Override Post Title with First Content Heading vs SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO

This plugin is developed at Shepherd Interactive for the benefit of the community. No support is available. Please post any questions to the support forum. On a singular post/page, normally in The Loop the_title() returns post_title; if, however, this needs to be overridden so that a custom content heading is displayed (i.e. for SEO purposes), then an h1 or h2 element may be supplied at the beginning of the post_content and the contents of this heading element will be returned by the_title() instead of post_title. From a technical perspective, the site title in the main header should be an h1 element and the page/post title should in an h2 element within an article, per HTML5: Sections may contain headings of any rank, but authors are strongly encouraged to either use only `h1` elements, or to use elements of the appropriate rank for the section’s nesting level. This is seen in the default WordPress theme and the HTML specifications. However, SEO places higher priority on the contents of an h1 element, so if every page of a site has the exact same h1 contents (the site name), then search engines may not be as likely to rank the page based on the unique contents of the h2. It has been suggested therefore that the h1 and the h2 elements be swapped, so that the site title appears in an h2 and so that the unique page title appears in the h1. While the specifications don’t prefer this arrangement, it is not incorrect, also per HTML5: Both of the documents are semantically identical and would produce the same outline in compliant user agents. So if different heading levels are semantically equivalent, and if search engines really place that much importance on h1, then SEO wins. In both cases, content section headings should be coded with h3 and below. Technical note: If the $post object is not passed into the_title filter, then the page’s the_title() must be called before every other the_title() call in_the_loop()

SEOPress – The fast, privacy-first WordPress SEO plugin, ready for AI search Rank higher in Google AND in AI answer engines (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini). SEOPress is the all-in-one WordPress SEO plugin trusted by 350,000+ websites since 2017: fully white label, privacy by design, and now AI-ready. ✔ One SEO plugin, every page builder: Universal SEO metabox for Gutenberg, Elementor, Divi 4 & 5, Bricks, Oxygen, Breakdance, WPBakery, Avada, Kadence and more. See all integrations. ✔ AI-powered metadata: Generate SEO titles, meta descriptions, Open Graph, X (Twitter) Cards and image alt text in bulk with OpenAI, Google Gemini, Anthropic Claude, MistralAI or DeepSeek. Learn more. ✔ Built for AI search (AEO / GEO): Native llms.txt support and one-click Agent Readiness toggle so ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity & Gemini understand your content. ✔ Privacy-first & fully white label: No tracking, no data footprint, no upsells in admin. Your data stays yours. Why white label matters. ✔ Content analysis with unlimited target keywords: No artificial limit per post. ✔ Migrate in one click: From Yoast SEO, Rank Math, AIOSEO, The SEO Framework, Slim SEO, SmartCrawl, Squirrly, SEO Ultimate, WP Meta SEO, Premium SEO Pack, SiteSEO. Start migration. ✔ Translated into 29+ languages with professional translations. Help translate. SEOPress PRO from $49/year: 1 site • Unlimited sites for $149/year Features | Migrate | PRO | Integrations | Support | White Label | AI What’s new in SEOPress 10.2 AI made easier to get started with, more control over your redirections and Site Audit, and a major reliability pass. 🤖 AI in the setup wizard: A new AI Assistant step to turn on AI and connect your provider without leaving the installation wizard. ✨ AI Assistant ready to use (PRO): The assistant is now enabled by default in the editor, with a one-time notice explaining how it works. 🕐 Opening hours post by post (PRO): Set your Local Business opening hours on each post — ideal for directories and multi-location sites. ↪️ Redirections, faster to manage (PRO): Test a redirect straight from the list with the new “Test URL” action, and replace or remove categories in bulk. 🩺 Site Audit at scale (PRO): Search, sort and filter your entire list of issues, not just the page displayed. 📥 Smarter CSV import (PRO): The separator of your metadata file is now detected automatically, and errors are explained. ⚡ Faster SEO metabox: Fewer requests sent to your server when you open a tab, plus better accessibility across the admin. 🛠️ Nearly 40 fixes: Social sharing images on archives, XML & HTML sitemaps, content analysis, schemas, table of contents, internal linking and more. ✅ Ready for the latest versions: Tested with WordPress 7.1 and compatible with PHP 8.5. Read the full 10.2 release notes → Why SEOPress is the best WordPress SEO plugin? All-in-one: Schemas, redirections, XML sitemaps, GSC, image SEO, breadcrumbs, broken links and more in one plugin. Fewer plugins, fewer conflicts, lower maintenance. Modular: Don’t need a feature? Disable it in one click without losing your settings. Affordable: PRO from $49/year for 1 site. Unlimited sites for $149/year. No “agency” tax. White label by default: Replace plugin name, logo, links and screens. Perfect for agencies and freelancers. GDPR-friendly: Privacy by design. Built-in compatibility with consent platforms. Beginner to expert: Installation wizard for newcomers, hundreds of hooks, REST API and WP-CLI for developers. Free guides and SEO ebooks. Battle-tested: 350,000+ active installs, regular releases, dedicated team since 2017. SEOPress Free Features Installation wizard: Get configured in minutes. Universal SEO metabox: Edit titles, descriptions, Open Graph, X Cards, schema, robots and canonical from any editor (Gutenberg, Elementor, Divi, Bricks, Oxygen, Breakdance, WPBakery, Avada, Kadence…). Command palette (Cmd/Ctrl+K): Jump to any setting instantly. Content analysis with **unlimited target keywords** to write content that ranks. Mobile & Desktop Google preview: See your SERP snippet before you publish. Facebook & X (Twitter) social preview for higher CTR on social. Titles & meta descriptions with dynamic variables (custom fields, terms, taxonomies). Open Graph & X (Twitter) Cards for Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Pinterest, WhatsApp, Threads… Google Knowledge Graph: Organization data with address & legal fields (new in 9.8). llms.txt & Agent Readiness: Help AI search engines understand your site (new in 9.8). Google Analytics 4 & Matomo: Downloads tracking, custom dimensions, IP anonymization, remarketing, demographics, cross-domain tracking, GDPR-friendly. Microsoft Clarity integration: Free heatmaps and session recordings. Custom canonical URLs and meta robots (noindex, nofollow, noimageindex, nosnippet). XML sitemaps (posts, pages, CPTs, taxonomies, images, authors): faster than ever in 9.8. HTML sitemap for accessibility & navigation. Image XML sitemap for Google Images. Redirections at the post / page / CPT level. URL clean-up: Remove /category/, /product-category/, ?replytocom; redirect attachment pages to parent or file URL. Image SEO: Auto-set image title, alt, caption and description. Google Indexing API & IndexNow (Bing/Yandex) for instant indexing. Import/export settings from site to site. One-click migration from Yoast, Rank Math, AIOSEO, SEO Framework, SureRank, Slim SEO, SmartCrawl, Squirrly, SEO Ultimate, WP Meta SEO, Premium SEO Pack, SiteSEO. Check out all SEOPress Free features here SEOPress PRO: Take SEO further AI SEO: Auto-generate titles, descriptions, OG / X tags and image alt text in bulk with OpenAI, Google Gemini (incl. **Gemini 3 Flash & 3.1 Pro**), Anthropic Claude, MistralAI, DeepSeek. Site Audit: Full React + DataViews experience with **GSC-backed recommendations**, scan history, live progress, one-click AI alt text fixes, CSV export. SEO alerts: Be warned before SEO regressions hit production. Google Search Console: Clicks, impressions, CTR, average position right inside post lists. Google Suggestions in content analysis for long-tail keyword discovery. Redirect manager: Unlimited 301/302/307/410/451 redirects, regex, URL tester modal, categories, CSV/htaccess import & export. 404 monitoring & auto-redirect with email notifications. Broken link checker: Reliable CRON-based batch scan, even on the largest sites. Schema.org / JSON-LD editor with **live preview**: Article, LocalBusiness, Service, How-to, FAQ, Course, Recipe, SoftwareApplication, Video, Event, Product, JobPosting, Review, ProfilePage, Custom schema. Automatic schemas with advanced conditions (AND/OR, post types, taxonomies). Accessible breadcrumbs: Schema.org, A11Y-ready, live preview, custom per CPT/term. Local SEO: Local Business schema with opening hours, multiple stores. WooCommerce SEO: Product schema with global identifiers (GTIN, MPN, brand), Enhanced Ecommerce, OG price/currency, noindex on cart/checkout/account. Easy Digital Downloads integration. Internal linking suggestions. Video XML Sitemap with automatic YouTube discovery + **Google News sitemap**. Google Analytics dashboard: Metrics inside WordPress, no context switching. PageSpeed Insights & Core Web Vitals reports. robots.txt & .htaccess editor: Multisite / multidomain ready. Custom RSS feed options. Multilingual llms.txt with TranslatePress. Get SEOPress PRO → SEOPress Insights: Track rankings & backlinks inside WordPress Keyword rank tracker: 52 Google Search locations. Track 50 keywords/site daily. Competitor tracking: See who outranks you. Backlinks monitored weekly. Google Trends: Find new content angles. Lifetime data access: Export to CSV / PDF / Excel. Email & Slack alerts. Get SEOPress Insights → WooCommerce & EDD SEO (SEOPress PRO) Product schema with global identifiers (GTIN, MPN, brand). OG price & currency for richer social shares. XML sitemaps for products, including image galleries. Centralized noindex for cart/checkout/account/thank-you pages. Removes WooCommerce/EDD generator meta tag. Manual or automatic JSON-LD product schemas. Breadcrumbs with WooCommerce support. Global dynamic tags for titles & meta descriptions. Google Enhanced Ecommerce: purchases, product views, cart events. Boost your store’s SEO → Universal SEO metabox: works with every editor Edit your SEO directly inside Gutenberg, Elementor, Divi, Bricks, Oxygen, Breakdance, WPBakery, Avada, Kadence, WP Fusion. No more back-and-forth between page builder and WordPress admin. Built for developers Hundreds of hooks: Browse the hooks reference. REST API: Power headless and static sites. Get started. WP-CLI commands: Automate everything. CLI reference. 13+ new dev hooks in 9.8. From the same team Try MailerPress, the best email marketing plugin for WordPress