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Last Updated: November 5, 2025
A Note from WP Tech Support’s Technical SEO Strategist: Technical SEO is the foundation of site rankings. While this guide helps you identify issues, fixing problems like Core Web Vitals and complex redirects requires expert configuration to avoid breaking your site.
According to the latest data by W3Techs, almost 43% of websites use WordPress.
The good news about WordPress is that it’s SEO-friendly, features clean code, and has a structure that search engines can easily crawl.
However, you might need to deal with common WordPress technical SEO issues.
Do you want to learn how to navigate some of these issues?
This article highlights eight common WordPress technical SEO issues and how to solve them.
Let’s get started.
Common WordPress Technical Issues
1. Poor Core Web Vitals and Slow Loading Speed
Slow site speed hampers user experience (UX) and has been a common WordPress technical SEO issue since Google introduced Core Web Vitals.
Core web Vitals are parameters or website performance metrics that Google uses to assess the user experience a web page provides.
They measure web performance, user interaction, and page stability.
The three Core Web Vitals are:
- Load Time (Largest Contentful Paint – LCP): The time it takes for the most significant element on a webpage to load.
- Interactivity (Interaction to Next Paint – INP): (Updated from FID): This is the time from a person’s first interaction with a page to when the browser responds to the request.
- Visual Stability (Cumulative Layout Shift – CLS): When a page loads, its layout may shift slightly. This metric measures unexpected changes in a page’s layout while loading.
You can use SEO audit tools like Google PageSpeed Insights, GTmetrix, and Pingdom to check and optimize your page speed for a faster and more efficient website. Check out this list of tools by Attrock to find more such tools.
How to Fix It
Here’s what you can do to improve your site speed:
- Improve Images: Compress and resize images to reduce load time.
- Minimize HTTP Requests: The fewer elements on a webpage, the fewer HTTP requests it will require. So, reduce those.
- Utilize Browser Caching: Save static files in visitors’ browsers, reducing load times for returning users.
- XML Sitemap Issues
If you need guaranteed results, our Performance Architects provide fixed-price Speed Optimization to resolve LCP/INP issues.
2. XML Sitemap Issues
Follow these steps to fix this common WordPress technical issue.
- Ensure the sitemap follows a logical structure.
- Confirm that you’ve included all crucial pages in the sitemap.
- Fix any errors using Google Search Console.
- Keep the sitemap updated with changes to your site’s structure.
- Assign priority to specific URLs.
- Include image details in the sitemap for better indexing.
- Duplicate Content Issues
If different URLs are directed to the same content, duplicate content issues can occur.
This happens when multiple URLs lead you to the same content. For example:
- xyz.com/post-title
- xyz.com/category/post-title
- xyz.com/tag/tag-name/post-title
This can confuse search engines as they need to know which version is correct.
So, how can you solve this common WordPress technical SEO issue?
Canonical tags are the solution. These tags help search engines like Google identify the correct version of a page so they can index the right one and ignore all the others.
3. Incorporate Canonical Tags
Follow these steps to add a canonical tag in the <head> section of an HTML document:
- Add a <link> tag within your HTML code’s <head> section of the duplicate page.
- Specify the canonical URL within the rel=”canonical”
- Ensure consistency by using canonical tags across different versions of the same content.
Here’s a code sample of a canonical tag:
Additional Tips to Mitigate Duplicate Content Issues
- Regularly audit your website for duplication issues.
- Use 301 redirects for outdated or alternate versions of URLs. (Note: Incorrect 301 redirects are a common source of SEO loss and require careful implementation.)
- Find duplicate content on your website and fix it via Google Search Console.
Incorrect Configuration of Robots.txt and .htaccess
Robots.txt is a text file on your website instructing search engine bots on which pages to crawl or avoid. Incorrect configurations can stop search engines from reaching essential pages on your site, preventing those pages from being ranked for relevant search queries.
n the other hand, .htaccess is a configuration file you can use to manage your server settings. If it is not set up correctly, it will also prevent search engines from reaching certain pages on your website, or worse, crash your entire site with a critical error.
4. Fix Issues Related to Robots.txt
Here are some ways to fix the incorrect configuration of Robots.txt:
- Double-check the file for syntax errors.
- Ensure important directories or pages are not disallowed.
- Optimize your robots.txt files using the Google Search Console.
5. Fix .htaccess related issues
Here’s how to ensure .htaccess is well set up.
- Confirm the file’s syntax is error-free.
- Verify that redirects and rewrites are correctly implemented. Warning: Editing .htaccess without a backup or expert knowledge is extremely high-risk.
- Regularly monitor server logs for anomalies.
Poor Mobile Optimization
With the advent of mobile-first indexing, Google prioritizes mobile-friendly sites for indexing and ranking.
So ensure your site is mobile-friendly to avoid this common WordPress technical SEO issue.
6. Optimize WordPress Sites for All Devices
Here are steps to ensure your WordPress site is mobile-friendly.
- Responsive Design: Use mobile-first WordPress themes to ensure your web pages display correctly on all devices.
- Mobile-Friendly Plugins: Only add plugins to your site if they perform well even on mobile devices, not just desktops. Poorly optimized plugins are a primary cause of slow INP scores.
- User-Friendly Navigation: Create intuitive navigation by creating a well-structured navigation menu that directs people to all key pages on your website.
Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test is a free tool that you can use to see whether your website is mobile-responsive.
7. Broken Links
Have you ever clicked on a link and reached a page that shows an error or doesn’t have the content you wanted? Well, you’ve probably clicked on a broken link.
But why are some links broken?
Well, it could be dues to:
- Changes in the URL structure
- Deleted pages or content
- Unavailability of websites that were linked
Broken links can annoy site visitors and cause a poor user experience, which could be better for SEO.
To deal with broken links, audit your site regularly using professional tools. Warning: Plugins like Broken Link Checker consume huge server resources and often slow down the site more than the links themselves.
8. Unoptimized Images
Like Instagram SEO, unoptimized images can also hurt your WordPress SEO.
Search engines rely on image descriptions and alt text to understand and index your images. If this information must be included, that isn’t good for SEO.
Additionally, large images can slow website loading times, affecting user experience SEO rankings.
So, resize your images and add descriptive image alt tags to address this common WordPress technical SEO issue.
Our guaranteed Speed Optimization service handles bulk image conversion and compression to ensure Core Web Vitals compliance.
You can use alt-tag generators to come up with descriptive alt tags. They work the same way as an AI-powered meta title generator, where you must input some details, and the tools will provide the description.
Bonus Tip: Lack of SSL Certificate
Google marks unsecured HTTP sites with a stern “Your connection is Not Private” warning.
This visual cue is a red flag, signaling potential risks to prospective site visitors. Here’s how it looks.
So get an SSL certificate and transition to HTTPS to avoid this common WordPress technical issue.
It will instill confidence in site visitors and boost your SEO rankings.
Final Thoughts
There you have it—some common WordPress technical SEO issues you should understand and know how to fix. Use this in-depth article as your reference for identifying and fixing these issues.
Regularly monitor your website to find and correct these common WordPress technical SEO issues before they cause much damage. For professional execution of all technical SEO tasks—from Core Web Vitals to complex .htaccess fixes—check out our WordPress Services. Don’t risk your rankings on DIY fixes.
