wordpresssite-auditAEO

WordPress SEO Audit Template for 2026: Focus on AEO, Video and Social Signals

UUnknown

2026-02-12

11 min read

Updated 2026 WordPress audit: AEO, on-site video best practices and social metadata checks to regain organic visibility and measurable leads.

If your WordPress site isn't producing qualified search traffic in 2026, the problem isn't just keywords — it's that search has evolved. Today's engines return AI-driven answers, prefer rich, answer-friendly content and increasingly surface video and multimedia. This updated WP audit template zeroes in on the three areas most likely to unlock traffic fast: Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), on-site video SEO and complete social metadata. Use this checklist to prioritise fixes with measurable ROI.

Quick summary — what you'll get

Priority checklist for a WordPress audit in 2026 (technical, content, video, social).
Actionable steps and plugin recommendations for UK sites.
Examples of schema and metadata to paste into your site.
Measurement and reporting tips to show immediate wins to stakeholders.

Why this matters now (2024–26 context)

Late 2025 and early 2026 confirmed two enduring trends: AI answer engines (Google SGE, Bing Copilot and other LLM-first experiences) increasingly digest and surface concise answers, and platforms favour video and multimedia for engagement. Advertisers and publishers now use generative AI for creative — but creative must be discoverable. That makes structured, answer-friendly content and well-optimised on-site video critical for organic visibility and featured answers.

"Nearly 90% of advertisers use AI for video ads — creative inputs and data signals now determine performance." — industry reporting, Jan 2026

How to use this template

Run the technical checks first to ensure crawlability and performance, then audit content for AEO readiness and video/social metadata. Implement changes in order of business impact: indexing and core web vitals first, then content rewrites and schema, finally video hosting and distribution. Track wins in Google Search Console and your GA4 property (use a UTM convention for content tests).

Priority WordPress SEO Audit Checklist — Overview

Technical & crawlability
Performance & Core Web Vitals
AEO and content checks
On-site video SEO
Social metadata & discovery
Structured data & schema
Measurement, errors & reporting

1. Technical & crawlability (high priority)

Key checks

Robots.txt: confirm no important sections blocked. Test using Google Search Console's robots tester.
Sitemap: is /sitemap_index.xml present and listed in robots.txt? Ensure video/image sitemaps are emitted.
Indexability: spot-check pages with noindex tags and rel=canonical conflicts.
Server & headers: check that pages use HTTP/2 or HTTP/3, Brotli/Gzip enabled, correct cache headers for static assets.
PHP & WP versions: run PHP 8.2+ where possible; ensure WordPress, plugins and themes are updated and compatible.

Tools & commands

Use Sitebulb or Screaming Frog for a full crawl (remember to increase memory/timeouts for large WP sites).
WP-CLI quick checks: wp core version, wp plugin list, wp option get home.
Search Console & Bing Webmaster for indexing issues and manual actions.

2. Performance & Core Web Vitals (high priority)

Page Experience is still a ranking and user-satisfaction driver in 2026. Focus on LCP, INP and CLS.

Technical actions

Measure field data in PageSpeed Insights and CrUX (Chrome UX Report). Target LCP ≤ 2.5s, CLS < 0.1, INP < 200ms.
Set up a CDN (Cloudflare, Fastly, Bunny) and enable HTTP/3 + Brotli. Use edge caching for HTML where safe.
Implement image optimisation: serve AVIF/WebP, use responsive srcset, and automated conversion via ShortPixel, Imagify, or native WP transforms.
Critical CSS & preload hero assets. Use preload & preconnect for fonts and third-party resources.
Reduce render-blocking JavaScript: defer non-critical scripts and consider server-side rendering for heavy blocks.

Recommended plugins

WP Rocket (or W3 Total Cache) — caching, preload and lazy-loading helpers.
Perfmatters — disable unused scripts and limit third-party bloat.
ShortPixel/Smush/Imagify — automatic image optimisation and WebP conversions.

3. AEO & content checks (Answer Engine Optimization)

Optimising for answer engines means crafting concise, precise answers embedded in structured content. Search engines and AI systems prefer signals that indicate trust, provenance and direct answers.

Checklist

Identify answer intents: extract queries from GSC (Discover and Performance). Look for 'how', 'what', 'best', and question fragments. Prioritise pages that already get impressions but low clicks.
Lead with the answer: for each question target, place a 40–80 word direct answer at the top of the page, then expand with details and citations.
Use structured headings & lists: H2 question headings, bulleted steps and numbered how-tos make content machine-friendly.
FAQPage and QAPage schema: add FAQPage for on-page Q&As; use QAPage for community Q&A threads. This provides direct answer candidates to engines.
Entity-first content: map entities (people, products, locations) on pages and link to authoritative sources. Use schema sameAs for brand identities and canonical sources.
Attribution & citations: add clear date stamps, author bylines and references. AEO values provenance and recency (cite studies, data and authoritative pages).

Example — on-page answer pattern

Question heading (H2): 'How long does it take to set up WP caching?'
Direct answer (40–80 words): short, factual.
Supporting details: bullet list of steps, time estimates and potential blockers.
Schema: FAQPage or QAPage JSON-LD.

4. On-site video SEO (critical for 2026)

Video is central to how people engage. On-site video (hosted or self-hosted) gives you content control, schema signals and the ability to combine video with direct answer text — a potent mix for AEO.

Video hosting approach

Self-hosted vs platform: Self-host gives control over schema and playback; platforms (YouTube/Vimeo) give built-in discovery and backlinks. Hybrid approach works best: host the canonical copy on your domain with an embeddable player, and upload clips/teasers to social and YouTube for distribution and backlinks.
Use progressive streaming (HLS/DASH) and a fast video CDN for reliability. See edge reviews for indie dev streaming stacks like Affordable Edge Bundles.

Video on-page best practices

Place a concise text summary and transcript above the fold — engines read the text and can use it for answer snippets.
Include chapter timestamps and structured headings inside the transcript. This improves scannability and can surface time-stamped answers.
Provide captions (VTT) and multilingual transcripts — accessibility matters and increases discoverability in international SERPs.
Implement VideoObject schema (JSON-LD) with duration, description, thumbnailUrl, uploadDate, contentUrl and embedUrl.
Create a video sitemap or include video entries in your XML sitemap to ensure indexation.

VideoObject JSON-LD example (paste into head)

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "VideoObject",
  "name": "How to audit WordPress for SEO (2026)",
  "description": "A concise guide to WordPress SEO audits focused on AEO, video and social metadata.",
  "thumbnailUrl": "https://example.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2026/01/video-thumb.jpg",
  "uploadDate": "2026-01-10",
  "duration": "PT6M20S",
  "contentUrl": "https://example.co.uk/videos/audit.mp4",
  "embedUrl": "https://example.co.uk/embed/audit"
}

Plugin & tooling recommendations

Yoast Video SEO (or use Schema Pro + a robust player) for automated VideoObject markup.
Use Plyr, Video.js or an HLS-capable player and ensure structured captions (.vtt).
Integrate transcript management through plugins or your CMS so transcripts are indexable HTML, not just hidden files.

Social metadata is more important than ever for distribution and for AI scrapers that rely on OG/Twitter/X metadata to create rich previews and summarise content for answer engines.

Open Graph (og) tags: og:title, og:description, og:image (1200x630 recommended), og:type and og:url present and correct.
Twitter/X cards: twitter:card (summary_large_image), twitter:title, twitter:description, twitter:image.
og:video and twitter:player for video pages (ensure HTTPS and correct mime types).
Schema sameAs linking to brand social profiles (LinkedIn, X, Instagram, Threads) in your Organisation schema.
Ensure share images include readable text on mobile and that image file sizes are optimised.
Use the Facebook Sharing Debugger and Twitter Card Validator to test how content renders when shared.

AI summarisation systems scrape social metadata to build context and preview cards. Clear metadata speeds up indexing by social crawlers and increases the chance that your page is used as the authoritative source when AI engines surface answers or generate citations.

6. Structured data & trust signals

Structured data continues to be the lingua franca for machine understanding. In 2026, emphasise accuracy and provenance.

Essential schema types for WP

Article / NewsArticle for editorial content (include author, datePublished, publisher.logo).
FAQPage / QAPage for question-answer content.
VideoObject for on-site video.
HowTo for instructional content with step-by-step markup and estimatedTime.
Product, Offer and Review for e-commerce pages (include gtin, sku where applicable).
Organisation schema with sameAs links to social profiles.

Validation

Use Google's Rich Results Test and Schema.org validators.
Monitor Search Console > Enhancements reports for schema errors and warnings.

7. Measurement, errors & reporting

You need to show progress quickly. Use a simple dashboard and weekly snapshots for stakeholders.

Essential metrics

Impressions and clicks (GSC): watch for increased impressions for target queries.
Top queries that return answers or video impressions — track CTR changes after adding answers or video markup.
Engagement on video pages: average watch time, play rate, scroll depth and conversions (GA4 event tracking).
Core Web Vitals (field & lab) — track LCP, INP, CLS trends post-deployment.
Share & referral sources: social shares and backlinks from video uploads or social posts.

Reporting cadence

Weekly tactical updates for teams (errors fixed, schema added, URLs updated).
Monthly performance report for stakeholders with wins, experiments and next priorities.

Fast wins and prioritisation (practical roadmap)

Do these three tasks in the first two weeks to show measurable results:

Fix critical indexability and sitemap issues. Submit sitemap in GSC.
Add concise, answer-ready lead sections to your top 50 FAQ or how-to pages and add FAQPage schema.
Publish transcripts and VideoObject schema for your top 10 video pages; add video sitemaps.

Each step should produce measurable changes in impressions, clicks or page engagement within 2–6 weeks.

Common pitfalls & how to avoid them

Overloading pages with schema: only include accurate, relevant structured data. Incorrect schema triggers warnings and can reduce trust.
Hidden transcripts: keep transcripts as readable HTML on the page rather than images or hidden files.
Relying only on third-party video platforms: still publish canonical video on your domain for AEO and schema benefits.
Ignoring accessibility: captions, readable share images and semantic HTML improve both UX and discoverability.

Case study (brief)

We audited a UK software reseller in late 2025 with declining organic leads. Actions taken:

Added concise lead answers to 120 product & support pages; implemented FAQPage and Product schema.
Transcribed and published 25 product videos with VideoObject schema and hosted on-site with HLS + CDN.
Optimised social metadata and launched a short-form video distribution plan for social clips.

Results in 10 weeks: organic impressions up 38%, attributed demo requests from search up 26% and average time-on-page for video pages increased 42% — demonstrating measurable ROI to the board.

Tooling checklist

Crawlers: Screaming Frog, Sitebulb
Performance: PageSpeed Insights, Lighthouse, WebPageTest
Schema: Schema.org, Google's Rich Results Test
Analytics: GA4, Search Console, Bing Webmaster
WP Plugins: Yoast/RankMath/SEOPress, Yoast Video SEO or Schema Pro, WP Rocket/Perfmatters, ShortPixel

Templates & snippet library (copy/paste)

FAQPage JSON-LD

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "FAQPage",
  "mainEntity": [{
    "@type": "Question",
    "name": "How long does a WordPress SEO audit take?",
    "acceptedAnswer": {
      "@type": "Answer",
      "text": "A focused technical and content audit can take 3–5 days for a mid-sized site; complete fixes depend on prioritisation and resource availability."
    }
  }]
}

Final checklist to run now (copy to your project board)

Full crawl and fix robots/sitemap issues — submit sitemap.
Core Web Vitals audit, implement CDN and image optimisation.
Top 50 pages: add answer-first lead and FAQ schema.
Top 10 video pages: publish transcripts, captions, VideoObject schema and video sitemap entries.
Audit and correct OG/Twitter tags; test with social debuggers.
Deploy monitoring dashboards (GSC + GA4) and weekly reporting.

Closing — why this updated WP audit wins in 2026

Search is no longer just about on-page keyword signals. In 2026, winning sites combine reliable technical foundations, short answer-first content for AEO, and rich media with accurate social metadata. This template turns those trends into a repeatable audit and implementation plan for WordPress sites focused on growth, conversions and measurability.

Ready to act? If you want a tailored audit checklist for your WordPress site, we provide a 7-point rapid audit that prioritises fixes with the highest ROI. Book a 30-minute review with our UK SEO team and get a prioritised action list you can implement yourself or hand to your devs.

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