Recipe: Setting Up SEO for a New WordPress Site

This recipe walks you through every step of setting up SEO Forge on a brand-new WordPress site — from installation to a fully optimized site ready for Google. Follow these steps in order.

Phase 1: Install and Configure

1. Log into your WordPress dashboard
2. Go to Plugins > Add New and search for “SEO Forge”
3. Click Install Now, then click Activate
4. Navigate to SEO Forge > Settings
5. Under General, enable these options:

– Schema enabled: On

– Internal links enabled: On

1. Click Save Changes

Phase 2: Set Up Global Templates

1. Go to SEO Forge > Settings > Templates
2. Set the default SEO title template for posts: {post_title} | {site_name}
3. Set the default SEO title template for pages: {page_title} — {site_name}
4. Set the default meta description template: leave blank so that SEO Forge pulls from the content automatically, or write a global fallback
5. Click Save Changes

Phase 3: Configure Your Sitemap

1. Go to SEO Forge > Settings > Sitemap
2. Review which post types are included — ensure Posts and Pages are checked
3. Exclude any post types that should not be in search results (like private landing pages)
4. Decide which taxonomies (categories, tags) to include
5. Click Save Changes
6. Verify your sitemap works by visiting yoursite.com/sitemap_index.xml in a browser

Phase 4: Set Up Robots.txt

1. Go to SEO Forge > Settings > Robots.txt
2. Review the default rules — they should include:

    User-agent: *
    Allow: /
    Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap_index.xml

1. Add disallow rules for any directories you do not want crawled (e.g., /wp-admin/, /cgi-bin/)
2. Click Save Changes
3. Verify at yoursite.com/robots.txt

Phase 5: Optimize Your Homepage

1. Edit your homepage (either the static front page or the page set as the front page in Settings > Reading)
2. In the SEO Forge box, enter your primary keyword — this should describe your entire site or business (e.g., “handmade leather bags” or “digital marketing agency Portland”)
3. Write a custom SEO title that includes your keyword and brand name, keeping it under 60 characters
4. Write a compelling meta description between 120 and 160 characters that includes the keyword and a call to action
5. Check the SERP Preview to see how it will appear in Google
6. Set a featured image at least 1200×630 pixels — this becomes the default OG image for social sharing
7. Review the SEO score and fix any listed issues
8. Click Update to save

Phase 6: Optimize Key Pages

1. Make a list of your most important pages (About, Services, Contact, key product/landing pages)
2. For each page, open the editor and:

– Write a custom SEO title (under 60 characters)

– Write a custom meta description (120-160 characters)

– Check the SERP Preview

– Fix any issues listed in the SEO box

– Update the page

1. Avoid using the same focus keyword on multiple pages

Phase 7: Set Up Schema Markup

1. Confirm schema is enabled globally in SEO Forge > Settings > General
2. SEO Forge automatically applies Article schema to blog posts and Breadcrumb schema to all pages
3. For your homepage, consider whether WebSite or Organization schema is more appropriate — check the Schema section in the SEO box
4. If you run a physical business, add LocalBusiness schema (see the Local SEO recipe below)
5. If you have product pages, ensure Product schema is being applied with price and availability data

Phase 8: Configure OG Tags for Social Sharing

1. Go to SEO Forge > Settings > Social
2. Upload a default OG image (1200×630 pixels) — this is used for any page that does not have its own featured image
3. Enter your site’s social media profiles (Facebook page URL, Twitter handle)
4. Click Save Changes
5. Test a page by pasting the URL into the Facebook Sharing Debugger

Phase 9: Submit to Google Search Console

1. Log into Google Search Console at search.google.com/search-console
2. Add your site as a property if it is not already there
3. Submit your sitemap URL: yoursite.com/sitemap_index.xml
4. If you have SEO Forge PRO, connect Search Console under SEO Forge > Settings > Search Console for in-dashboard analytics

Phase 10: Ongoing Blog Post Optimization

1. For every new blog post you write, follow this workflow:

– Enter a focus keyword in the SEO Forge box

– Review the score and issues

– Adjust the SEO title and meta description

– Add internal links to related posts (use the Internal Link Suggestions feature)

– Ensure images have descriptive alt text

– Aim for a green score (80+) before publishing

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