You installed Yoast or Rank Math on your LGU website. You wrote a proper title and description for every page. Weeks later, Google still shows the old titles, and the plugin’s settings seem to change nothing.
It isn’t your settings. The cause sits inside the theme itself.
We recently went through the code of the Government Web Template (GWT) for WordPress while building on it for a local government unit. We found three issues that quietly break SEO plugins, contact forms and other common plugins. Here is what they are, how to check your own site, and how to fix them without breaking DICT compliance.
What the GWT is
The GWT is the official WordPress theme DICT provides for Philippine government websites. Sites hosted on DICT’s Government Web Hosting Service (GWHS) are expected to use it. The code is public on GitHub, and the latest release is version 26.0.0, published in 2022. Some offices still run the older 25.3.3.
The theme gives you a lot for free: the Transparency Seal and Philippine Standard Time widgets, accessibility modes (high contrast, grayscale, text size), breadcrumbs and mega menu support. But three details work against you.
Problem 1: Your SEO plugin can’t set the page title
Modern WordPress themes let WordPress build the page title. SEO plugins like Yoast, Rank Math and SEOPress hook into that process to insert the title you wrote.
The GWT does it the old way. Its support for WordPress-managed titles is switched off in the code, and the header file writes the <title> tag itself using a function WordPress deprecated years ago. Your SEO plugin’s title never gets a chance to run.
How to check your site: open any page, right-click, choose View Page Source, and search for <title>. Compare it with the SEO title you set in your plugin. If they differ, this is why.
Meta descriptions usually still work, because they are added separately. The title is the part Google weighs most, though, and it is the part that fails.
Problem 2: jQuery loads twice
The theme loads its own bundled copy of jQuery 3.6. Then its main script asks WordPress for the standard jQuery as well, so many pages load two copies.
This is a classic cause of “this plugin works on every site except ours.” Sliders, accordions, tabs, popups and form plugins can fail or behave strangely, depending on which copy they attach to.
How to check: in View Page Source, search for jquery. If you see two different jQuery files loading, you have this issue.
Problem 3: Front-end features that use the REST API fail silently
Version 26.0.0 turns off the WordPress REST API for visitors who are not logged in. DICT lists this as a deliberate security change in its release notes, and for a government site that is a reasonable choice.
The side effect: any feature that sends visitors’ requests through the REST API stops working for the public. That includes many modern contact forms, live search, “load more” buttons and filterable lists. You, as a logged-in admin, won’t notice, because it still works for you. Your citizens will.
How to check: open your site in a private or incognito window and try the contact form, search and any filters. If something works when you are logged in but not in a private window, this is likely the cause.
Don’t edit the GWT files directly
The quick fix is to edit the theme’s files. Please don’t. When DICT releases an update, or your site is migrated to GWHS, your changes are overwritten. The theme’s own custom CSS file is even shipped empty with a placeholder, so anything you add there disappears on update too.
The safe fix: a GWT child theme
A child theme is a small theme that sits on top of the GWT. It inherits everything from the GWT and overrides only the parts you change. When the GWT updates, your fixes stay.
Here is what a child theme does for each problem:
- Titles: turns WordPress-managed titles back on, removes the hardcoded <title> from the child’s copy of the header, and removes the theme’s old title filter. Your SEO plugin’s titles then appear as intended.
- jQuery: removes the bundled copy and points the theme’s scripts to WordPress’s standard jQuery, so only one copy loads.
- Forms: instead of re-opening the REST API, which would undo DICT’s security choice, the contact form sends through WordPress’s standard form handler (admin-post.php). Add spam protection: a hidden honeypot field, a minimum time to fill in the form, and a limit on messages per visitor.
The first fix starts with a few lines in the child theme’s functions.php:
add_action( ‘after_setup_theme’, function () {
add_theme_support( ‘title-tag’ );
}, 20 );
You still need the header and filter changes above for it to take effect. Test everything on a staging copy before touching the live site.
Before you build: ask DICT first
If your site is on GWHS, or will move there, email DICT’s GWHS support before you start. Ask:
- Which GWT version they currently accept (25.3.3 or 26.0.0).
- Which PHP version their servers run. Version 26.0.0 needs PHP 7.4 or newer.
- Whether a GWT child theme is accepted.
- For the current list of approved plugins, since GWHS limits which plugins you can install.
This takes one email and can save weeks of rework.
The bottom line
If your government website isn’t showing up properly in Google, check the title tag before you blame your content. The GWT is a solid, accessible base, but its title handling predates modern SEO plugins, and two other defaults quietly break common features. A child theme fixes all three and survives updates.
Managing an LGU or agency website on the GWT? We build and support GWT sites and can check yours for these issues. Talk to our WordPress support team or see our web design services.
