How to Run a Website SEO Optimization Test in WordPress

Would you like to know how to run a website SEO optimization test in WordPress? 

If you’ve ever run a WordPress website, you know how frustrating it can be when your pages don’t rank. No matter how much content you publish or how many tweaks you make, it’s as if you’re spinning in the same place. 

That’s where a proper SEO audit comes in. 

A thorough audit helps you spot exactly what’s holding your site back, so you can fix issues that actually move the needle.

When I first started using SEO tools, I often felt overwhelmed by the vast amount of data and confusing reports. It took me a while to figure out which issues mattered most and how to address them efficiently. 

That’s why I’m excited to show you how to make this aspect of site maintenance and SEO easy. I’ll also show you the tool that made all the difference for me.

Let’s dive in, shall we?

What Is a Website SEO Optimization Test?

A website SEO optimization test is a process of checking how well a website is set up to perform in search engines like Google, Bing, or Yahoo.

Think of it like a health checkup for your site. It helps you identify your strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities to improve your rankings, visibility, and traffic.

Running a website SEO optimization test helps you:

• Spot hidden issues holding your site back
• Improve user experience (which search engines reward)
• Compete better with websites in your niche
• Create a roadmap for ongoing SEO improvements

In short, a website SEO optimization test tells you where you stand today and what you need to fix or improve to rank higher in search engines.

Before You Get Started, Invest in the Right Website SEO Optimization Tool

The first thing I learned when running website SEO optimization tests is the importance of having the right tools. Fortunately, I discovered All in One SEO (AIOSEO) early, and it changed everything. 

AIOSEO is a powerful yet easy-to-use WordPress plugin designed to help bloggers and small businesses optimize their SEO without needing to hire an expert. As a result, the plugin is trusted by over 3 million active users. The AIOSEO team also releases regular updates and new features, so users always have access to the latest changes in SEO best practices and WordPress. 

But what I love most about AIOSEO is that it offers numerous beginner-friendly features that can help you improve your site's ranking on Google and other search engines. Examples include:

• AI Writing Assistant: Use the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to optimize your content for better search rankings.
• Author SEO: Boost your Google E-E-A-T signals right in WordPress, giving you an edge over competitors.
• AI Content Generator: Automatically repurpose blog posts into FAQs, email copy, key points, social media posts, and more from your blog posts.
• Advanced Robots.txt Generator: Easily generate and customize your robots.txt file for better crawling and indexing. 
• Next-gen Schema Generator: Generate and output any schema markup on your site without having to code.
• Link Assistant: Automate internal linking between your pages and audit your outbound links.
• SEO Preview: Get an overview of your search and social snippets and general SEO so you can improve your optimization.
• And more

Using AIOSEO makes website SEO optimization so much easier, thanks to the Site Audit feature. It scans my site and highlights where I’ve done well and where I've missed opportunities.

Instead of wasting time guessing what’s holding my site back, I get a clear checklist and actionable insights right inside my WordPress dashboard. That means I can fix issues quickly, stay organized, and focus on what actually drives results.

If you’re serious about optimizing your website without the overwhelm, I highly recommend AIOSEO. It’s perfect for anyone who wants to streamline SEO and see better results faster.

How to Run a Website SEO Optimization Test in WordPress

Optimizing your site for SEO can feel overwhelming at first. But breaking it down into clear, actionable steps makes it much more manageable. 

The tips below are based on my personal experience working on hundreds of websites over 7 years as a professional SEO. This will help you skip the trial-and-error and focus on what works.

Step 1: Run a Homepage Audit

Your homepage is the “front door” of your website. And search engines pay close attention to it. This means your homepage SEO must be on point.

AIOSEO’s Site Audit module has a dedicated Homepage Audit tab that enables you to check your homepage for SEO issues.

This feature conducts an in-depth scan of your site’s most important page to identify:

Basic SEO Issues

This makes sure key elements (like meta tags, headings, and content structure) are optimized right from the start. By doing so, you catch foundational issues early before they snowball into bigger problems across the rest of your site.

Performance and Security Issues

Quickly spot performance bottlenecks and security risks that could be quietly hurting your rankings and user experience.

The payoff? A faster, safer site that keeps visitors engaged and earns more trust from search engines.

Fixing these issues ensures your homepage is technically sound and secure before optimizing the rest of your site.

Step 2: Scan Your Entire Website

Next, head over to the Site Audit tab to run a full website scan.

This checks every post, page, and taxonomy for SEO problems. Think of it as a complete health check for your site.

One of the biggest benefits of running a site audit is that it finds issues you might never notice on your own. For example, it can spot missing keywords or meta descriptions. These may sound small, but together they can seriously hurt your search rankings. Fixing them right away keeps your site in good shape and tells Google your website is reliable.

Another benefit is speed. Instead of clicking through every single page on your site to hunt for problems, the Site Audit does all the hard work in minutes. It saves time and gives you a clear list of things to fix in order of priority. This is thanks to the way issues are color-coded. Critical issues are marked in red, so you know exactly where to focus your efforts first.

Step 3: Identify Pressing Issues

AIOSEO’s Site Audit makes it easy to identify SEO issues holding you back. I love that it offers 2 ways to do this:

Using the All URLs View

The All URLs view gives you a page-by-page breakdown of your entire site’s optimization.

You can see at a glance the number of issues that page has and whether the focus keyword has been added. If it’s missing, you can add it right from the Site Audit Report without having to open the page in editor mode.

Now, let’s get back to tackling the issues in the audit.

To get a detailed look at the issues, click on the expand button on the far right of the target page. The expanded view shows you all the issues ranked by Issues (red), Warnings (orange), and Good (green).

Some issues in the audit include:

• SEO title tag and meta description length
• Open graph meta tags
• Keyword usage in important sections (H1 tag, introduction, URL, SEO title, and other areas)
• URL length
• And more

Next to each issue, you’ll find 2 buttons: Fix and Ignore. Clicking the Fix button opens the page in editor mode and takes you to the place where you can resolve the issue. As a result, your website SEO optimization improves.

Ultimately, Site Audit runs a very comprehensive website SEO optimization test in just a few seconds. It provides valuable insights to improve your site’s rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs).

I also like how the report includes tooltips that explain each issue.

This makes resolving issues faster and helps you know exactly what you’re dealing with.

Using the All Checks View: Systematic Issue Resolution

For a more systematic approach to resolving your SEO issues, you can use the All Checks view. This organizes your pages by specific SEO issues, making it easy to prioritize fixes and track progress at a glance.

Issues are also grouped by Issues, Warnings, and Good, helping me see what needs to be dealt with immediately.

Again, finding and diagnosing issues is effortless. Just click on any item, and a modal will open showing all affected URLs along with detailed insights about the problem.

This comprehensive overview helps you understand the scope and impact of each problem, enabling you to make informed decisions and prioritize your fixes. 

Like the All URLs view, you get the Fix and Ignore buttons in this dashboard, making it easier to resolve issues.

Step 4: Check On-Page SEO Optimization

Running a website SEO optimization test isn’t complete without looking at your on-page SEO. This is where you make sure each page and post is fully optimized for search engines and easy for readers to enjoy. 

The good news? AIOSEO makes this simple with its TruSEO Score Analysis. This feature scans your page and gives you a score based on SEO best practices and the focus keyword for that page. 

More importantly, it gives clear recommendations on what to improve to give your content a better chance of ranking higher on SERPs.

One of the biggest benefits of the TruSEO Score Analysis is the clarity it provides. Instead of staring at vague reports from other SEO tools, you get easy-to-follow instructions right inside your WordPress editor. Each tip comes with a tooltip that explains why it matters. This means you not only fix the problem, but you also learn SEO best practices as you go.

From my own experience, TruSEO has saved me hours of second-guessing. I remember writing a blog post that I thought was perfect, but when I ran the analysis, I realized I had skipped adding my focus keyword to the SEO title and meta description. I fixed it in minutes, and within a few weeks, that post started climbing the rankings. It taught me that even small details can have a big impact when you’re consistent.

Running a Website SEO Optimization Test: Essential, Not a Maybe

At the end of the day, running a website SEO optimization test in WordPress isn’t something you do once. It’s a routine health check that keeps your site in top shape—just like regular maintenance keeps a car running smoothly.

The benefits go beyond just better rankings. A well-optimized site loads faster, offers a smoother user experience, and builds trust with both visitors and search engines. Over time, that means more organic traffic, more leads, and ultimately more growth for your business.

I hope this post helped you know how to run a website SEO optimization test in WordPress. You may also want to check out other articles like our ultimate guide to WordPress SEO or our list of the best SEO plugins.

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How to Run a Website SEO Optimization Test: FAQs

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