small, curated set that matches real searches, tag pages can rank with some introductory copy. Most sites have hundreds of one-off tags, and those are better merged or noindexed so they stop competing with the posts they list.
Do you need admin access to my WordPress site?
An administrator or editor account makes the review much faster, because many issues live in settings screens a crawler cannot see. I can start with a crawl and Search Console alone, and code changes always go through your developer. I avoid editing production directly when a staging site exists.
Can you work on a WordPress multisite network?
Yes. Multisite needs extra care because network-activated plugins and shared themes change every site at once. I review each site's indexing settings, sitemaps and canonicals separately, check hreflang where the sites are language or country versions, and agree rules for adding new sites to the network.
Running WordPress? Get a WordPress SEO review of your settings and templates
Tell me your theme, page builder and the SEO plugin you use. On a free 30-minute call I will look at what your install is publishing that it should not, where the speed is going, and which fixes are worth doing first.