Why WordPress Site Owners need this
You installed Yoast or Rank Math, the focus keyphrase light turned green, and the post still sits nowhere in Google. Sometimes the cause is bigger than the keyword: the Search Engine Visibility setting under Settings > Reading, Discourage search engines from indexing this site, may still be ticked from launch, and Ahrefs calls that an SEO death sentence. Other times the page is surrounded by thin tag and date archives competing with your real posts, or a heavy theme is making everything slow. Before chasing those, it helps to know whether the one post you care about is actually targeted at its keyword. The On-Page SEO Checker takes a live URL and a keyword, reads the HTML your WordPress theme really outputs, and shows where the phrase appears: title tag, H1, URL slug, meta description, first paragraph, density, subheadings and image ALT text. That matters because the plugin sidebar reads the editor, while this reads the published page, after your theme and other plugins have had their say. The score is SeoMods' own yardstick, not a Google rule, and it says nothing about indexing or rankings.
WordPress Site Owners specific guidance
Check visibility before the keyword
Open Settings > Reading in the dashboard and confirm that Discourage search engines from indexing this site is unticked. It takes thirty seconds, and no keyword tweak helps while it is ticked. Then paste a real post URL, for example example.com/blog/wordpress-meta-description-guide, together with the keyphrase you set in Yoast or Rank Math. The report has a row for whether the page is indexable, which catches a noindex in that page's meta robots tag or X-Robots-Tag header. It reads only that one page, though, so a clean result does not prove Google has crawled it, that robots.txt allows it, or that the rest of the site is visible.
Read the result against your plugin
Compare each row with what your SEO plugin claims. If Yoast says the keyphrase is in the SEO title but the Core Placement group flags the title tag, press Ctrl+U on the live post and search for the title element. A theme, a page builder or a second SEO plugin may be overriding it. The slug matters too: the URL row looks for the phrase in the address path, so it can only pass when your Settings > Permalinks structure includes the post name. With the Plain setting (?p=123) there is no slug to carry the phrase. The density range of 0.3–3.5% and the length windows for title and meta description are SeoMods' criteria, not Google rules. A high score does not mean the post will rank, and the tool does not judge content quality or search volume.
Fix in this order on a WordPress post
Start with the failed rows. Rewrite the SEO title and meta description in the plugin's snippet box first, since both are quick and appear in search results. Next look at the H1: most themes print the post title as the H1, so changing the title changes it, and the page should carry exactly one. Then work the phrase naturally into the first paragraph and into one image's ALT text in the Media Library. Click Update, run the same URL and keyword again, and compare. Leave the slug alone on an old post that already has traffic unless you confirm a 301 redirect from the old address; WordPress often redirects a changed post slug by itself, but check it. If the phrase is missing almost everywhere, question the keyword before forcing it in.
Example scenarios
1. Date-based permalink on a how-to post
- Situation
- Illustrative example: A hobby blogger published a guide under a date-based permalink. The slug was generated from an early, chatty draft title; the post was later retitled 'WordPress Meta Description: How to Write One', which is also its H1.
- Input
- URL:
https://example.com/2024/03/15/my-thoughts-on-getting-started-with-descriptions-for-your-pages/| Keyword: wordpress meta description - Reading the result
- You would typically see the URL row warn because only one of the three words (description) appears in the 76-character path, while the title tag and H1 rows pass. The fix is a shorter slug such as wordpress-meta-description. Because the post is already live, make sure the old address 301-redirects to the new one after saving; WordPress often does this for changed post slugs, but verify it.
2. Title overridden by theme and plugin
- Situation
- Illustrative example: An owner uses Yoast, but the theme also has its own SEO title field. The theme value, 74 characters long with the site name repeated, wins on the published page.
- Input
- URL:
https://example.com/blog/speed-up-wordpress-site/| Keyword: speed up wordpress site - Reading the result
- The keyword may be found in the title, yet the title length row would warn because 74 characters is outside the 30-60 range the tool uses, and the near-the-start row could warn if the site name comes first. Yoast's preview looked fine because it showed its own field. Clear the theme field so one title is output.
3. Service page stuffed by hand
- Situation
- Illustrative example: A freelancer pasted the phrase fourteen times into a 290-word service page after a plugin kept showing orange, so it reads awkwardly.
- Input
- URL:
https://example.com/wordpress-seo-services/| Keyword: wordpress seo - Reading the result
- Density would come out near 4.8%, above the 3.5% ceiling the tool uses, and the content row would warn because 290 words is under 300. The check suggests cutting repeats and adding useful detail instead. It cannot tell you whether the copy is good, only how often the phrase appears.
Common mistakes
- Trusting the plugin's green light. The Yoast or Rank Math indicator mainly scores what is in the editor, not necessarily what your theme prints. Always test the published URL.
- Leaving Discourage search engines ticked. Optimizing a post that WordPress is asking crawlers to ignore is wasted effort. Check Settings > Reading before touching any keyword placement.
- Changing slugs on live posts without redirects. Editing the permalink to add the keyword breaks old links and shares. Confirm a 301 redirect from the old address, or leave the slug alone.
- Chasing a perfect score. The score is SeoMods' own scale, and a full mark neither guarantees a ranking nor means the post answers the search. Fix failed rows, then improve the content itself.
- Testing archives instead of posts. Tag, date and author archives are thin by design, so a keyword score on them says little. Decide whether to noindex them in your SEO plugin and use the checker on real posts and pages.
Frequently asked questions
Why is my WordPress site not indexed by Google even though the keyword checks pass?
A keyword score only describes the page's HTML, not whether Google has it in its index. The first thing to check is Settings > Reading: if Discourage search engines from indexing this site is ticked, WordPress asks crawlers to stay away, and Ahrefs calls that an SEO death sentence. After that, look at a noindex setting on the individual post in your SEO plugin and at robots.txt. The On-Page SEO Checker can show whether the page is indexable, but it cannot see Google's index.
Yoast vs Rank Math: will this checker give a different score than my plugin?
Usually, yes, because each tool uses its own checklist and none of them is Google's. Yoast and Rank Math analyse your focus keyphrase while you edit, whereas the checker fetches the published URL and scores the HTML a visitor or crawler receives, including changes your theme or other plugins make. Use the plugin while writing and the checker as a final look at the live page. Neither number predicts rankings, so treat a disagreement as a prompt to open the page source.
Should my WordPress meta description contain the exact keyword?
The checker looks for the keyword in the meta description and tests that its length sits between 70 and 160 characters, which are SeoMods' own criteria. Using the phrase once, in a natural sentence describing the page, is a sensible target. WordPress core does not add meta tags by default, so without a plugin or theme field the tag may be missing entirely. Google may also rewrite the snippet, so a passing row does not control what appears in results.
Does my WordPress permalink structure matter for the keyword score?
The URL row checks whether the keyword appears in the address path, ignoring case and hyphens. In Settings > Permalinks, the Post name option builds the slug from the title, which is the easiest to match. Changing the structure on a site with existing posts changes every URL, so plan 301 redirects first and re-check afterwards. A keyword in the URL is a small placement signal and does not show that the page will rank.
Should I noindex tag pages, and can this tool tell me which ones?
Run it on the posts and pages you want to rank, not on tag archives. Yoast notes that date, author and tag archives can end up indexed when they add no value, and that internal search results should be noindexed. Thin archives are a site-wide question, which a crawl or thin content check answers better than a one-keyword, one-page score. Use the checker to decide whether the real post is targeted properly, then choose separately which archives to noindex in your SEO plugin.
Reference: Yoast's definitive WordPress SEO guide warns that date, author and tag archives get indexed when they add no value, and that internal search result pages should be noindexed.