Verba optimization: H1, breadcrumbs, llms.txt, cleanup

This article covers functionality available to customers on the Pro version.

VerbaTheme OptionsGeneralOptimization covers document structure, where the breadcrumb trail comes from, an index file for AI assistants, and cleaning up what WordPress loads on every page. The settings sit in three groups: SEO, Accessibility, and Performance. The accessibility group has its own page.

The SEO group with Automatic H1 Fallback on, breadcrumb Source set to Built-in, Show on phones on, and the llms.txt note — The SEO group on the Optimization tab.

#Headings

Gives a page with no visible title a hidden H1, so every page has one.

Every page is supposed to have one top-level heading. It describes the document to browsers, to screen readers, and to anything else reading the structure rather than the design. A page built entirely out of sections can easily end up with none, or with three.

Turn it off only when something else already places the H1, for example a page built in Elementor with its own heading widget at the top.

#Breadcrumbs

What builds the breadcrumb trail. Built-in is the theme's own trail; Yoast SEO, Rank Math, SEOPress, and All in One SEO are always listed and can be picked once that plugin is active.

Keeps the trail visible on narrow screens in the Pro layouts. The free theme's templates follow the switch of the same name in the Customizer.

Paints plugin breadcrumbs like the rest of the theme. Only shown when the source is a plugin.

Everything else about breadcrumbs, meaning turning them on at all, the separator, the home link, and trimming long trails, is in AppearanceCustomizeVerba ThemeGeneralBreadcrumbs, described in Breadcrumbs. The panel says so and links you there. While breadcrumbs are turned off in the Customizer, the Source field is hidden here.

Which source to pick, and why the theme and a plugin should never both describe the trail, is covered in SEO, analytics and accessibility.

#An index for AI assistants

The llms.txt heading in the same group writes an llms.txt file to your site root: a plain list of your pages and latest posts that AI assistants can read.

Turn it on

Switch on Offer AI assistants a site index.

Write the file

Click Create llms.txt under Create the file. You can edit or replace the file over FTP afterwards.

If your site already serves an llms.txt, the controls are replaced by a note saying so, with a link to the file. Nothing else is needed.

#Performance

Each toggle removes something WordPress adds to every page whether you use it or not, or changes when something loads. On its own, that will not make a slow site fast.

Running WP Rocket or another caching or optimization plugin? Leave this group off and use the same options in that plugin. Two tools doing the same job can clash, and the group shows this warning at the top for that reason.

The Performance group with its switches, jQuery on the front end and Elementor on unused pages turned off — The Performance group.

Drops the emoji detection script and styles. Emoji you type still display, because browsers render them natively.

Drops the script that lets other WordPress sites embed your posts in a card. Embeds you paste into your own posts still work.

Removes the compatibility shim for jQuery code written years ago.

Removes the RSS and Atom link tags from the head. The feeds themselves stay reachable at their URLs, so subscribers are not cut off.

Removes rarely used tags WordPress puts in the document head.

Stops loading jQuery entirely.

Stops loading Elementor's files on pages that were not built with it.

Loads the styles only for the blocks a page actually uses, instead of WordPress's full block stylesheet on every page. Meant for sites built with blocks; Elementor turns this WordPress feature off on purpose, and the switch turns it back on.

Starts loading a page as soon as a visitor rests the pointer on its link, so the click feels instant. It does nothing while page transitions are set to the single-page mode, which loads pages its own way.

Disable jQuery and Skip Elementor are the risky switches on this page. Plenty of plugins still expect jQuery on the front end, and when it is missing they fail silently: a slider stops sliding, a form stops submitting. Elementor popups and templates can appear on pages that were not built in Elementor, so skipping it can hide them. Turn either one on, then click through your site with the browser console open before you leave it on.

If your pages are slow, the cause is almost always elsewhere: no page cache, oversized images, a slow host, or a stack of third-party scripts. See Making a WordPress site faster.

Will removing feed links break RSS subscribers?

No. The feed URLs still work; readers that already know them keep working. What disappears is the automatic discovery tag, so a browser or reader can no longer find the feed on its own.

How do I know if a plugin needs jQuery?

Turn the jQuery toggle on, open a page that uses the plugin, and check the browser console. $ is not defined or jQuery is not defined is the answer. Test the pages with sliders, forms, and popups, since those are the common users.

How do I check that block styles load on demand?

Open a post, view the page source, and search for block-library/style.min.css. With the switch on it is gone, and small blocks of styles named after the blocks on that page sit in the head instead.

Does preloading on hover cost anything?

A visitor who hovers a link without clicking it loads that page for nothing. On most sites that is a small price for faster clicks; a site on a tight server budget can leave it off.

Do I still need an SEO plugin with these settings on?

Yes, if you want control over titles, descriptions, and sitemaps. These settings handle document structure and cleanup, not metadata.

Last updated 10 Oct 2026

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