SEO checklist and notifications

RankFlect SEO has two small helpers that tell you what to do next. The SEO checklist on the Dashboard lists the basics every site should have, and ticks each one when it's done. The notification bell in the RankFlect SEO header warns you when something goes wrong later, such as search engines being blocked or Google losing its connection.

Both are part of the free plugin.

The SEO checklist

Open RankFlect SEO → Dashboard. The SEO checklist card shows the basics in the order a new site would do them, with a progress bar and a count such as 5 of 10 done. Each open item has a button that takes you to the right screen.

You don't need to tick anything yourself. RankFlect SEO checks your settings each time the Dashboard loads, and items tick themselves when they're done.

Item	Done when	Button
Let search engines see the site	Settings → Reading → Discourage search engines from indexing this site is not ticked.	Open Reading settings
Finish the setup wizard	You finished the RankFlect SEO setup wizard.	Run the wizard
Connect Google Search Console	Google is connected. See Connect Google.	Connect
Delete the "Hello world!" post	WordPress's sample post is deleted, unpublished or edited.	Edit or delete it
Write a tagline	Settings → General → Tagline is filled and isn't the WordPress default.	Open General settings
Add your organization or person name and logo	Both are set in RankFlect SEO → Settings → Identity (or your theme has a custom logo). See Site identity.	Open Identity
Add your social profiles	At least one social profile, Facebook page or X account is set.	Add profiles
Submit your sitemap to Google	XML sitemaps are on and Google is connected.	Open Search Console
Turn on llms.txt	The llms.txt module is on. See llms.txt.	Open llms.txt
Run your first site audit	The site audit has run at least once.	Open Site Audit

Mark an item as done

RankFlect SEO can't see everything. It can't read the sitemap list in Search Console, and you may keep social profiles somewhere else. So two items have a Mark as done button:

• Submit your sitemap to Google: add wp-sitemap.xml in Search Console → Sitemaps, then click Mark as done. See Submit your sitemap.
• Add your social profiles

Click Undo to un-mark an item.

If XML sitemaps are off, the sitemap item says so and its button opens Settings → Sitemaps instead.

Hide the checklist

Click Hide checklist at the top of the card. When every item is done, the card says "Everything is done. Nice work." and the button reads Dismiss.

To bring it back, click Show SEO checklist in the quick links at the bottom of the Dashboard. Hiding the checklist hides it for everyone on the site.

Who sees it

The checklist shows to users who can change the RankFlect SEO settings (administrators by default). Other users don't see the card. See Role manager.

Notifications

The bell in the RankFlect SEO header, on the right, shows a count when something needs your attention. The count is red when one of them is critical, and amber otherwise. Click it to open the list. Each notification has a short explanation and a button that opens the screen where you fix it.

Notifications are sorted by importance: Critical first, then Warning, then Info. With nothing to report, the list says "You are all caught up".

Notification	Level	When it shows	Button
Search engines are blocked	Critical	Discourage search engines from indexing this site is ticked in Settings → Reading, so nothing gets indexed.	Fix in Reading settings
Search Console is disconnected	Warning	RankFlect SEO was connected to Google before, but can't use the connection now. Search data has stopped updating.	Reconnect
Google sign-in stopped working	Warning	Google is connected, but refreshing the sign-in failed. The message shows Google's reason.	Reconnect
Another SEO plugin is active	Warning	Another SEO plugin also prints titles, meta tags and schema, so pages can get them twice. It names the plugin.	Open Plugins
Your AI provider rejected the key	Warning	Your AI provider refused the key. The message shows the provider's reason.	Check the AI key
Your SEO score dropped	Warning	The last site audit scored at least 5 points lower than the one before.	Open Site Audit
More 404 errors than usual (Pro)	Warning	20 or more new missing URLs were hit in the last 24 hours. Needs the 404 monitor on.	Open 404 monitor

For another SEO plugin, the usual fix is to import its data into RankFlect SEO, then deactivate it.

Dismiss a notification

Click the × (Dismiss) next to a notification to dismiss it. Dismissing is per user: it hides the notification for you, not for other users.

A dismissed notification comes back when the problem happens again. For example, if you dismiss Another SEO plugin is active and later activate a different SEO plugin, it shows again. If a problem goes away and later returns, the notification shows again too.

Who sees which notifications

The bell shows to everyone who can open RankFlect SEO. Each user only gets notifications about the parts they can manage:

• Search engines, Google, other SEO plugins and the AI key: users who can change the RankFlect SEO settings.
• The audit score: users who can use the site audit.
• 404 errors (Pro): users who can manage redirects.

Developers can add their own notifications with the rankflect_notifications filter. See Hooks and filters.

FAQ

I submitted my sitemap, but the checklist item isn't ticked. Why?

RankFlect SEO can't read your sitemap list in Search Console. If Google is connected and sitemaps are on, the item ticks itself. Otherwise click Mark as done.

I deleted the "Hello world!" post, but it still shows. Why?

The item looks for a published post with the slug hello-world. Check that it isn't still published under that slug, and reload the Dashboard. Replacing its sample text with your own also counts.

Does the bell slow down my admin?

No. The notifications are worked out only when a RankFlect SEO screen loads the bell, from settings RankFlect SEO already stores. Other admin screens are not affected.