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WordPress SEO audit · no plugin needed

A WordPress SEO auditThat finds what plugins miss.

SEO plugins set your tags. They don’t tell you about the duplicate tag pages, broken links, canonical conflicts and slow Core Web Vitals that pile up on a real WordPress site. We crawl your whole site and find them: nothing to install.

Last reviewed · 1 Oct 20265 primary sources →Kalenux engineering
https://Check my WordPress site →
✓First audit free✓Then $9 one-time✓No plugin
crawl · yourblog.com · WordPress5 issues
/200
/blog/best-trail-shoes/200
/tag/shoes/near-duplicate of /category/shoes/thin archive
/2023/05/date archive, 2 poststhin archive
/?attachment_id=412image attachment pageindexable
/old-post-slug/linked from 6 posts404
/pricing/theme + plugin both set one2 canonicals
LCP · mobile · /blog/4.1 s
illustrative crawl
the technical issues wordpress sites are prone to

Flexibility has a technical cost.

These pile up quietly as a WordPress site grows. An audit catches all six.

⧉01
Duplicate archive pagesTag, category, author and date archives create thin near-duplicates that compete with real content./tag/ /category/ /author/ /2023/
⛓02
Broken links from editsRenamed posts, changed permalinks and deleted pages leave broken links and lost backlinks./old-slug/ → 404
⇆03
Canonical conflictsThemes and plugins emit conflicting or missing canonicals, splitting ranking signals.canonical × 2
▦04
Attachment & paginationImage attachment pages and unmanaged pagination create low-value URLs.?attachment_id= /page/7/
⚡05
Plugin & theme bloatRender-blocking scripts and styles from plugins drag Core Web Vitals down.23 scripts · LCP 4.1s
⊘06
Indexability mistakesA stray noindex, a robots rule or a staging setting left on keeps pages out of Google.noindex · Disallow: /
your seo plugin and this audit do different jobs

Configure with one. Verify with the other.

YOUR PLUGIN · YOAST, RANK MATH…Configures
WHEREInside the editorSCOPEOne post at a time
✓Titles and meta descriptions as you write✓Canonicals and schema per post✓Emits tags your theme lacks
KALENUX · FROM THE OUTSIDEVerifies
WHEREThe live, rendered siteSCOPEEvery page, compared
✓The broken link on an old post✓The archive nobody noindexed✓The canonical the theme overrode✓The page that quietly got slow
You want both. The audit finds the gap between how the site was configured and how it really behaves.Audit my WordPress site free →
the plugin conflicts a crawl catches

Every plugin says it works. The response says otherwise.

Each plugin is right inside its own admin screen. The contradiction only exists in what the server actually sends: which is what a crawl reads.

WHAT THE SERVER SENDS · /pricing/● conflict
<head><!-- SEO plugin A --><link rel="canonical" href="Kalenux SEO Audit Pricing.dc.html"><!-- SEO plugin B --><link rel="canonical" href="Kalenux SEO Audit Pricing.dc.html"></head>
01Two SEO pluginsBoth active, two canonical tags in one head.
02Two sitemapsA migration tool left one behind; they disagree about what exists.
03Stale cacheA caching layer serves a version whose tags were fixed weeks ago.
audit your wordpress site in 3 steps

Nothing to install. Three steps.

From first click to a prioritised fix list: here is what happens at each step, and what you see.

  1. STEP 1 OF 3⏱ ~2 minAdd & verify your site

    Prove you own the domain with one of three methods: whichever your host makes easiest. Nothing is installed in WordPress.

    DNSTXT record at your registrar
    TXT @ kalenux-verify=9f2c…
    Meta tagOne line in the theme header
    <meta name="kalenux-verify" content="9f2c…">
    FileUpload to the site root
    /kalenux-9f2c.html
    • ✓Takes about 2 minutes
    • ✓Works on any host or page builder
    • ✓Verify once, re-audit any time
  2. STEP 2 OF 3⏱ minutesRun a crawl

    We request every URL from outside, the way a search engine does: including the archives, attachments and paginated pages WordPress generates on its own.

    crawling yourblog.com● live
    1,284URLs240+checks each6templates timed
    PostsPagesTag archivesCategory archivesAuthor & dateAttachmentsPaginationSitemapsrobots.txt
    • ✓Every page vs 240+ technical checks
    • ✓Real PageSpeed on your key templates
    • ✓Rendered HTML, not what the editor intended
  3. STEP 3 OF 3⏱ your paceFix by severity

    Findings are grouped by root cause, not by page. On WordPress most causes live in the theme, a template or one plugin, so one fix clears hundreds of URLs.

    CRITICALnoindex on the tag template212 pages · 1 theme fix
    HIGHTwo canonicals on /pricing/2 plugins · disable one
    HIGHBroken links to renamed posts37 links · 6 posts
    MEDIUMRender-blocking plugin CSSLCP 4.1 s → ~2.3 s
    • ✓Critical → high → medium order
    • ✓Affected URLs listed for each cause
    • ✓Re-crawl to confirm, health tracked over time
$0First full-site auditFree credit on signup, no card.
$9One-time, 50 auditsCredits never expire, no subscription.
0Plugins added to your siteThe crawl reads your site from outside.
frequently asked questions

Short answers for WordPress owners.

Q1

Have Yoast or Rank Math: still need an audit?

YES

The plugin checks one post in the editor. An audit crawls the live site and finds faults between pages.

Q2

Do I need to install a plugin?

NO

The crawl reads your site from outside over HTTP. Nothing is added to WordPress.

Q3

Will it find duplicate tag and category pages?

YES

Thin or near-duplicate tag, category, author and date archives are reported with URLs.

Q4

Can it catch conflicting canonicals?

YES

It reads the canonical actually rendered: how plugin conflicts usually get noticed.

Q5

What does it cost?

FIRST AUDIT FREE

Then $9 one-time for 50 audits. No subscription, credits never expire.

in depth · 5 primary sources

What WordPress does out of the box.

The facts behind this page, from search-engine documentation and each vendor’s own pages. Prices change, so check the linked pages for current figures.

01Core sitemaps since 5.5

Since version 5.5, WordPress generates an XML sitemap at /wp-sitemap.xml by default. SEO plugins often replace it with their own [1].

Two sitemaps at once, core and plugin, is a common audit finding.

02The one checkbox that deindexes a site

The “Discourage search engines from indexing this site” setting under Settings → Reading asks search engines not to index the site [2]. It is often left on after launch from staging.

To keep pages out of Google reliably, a noindex directive is the documented method, and the page must stay crawlable for it to be seen [3][4].

KEY FACTBlocking a page in robots.txt doesn’t reliably remove it from Google. noindex does [3][4].

03Plugins and canonicals

Themes and SEO plugins can each output canonical tags. Google advises one consistent canonical per page, pointing to a live 200 URL [5].

References

  1. [1]New XML sitemaps functionality in WordPress 5.5 · Make WordPress Core, 2020make.wordpress.org/core/2020/07/22/new-xml-sitemaps-functionality-in-wordpress-5-5/
  2. [2]Settings Reading Screen (Search engine visibility) · WordPress.org Documentationwordpress.org/documentation/article/settings-reading-screen/
  3. [3]Block Search indexing with noindex · Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/block-indexing
  4. [4]Introduction to robots.txt · Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots/intro
  5. [5]How to specify a canonical URL with rel="canonical" and other methods · Google Search Centraldevelopers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/consolidate-duplicate-urls
CITE THIS PAGEKalenux. (2026). WordPress SEO audit: what to check on a WordPress site. Kalenux SEO Guide. Last reviewed 1 Oct 2026. kalenux.com.tr/wordpress-seo-audit
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