Search engines are a major source of traffic for most websites. That’s why our users often ask us for SEO tips and plugins that can help improve SEO of their WordPress sites. In this article, we will share 9 best WordPress SEO plugins and tools that will improve SEO of your website.
Top 3 SEO Plugins for WordPress
Thanks to a number of incredible plugins, WordPress webmasters are able to help their websites display as optimally as possible to search engines. Below is a list of the top three SEO plugins for WordPress that’ll help you make sure your website is in tip-top shape.
1. Yoast SEO
The most popular WordPress plugin for SEO purposes, Yoast SEO offers a collection of features, each geared to help WordPress web users set their site up for SEO success. As well as adding SEO titles, meta descriptions, meta keywords and social sharing information on a per post basis, Yoast SEO also allows the user to add sitemaps, Open Graph data and Twitter Cards. An easy to use plugin that is extremely user friendly especially for beginners.
One of the main features of Yoast SEO is the ‘traffic light’ system that offers a plethora of tips to make one’s page content more appealing for search engines. While these suggestions should be taken as just that, suggestions, and not gospel, some users may find themselves overwhelmed at the process of trying to strive for all green lights.
The Yoast SEO plugin is available as a free download from the WordPress repository, as well as a premium version available from the plugin website.
2. All In One SEO Pack
After Yoast, All in One SEO is the second most popular WordPress SEO plugin. Its official “active installs” number is actually higher than Yoast’s, though it’s not nearly as talked about.
I’m still running All in One SEO on one of my older sites and I greatly appreciate it’s slim, bloat-free interface.
There’s a lot to like about All in One SEO. It has:
- XML Sitemap support
- Easy Google Analytics integration
- Support for custom post types
- Canonical URL support
- Free WooCommerce integration (most plugins make this a premium feature)
- Automatic or manual meta information
Another thing I like is that it doesn’t enable every feature by default. You can go in and turn on or off modules so that you only use resources on the features you care about.
If you go pro, you’ll get:
- Advanced support
- SEO options for taxonomies (shame this isn’t in the free version)
- A video SEO module
In terms of interface, I much prefer All in One SEO. To be honest, I’m trying to remember why I changed from All in One SEO in the first place. I think it was that peer pressure!
Despite its slimmer interface, All in One SEO is still pretty dang beginner friendly. So this is another SEO plugin that should be fine for both beginners and power users. If you’re not a fan of Yoast’s aggressive recommendations, give it a try for sure.
3. The SEO Framework
The SEO Framework is a plugin I hadn’t heard of until Colm recommended it to me. It can’t compete with the sheer popularity of the first two SEO plugins, but it’s getting rave reviews on the WordPress.org forums so I had to install it to see what everyone is talking about.
The verdict?
This is one nifty SEO plugin. When you install it, there’s just one long list of options. No bloat. No notifications popping up everywhere:
To be fair, while I love this approach – a beginner might feel a little lost when the first setting option they see references Transient Cache Settings.
In these menu options, you can quickly configure:
- Meta titles and descriptions
- Social meta information, as well as a fallback image to use when nothing else is available
- Basic schema information
- Settings for search engine robots
- How your sitemap functions
And once you do that, you’re off to the races!
The only other times you’ll run into The SEO Framework are:
In the WordPress Editor with a lightweight box that lets you customize your meta information on a per-post basis:
In your Posts or Pages dashboards with a helpful SEO bar that gives you various information about your post:
I much prefer how The SEO Framework approaches recommendations. They’re there if you need them, but not in an overpowering way.
In addition to everything above, The SEO Framework rounds out its pitch with free support for:
- WooCommerce
- bbPress
- Other custom post types
Honestly, there’s a lot to like here. I haven’t personally used this plugin on a long-term site, but the reviews are excellent and the interface is intuitive.
The only semi-negative thing I’ll say is that beginners might feel a little bit out of their element. But if you’re familiar with the basic principles of WordPress and SEO, I think this is definitely an SEO plugin worth considering.
Conclusion
You only need one SEO plugin on your WordPress website so the choice of the matter generally comes down to how you’d like to work.
- Yoast SEO is great for beginners who may want some guidance in the content writing process. The traffic light system can become distracting so if you opt for Yoast SEO, don’t let the chase for the green lights compromise your writing quality. Yoast SEO also loves to send notifications in the plugin. This may be a pro for some or an irritation for others.
- All in One SEO Pack is far less intrusive than Yoast SEO so if you’re looking for something powerful that is far less distracting then opt for All in One SEO Pack.
- If you’d like to try the new kid on the block, opt for SEO Framework, and enjoy using a simple, to-the-point plugin with a great interface.
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