Website checklist for posts / pages

For every post or page that you set, please also double check all items on this checklist, to ensure your content is ready for search engines and the public to see.

1. Check the page / post URL

Double check the URL of the new page / post.

Especially when creating a new page or post for one that already exist, first change the URL of the existing one / the version you want to discard of, to something different. Then the new version can take the same URL or the new preferred URL. This is important for better SEO.

There are 2 ways to do this:

Quick edit

In admin, when you go to the main page that list all of posts – hover over the one that needs checking.
The click on Quick Edit, then change the URL (in WordPress sometimes called slug) as per the screenshots on the right.
This is especially useful when making a new page / post with a title that already exist. To keep the original URL or a ‚clean‘ URL, change the current one first to something eg.

/checkpoint-old

Then the new post will not end with a URL that automatically gets a -2 added at the end eg.

/checkpoint-2

When in the page / post

Another option is to set the URL / slug from the right sidebar, when viewing and editing a post / page from the admin side. From the page / post related tab in the right sidebar, update it from the URL field.

2. Featured image

Each page or post you create needs a Featured image. Check that you page or post have a Featured image. Upload this from the right sidebar in the post / page admin – see screenshot image on the right.

The featured image is used when the page is shared on eg. social media.
The image size is 1200px wide X 630px high.
Make sure to use a high-quality image, like the original image you used in the post, as social platforms often use higher quality/larger images.

OpenGraph and social sharing

Yoast SEO has a Social media appearance section where you can also set a different / custom image for social sharing. See here how you can preview your social posts.

3. Excerpt

This is relevant to Vendor posts (Parent / top level), Event posts and News posts.

In the right side bar scroll to the Excerpt box to add 1 description sentence.

4. Category / Technology / Tag

This is relevant to Vendor posts, Event posts and News posts.

Make yourself aware of further categorising that the post might need. Set eg. the Category, Technology or Tag.

5. Meta description

The meta description summarizes a page’s content and presents it to users in the search results. It’s one of the first things people will likely see when searching for something, so optimizing it is crucial for SEO. It’s your chance to persuade users to click on your result!

To find the textbox, scroll towards the bottom of the page to the Yoast SEO panel.

Learn more about Meta Description on Yoast

6. Images: keep the following key image criteria in mind

1. Use a relevant image that matches your text.
2. Avoid text on / part of the image.
3. Pick a good file name for your image.
4. Make sure image dimensions match the image size as displayed.
5. Reduce file size for faster loading.
6. Add a caption, if appropriate, for easier scanning of the page
7. Use image alt text. No need for Title text.

Please also see the ‚Working with images on WordPress‘ guide.