Library·SOP·SEO
Choose the right guide for a product, category, image, link or technical problem and know how to check the improvement.
Last reviewed: · Editorial review
Clarity, structure and references reviewed in this version. This is not a test in a live account.
Choose the right guide for a product, category, image, link or technical problem and know how to check the improvement.
This SOP covers:
This does not cover:
Search engine optimization (SEO) helps people and search engines understand a page. Begin with what a shopper needs, so the work improves the right page.
Open the existing website task, or start a short text note called WooCommerce SEO next action. Add four labels: Page, Main problem, Next guide or person, and Finish check. Use it for the choices below.
Open the page you want to improve and decide which buying task it serves.
Choose Product when the page describes one item and helps someone decide whether that item suits them. Illustrative example: blue stoneware mug 350 ml belongs with a particular mug’s size, contents and care instructions. Write the public address and Product under Page.
Choose Category when the page lists a group and helps shoppers compare choices. Example: stoneware mugs belongs with a browsing page that explains the range and links to suitable mugs. Write the public address and Category under Page.
Compare the concerns on the pages that matter to the store owner. Fix wrong or missing buying information and broken paths before polishing search wording. If products explain themselves but people cannot browse the range, choose the category. If the range works but one product omits a crucial size or compatibility fact, choose that product. Under Main problem, write what you saw and why it comes first.
Use the page guides for product or category content and search copy. Use a companion only when the main problem needs a different task.
For an unclear product name, missing buying details, weak category introduction or generic search wording, choose the matching product/category guide in the next section. Those guides teach the visible copy and the search title and summary together. If only search copy needs changing, use that guide’s search-copy section and still complete its saved and live checks.
If a useful product or category image is blurry, oversized or unsuitable, follow the linked SOP’s image-choice and file preparation guidance. Then use the matching WooCommerce page guide to select the file in Product image, Product gallery or category Thumbnail and check it live. The companion’s post/page Block Editor insertion steps are for those pages.
If a relevant existing WordPress post or page should help shoppers reach the product or category, use the linked SOP’s destination-choice, descriptive wording and source-post/page editing instructions. Use the product or category’s existing public address as the destination. A useful link explains where it goes, such as compare stoneware mugs, and must work after saving.
If a Simple product’s price, availability or other machine-readable product details need checking, follow the linked SOP. Structured data is the extra product information supplied to search engines; it is separate from the visible description and search summary. Use the real product facts rather than inventing reviews or identifiers.
If a page fails to load, goes to the wrong address, is reported as not indexed, or has a measured speed problem, follow the linked SOP to choose the right technical check. Carry the affected address and the actual error or report. A missing Google result alone does not identify the cause.
Use a separate planning guide when you need to discover a page topic or coordinate a larger writing task. Routine product facts can go straight into the product/category guide.
If you do not yet know the topic or search phrase the store can usefully serve, follow the linked SOP. Use its comparison of searcher tasks and result-page types to choose a product, range or separate advice-page idea.
If you have chosen a topic and phrase for a separate buying or advice page and another writer needs a clear plan, follow the linked SOP to create that writing handoff. For example, a guide to choosing mug capacity can support the store’s mug category without replacing it.
Use the plugin already responsible for this store’s search settings. These product guides use ordinary Simple products with no size or colour choices; category guides edit an existing product category.
In WordPress, open Plugins > Installed Plugins and use the Active filter. Find Rank Math SEO, Yoast SEO, All in One SEO or SEOPress. If you cannot identify the responsible plugin or its category controls, ask the site maintainer to confirm them. Choose the matching route below and write it under Next guide or person.
If Rank Math is the store’s active SEO plugin, use the route for your selected page type.
For Product, follow the linked SOP to improve the item’s name, descriptions, useful images/links and product-specific search copy.
For Category, follow the linked SOP to improve the range’s introduction, grouping, browsing paths and category-specific search copy.
If Yoast SEO is the store’s active SEO plugin, use the route for your page type.
For Product, follow the linked SOP to improve one item and its product-specific search copy with Yoast SEO.
For Category, follow the linked SOP to improve the browsing group and its category-specific search copy with Yoast SEO.
If All in One SEO is the store’s active SEO plugin, choose the product route or check its category capability.
For Product, follow the linked SOP to improve one item and its product-specific search copy with All in One SEO.
For Category, use the linked SOP when the store already has All in One SEO Pro and its per-category settings. The Lite version does not provide the individual category title and description overrides this procedure needs.
If the store uses All in One SEO Lite without those controls, put Ask maintainer for a supported category SEO method under Next guide or person. The linked Rank Math category procedure is an alternative once the maintainer has configured Rank Math as the store’s responsible SEO plugin. Keep the category edit pending until an appropriate method is available.
If SEOPress is the store’s active SEO plugin, use the route for your page type.
For Product, follow the linked SOP to improve one item and its product-specific search copy with SEOPress.
For Category, follow the linked SOP to improve the browsing group and its category-specific search copy with SEOPress.
A saved field, a plugin score and a Google result are different things. Check the actual live result promised by the selected task.
Under Finish check in WooCommerce SEO next action, write the result the chosen task should deliver. For a product, include visible accurate buying details and saved live search tags. For a category, include a visible introduction and working paths to suitable products. For an image or link, include clear live display or the correct destination. For product data or a technical problem, use the chosen guide’s actual test result.
Use the chosen guide when you have the access and facts it requires. If someone else must supply a missing fact, enable a required control or repair a template, name that person’s task under Next guide or person. A category introduction or product description that is saved but hidden still needs its template fix.
After the work, reopen the same public address and perform the Finish check. Check desktop and phone-sized layouts when content or images changed, follow changed links and compare live search tags with saved values when metadata changed. Add Checked to the note only after the intended result is present; otherwise describe the remaining problem there.
