wp_get_seo_meta: read supported SEO fields
Reads the SEO title and description stored on a post, for both Yoast SEO and Rank Math.
Arguments
| Argument | Required | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
post_id |
Yes | The post or page |
Permissions
mcp:read and wp:content:read, plus edit_post on that specific post.
Same bar as reading the post's other metadata — these fields are post meta, stored under the SEO plugin's own keys.
What it returns
The post ID, plus a yoast block and a rank_math block, each with a title and a description.
Both blocks are returned regardless of which plugin is installed. The tool reads both sets of meta keys unconditionally, so on a site running Rank Math the Yoast block comes back empty, and vice versa.
Empty values in one block therefore mean nothing is stored under those keys — not that something failed.
Reading tells you which plugin is in use
That behaviour has a useful side effect: whichever block has values is the plugin actually managing SEO on this site.
Read the SEO meta for post 412 and tell me which plugin has values.
Establish that once, at the start of any SEO work, so that later writes go to the right keys. See wp_update_seo_meta.
If both are empty, either the post has no SEO overrides — common, since both plugins fall back to templates — or neither plugin is installed.
Empty usually means "using the template"
Both Yoast and Rank Math generate a title and description from site-wide templates when a post has no override. An empty field here means the post is using that template, not that it has no SEO title at all.
So the front end can show a perfectly good meta description while this tool reports nothing. Check the rendered page's source if you need to know what is actually being output.
That distinction matters before writing: filling in an override replaces a template result that may already be correct.
Only two fields per plugin
Title and description. Not the focus keyword, not the canonical URL, not robots directives, not Open Graph or Twitter fields, not the schema settings, and not the site-wide SEO templates.
The tool covers the two fields that most often need editing in bulk, and nothing else. Anything further is a job for the plugin's own interface.
Reading before an SEO pass
The realistic use is finding posts that need attention:
Read the SEO meta for these post IDs and tell me which have no description.
Combined with wp_get_posts to get the IDs, that produces a worklist. Each post needs its own call, so a large audit is many read calls — bounded by the read rate limit rather than the write one, which makes it feasible.
Common problems
| Symptom | Cause |
|---|---|
pom_ai_mcp_forbidden |
No edit_post on that post |
| Both blocks empty | No overrides stored; the plugin is using templates |
| One block always empty | That plugin is not the one in use |
| The front end shows a description the tool does not | It comes from the plugin's template |
| The post has SEO settings not shown here | Only title and description are covered |
Related
wp_update_seo_metawp_get_post_metafor other meta- Shorten text for writing descriptions to length