Search engine optimization (SEO) is the art and science of ranking higher in search engines such as Google. Ranking higher in search engines can lead to an increase in traffic to a website. The higher your website ranks, the better it is for you or your business.
Using WordPress to build your website will improve your SEO. WordPress is built to optimize SEO and offers a wide array of plugins to boost your SEO.
Plugins are small software packages that extend the functionality of your WordPress site. WordPress offers a library of plugins that help increase your SEO. Learn more now.
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What Makes a Good SEO Plugin for WordPress?
One of the easiest and most effective ways to boost SEO is by installing a plugin. There are many paid and free SEO plugins for WordPress available.
The one you choose should depend on your individual WordPress needs. Here are some things to look for in a quality SEO plugin:
Features: The WordPress library has millions of plugins that can accomplish a variety of tasks. You don’t want to add performance strain to your website. Choose an SEO plugin that covers the SEO features you need most.
Pricing: There are many freemium and free SEO plugins for WordPress. Don’t choose a freemium model that limits your SEO efforts. Consider a paid plan if free plans are not a fit for your website.
Guidance: The best WordPress SEO plugins provide advice and tips to help improve optimization. Examples include live assistants and color-coding that lets you know when your site is SEO friendly.
Community and support: The best SEO plugins for WordPress will update automatically and release new features when others become outdated. A top-quality WordPress plugin will also have a support or forum to help communicate or troubleshoot any issues.
The Best SEO Plugins for WordPress
The WordPress plugin marketplace is full of helpful SEO plugins with a range of advanced features designed to boost your SEO immediately.
Here are the best SEO plugins for WordPress:
1. Best for Content Optimization: Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO claims it is built for everyone. It’s among the most widely used plugins and can help you optimize content.
Yoast SEO scans each page for images, ensuring that each page has an alt tag that matches the post’s primary keyword. It also checks your content for length and confirms whether your meta description is acceptable, checks for keywords and counts links. A green check indicates that your page is SEO-ready.
The Yoast SEO plugin has a free version and a premium version available for $89 per year. The premium version includes added features such as reminding you about outdated content, interlinking suggestions and content insights.
There are other excellent plugins you can purchase with the standard Yoast SEO subscription that will save you money and time. For $199 per year, you can download the standard Yoast plugin along with the Yoast Premium News, Yoast WooCommerce, Yoast Local Premium, and the Yoast Video plugin.
2. Best for Free Features: Rank Math
Rank Math is a newcomer, but it’s quickly become a favorite SEO plugin for WordPress. In under 2 years, it’s gone from basically zero installations to over 500,000 installations.
What we love about Rank Math is its extensive list of free features, including Google analytics, basic WooCommerce SEO, set SEO titles and meta descriptions and many more.
Rank Math was completely free until November 2020, until they added a Pro version. This version adds some new features but doesn’t affect any existing features that were already available for free. The Pro plan is $59 per year, and the Business plan is $199 per year.
Rank Math’s bundles in many popular features such as analysis for multiple keywords, 404 detection, a redirect manager, local SEO features, internal link suggestions and more. Rank Math offers the most free features of any other SEO plugin for WordPress.
3. Best for Beginners: All in One SEO for WordPress (AIOSEO)
Millions of people use All in One SEO for WordPress (AIOSEO). It’s best for beginners as it eliminates the need to install multiple plugins on your website. It is suited for all types of businesses, e-commerce, blogs, news and other websites.
AIOSEO is one of the best SEO tool kits because it improves search rankings without learning any complicated SEO jargon. It also has beautiful social media integration, which allows you to control how your content looks when shared on Facebook, Twitter and other social media networks.
AIOSEO pricing starts at $49.50 per year for a Basic plan and $299.50 per year for an Elite plan. It offers a 100% no-risk money-back guarantee, which is good for 14 days.
AIOSEO is compatible with many other WordPress plugins that will help with e-commerce, local SEO, videos and analytics.
4. Best for Speed Optimizations: WP Rocket
WP Rocket is the best WordPress caching plugin on the market. It offers a comprehensive set of tools to speed up your website, such as page caching and preloading. If you are a power user or run a business where speed matters, WP Rocket will increase website speeds from 27% to 69%.
WP Rocket is one of our best picks because it saves a static copy of your pages in the cache and allows WordPress to show the user’s cached page. This frees up server resources on your website and improves the overall page load time.
Prices start at $49 per year to $249 per year. All plans renew after one year and are 30% cheaper upon renewal. You can easily disable the auto-renewal through your account area on the WP Rocket if you choose to do so. There is also a 14-day money-back guarantee.
WP Rockets is not sold in bundles but is compatible with the most popular WordPress plugins on the market.
5. Best for eCommerce Sites: All In One Schema Rich Snippets
All In One Schema Rich Snippets is best for e-commerce sites. It’s ideal because users don’t have to go through many steps to read a review of your products.
We chose it as one of the best SEO plugins because of how beneficial they are for small businesses and e-commerce sites. When a user finds your website, a descriptive snippet summarizes your page, including pricing, photos, star ratings or reviews.
All In One Schema Rich Snippets is a free SEO plugin for WordPress. There is a Schema Pro version if you have a considerable number of pages on their website.
You can bundle this plugin with other WordPress plugins for increased functionality.
6. Best for Tracking Capabilities: The Premium SEO Pack
The Premium SEO Pack is best for users looking for the ultimate tool for optimizing their website for today’s search engines.
The Premium SEO Pack is one of the best plugins for WordPress due to its tracking capabilities. The SERP Rank Tracking Module makes it easy to track, log, and analyze search engine rankings for keywords and keyword strings. You can even track up to 5 competitors in the same metrics.
This plugin’s regular cost starts at $44 per year and can be as expensive as $400 per year. There is also a free version that includes a wide array of SEO tools.
There are no bundles available for purchase, but the Premium SEO Pack contains all the features you would expect to find in dozens of different WordPress plugins, including Local SEO, sitemaps and link builders.
7. Best for Smaller Enterprises: The SEO Framework
The SEO Framework plugin is best for smaller enterprises as opposed to massive corporations.
We chose The SEO Framework as one of the best SEO plugins for WordPress because of its colored scale. This scale shows you exactly how to optimize each post for search engines. When you hover your cursor over the colored bars in the SEO column, you’ll get tips on how to improve SEO.
The SEO Framework plugin is free. There are no ads or upsells flashing in your face when trying to get your work done. There are upgraded plans as well. The most expensive is $27 per month.
The SEO Framework offers functionality when you install the plugin Extension Manager. It provides numerous free and paid extensions, including Local, Cord, Honeypot, Focus and more.
8. Best for Beginners: SEO Squirrly
SEO Squirrly is best for SEO beginners due to its simplicity.
SEO Squirrly is among the best SEO plugins due to its live SEO assistants. As you type the desired keyword that you’re trying to rank for with the article you’re writing, green lights and popup suggestions will appear in real-time, offering real-time recommendations on how to incorporate your keyword.
There is a free version. Paid annual plans start at $29.99 per month with a slight discount for the first month.
SEO Squirrly has a host of other features bundled in, including a strategy assistant, blogging assistant and setting assistant.
How to Start Using SEO Plugins With WordPress
Prioritizing SEO is critical if you want to have a successful website. Finding the right SEO plugin for WordPress cannot be overlooked. It takes time to become an SEO expert, but the right plugin can be an excellent teacher.
There’s something for everyone on our list. Some offer specific SEO features, while others encompass a broader range of SEO elements. Once you are sure of the features, pricing, SEO guidance and support, download the plugin and improve your SEO today.
