This guide explains what each check on the Analysis tab of the CrawlWP SEO box looks for and what the different statuses mean. For instructions on running the analysis and understanding the overall SEO score, see Using the content analysis and SEO score.
Each check is evaluated against one keyword at a time. A check passes only when it is green. Orange means the check needs attention, while red indicates a problem. Both orange and red count as not passed.
Not every check applies to every post. Some checks only run when certain content is present. For example, image-related checks need images, while keyword density requires more than 50 words. A check that does not run is not included in the SEO score.
What Is Checked
- SEO title: CrawlWP checks the SEO title field on the General tab after variables from the Insert variable menu have been filled in. Other variables, including
{{ post.focus_keyword }}, are treated as empty during analysis. When the field is empty, the analysis uses{{ post.title }} {{ sep }} {{ site.title }}, even when your post type has a different title template. - Meta description: CrawlWP checks the Meta description field on the General tab. If the field is empty, the analysis treats the post as having no meta description, even if a template or excerpt would cause CrawlWP to generate one elsewhere.
- Content: CrawlWP analyzes the content entered in the post editor. The post title itself is not included as part of the content.
Keyword matching uses the exact phrase and is not case-sensitive. For more information, see Setting a focus keyword.
Primary Keyword Only
Keyword in the SEO Title
| Status | When |
|---|---|
| Green | The keyword appears in the SEO title. CrawlWP notes when the keyword is near the beginning, meaning it appears in the first third of the title. When it appears later, CrawlWP suggests moving it closer to the beginning. Both cases pass the check. |
| Red | The keyword does not appear in the SEO title. |
For the strongest match, include the primary keyword naturally in the SEO title rather than forcing it into an awkward phrase.
Keyword in the URL Slug
| Status | When |
|---|---|
| Green | The slug contains the keyword, with spaces represented by hyphens, such as grow-tomatoes-in-pots, or with the spaces removed, such as growtomatoesinpots. |
| Red | The slug does not contain the keyword. |
Be careful when changing the slug of a published post because doing so changes its URL. CrawlWP automatically adds a redirect from the old address. See Automatic redirects when you change a permalink.
Secondary Keywords Only
Keyword in the Post Content
| Status | When |
|---|---|
| Green | The keyword appears in the post content. CrawlWP also shows how many times it appears. |
| Red | The keyword does not appear in the post content. |
This check applies to secondary keywords. The primary keyword has its own content-related checks described elsewhere in the analysis.
All Keywords
Title Length
Search engines do not cut off titles based on a fixed character count. The available width matters, so CrawlWP measures the SEO title in pixels.
| Status | When |
|---|---|
| Green | 200 to 580 pixels. |
| Orange | Over 580 pixels: “Title is too long”. |
| Orange | Under 200 pixels: “Title is too short”. |
The width indicator below the SEO title field on the General tab uses the same pixel-based measurement, but it uses a stricter threshold and considers the title short below about 406 pixels. Because of this, the indicator can say a title is short while this analysis check is still green.
The pixel width is an estimate. A title close to 580 pixels may still be truncated on some devices or in some search results.
Keyword in the Meta Description
| Status | When |
|---|---|
| Green | The keyword appears in the meta description. |
| Orange | A meta description exists, but it does not contain the keyword. |
| Red | The Meta description field is empty: “No meta description set”. |
When search engines show a matching query in the snippet, the searched words are often displayed in bold. Including the keyword naturally in the description can therefore make the result more noticeable.
Meta Description Length
This check only runs when the Meta description field contains a description.
| Status | When |
|---|---|
| Green | 400 to 920 pixels. |
| Orange | Over 920 pixels: “Meta description is too long”. |
| Orange | Under 400 pixels: “Meta description is too short”. |
The width indicator under the Meta description field considers the description short below about 644 pixels. As a result, the indicator and the analysis check can show different statuses for the same description.
Keyword in the First Paragraph
| Status | When |
|---|---|
| Green | The first paragraph contains the keyword. |
| Orange | The first paragraph does not contain the keyword. |
CrawlWP looks for the first paragraph in the post content. That paragraph can be inside a quote, group, or columns block. Headings, lists, and images that appear before the first paragraph are skipped.
If the post has no paragraph, the check is orange. The check does not run when the post has no content.
Keyword in Subheadings
This check counts H1 through H6 headings in the content that contain the keyword. It only runs when the content contains at least one heading.
| Status | When |
|---|---|
| Green | Two or more headings contain the keyword. |
| Orange | One heading contains the keyword. |
| Red | No heading contains the primary keyword. |
| Orange | No heading contains a secondary keyword. |
For the primary keyword, a red result means the phrase does not appear in any content heading. For secondary keywords, one or more headings without the keyword results in an orange check.
Image Alt Text
| Status | When |
|---|---|
| Green | Every image in the content has alt text. |
| Orange | There are no images in the content: “No images found”. |
| Red | One or more images have no alt text. CrawlWP shows how many. |
An image with an empty alt attribute is treated as missing alt text. Add the alt text through the image block settings in the editor.
Alt text stored in the Media Library only applies to images you insert after setting it there. Existing image blocks may still need to be updated individually.
Keyword in Image Alt Text
This check only runs when the content contains images.
| Status | When |
|---|---|
| Green | At least one image has alt text containing the keyword. |
| Orange | No image alt text contains the keyword. |
Do not add a keyword to alt text simply to make this check green. The keyword should only be included when it accurately describes the image. Alt text is primarily there to make images understandable to people using screen readers.
Internal Links
Internal links point to pages on your own website. Relative URLs such as /about-us/ count as internal links. Links that only point to another part of the current page, such as those beginning with #, are ignored.
| Status | When |
|---|---|
| Green | Two or more internal links. |
| Orange | One internal link. |
| Red | No internal links. |
The Links tab in the CrawlWP SEO box can suggest related posts that you may want to link to from the content.
External Links
External links point to other websites.
| Status | When |
|---|---|
| Green | One or more external links. |
| Orange | No external links. |
A link is considered external when its domain differs from your site’s domain. This also includes subdomains. For example, www.example.com is treated as external when the site address is example.com.
Email links using mailto: and phone links using tel: also count as external at the moment.
Content Length
| Status | When |
|---|---|
| Green | 300 words or more. |
| Orange | 100 to 299 words. |
| Red | Under 100 words: “Content is too thin”. |
The 300-word threshold is a rule of thumb used by the analysis, not a Google requirement. Some topics can be answered properly with much less content, so do not add unnecessary text to reach a particular word count.
Keyword Density
Keyword density measures how often the keyword appears as a percentage of the total number of words in the content. Each occurrence of the complete keyword phrase counts once, regardless of how many words the phrase contains.
This check only runs when the content contains more than 50 words.
| Status | When |
|---|---|
| Green | 0.5% to 3%. |
| Orange | Over 3%: “This may look like keyword stuffing”. |
| Orange | Under 0.5%. |
For example, if a 400-word post contains the keyword three times, the density is 0.75%, which is displayed as 0.8%. The status is based on the exact value, so a density displayed as 0.5% can still receive an orange status when its underlying value is below the threshold.
CrawlWP also matches keywords within longer words. For example, pot is also found in pots and teapot.
Average Sentence Length
This check only runs when the content contains at least three sentences.
| Status | When |
|---|---|
| Green | 20 words or fewer on average. |
| Orange | 21 to 25 words. |
| Red | More than 25 words. |
CrawlWP splits sentences at full stops, question marks, and exclamation marks. Headings do not contain sentence-ending punctuation, so a heading is counted as part of the sentence that follows it. This can make the average slightly higher than you might expect.
H2 Subheadings
This check counts the H2 headings in the content regardless of whether they contain the keyword.
| Status | When |
|---|---|
| Green | Two or more H2 headings. |
| Orange | One H2 heading. |
| Orange | No H2 headings and more than 300 words. |
When a post has 300 words or fewer and no H2 headings, this check does not run.
If It Does Not Work
A check I expect is missing. Some checks only run under specific conditions. For example, the image alt text keyword check requires at least one image, while the keyword density check requires more than 50 words. Check the conditions for the missing test before assuming something is wrong.
The meta description check says there is no description, but my page has one. The analysis reads the Meta description field directly. Enter a description in that field for CrawlWP to analyze it. A description generated from a template or excerpt does not count for this check when the field itself is empty.
A link to my own site counts as external. Check that the link uses the same domain as your site address in Settings > General. Pay particular attention to whether your site uses www, because CrawlWP treats www.example.com and example.com as different domains.
The keyword check fails, but the keyword is there. Keyword matching uses the exact phrase and ignores letter case. A plural, different word order, or additional words inserted into the phrase can cause the check to fail. Make sure the wording matches the focus keyword exactly.