The Ultimate Enterprise WordPress SEO Checklist 2025 (Part 2)

Introduction

In Part 1 of this blog series, we laid the groundwork for enterprise WordPress SEO. We looked at the setup of tracking tools, chose an SEO-friendly theme, planned a keyword strategy, and resolved keyword cannibalization to keep your content focused and effective.

Now it’s time to build on that foundation. In this second part, we’ll dive into:

• On-page SEO techniques to help your content rank higher and connect with your audience
• Internal linking strategies that guide visitors naturally and distribute SEO authority
• User experience improvements to keep people engaged and exploring your site
• Technical SEO fixes to ensure your site is crawlable, secure, and ready for search engines

1. On-Page SEO Best Practices

Applying modern on-page SEO techniques to web pages on your website is crucial to improving your site’s visibility, user experience, and overall search performance. 

Here’s how to approach it:

Optimize Your Content for Both Users and Search Engines 

Creating content that serves both people and search engines leads to sustainable SEO growth.

• Write for humans first, and then optimize for SEO:  Make sure your content reads naturally, addresses user intent, and includes keywords in a meaningful way rather than forcefully.
• Place keywords strategically: Add your primary keywords thoughtfully in the URL, page title, H1 tag, and within the opening paragraph of your content to maximize relevance and crawlability.
• Use a single, well-defined H1 tag: Each page should have only one H1 tag that clearly describes the main topic, helping both readers and search engines understand the page structure.
• Craft unique meta titles and descriptions: Write clear and descriptive titles and meta descriptions for every page to improve click-through rates from search results.
• Structure content using proper formatting. Use headings (H2 to H6), short paragraphs, lists, and bullet points to make your content scannable and easy to digest.
• Add multimedia to support engagement: Include images, charts, videos, and infographics to help explain complex topics and reduce bounce rates.
• Use semantically related keywords: Incorporate supporting terms (also known as LSI keywords) to provide search engines with more context and relevance.
• Add descriptive alt text to all images: Make images accessible to all users and improve search indexing with meaningful alt descriptions.
• Include FAQ sections where relevant: Answer frequently asked questions at the end of the content to improve user satisfaction and win featured snippets.
• Use schema markup wherever relevant:  Mark up content types like articles, FAQs, or how-to pages to enable rich results in search listings.

2. Interlinking Strategy

Google relies on internal links to understand the hierarchy and importance of your site’s pages. By strategically linking to these high-value areas, you improve their visibility in search results and help users discover your most impactful content.

Strong internal linking guides both users and search engines through relevant content, helping increase session duration and improve page rankings. According to SEO experts, a well-executed internal link structure can lead to double-digit improvements in organic traffic and conversions. 

Not all pages on your website carry the same weight in SEO. Some are far more critical for driving results, especially when it comes to revenue and conversions. That’s why your internal linking strategy should intentionally support and guide users (and search engines) toward your highest-value pages. 

These key pages often include:

• Product or service pages, where your offerings are clearly outlined.
• Pillar content: in-depth, evergreen resources that demonstrate authority on a topic.
• Gated assets, like white papers or webinars, capture leads.

An important point to consider for internal linking 

• Ensure Links Are Placed in the Main Content: Placing internal links near the top of a page enhances their impact. Google prioritizes links that appear early in the body because they are often more relevant.
• Use Varied and Descriptive Anchor Text: Anchor text should accurately reflect what the linked page offers. Mixing phrasing avoids repetitive, unnatural-sounding content and helps search engines understand your content’s depth and relevance. 
• Keep Internal Links Balanced: Too many internal links can clutter your content and hurt readability. Aim for 2–5 links per 1,000 words to keep things clean and useful. Add links only where they genuinely help guide readers to important pages.
• Fix Orphaned Pages: Pages without any internal links, known as orphaned pages, are difficult for search engines and users to find. Each important page must be linked to at least once from another part of your site. Regular site audits will uncover these pages and ensure they are incorporated properly.
• Avoid Over-Optimisation: While internal links benefit SEO, excessive linking or keyword-heavy anchor text can feel manipulative and harm user experience. Guidelines suggest maintaining a balanced, natural linking pattern with both internal and external references to preserve trust and readability.

3. Implement User Experience Best Practices

Exceptional user experience is foundational to both SEO performance and audience satisfaction. 

It helps you streamline site navigation, optimize for mobile, and use behavioral insights to improve engagement.

Ensure Mobile Responsiveness Across All Devices

With Google’s mobile-first indexing, the mobile version of your website is now the primary version used for crawling and ranking.

 For enterprise WordPress websites, which often include custom post types, complex page builders, multi-level navigation, and large volumes of dynamic content, ensuring full mobile responsiveness is crucial for SEO, UX, and conversions. Don’t assume your content automatically adapts; test and optimize.

Use mega menus for multi-level navigation that collapse elegantly into mobile-friendly dropdowns or hamburger menus, ensuring usability and crawlability without overwhelming the mobile user.

Enterprise users often engage on mobile first (research) and convert on a desktop. Ensure that content, CTAs, and structured data remain visible and functional across all devices to support the full buyer journey.

Add a search feature for easy content discovery.

The website should include a search bar, either global or content-specific (like resources, blogs, or case studies), so users can quickly locate specific information. 

Ideally, it should be placed in the header of the website so it’s globally available, and content-specific search features should be on their respective pages.  

For example, placing a search field labeled “Search resources…” improves navigation on content-heavy sites. 

Implement a Mega Menu for Clear Site Structure 

For enterprise websites with complex structures, mega menus improve navigation by displaying a full panel of links at a glance.

 If your company offers many products or services across multiple industries, along with extensive resources like case studies, white papers, and guides, A

 A well-designed mega menu can help users find exactly what they need quickly and intuitively.

Understand User Behavior Using Heatmaps and Session Recording Tools

• Microsoft Clarity: Use Microsoft Clarity’s free session recordings and heatmaps to observe how users interact with your site. Clarity reveals the why behind user behavior.
• Hotjar: Hotjar offers scroll heatmaps, session replays, and on-site surveys that highlight user interaction trends. For instance, a scroll map may show users never reach your call-to-action section, prompting a redesign. Avoid launching changes without user feedback; Hotjar’s surveys reveal why users drop off or hesitate.

4. Technical SEO Optimization

Technical SEO is the foundation of your website’s ability to rank in search engines. In simple terms, it ensures that your website is easy for search engines to access, understand, and trust. 

Even the best content won’t perform well if your site has technical issues. This section guides you through each critical area, from crawl settings to security and architecture.

Crawlability & Indexing

Search engines like Google need to “crawl” your site to understand your content. If your pages aren’t crawlable or indexed correctly, they won’t appear in search results.

Set Up and Submit Your Sitemap.XML

• Create and submit an XML sitemap to search engines. A sitemap tells Google which pages to crawl. Use plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math to automatically generate an XML sitemap and submit it to Google Search Console.
• Ensure the Site is Crawlable and Indexed:
  • After that, confirm that Google can access all the pages. Using the GSC Page indexing report, you can identify which URLs are indexed and which are blocked. 
  • A study revealed that 25% of websites experience crawlability issues due to misconfigured robots.txt or broken internal links. 
  • You can also check if important pages are being indexed by searching on Google with the command site:yourdomain.com. If your pages don’t show up, Google may be having trouble accessing them.  
  • Fixing these ensures that search engines can follow and index the right pages. 
• Maintain a correct list of sitemap: Your sitemap is like a roadmap for search engines. It tells them which pages on your site are important and should be crawled and indexed.
  • To keep it effective, only include pages that offer real value to users, such as:
    • Main service or product pages
    • Case studies, Events,  
    • Press Releases, White Papers 
    • E-books
    • Blog posts 
    • Key landing pages
  • Avoid including:
    • Placeholder or coming soon pages
    • Thin pages with very little useful content
    • Pages that are purposely blocked via robots.txt or have a noindex directive.
    • URLs that result in 301/302 redirects or 404 errors.
    • Pages with query parameters 
    • Backend URLs
    • Pages with empty or no content 

Identify & Fix Crawl Errors in Search Console: 

• Use Google Search Console (GSC) to monitor crawl issues like 404 errors or server errors. 
• Go to the “Pages” report in GSC and fix any listed errors to improve your site’s visibility.  Resolve these quickly after identifying them. 
• Here are a few reasons why pages aren’t indexed
  • Page with redirect
  • Not found (404)
  • Alternate page with proper canonical tag
  • Excluded by ‘no index’ tag
  • Duplicate without user-selected canonical
  • Crawled – currently not indexed
  • Discovered – currently not indexed
  • Duplicate, Google chose a different canonical than the user

Avoid Duplicate Versions (HTTP vs HTTPS, www vs non-www):

• Your website can be accessed in different ways, like:
  • http://yourwebsite.com
  • https://yourwebsite.com
  • http://www.yourwebsite.com
  • https://www.yourwebsite.com
• Search engines treat these as separate versions, which can hurt your SEO by splitting authority and causing duplicate content issues.
• To fix this, choose one preferred version ( HTTPS with or without “www”) and set up 301 redirects to point all other versions to it. This ensures:
  • Search engines index only one version
  • SEO strength is consolidated
  • Users always land on the secure, correct version
• Use your server settings or tools like Cloudflare, .htaccess, or WordPress plugins to manage these redirects.

Optimize robots.txt 

The robots.txt file gives instructions to search engine bots about which parts of your website they’re allowed to crawl. It helps control visibility without removing pages entirely.

For example, you might want to:

• Allow bots to crawl public pages like blog posts or product listings
• Block access to admin pages, login URLs, or internal tracking scripts

However, this file must be used carefully. Blocking the wrong folder (like your main content directory) could stop Google from indexing important pages.

Make Your Site Secure 

Web security isn’t just for safety; it directly impacts SEO performance.

• Ensure HTTPS Site-Wide: Google considers HTTPS a ranking signal. Ensure all pages are served securely with an SSL certificate. Chrome now labels non-HTTPS pages as “Not Secure,” which can drive visitors away.
• Secure Site with Malware Monitoring Tools: Security issues like malware and spam can cause your site to be removed from search results. Use tools like Sucuri or Wordfence to scan for threats regularly and clean them immediately.

Optimize for Website Architecture

Site architecture is the way your pages and links are structured across your website. A well-organized layout helps users browse smoothly and makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index your content.

• Use Clear URL Structures: 
  • Keep your URLs short, clean, and descriptive. For example, use /seo-checklist instead of /page?id=1234.
  • Readable URLs give users a better idea of what the page is about and help search engines understand the topic quickly.
• Maintain Clean Navigation Hierarchies:
  • Group-related content using proper categories and subcategories. Important pages should be accessible within three clicks from the homepage. This helps both users and search engines find key content easily.
• Find and fix Broken Links: 
  • Broken links can frustrate users and send negative signals to search engines. A website with too many 404 errors can lower user trust.
  • Regularly scan your site using tools like Dead Link Checker, Ahrefs, or Ubersuggest to spot and fix 404 errors.
• Check Redirects: 
  • Whenever you remove a page or change its URL, make sure you set up a redirect to send users and search engines to a similar, updated page. 
  • This helps visitors avoid broken links and ensures your site doesn’t lose the search value that old pages had. 
  • Use a 301 redirect to show that the change is permanent and to pass on SEO strength to the new page. Avoid using temporary (302) redirects unless the move is only short-term.
  • Use Breadcrumbs for Easier Navigation: Implement breadcrumb trails such as “Home › Blog › SEO › Best Practices” so users can easily understand their location and navigate back. Avoid overly complex breadcrumbs like “Home › 2025 › Blog › SEO › Guides › Checklist,” which can overwhelm and confuse visitors.

Conclusion

By refining on-page SEO, strengthening internal links, enhancing user experience, and addressing technical SEO, your site is now built for both performance and growth.

In Part 3, we’ll focus on off-page SEO and scaling strategies to help you build authority and sustain long-term results.