Recipe: Setting Up SEO for a New WordPress Site

This recipe walks you through every step of setting up Rank 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 “Rank Forge”
3. Click Install Now, then click Activate
4. Navigate to Rank Forge > Settings
5. Under General, there is nothing to switch on:

– Schema markup: always on

– Auto Internal Links on Publish (PRO): optional, under the Automation tab

1. Click Save Settings

Phase 2: Set Up Global Templates

1. Go to Rank Forge > Settings, tab Search Appearance, card Title Templates
2. In the Post block, the Title Template field holds {{title}} {{separator}} {{siteName}} until you change it; the Page block works the same way
3. Pick the Separator above the blocks: the character that {{separator}} becomes
4. In the Description Template field, {{excerpt}} is the default: the post excerpt, or the opening sentences of the post. Change it if you want another pattern
5. Click Save Settings

Phase 3: Configure Your Sitemap

1. Go to Rank Forge > Settings, tab Search Appearance. Which post types are in the sitemap follows the Show in search results toggle in each block of the Title Templates card
2. Leave the toggle on for Posts and Pages
3. Turn it off for post types that should not be in search results (like private landing pages). That also adds noindex to them
4. In the XML Sitemap card, Max URLs per sitemap is 1,000 until you change it. Change it for a very large site
5. Click Save Settings
6. Verify your sitemap works by visiting yoursite.com/sitemap_index.xml in a browser

Phase 4: Set Up Robots.txt

1. Go to Rank Forge > Settings, tab Search Appearance, card Robots.txt
2. Leave the field empty to use the default rules. Rank Forge then serves:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php

Sitemap: https://yoursite.com/sitemap_index.xml

1. To block more directories (e.g., /cgi-bin/), type the default rules above into the field and add your Disallow: lines below them: the text you save replaces the default rules
2. Click Save Settings
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 Rank 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. Rank Forge writes its schema automatically and has no setting that turns it off, so there is nothing to switch on
2. Rank Forge automatically applies Article schema to blog posts, Product schema to products and WebPage schema to other posts and pages, and Breadcrumb schema to pages other than the homepage
3. Your homepage gets Organization schema (site name, homepage address and tagline) automatically; if Local SEO is switched on with a Business Name, the business markup is written there instead
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 Rank Forge > Settings, tab Social, card Default Social Image
2. Click Select Image and choose a default image (1200×630 pixels). Rank Forge uses it for any page that has no featured image
3. Click Save Settings
4. 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 Rank Forge PRO, click Connect Google on the Analytics & Traffic screen to see Search Console data in the dashboard

Phase 10: Ongoing Blog Post Optimization

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

– Enter a focus keyword in the Rank Forge box

– Review the score and issues

– Adjust the SEO title and meta description

– Add internal links to related posts (with the Pro add-on, the Auto-Link button in the Advanced tab of the Rank Forge box can place them)

– Ensure images have descriptive alt text

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

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