Understanding WordPress SEO scores
If you use Yoast SEO or Rank Math on your WordPress site, every page and post gets an SEO score. These scores tell you how well-optimised a piece of content is for its target keyword. WP Assist can read these scores and explain exactly what's affecting them — and then fix the issues directly.
Yoast SEO scores
Yoast SEO uses a traffic-light colour system:
- Red — The page needs significant SEO work. Common causes: no focus keyword set, no meta description, keyword not appearing in the title or headings.
- Orange — The page is okay but there's room for improvement. Usually means a few checks are failing.
- Green — The page is well-optimised for its focus keyword. This is the target.
Yoast also provides a separate Readability score (red/orange/green) for how easy the content is to read.
Rank Math scores
Rank Math uses a numeric score from 0 to 100. Generally:
- 0–49 — Poor. Multiple key SEO elements are missing or incorrect.
- 50–79 — Needs improvement. Some elements are in place but others need attention.
- 80–100 — Good. The page is well-optimised. Rank Math typically labels 80+ as "Good".
Ask WP Assist to explain: If you're not sure why a page has a low score, ask: "Why is my homepage SEO score red?" or "What's causing my services page to score 45 in Rank Math?". WP Assist will explain the specific issues and offer to fix them.
Common reasons for low SEO scores in WordPress
- No focus keyword set in Yoast SEO or Rank Math
- Meta description is missing or too short/long
- The focus keyword doesn't appear in the page title
- The focus keyword doesn't appear in any headings (H1, H2s)
- Content is too short (thin content)
- No internal links on the page
WP Assist can fix most of these issues directly — updating the focus keyword, writing a meta description, adjusting the title, or adding content.