Meta SEO Documentation

Requirements

Meta SEO asks for little:

• WordPress 6.0 or newer
• PHP 7.4 or newer (PHP 8.x recommended)
• No external services: the plugin makes zero outbound requests, so nothing needs to be whitelisted on your firewall
• Works with the Block Editor and the Classic Editor
• No persistent object cache or cron setup required
• Multisite is not supported

Installation

Option A - from your WordPress admin

1. Download the plugin zip file.
2. In your admin menu, go to Plugins, then Add New.
3. Select Upload Plugin at the top of the screen.
4. Choose the zip file and select Install Now.
5. Select Activate. The setup wizard starts automatically; see the next section.

Option B - manual upload via SFTP or your hosting file manager

1. Unzip the file on your computer. You get one plugin folder.
2. Upload that folder into wp-content/plugins/ on your server.
3. In your admin menu, go to Plugins.
4. Find Meta SEO in the list and select Activate.
5. A notice with a link to the setup wizard appears at the top of your admin; start it whenever you like.

First-Run Setup Wizard

The wizard asks six questions and takes about five minutes. Nothing is sent anywhere; every answer is stored in your own database.

1. Welcome

   One short screen on what the plugin will and will not do.

2. Site type

   Blog, business site, portfolio, or store. This sets default title patterns and content checks.

3. Identity

   Your site name, tagline, and the separator character used in titles. Default: a hyphen.

4. Title patterns

   Confirm or tweak the templates for the homepage, posts, and pages.

5. Sitemap

   Choose which content types appear in the XML sitemap. Posts and pages are included by default.

6. Structured data

   Whether the site represents an organization or a person, and whether breadcrumb schema is enabled.

A summary screen lists everything that was configured, with links to change any of it later. You are done; go write something.

Settings Reference

All settings live on one screen with six tabs, under Settings, then Meta SEO in your admin menu. Every option, in order:

General

Content Checks

Titles and Meta

Social

Sitemap

Advanced

Content Checks Explained

Each check appears in the editor sidebar with a one-line explanation. Here is what the lines mean:

Shortcodes and Template Tags

Two ways to print breadcrumbs in your theme, plus one filter for developers. Everything runs locally; no callback ever leaves the server.

[meta_seo_breadcrumb]

<?php if ( function_exists( 'meta_seo_breadcrumb' ) ) { meta_seo_breadcrumb(); } ?>

Check thresholds can be adjusted with the meta_seo_check_thresholds filter:

add_filter( 'meta_seo_check_thresholds', 'my_custom_thresholds' );
function my_custom_thresholds( $thresholds ) {
    $thresholds['min_words'] = 500;
    $thresholds['internal_links'] = 3;
    return $thresholds;
}

Submitting Your Sitemap

Meta SEO never contacts search engines on its own. Submission is a two-minute manual task you fully control:

1. Copy your sitemap path from Settings, then Meta SEO, then Sitemap.
2. Sign in to Google Search Console, choose your property, and paste the path in the Sitemaps section.
3. Repeat in Bing Webmaster Tools if you want coverage there as well.
4. That is it. The sitemap updates automatically as you publish; you never submit it twice.

Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools are independent services. Submission happens in your own accounts, and Meta SEO has no connection to either.

Uninstalling and Data Removal

• Deactivating the plugin keeps its settings and post meta intact.
• Deleting the plugin removes all settings and post meta, unless Keep settings on uninstall is on.
• There is nothing to deregister elsewhere: the plugin never registered anything off your site.

FAQ

Getting Help

One mailbox, answered by the people who build the plugin: support@metaseo.net. Bug reports, setup questions, and feature wishes are all welcome.

Privacy questions: privacy@metaseo.net.

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