Part 2: Website Speed, Core Web Vitals, Mobile SEO and Crawlability
Technical SEO Checklist for WordPress : Part 2: Website Speed, Core Web Vitals, Mobile SEO and Crawlability
A well-designed WordPress website is only effective if it performs well. Search engines increasingly reward websites that provide an excellent user experience, while visitors expect pages to load almost instantly on any device.
Website performance is no longer simply about loading speed. Google evaluates how quickly content appears, how responsive a page feels, and whether elements remain stable as the page loads. Combined with mobile usability and crawlability, these technical factors form the backbone of a successful SEO strategy.
In this section, we’ll focus on improving your website’s speed, Core Web Vitals, mobile performance, crawlability, XML sitemaps, robots.txt configuration, URL structure, and indexing.
Website Speed Optimisation
Website speed is one of the most important ranking factors for both search engines and users. Studies consistently show that visitors abandon slow websites, while faster websites generate more enquiries, longer session durations, and higher conversion rates.
Improving website speed begins with understanding what slows a website down.
Common causes include:
- Large image files
- Poor-quality hosting
- Excessive plugins
- Render-blocking JavaScript
- Unoptimised CSS
- Slow database queries
- Lack of caching
- No Content Delivery Network (CDN)
Optimising these areas creates a faster, more reliable website.
Optimise Images
Images often account for the largest portion of a webpage’s size.
Best practices include:
- Resize images before uploading.
- Convert images to WebP or AVIF formats.
- Compress images without sacrificing quality.
- Define image width and height.
- Use descriptive filenames.
- Add meaningful alt text.
Smaller image files reduce loading times while improving accessibility and image search visibility.
Image Optimisation Checklist
| Task | Complete |
|---|---|
| Images resized | □ |
| WebP or AVIF enabled | □ |
| Images compressed | □ |
| Alt text added | □ |
| Image dimensions specified | □ |
Enable Caching
Caching reduces the amount of work your server performs each time someone visits your website.
Types of caching include:
- Browser caching
- Page caching
- Object caching
- Opcode caching
- Server-side caching
LiteSpeed Cache and Redis Object Cache are excellent options when supported by your hosting provider.
Optimise CSS and JavaScript
Many WordPress themes and plugins load unnecessary CSS and JavaScript.
To improve performance:
- Minify CSS files.
- Minify JavaScript.
- Remove unused code.
- Delay non-critical JavaScript.
- Load critical CSS first.
- Combine files where appropriate.
Reducing unnecessary resources improves loading performance and responsiveness.
Use a Content Delivery Network (CDN)
A CDN stores copies of your website on servers located around the world.
Benefits include:
- Faster page loading
- Reduced server load
- Lower latency
- Improved security
- Better reliability during traffic spikes
Businesses serving visitors across South Africa or internationally should strongly consider implementing a CDN.
Optimise Your Database
Over time, WordPress databases accumulate unnecessary data.
Regular maintenance should include:
- Removing post revisions
- Clearing spam comments
- Deleting expired transients
- Removing orphaned metadata
- Optimising database tables
A clean database improves website responsiveness.
Website Speed Checklist
| Task | Complete |
|---|---|
| Images optimised | □ |
| WebP enabled | □ |
| Page caching active | □ |
| CSS minified | □ |
| JavaScript optimised | □ |
| Lazy loading enabled | □ |
| CDN configured | □ |
| Database optimised | □ |
| Compression enabled | □ |
| Website tested in PageSpeed Insights | □ |
Understanding Core Web Vitals
Core Web Vitals are Google’s measurements of real-world user experience.
These metrics help Google determine whether visitors enjoy using your website.
Improving Core Web Vitals not only benefits SEO but also improves engagement and conversion rates.
Largest Contentful Paint (LCP)
LCP measures how quickly the largest visible element on a page becomes visible.
Examples include:
- Hero images
- Large headings
- Featured banners
Recommended target: Under 2.5 seconds
Ways to improve LCP:
- Upgrade hosting
- Compress images
- Use caching
- Optimise server response times
- Remove render-blocking resources
Interaction to Next Paint (INP)
INP measures how quickly your website responds when users interact with it.
Examples include:
- Clicking buttons
- Opening navigation menus
- Completing forms
Recommended target: Under 200 milliseconds
Improve INP by:
- Reducing JavaScript
- Removing unnecessary plugins
- Improving server performance
- Breaking up long JavaScript tasks
Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
CLS measures unexpected movement while a webpage loads.
Common causes include:
- Images without dimensions
- Advertisements loading late
- Fonts changing after loading
- Dynamic content inserted above existing content
Recommended target: Less than 0.1
Reduce layout shifts by:
- Defining image dimensions
- Reserving space for advertisements
- Using optimised fonts
- Avoiding unexpected content movement
Core Web Vitals Checklist
| Metric | Target | Complete |
|---|---|---|
| LCP under 2.5 seconds | □ | □ |
| INP under 200 milliseconds | □ | □ |
| CLS below 0.1 | □ | □ |
| Tested with PageSpeed Insights | □ | □ |
| Tested in Search Console | □ | □ |
Mobile Optimisation
Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning it primarily evaluates the mobile version of your website.
If your mobile experience is poor, your rankings may suffer even if your desktop website performs well.
Your WordPress website should provide a seamless experience across all screen sizes.
Review the following:
- Responsive layouts
- Mobile navigation
- Font readability
- Touch-friendly buttons
- Contact forms
- Mobile page speed
- Image scaling
Avoid:
- Intrusive pop-ups
- Tiny clickable elements
- Horizontal scrolling
- Slow-loading media
Mobile SEO Checklist
| Task | Complete |
|---|---|
| Responsive design | □ |
| Mobile-friendly navigation | □ |
| Readable fonts | □ |
| Buttons easy to tap | □ |
| Forms tested on mobile | □ |
| Mobile speed optimised | □ |
Crawlability
Search engines must be able to discover every important page on your website.
Poor crawlability often prevents excellent content from ranking.
Common crawl issues include:
- Broken internal links
- Redirect chains
- Incorrect robots.txt rules
- Blocked CSS or JavaScript
- Orphan pages
- Poor internal linking
Google should be able to reach every valuable page without difficulty.
XML Sitemaps
An XML sitemap acts as a roadmap for search engines.
WordPress SEO plugins can generate sitemaps automatically.
Your sitemap should include:
- Pages
- Blog posts
- Categories
- Products
- Images where appropriate
After generating your sitemap, submit it to:
- Google Search Console
- Bing Webmaster Tools
Update your sitemap whenever major content changes occur.
Robots.txt
The robots.txt file tells search engines which areas of your website should or should not be crawled.
Allow search engines to access:
- CSS
- JavaScript
- Images
Block only:
- WordPress admin
- Private directories
- Development environments
Incorrect robots.txt settings can unintentionally prevent important pages from appearing in search results.
URL Structure
URLs should be clean, descriptive, and easy to understand.
Good example:
yourwebsite.co.za/technical-seo-checklist-wordpressPoor example:
yourwebsite.co.za/page?id=4587&cat=seoBest practices include:
- Use hyphens instead of underscores.
- Keep URLs short.
- Include descriptive keywords.
- Avoid unnecessary parameters.
- Remove dates unless required.
Indexing
Being crawled does not guarantee that your pages will appear in Google.
Pages may remain unindexed because of:
- Duplicate content
- Thin content
- Incorrect canonical tags
- Noindex directives
- Crawl errors
- Poor internal linking
Use Google Search Console’s Page Indexing report to identify and resolve indexing issues.
Crawlability and Indexing Checklist
| Task | Complete |
|---|---|
| XML sitemap submitted | □ |
| Robots.txt reviewed | □ |
| Crawl errors resolved | □ |
| Broken links fixed | □ |
| Redirect chains removed | □ |
| Canonical tags implemented | □ |
| Important pages indexed | □ |
| Duplicate content resolved | □ |
| Clean URL structure | □ |
Key Takeaway
Website speed, Core Web Vitals, mobile usability, crawlability, and indexing are among the most influential components of Technical SEO. By regularly monitoring and improving these areas, you create a website that is easier for search engines to understand, faster for visitors to use, and better positioned to achieve strong organic rankings.
In Part 3, we’ll cover Structured Data, WordPress Security, Internal Linking, AI Search Optimisation, Essential SEO Tools, Monthly Maintenance, and the Complete Technical SEO Checklist to complete this comprehensive guide.
