What WordPress will and will not let you do
WordPress runs over 40% of the web because it is flexible, which is exactly why it is easy to get wrong for SEO. There is no single “WordPress problem” the way Shopify has nested collection URLs. The problems come from what has been installed on top of it: plugin conflicts, page builders that inject bloated markup, themes that duplicate schema, and category/tag structures nobody has looked at since launch. WordPress SEO work is mostly an audit of what has accumulated, not a fight with the platform itself.
What’s included
- Plugin and stack audit. What SEO, caching, page-builder and form plugins are installed, whether any conflict with each other, and what each is actually costing you in load time.
- Theme and page-builder cleanup. Bloated markup from visual builders (Elementor, Divi and similar) stripped back where it is hurting Core Web Vitals or burying content from crawlers.
- Category and tag architecture. A taxonomy that reflects search demand and internal linking logic, not whatever was set up when the site first launched.
- On-page optimisation. Titles, headings, internal linking and snippet formatting built into templates so new posts and pages launch search-ready.
- Schema and structured data. Correct, non-duplicated markup, checking for the common WordPress failure mode of two plugins both outputting the same schema type.
- Speed and hosting review. Where load time is a hosting or caching problem rather than a content problem, and what that is worth fixing before anything else.
Common WordPress SEO problems we fix
- Duplicate schema from stacked plugins. Two or more plugins outputting the same markup, which can confuse rather than help.
- Page-builder bloat. Visual builders that generate excessive nested markup, slowing render and diluting the signal search engines use to understand the page.
- Category/tag sprawl. Years of ad hoc tagging producing thin archive pages competing with your actual content for the same terms.
- Plugin conflicts. SEO, caching and security plugins that overwrite each other’s settings, often silently.
- Uncontrolled indexation. Search, tag and author archive pages left indexable by default, diluting crawl budget and creating duplicate content.
WordPress sites we’ve grown
This is a store we’ve independently verified is running on WordPress, with the results as published on its own case study.
- Gtechniq: 67%+ increase in organic search, 94%+ increase in visibility, and #1 rankings for LearnHub content, from a structured SEO programme on a WordPress and WooCommerce site. See the Gtechniq case study.
What it costs
WordPress SEO runs on the same retainer as the rest of our search work: from £1,250 a month, with no minimum term, 60 days’ notice, at any point. What moves the price is how much has accumulated on the site (plugin count, page-builder use, and how long since the last technical review) plus the size of the content library. A five-year-old site with fifteen plugins is a different job to a fresh install. Book a call and we will price it against your site rather than a generic tier.
Related services
(template-rendered, not written here)
Latest SEO Insights
Stay ahead with our expert content
SEO Audit Checklist: 40 Checks to Run in 2026
An SEO audit checks four things in order: whether Google can crawl the site, whether it indexes the right pages, whether those pages answer…
How to Choose an SEO Agency: A 10-Point Checklist
Choose an SEO agency on three things. Whether they diagnosed your site before pitching, whether they can show what they shipped for a comparable…
SEO Agency vs Freelancer vs In-House: Which to Pick
Hire a freelancer when you need one specialism and have someone in-house to implement. Hire an agency when you need several specialisms at once…
How Much Does SEO Cost in the UK? 2026 Pricing Guide
Most UK businesses pay between £500 and £5,000 a month for SEO, and the single most common commercial arrangement is a monthly retainer rather…
Frequently asked questions
For the SEO relevant parts, yes. Theme and template changes, structured data, redirects, speed work, plugin conflicts and crawl issues are all inside what we do on a WordPress site. What we are not is a general web development retainer. New features, integrations and design work sit outside it. We will tell you clearly which side of that line a request falls on before doing it, so you are not surprised by a scope conversation halfway through.
The diagnostic is part of onboarding and is not charged separately. Fixing what we find is the work, and it is what the retainer buys. What we will not do is pretend a rebuild is a month of tidying. If the honest assessment is that the theme is the problem and the fastest route is a new build, we will say so and price it separately rather than absorb it and deliver slowly. You get that assessment in writing in the first few weeks.
We put changes in the theme and in version control rather than in page level overrides, so a release cannot silently drop them. Redirect rules, canonical logic and schema output all belong in the codebase. We then re-check the affected templates after each deploy and report anything that has reverted. If it happens often we set up an automated check so we find out within a day. It is one of the most common reasons a WordPress site quietly loses ground.
The things already close to paying. Pages ranking between five and twenty for a commercial term come first, because the gap is small and the traffic is qualified. Then indexation problems, because a page Google will not keep cannot rank at all, and these are common on WordPress where archives, tags and attachment pages generate thousands of thin URLs. Speed and template work come after, since they compound rather than produce a step change. You get the order and the reasoning up front.
Yes. Everything we build lives on your site, in your WordPress install, under your ownership. Content, templates, redirects and structured data all stay. Any tooling we set up in your own accounts stays with you. There is no minimum term and either side can give 60 days notice at any point, from the first month. The retainer starts from £1,250 a month. We would rather earn the next month than hold you to a contract you have stopped believing in.
No. WordPress itself is SEO-capable out of the box. Problems come from what gets added to it over time (plugins, themes and builders) not the core platform.
Either plugin is a reasonable foundation. We audit what is already installed and configure it properly rather than insisting on a specific tool, unless the current setup is actively conflicting with something else.
We optimise what exists. A rebuild is a different, larger conversation, and we will tell you honestly if the site’s problems go beyond what SEO work alone can fix.
They can, mainly through page speed and markup bloat rather than any direct penalty. We assess the actual impact on your site rather than assuming the builder is the problem by default.
Technical SEO covers crawlability, speed, schema and infrastructure across any platform. This page focuses on WordPress-specific causes of those problems (plugin stacks, builders, taxonomy) and the on-page work layered on top.
Yes, that is WooCommerce SEO specifically, since ecommerce on WordPress carries its own catalogue and category questions beyond a standard content site.
Technical fixes like removing duplicate schema or fixing indexation are usually reflected within weeks of recrawl. Ranking movement on competitive terms typically takes three to six months.
Any change to a live plugin stack carries some risk, which is why we test in staging first and document a rollback plan before touching a production site.
GET IN TOUCH
Ready to grow your brand? Get in touch with our team to discuss how we can help you achieve your goals.