Last time we talked about a few things you can do to setup a new WordPress website. Now let’s go over some things to cleanup for an established website.
Here’s an audit checklist you can go through to finalize your website after you get through Step 7. Just to reiterate, this is cleanup for an established website, not something you worry about before content or promotion.
List updated 6/1/19.
- Make sure Google Analytics is working and set up goals.
- Make sure all pages look good on mobile, especially hero sections.
- Review image captions and alt text.
- Style archive drop down box. Premium themes often neglect these for some reason.
- Make text black if it’s a light gray color.
- Disable share buttons on legal pages and contact pages if you use a plugin. You do want to make sure these are indexable because Google displays website structure in search results.
- Review list padding. Premium themes don’t have list padding for some reason.
- Review styling on the contact form if you use a contact form plugin. Normal forms will be styled based on your premium theme.
- Review the footer and make sure it has good resources down there. Consider adding social media buttons for your profiles. Consider adding an RSS feed link (at least make the decision)
- Optimize sidebar and widget use. Make sure important things like ultimate guides are linked, check for social media links, etc.
- Review Posts and pages. Make sure they are optimized and link to other resources. Add links to newer articles if they pertain to the older content.
- Make sure your “money posts,” posts with affiliate links, don’t have excessive affiliate links.
- Review categories and tags. There is some debate as to whether categories and tags are worth your time. At the very least, you should be using categories that groups content in a way that makes sense.
- Review plugins and your theme settings. Make sure they are working as intended.
- Review WP settings. Make sure site structure and settings make sense, like making sure permalinks are good to go, pingbacks disabled, etc.
If you need to make changes to your theme’s functions.php and style.css, make sure you download a child theme or create one.
Conclusion
What other cleanup for an established website do you check for?