Generated URL audit
Everything WordPress is producing — tags, categories, authors, dates, attachments — and which of it should be indexed. Usually far less than currently is.
Why flexibility becomes the problem
WordPress generates a lot of URLs by default — tag archives, category archives, author pages, date archives, attachment pages — and indexes them unless told otherwise. Most sites want almost none of these, and few teams ever revisit the defaults, so thin archives accumulate silently for years.
Attachment pages are the clearest example. Every uploaded image can generate its own URL containing nothing but that image, and a site with four thousand images can quietly carry four thousand near-empty pages. They dilute the index, waste crawl budget, and nobody has ever wanted one to rank.
Tag archives are the second, and they are worse because they look purposeful. Tags applied inconsistently over years produce hundreds of archives with two posts each, which compete with the categories that were meant to organise the site. The fix is usually to deindex nearly all of them rather than to tidy them.
Plugin sprawl is the performance equivalent. Every plugin adds queries, scripts and styles, and established sites routinely carry plugins installed for a single campaign years ago. Deactivating three unused plugins frequently improves load time more than any amount of image optimisation.
The compensating advantage is genuine: nothing here is fixed. Unlike hosted platforms, every one of these problems is solvable at the source, which makes WordPress an unusually rewarding platform to work on once someone has actually looked at what it is generating.
What the engagement covers
The engagement covers an index audit of everything WordPress generates, archive and taxonomy decisions, a plugin audit measuring the performance cost of each one, theme-level template corrections, WooCommerce-specific product and category handling where relevant, and a single consolidated SEO plugin configuration.
Archive and taxonomy decisions
Which archives serve readers and which exist because nobody changed a default. Most sites need categories indexed and very little else.
Plugin audit
What each active plugin costs in queries and front-end weight, and whether it is still needed. Deactivating unused plugins is the cheapest speed work available.
Theme template corrections
Heading structure, internal linking, image handling and markup fixed in the theme so every post and page inherits the correction.
WooCommerce handling
Product and category URL structure, variation handling, and filter parameters, which behave differently from standard WordPress content and are frequently misconfigured.
SEO plugin configuration
One SEO plugin configured deliberately, with conflicting or duplicated plugins removed. Two SEO plugins fighting over output is a common and damaging pattern.
How the engagement runs
The engagement audits what WordPress is generating and indexing first, then settles the archive and taxonomy decisions, audits every plugin for cost and necessity, corrects the theme templates, and configures a single SEO plugin deliberately rather than leaving the defaults in place.
- 01
See what is being generated
Every URL type WordPress produces and which are indexed. On established sites this routinely finds thousands of archive and attachment pages nobody knew existed.
→ A generated-URL and index audit
- 02
Decide the archives
Which taxonomies and archives should be indexed. For most sites the answer is categories and nothing else, which removes a large amount of thin content at once.
→ Archive and taxonomy indexation rules
- 03
Audit the plugins
Cost and necessity per plugin, including ones installed for a campaign years ago. Deactivation frequently beats every other performance intervention available.
→ A plugin inventory with removals
- 04
Fix the theme
Heading structure, internal linking, image handling and markup corrected once in the theme so every post inherits it rather than being edited individually.
→ Theme-level corrections deployed
- 05
Configure one SEO plugin
A single plugin configured deliberately, with any competing plugin removed. Two SEO plugins producing conflicting output is common and does real damage.
→ A single, deliberately configured plugin
What WordPress indexes by default
These defaults were reasonable for a blogging platform and are wrong for most modern sites. Because nothing warns you, thin archives accumulate for years, and a site's index can be dominated by pages nobody ever intended to publish as destinations.
| URL type | Indexed by default | Usually wanted |
|---|---|---|
| Posts and pages | Yes | Yes |
| Category archives | Yes | Usually yes |
| Tag archives | Yes | Rarely — most should be deindexed |
| Author archives | Yes | Only on genuine multi-author sites |
| Date archives | Yes | Almost never |
| Attachment pages | Yes | Never |
Signals you need this now
You need this when Search Console reports far more indexed pages than you have content, when plugins have accumulated over years without review, when two SEO plugins are active simultaneously, or when tag archives are competing with the categories meant to organise the site.
- Search Console shows far more indexed pages than you have content
- Plugins have accumulated over years without review
- Two SEO plugins are active at the same time
- Tag archives compete with your categories
- Attachment pages are indexed
- Your theme uses heading levels for styling rather than structure
- WooCommerce filter parameters generate indexable URLs
What clients see
Deindexing thin archives usually produces the fastest improvement, because it concentrates crawl attention on content that was always meant to rank. Plugin removal shows up in performance immediately. Neither is glamorous, and together they account for most of what we fix on established sites.
Where this fits
Related SEO services
Common in these sectors
The adjacent disciplines
Deciding between options
Questions about WordPress SEO
Each answer is written to stand alone in 40 to 60 words — the shape an AI Overview or Perplexity citation lifts. Ships with FAQPage schema.
Should we deindex tag archives?
Usually most of them. Tags applied inconsistently over years produce hundreds of archives with two posts each, competing with the categories meant to organise the site. Keeping a small number that genuinely function as topic hubs is fine; keeping all of them is not.
Which SEO plugin should we use?
Any of the established ones, configured deliberately. The choice matters far less than the configuration, and running two simultaneously is actively harmful — they produce conflicting output and neither is fully in control of what ships.
Why is our WordPress site slow?
Plugins, in most cases. Each adds queries and front-end weight, and established sites routinely carry plugins installed for a campaign years ago. Deactivating three unused ones frequently improves load time more than extensive image optimisation would.
Are attachment pages a real problem?
Yes, and an invisible one. Every uploaded image can generate its own URL containing nothing but that image, so a site with four thousand images can carry four thousand near-empty pages diluting the index. Nobody has ever wanted one to rank.
Is WooCommerce different from standard WordPress?
In the parts that matter most, yes. Product and category URL handling, variation pages and filter parameters all behave differently and are frequently misconfigured, producing the same faceted-navigation problems that affect any e-commerce platform at scale.
Is WordPress bad for SEO?
No — it is flexible enough that nothing here is a platform limitation, which is unusual. Every problem we find is solvable at the source. The risk is precisely that flexibility: WordPress will happily let you do the wrong thing for years without warning.
Find out whether this is your constraint.
Thirty minutes with a senior strategist. We pull your live visibility while we talk and tell you plainly whether a WordPress SEO is what you need — or whether your problem sits somewhere else.