Use the SERP Preview and SEO Assessment in the Post Editor

The SEOvault AI meta box includes two tools that help you optimize each post before publishing: a SERP preview that shows how your post will look in Google search results, and an SEO assessment that scores your optimization and gives actionable feedback.

The SERP preview

The SERP (Search Engine Results Page) preview is a visual mockup of how your post will appear in Google. It sits at the top of the meta box, above the input fields.

What it shows

Title – your custom SEO title, or the auto-generated title if the field is empty. In Automatic mode, the auto-generated title uses your title template (e.g., %title% | %sitename%). In Manual mode, it falls back to the post title.
URL – the post’s permalink, displayed with your domain name. This reflects the actual URL search engines will see.
Description – your custom meta description, or the auto-generated description if the field is empty. In Automatic mode, the description is generated from your post excerpt or content.

How it updates

The preview updates live as you type in the SEO title and description fields. You do not need to save the post to see changes. The preview uses AJAX to re-render with your current input values.

Pixel width and truncation

Google truncates titles and descriptions based on pixel width, not just character count. The plugin estimates pixel width using an average of 8 pixels per character and a title pixel limit of 580px. If your title is likely to be truncated, the assessment will warn you even if the character count is within range.

For languages with wider characters (e.g., CJK scripts), the plugin applies locale-aware adjustment ratios to provide more accurate truncation estimates.

Using the preview effectively

Check for truncation – if your title or description appears cut off in the preview, shorten it
Check keyword placement – make sure your focus keyword appears near the beginning of the title
Check readability – read the preview as a searcher would. Does it make them want to click?
Check URL structure – the URL should be clean and contain relevant words, not query parameters

The SEO assessment

Below the SERP preview, the assessment panel shows a color-coded score and a list of individual checks. The assessment runs automatically when you enter a focus keyword and updates live as you edit.

Overall status

The overall status is shown as a colored indicator:

Green (Good) – all checks pass. Your post is well-optimized
Orange (Okay) – some checks need attention. Your post is partially optimized
Red (Bad) – critical checks are failing. Your post needs optimization work
Gray (Unknown) – no focus keyword set, or the post could not be assessed

Individual checks

The assessment runs eight checks for each post:

1. Title check

Evaluates your SEO title length and quality:

Empty (red) – no title set. Add an SEO title for better search visibility
Too short (red) – under 30 characters. Aim for 50-60 characters
Short (orange) – 30-49 characters. Could use more detail
Good (green) – 50-60 characters. Optimal length
Long (orange) – 61-70 characters. Google may truncate it
Too long (red) – over 70 characters. Google will likely truncate it

The check also reports pixel width and warns if truncation is likely based on pixel estimation, even when the character count is within range.

If you are using the post title as a fallback (no custom SEO title set), the assessment notes this and recommends setting a custom title for more control.

2. Description check

Evaluates your meta description length:

Empty (red) – no description set
Too short (red) – under 70 characters
Short (orange) – 70-119 characters
Good (green) – 120-155 characters. Optimal length
Long (orange) – 156-200 characters. May be truncated
Too long (red) – over 200 characters. Will likely be truncated

3. Keyword check

Checks whether your focus keyword appears in key locations:

In the SEO title – is the keyword present in the title?
In the meta description – is the keyword present in the description?
In the content – does the keyword appear in the post body?

Each sub-check contributes to the overall keyword score. Missing the keyword in the title is flagged as more critical than missing it in the description.

4. Indexing check

Verifies whether the post is indexable:

Good (green) – post is set to index (noindex is off)
Bad (red) – post is set to noindex. Search engines will not index it

If noindex is on, the overall assessment is downgraded regardless of other check results, because an unindexable post will not appear in search results.

5. Following check

Verifies whether links on the post are followable:

Good (green) – links are followable (nofollow is off)
Okay (orange) – nofollow is on. Search engines will not follow links on this page

6. Canonical check

Checks the canonical URL configuration:

Good (green) – canonical URL is not set (using default permalink) or points to the same URL
Okay (orange) – canonical URL is set to a different URL. This is intentional in some cases (e.g., syndicated content) but should be verified

7. Branding check

Checks whether your site name appears in the title:

Good (green) – site name is present in the title (via template or manual entry)
Okay (orange) – site name is not in the title. Adding your brand name can improve click-through rates

8. Redirect check

Checks if a redirect URL is configured for this post:

Good (green) – no redirect set. Post is accessible at its normal URL
Okay (orange) – redirect is set. Visitors will be redirected to another URL

Live assessment via AJAX

The assessment updates in real time as you edit. When you change the SEO title, description, focus keyword, or other fields, the meta box JavaScript sends an AJAX request to recalculate the assessment without requiring a page reload or post save.

This means you can:

Type a focus keyword and immediately see which checks pass or fail
Adjust your title length and watch the status change from red to green
Toggle noindex and see the overall score update

The live assessment uses the seovaultseo_live_assessment AJAX action with a nonce for security.

The SEO Bar in the posts list

In addition to the meta box, the SEO assessment is shown in the WordPress posts list table as a compact SEO Bar column. Each post shows a colored dot indicating its overall assessment status:

Green dot – good
Orange dot – okay
Red dot – bad
Gray dot – unknown (no keyword set)

Hover over the dot to see a tooltip with the check count. Click the post title to open the editor and see the full assessment details in the meta box.

Term assessments

The assessment also runs for taxonomy terms (categories, tags, and custom taxonomies). When you edit a term, the term meta box shows:

Title check
Description check
Indexing check

Term assessments have fewer checks than posts because terms typically have less SEO metadata. The overall status is computed from the available checks.

How to use the assessment to improve your content

Set a focus keyword first – without a keyword, the assessment cannot evaluate keyword placement
Fix red checks before publishing – red checks indicate critical issues that will hurt your search visibility
Address orange checks when time allows – orange checks are warnings, not errors, but fixing them improves your optimization
Use the SERP preview as your guide – if the preview looks good and all checks are green, your post is ready
Re-check after content changes – if you significantly edit your post content, the keyword checks may change. The live assessment updates automatically.