I sat down with my friend Shane Eubanks, who has been doing SEO since 1997, and asked him to share every WordPress SEO tip he uses on every website he builds. What followed was one of the most practical, no-nonsense SEO conversations I have ever had. Here are the 23 tips distilled into actionable advice that still holds up in 2026.
Foundation: Get Your Technical SEO Right
1. Use a premium WordPress theme or framework. Themes like GeneratePress, Kadence, or Astra have built-in SEO features that handle a lot of technical optimization automatically. If your theme does not have SEO built in, you are starting behind.
2. Install a dedicated SEO plugin. If your theme does not handle SEO natively, install a plugin like Yoast SEO or Rank Math. These plugins give you control over titles, descriptions, and other critical on-page elements.
3. Fix your canonical URLs. Make sure your site resolves to one version of your URL. Whether you use www or non-www, every variation should redirect to the canonical version. If both www.yoursite.com and yoursite.com load as separate pages, Google sees them as duplicates and splits your authority between them.
4. Set up proper permalink structure. Change your WordPress permalink structure from the default to something that includes your post name. Most SEO professionals recommend /%postname%/ or /%category%/%postname%/. Do this before you have backlinks pointing to your posts, or you will need to set up 301 redirects.
On-Page Optimization
5. Optimize your title tags. Your title tag is one of the most heavily weighted ranking factors. Include your target keyword, keep it interesting enough to earn clicks, and put the most important words first. People skim search results quickly.
6. Write compelling meta descriptions. Google may not use the meta description directly for rankings, but it is critical for click-through rate. Think of it like the back cover of a book. Your title grabs attention; your description makes people click. Make sure your landing page delivers on the promise of your description.
7. Use H1 tags correctly. Your H1 tag should be the page title on every post and page. On your homepage, it should be your site name. Only one H1 per page. Many free WordPress themes get this wrong by using H2 tags for post titles, which is a significant missed opportunity.
8. Use H2 tags for subheadings within content. Make them keyword-rich and relevant to the post topic. Do not waste H2 tags on sidebar widgets labeled “Resources” or “Archives” — those do nothing for your SEO.
9. Optimize your images. Name your image files with descriptive, keyword-relevant names before uploading. Fill in the alt text and title attributes. Use descriptive captions where appropriate. WordPress makes this easy through the media upload interface.
10. Compress your images for speed. Page speed is a confirmed ranking factor. Large, unoptimized images are the most common cause of slow-loading pages. Use an image optimization plugin or compress images before uploading. Consider using a CDN for media files on larger sites.
Internal Linking and Site Structure
11. Use smart anchor text for internal links. When you link between articles on your site, pay attention to the anchor text. Use descriptive, keyword-relevant phrases. Internal anchor text tells search engines which pages are important and what they are about.
12. Do keyword research before naming categories and tags. Your categories and tags affect your URL structure, your anchor text, and your site architecture. Choose them strategically based on keyword research, not on whatever sounds good in the moment.
13. Create a featured articles widget. Put your five most important articles in a sidebar widget that appears across your entire site. This tells search engines that every page on your site links to those articles, signaling their importance. Rotate seasonal or time-sensitive content into this widget as needed.
14. Nofollow and noindex pages that do not need to rank. Privacy policies, terms of service, and other administrative pages do not need to appear in search results. Noindex them and nofollow the links pointing to them from your navigation. This keeps search engines focused on the content that matters.
Content and Engagement
15. Create strong, sticky content. Your content needs to keep visitors from hitting the back button. If people search, click your result, and immediately return to Google, that signals to search engines that your page was not valuable for that query. Write content that answers the question, provides genuine value, and keeps people reading.
16. Keep your content fresh. Google rewards sites that are regularly updated with new content. A blog that has not been updated in six months sends a signal that it may be abandoned or outdated. Publish consistently, even if that means once a week or twice a month.
17. Make your content shareable. Adding share buttons is not enough. Create content that people actually want to share. Long-form guides, definitive how-to posts, and controversial predictions tend to earn the most shares. Social signals are increasingly important for rankings.
Advanced Optimization
18. Implement structured data markup. Schema markup helps search engines understand your content at a deeper level. It can also earn you rich snippets in search results — things like star ratings, author photos, and FAQ dropdowns that make your listing stand out. Most modern SEO plugins include structured data features.
19. Set up Google Search Console. This free tool shows you how Google sees your site, what queries are driving traffic, and any issues that need attention. If you are not using Search Console, you are flying blind.
20. Monitor your page speed. Use Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to check your load times. Aim for under three seconds. Slow sites lose visitors and rankings.
21. Use meta keywords sparingly. Most search engines claim they do not use the meta keywords tag for ranking. But filling in a few relevant keywords takes two seconds and costs nothing. There is no downside.
22. Set up proper redirects. If you change a URL, set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one. Broken links and 404 errors damage your SEO. Use a redirection plugin if you are not comfortable editing your .htaccess file.
23. Claim your authorship. Connect your content to your personal brand through Google's authorship signals. Link your website to your social profiles. Build a recognizable personal brand in your niche. Google increasingly factors author authority and expertise into rankings.
Where to Start
If 23 tips feels overwhelming, do not panic. Start with the foundation: a good theme, an SEO plugin, proper permalinks, and canonical URLs. Then work through the on-page optimization tips. The advanced items can wait until you have the basics locked down. Progress beats perfection every time.
