WordPress integration

Connect a self-hosted WordPress site with an Application Password and publish OverSerp articles as posts or drafts.

OverSerp publishes to WordPress through the built-in REST API. There is no plugin to install: you only need an Application Password.

Requirements

  • Self-hosted WordPress 5.6 or newer, served over HTTPS
  • A user with the Editor or Administrator role (the user must be allowed to publish posts)
  • The REST API reachable at https://yoursite.com/wp-json/

Step 1: Create an Application Password

  1. In WordPress admin go to Users → Profile (or edit the user you want to publish as).
  2. Scroll to Application Passwords.
  3. Enter the name OverSerp and click Add New Application Password.
  4. Copy the password. WordPress shows it only once. Spaces are fine; OverSerp strips them.

Step 2: Add the integration in OverSerp

  1. Open your site → Integrations → WordPress.
  2. Fill in:
    • Site URL: https://yoursite.com (no trailing /wp-admin)
    • Username: the WordPress username (not the display name)
    • Application Password: the password from step 1
  3. Choose the publish status: Publish or Draft.
  4. Save. OverSerp runs a connection test that checks the user can publish posts.

What gets published

WordPress fieldValue from OverSerp
TitleArticle title
SlugSEO slug
ContentFull HTML body, FAQ section and an Article + FAQPage JSON-LD script
ExcerptArticle excerpt (falls back to the meta description)
Statuspublish or draft, as configured

OverSerp also sends the meta description in the fields used by Yoast and Rank Math. Whether those fields are saved depends on your SEO plugin exposing them to the REST API.

Troubleshooting

“This user can't publish posts”: the user is an Author or Contributor. Use an Editor or Administrator.

401 Unauthorized: check the username (not the email) and regenerate the Application Password. Some hosts strip the Authorization header; ask your host to pass it through, or add SetEnvIf Authorization "(.*)" HTTP_AUTHORIZATION=$1 to .htaccess.

403 Forbidden: a security plugin or firewall (Wordfence, iThemes, Cloudflare WAF) is blocking REST requests. Allow authenticated requests to /wp-json/wp/v2/.

Application Passwords section is missing: it's disabled by a plugin or the site isn't on HTTPS. Enable HTTPS or the feature in your security plugin.

Schema not visible: some themes strip <script> tags from post content for non-admins. Publish as an Administrator user or allow the tag in your sanitization settings.

Stuck? Email hello@overserp.com with your site URL and the error shown in the dashboard. A human answers.