WordPress is a remarkable tool with lots of options to help with design, SEO, performance, security, etc. You don’t need most of these features at a deep level but you should have a basic understanding of what they do.
In this list we cover all of the WordPress features you need to know to get your real estate website ready to launch.
Install and Configure SEO Plugins (Yoast, RankMath, etc.)
Make sure the Yoast SEO Plugin is installed and setup. The pages should have a unique title, meta description, and keywords.
Now, let’s give your content that extra edge. Incorporate AI-based SEO tools like HubSpots Breeze. These aren’t your everyday tools; they harness AI to dive deep into your content, making sure it speaks the language of both your audience and search engines. They’ll sift through your words, suggest enhancements, and ensure every page and post is primed to rank. Think of them as your SEO coaches, guiding your content to the top of the search results.
Set Up Logical Permalinks
Make sure the permalinks are configured in a way that is logical to visitors and benefit Google indexing.
Remove Unused Plugins, Themes, and Tools
Make a pass through your plugins and theme builder tools to see if there are any unnecessary or redundant items. If you’ve installed any plugins to test out and don’t end of using them make sure they get deleted. The same goes for extra themes. Not only do they take up unnecessary space they will require updating regularly, even if they are inactive.
Secure Your Website with AI-Based Plugins
But let’s not stop there. It’s time to bolster your site’s defenses. Enhance your website’s security by integrating AI-driven security plugins such as Wordfence or Sucuri. These aren’t your run-of-the-mill security solutions; they’re powered by machine learning, constantly evolving to outsmart the latest threats. They’re like having a digital security guard that never sleeps, always there to protect your real estate haven from unwanted intruders.
Pro Tip: It’s a good idea to keep a spare inactive theme like ‘Twenty Twenty-Four‘ installed in case you need to deactivate your theme for any reason.
Pro Tip: Some premium themes like Avada and Divi come with lots of great design tools built in. Many of these tools never get used and can potentially affect your site speed. Fortunately you can remove them. Check the list when you are done and take out anything not being used. Avada even comes with a nifty Performance Wizard that walks you through the process in minutes.
Clean Up Drafts, Revisions, and Media Library
- Remove unused posts, and pages: This includes drafts or pages in the trash folder.
- Remove unused images: Scan you media library for duplicate or unused images.
- Remove revisions: Revisions are autosaved by WordPress during development and can potentially slow down your site. The easiest way to clean these up is to use a plugin like WP-Sweep.
Set Your Website Timezone
Make sure the time-zone is set correctly for scheduling updates. Go to Settings > General and look for the Timezone dropdown menu.
Create a Custom 404 Page
Add a custom 404 page that will redirect users back to your site should they encounter a broken link. Without it the visitor encounters a dead end and they leave your site.
Set Up 301 Redirects
Clean up any page redirections and avoid 404 errors. If you are rebuilding or making significant changes to a site you may need to include a plugin to manage the 301 redirects. A great option for this is a plugin simply called ‘Redirection‘. It’s easy to use and you’ll have it all set up in no time.
Install and Test Google Analytics
If you have Google analytics installed make sure it’s configured correctly and analyzing traffic.
Configure Backup Plan
Make sure a backup is installed. The better hosts, like WP Engine, include daily backups as part of their service. You can also include backup your site with a utility like Updraft WordPress Backup Plugin.
Configure Caching Plugins
We like WP Rocket, it’s super easy to set up and will get your site humming. Check the cache options, file optimization, LazyLoad, and preloading. Make sure your site still looks the way you expect. Using LazyLoad and minifying CSS or JavaScript file in particular can cause problems on the front end.
Pro Tip: Some website hosts, like Siteground, have built in site caching plugins as part of their service. Make sure you don’t have similar plugins that may cause a conflict.
Pro Tip: Use a CDN like Cloudflare. What is a CDN? A CDN, or Content Delivery Network is a geographically distributed network of servers used to distribute a websites images locally, reducing load time. Cloudflare is a popular service with a great free account option that will work fine for most real estate agents. Many premium caching plugins like WP Rocket automatically configure with Cloudflare.
Secure Your Site
Website hosts all provide some level of security built in but you can always get more. Top security plugins for 2025 include Cloudflare, Sucuri, MalCare and Wordfence.
Spam
You can limit spam by disabling comments, or using the moderate option. With the moderate option you will need to approve any comments before they show up on your site, This is a great way to interact with your customers as well as keep the annoying bots out. Also, be on the lookout for pingbacks and trackbacks. Use a plugin like Askimet to control the spam.
Pro Tip: When moderating comments look for the following: embedded links – in the comment section or the URL field – linking to a suspicious source, the use of keywords in place of a name, broadly worded comments that could apply to any post, and foreign language characters.
SSL certificate
This is included with all the better hosing services. SSL stands for Secure Layer Socket certificate and it’s used to show your site is secure. The bigger browsers like Chrome will flag you if you don’t have it. If it is included with your hosting service it’s easy to install with the help of Really Simple SSL . If you need help just contact your host.
PRO Tip: If your hosting service charges extra for this certificate you may want to reconsider who you are using since it’s pretty much standard these days.
Turn On Search Engine Indexing
This should have been turned off while in development. When you are ready to go live go to your WordPress dashboard and select Settings > Reading, check ‘Search Engine Visibility’, and Save Changes.
Create and Submit a Sitemap
A sitemap provides information about the pages, images, , videos, and other files on your website to search engine crawlers. It gives them a ‘map’ of your site allowing for better site indexing and better SEO. It helps search engines like Google understand you so users can find you. In short, it helps your site get discovered.
WordPress automatically creates a sitemap but you should always check it for unwanted pages. Plugins like Yoast SEO will also do the job for you.
Optimize Your robots.txt File
Google checks your sitemap the first time it gets discovered, and again if notified of a change. The robots.txt file specifies the location of the sitemap. Example: ‘Sitemap: http://example.com/sitemap_location.xml‘.
Update the Admin Email Address
This is the email used to notify the site administrator of anything going on with the site. It is only necessary to change the email if the person developing the site is different that the person who will be managing it.
Double-Check IDX Integration and API Keys
Depending on the service you are using you may have an API key. Double check and make sure the correct API key is being used. If you have wrapper pages make sure they are showing the correct header/footer design.
Pro Tip: Double check the background cron to see what intervals it is set for. The ‘cron’ is a software utility schedules intervals for a task, in this case, your real estate listings. Choose an interval that works for you, I usually go with a short interval like three minutes. If for some reason you find this slows your site down you can bump the number a little higher.
Pro Tip: Sometime there are conflicts between IDX services that use wrapper pages and caching plugins. IDX Broker has a great wrapper page option but using a cache plugin can cause problems. For example; If you notice the listings aren’t showing up in the wrapper page simply disable caching for the wrapper page. Caching plugins like WP Rocket offer this option on every page.
Pro Tip: If you are using IDX Broker you should consider creating a CNAME record to point your subdomain address to. IDX Broker lets you customize your subdomain address and it’s easy to do, plus it has added SEO value. Check out our complete guide to ordering and optimizing IDX Broker and adding custom subdomain names.
