WordPress SEO audit Senegal: 50-point checklist 2026

38% of WordPress sites in Senegal still fail Core Web Vitals in 2026, according to our audit of 200 Dakar SMEs. Yet 90% of e-commerce and showcase sites in Dakar run on WordPress. Here is the 50-point checklist we apply at Kolonell to turn an average WordPress into an SEO machine.

TL;DR

- 50 control points across 5 categories: technical, on-page, content, performance, local

- Yoast SEO or RankMath mandatory (RankMath wins on features/price ratio)

- Core Web Vitals: LCP < 2.5s, INP < 200ms, CLS < 0.1

- Hreflang FR/EN essential for bilingual Senegalese sites

- LocalBusiness + BreadcrumbList schemas are the priority rich snippets

Why audit a WordPress site in 2026

A WordPress site not audited for 12 months loses an average of 23% organic traffic in Senegal, based on our internal data across 80 clients. Outdated plugins, broken schema, mis-generated sitemap, missing hreflang: regressions stack up silently.

When to run a full audit

• Every 6 months for a site that pushes new content
• After every major WordPress update (5.x to 6.x)
• Before any domain migration or redesign
• If traffic drops more than 15% over 3 months

Block 1: Technical audit (12 points)

Indexing and crawl

• robots.txt present, not blocking useful pages
• sitemap.xml generated by Yoast/RankMath and submitted to Search Console
• Canonical tags on 100% of URLs (auto via SEO plugin)
• 301 redirects documented in Redirection plugin or .htaccess
• 404 errors below 1% of Screaming Frog crawl
• Click depth maximum 3 from the homepage
• Pagination noindex on /page/2/+ archives for sites < 50k pages
• HTTPS on 100% of resources (audit via WhyNoPadlock)

Stack and performance

• PHP 8.2+ enabled (WP 6.4 requires it for optimal performance)
• Cache: WP Rocket, LiteSpeed Cache or W3 Total Cache configured
• CDN: Cloudflare in Full Strict mode (free) or BunnyCDN
• HTTP/3 + Brotli enabled at host level

Block 2: SEO plugins (8 points)

Yoast SEO vs RankMath in 2026

• Only one SEO plugin active (never Yoast + RankMath in parallel)
• Titles set via SEO plugin < 60 characters
• Unique meta descriptions < 160 characters
• LocalBusiness schema enabled with correct NAP
• BreadcrumbList schema enabled
• Open Graph + Twitter Cards filled in
• News sitemap enabled for blog (if more than 2 posts/week)
• Automatic 404 → 410 or 301 redirects depending on context

Block 3: Core Web Vitals (10 points)

The 3 critical Google thresholds in 2026

• LCP (Largest Contentful Paint): < 2.5 seconds
• INP (Interaction to Next Paint): < 200 milliseconds (replaced FID in March 2024)
• CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift): < 0.1

• Real measurement via PageSpeed Insights mobile (simulated 4G network)
• Images converted to WebP/AVIF via ShortPixel or Imagify plugin
• Native HTML lazy loading for below-the-fold images
• Fonts self-hosted + preload on primary font
• Critical CSS inlined at top of head
• JavaScript deferred except critical scripts
• Theme: prefer GeneratePress, Kadence, Blocksy over Divi/Avada
• Page builder: Bricks Builder or native Gutenberg > Elementor
• Database: cleaned monthly via WP-Optimize
• PHP workers: minimum 4 at host level

Block 4: Bilingual SEO FR/EN (8 points)

Hreflang: the trap of bilingual Senegalese sites

70% of bilingual Senegalese WordPress sites we audit have broken hreflang. Result: Google shows the FR version to English searchers and vice versa.

• Multilingual plugin: Polylang, WPML or TranslatePress installed
• Hreflang FR-SN ↔ EN-SN declared on every translated page
• URL structure: /fr/ and /en/ or subdomains fr.kolonell.com / en.kolonell.com
• Canonical points to the version in the same language
• Sitemap lists FR and EN URLs separately
• Schema translated (description and alternateName)
• Language switcher present in header, not only in footer
• No raw Google Translate auto-translation left unreviewed

Block 5: Local SEO Senegal (12 points)

• Physical address displayed in footer (Dakar, Plateau, etc.)
• WhatsApp number +221 clickable in mobile header
• LocalBusiness schema with precise @type Restaurant/Hotel/etc.
• OpeningHours correctly structured in the schema
• GeoCoordinates lat/long of the address (Senegal Plus Codes accepted)
• Google Maps embed with lazy loading
• Local pages: if multiple cities, create /agency-dakar/, /agency-thies/
• Local keywords in H1, H2 and image alt tags
• Local backlinks from PagesJaunes Senegal, Senauto, Sentoo
• Client testimonials Dakar/Thies/Saint-Louis with city mentioned
• Local press mentions (Seneweb, Dakaractu) linked as sources
• NAP consistency between site, GBP, directories and Facebook

FAQ

Q: How much does a full WordPress SEO audit cost in Dakar?

A: A serious 50-point audit is billed between 250,000 and 750,000 FCFA depending on site size. At Kolonell, the 20-point basic audit is free for Senegalese SMEs.

Q: Is free Yoast SEO enough for a WordPress blog in Senegal?

A: For under 50 articles, yes. Beyond that, free RankMath offers more features (LocalBusiness schema, redirects, 404 monitor) without paying.

Q: How long to fix all 50 points?

A: Count 3 to 5 person-days for a 30-page showcase site. A WooCommerce e-commerce site with 500 products requires 10 to 15 person-days.

Q: Which host for high-performance WordPress in Senegal?

A: OVH (Roubaix or Gravelines for Europe–West Africa proximity), Hostinger Business, or Kinsta for premium budgets. Avoid free local hosts that wreck Core Web Vitals.

Conclusion: turn WordPress into an SEO asset

A properly audited and optimised WordPress site can triple organic traffic in 6 months — we have seen this on 12 Kolonell clients in 2025. The discipline of the 50 points is the difference between a sleeping site and a selling site.

At Kolonell, we offer a free audit covering the first 20 points on your Senegalese WordPress. For the full 50-point audit, reach us on WhatsApp +221 77 596 93 33.