WordPress SEO: WordPress makes SEO accessible, but default settings aren't optimized settings

WordPress handles the basics of SEO reasonably well out of the box, but 'reasonable' isn't the same as 'optimized.' The default permalink structure uses numeric IDs instead of descriptive slugs. Common configurations, like accidentally indexing tag pages, author archives, or shallow category pages, create duplicate content issues that affect your whole site's crawl budget. SEO plugins like Yoast and RankMath solve most of this, but they work best when configured intentionally. The most impactful settings to review: set your URL structure to 'Post name,' control which content types get indexed (turn off tag archives, date archives, and author pages on single-author sites), and configure your sitemap to exclude low-value pages. Image optimization is the most-overlooked WordPress SEO task. WordPress uploads full-resolution images unless you configure it otherwise. A 4MB image on every page is a Core Web Vitals problem that directly suppresses rankings. Compress before upload, use WebP where possible, and enable lazy loading.