Why WordPress sites break their own SEO
WordPress powers most of the web precisely because it's easy to change — and that's also why its SEO breaks so often. The usual culprits:
- Theme and plugin updates that overwrite title tags, drop meta descriptions, or break the structured data your SEO plugin generates.
- The "Discourage search engines" checkbox (Settings → Reading) left on after a migration — it ships a site-wide
noindexand quietly removes you from Google. - SEO plugin misconfigurations — Yoast/Rank Math/SEOPress settings that look right in wp-admin but output something different on the live page.
- Page builders and sliders shipping multiple H1s, missing alt text, and megabytes of unoptimized images.
- Duplicate content from category/tag/archive pages competing with your real pages when canonicals aren't set.
The audit checks the rendered output of your site — the HTML Google actually receives — so it verifies what your plugins really did, not what their settings pages claim.
What the 18 checks cover
Title tag and meta description (presence + length), H1 and heading structure, canonical URL, indexability (noindex/robots), HTTPS, mobile viewport, image alt text, structured data, Open Graph and Twitter cards, robots.txt, XML sitemap, word count, link profile, language attribute, favicon and page-speed signals — each scored, with the fixes that matter most listed first and copy-paste code for the common ones.
Audit your WordPress site now — free
30 seconds, no plugin, no signup. PDF report included.
Run the Free Audit →Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need to install a plugin to audit my WordPress site?▾
No. AuditSEO reads your live page the way Google does — paste your URL and get a scored report in about 30 seconds. Nothing to install, no login, no signup.
What WordPress SEO problems does it catch?▾
The most common WordPress regressions: theme updates overwriting title tags and meta descriptions, a leftover "Discourage search engines" setting shipping noindex, SEO-plugin misconfigurations, missing image alt text, broken structured data, and slow, heavy pages.
Does it work with Yoast, Rank Math or SEOPress?▾
Yes — it audits the final rendered HTML, so it verifies what your SEO plugin actually output on the live page, which is exactly what search engines see. It's the fastest way to confirm your plugin settings really took effect.
Is it really free?▾
Yes. The audit is free with no signup, including the PDF report. Optionally you can add free weekly monitoring for one URL, or AuditSEO Pro ($9/month) for daily monitoring of up to 50 pages.
After the audit: don't let WordPress un-fix it
WordPress SEO regresses — the next theme update or plugin change can quietly undo today's fixes. Set up free weekly monitoring on your homepage and we'll email you a diff when anything on-page changes. Our guides on technical SEO, title tags, and monitoring for SEO changes cover the rest.