What Changes In WordPress?

This page documents exactly what happens in WordPress when you run each command. Use it to understand the database impact, plan rollbacks, and write custom scripts that interact with the same data.

Meta Commands

meta get, meta list

Database impact: None (read-only).

These commands query WordPress postmeta via WP-CLI.

meta set <post-id> <field> <value>

Database impact:

• Table: wp_postmeta
• Operation: UPDATE (if key exists) or INSERT (if new)
• Affected row: post_id = <post-id> AND meta_key = <plugin-specific-key>

Example when running:

seo-ops meta set 123 title "New SEO Title"

The underlying WP-CLI command is:

wp post meta set 123 _yoast_wpseo_title "New SEO Title"

Plugin	Meta Key Written
Yoast SEO	_yoast_wpseo_title
SEOPress	_seopress_titles_title
Rank Math	rank_math_title
AIOSEO	_aioseo_title
Slim SEO	_seo_ops_title
None	_seo_ops_title

meta set <post-id> --title="X" --description="Y"

Multiple fields are each written as separate wp post meta set calls. Each field is a single row in wp_postmeta.

meta delete <post-id> <field>

Database impact:

• Table: wp_postmeta
• Operation: DELETE
• Affected row: post_id = <post-id> AND meta_key = <plugin-specific-key>

The meta row is removed entirely (not set to empty string).

meta export, meta import

export: Read-only. Queries post IDs and reads SEO meta keys for each.

import: For each CSV row, runs meta set on the corresponding field. Same database impact as meta set but applied across multiple posts in sequence.

meta bulk

Database impact:

• Table: wp_postmeta
• Operation: Multiple UPDATE/INSERT operations, one per field per post per CSV row.

Each row in the CSV produces one or more wp post meta set calls.

Example CSV row:

post_id,title,description
123,New Title,New Description

Produces:

wp post meta set 123 _yoast_wpseo_title "New Title"
wp post meta set 123 _yoast_wpseo_metadesc "New Description"

Audit Commands

audit meta-check

Database impact: None (read-only).

Queries wp_posts and wp_postmeta to check which posts have which SEO meta keys populated.

audit links

Database impact: None (read-only).

Parses post content (wp_posts.post_content) to extract and analyze links.

audit images

Database impact: None (read-only).

Parses post content to find <img> tags and check for alt attributes.

audit speed

Database impact: None (read-only).

Calls the external Google PageSpeed API with the site URL. Does not read or write WordPress data.

audit broken

Database impact: None (read-only).

Parses post content for links and makes HTTP HEAD/GET requests to check for broken URLs.

audit duplicate-content

Database impact: None (read-only).

Reads post content from wp_posts.post_content, computes TF-IDF similarity, and returns duplicate candidates.

audit full, audit report

Database impact: None (read-only).

Runs all audit checks and formats results.

Redirect Commands

redirect list

Database impact: None (read-only).

Queries the active redirect plugin's storage:

Plugin	Table/Storage
Redirection	wp_redirection_items
Rank Math SEO	wp_posts (post_type=rank_math_redirection)

redirect add

Database impact:

Plugin	Table	Operation
Redirection	wp_redirection_items	INSERT
Rank Math SEO	wp_posts	INSERT (as custom post type)

redirect delete

Database impact:

Plugin	Table	Operation
Redirection	wp_redirection_items	DELETE
Rank Math SEO	wp_posts	DELETE OR trash (plugin-dependent)

redirect import, redirect export

import: For each CSV row, runs redirect add. Same database impact as redirect add but applied across multiple rows.

export: Read-only. Queries redirect storage.

Content Commands

content generate

Database impact: None (unless --publish is used).

When using --publish:

• Table: wp_posts
• Operation: INSERT (new post with post_status = publish)

content pipeline import

Database impact: None (local file storage only).

Pipeline data is stored in ~/.wp-seo-ops/pipelines/ as local JSON files; no WordPress tables are touched.

Analyze Commands

analyze keyword, analyze gsc-adapter

Database impact: None (read-only external API calls).

Does not read or write WordPress data.

Instant Indexing Commands

instant-indexing submit

Database impact: None.

Submits URLs via the IndexNow HTTP API. No WordPress database interaction.

Summary Table

Command	WordPress Table	Operation	Rollback Possibility
meta get/list	wp_postmeta	SELECT	N/A (read-only)
meta set	wp_postmeta	INSERT/UPDATE	Restore from pre-export backup
meta delete	wp_postmeta	DELETE	Restore from pre-export backup
meta import	wp_postmeta	INSERT/UPDATE per row	Restore from backup
meta bulk	wp_postmeta	INSERT/UPDATE per field	Restore from backup
audit *	wp_posts, wp_postmeta	SELECT	N/A (read-only)
redirect list	plugin tables	SELECT	N/A (read-only)
redirect add	plugin tables	INSERT	Delete by ID or restore from backup
redirect delete	plugin tables	DELETE	Re-import from pre-export backup
redirect import	plugin tables	INSERT per row	Delete imported rules
redirect export	plugin tables	SELECT	N/A (read-only)

Meta Key Mapping Reference

CLI Field	Yoast	SEOPress	Rank Math
title	_yoast_wpseo_title	_seopress_titles_title	rank_math_title
description	_yoast_wpseo_metadesc	_seopress_titles_desc	rank_math_description
canonical	_yoast_wpseo_canonical	_seopress_robots_canonical	rank_math_canonical_url
noindex	_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex	_seopress_robots_index	rank_math_robots
focus_keyword	_yoast_wpseo_focuskw	_seopress_analysis_target_kw	rank_math_focus_keyword