Do you need a WordPres SEO Plugin? SEO is simply defined as a way of optimizing your web content for search engines. SEO techniques such as keyword research and link building can be time-consuming and tricky to optimize, especially if you don’t have the necessary knowledge. Ranking on the first page of Google can make or break your business, which is why using seo plugins will really help you achieve this.
There are plenty of WordPress plugins for free that help you to improve your website ranking and to optimize the visibility of your blog. Nowadays, there are too many SEO experts overwhelmed by this abundance of tools. Each of them is unique and offers special features for an effective SEO approach.
Semrush Writing Assistant Review — The Best Way to Draft SEO-Friendly Content
Semrush is a leader in SEO. The company offers one of the most comprehensive platforms for analyzing keywords, researching competitors, digging into paid search marketing, and much more.
Semrush also makes a free WordPress plugin called SEO Writing Assistant, or SWA. Once you install SWA, you’ll get to draw on Semrush’s amazing platform for help and guidance as you draft content for your sites.
Simply enter the keywords you are targeting and then start writing. You’ll get recommendations and see your content score broken down into readability, SEO, originality, and tone of voice.
It’s all really intuitive. The factors that contribute to your score are broken down in plain English, and SWA gives you concrete actions you can take to improve. Below, I’ve grouped four separate screenshots together so you can see what kind of guidance you get for each category:
On the left, the tone of voice is rated as between neutral and formal, with 83% consistency. In this case, the writer is probably fine, but SWA calls out the most casual sentences in case they want to make it even more consistently formal throughout.
Similarly, SEO-friendliness, readability, and originality are clearly described. These terms are sometimes hard to figure out, especially for newer writers, but SWA makes it easy to see.
You’ll need to create a Semrush account in order to use the plugin, which you can do for free. I will tell you right now that the free account is very limited. You’ll only be able to make a single content template, which is more of a novelty than a tool to really improve SEO across your site.
I think a Semrush account is worth it, personally. My team uses Yoast, which has integration with Semrush, and I don’t know what we’d do without it.
Tackling issues like readability, keyword-density, and plagiarism is really important. If your articles aren’t original, or Google thinks you scraped them from someone else, your sites are going to take a major hit in the rankings.
Now a Semrush account isn’t free by any means. It’s definitely an investment you make in SEO that can pay huge dividends by bringing higher quality traffic to your site.
One thing to be aware of is that the Pro license doesn’t come with the content templates necessary to benefit from SWA—you’ll need a Guru or Business account.
The good news is that you don’t need a paid Semrush account for everyone in order to benefit. You could get a single Guru account for your content manager, and once they connect a document to a content template, any writer working on that document will have access to SWA.
With a Guru subscription, you can create 800 content templates per month, and with Business the limit is 2,000.
I know it’s expensive, but I really only recommend using a paid Semrush account with SWA. Like I said, the limits of the free plan don’t really give you the range to really see a benefit.
In that sense, I look at the free plugin as more of a free trial rather than a useful freemium license. Pretty much all the one-star reviews I read were people frustrated by the free version. On the other hand, people using the paid version were blown away by how helpful it was.
And, if you do spring for the paid version, you’ll get access to more than 40 other tools to help you improve SEO. I’m not going to lay everything out here, but you should definitely explore the entire Semrush platform.
Yoast SEO
Author(s): Team Yoast
Current Version: 17.4
Last Updated: October 19, 2021
wordpress-seo.17.4.zip96%Ratings5,000,000+InstallsWP 5.6+Requires
Yoast SEO is one of the most popular WordPress SEO plugins, and it’s easy to see why. It comes packed with excellent features out of the box to help you produce search-engine-friendly content that is easy to read.
For instance, Yoast SEO adds a meta box to all your pages and posts, which enables you to easily set your focus keyword, meta description, canonical URLs, and more. Also, its readability analysis will help you optimize your posts with practical suggestions for copy improvement.
Other features include:
- Advanced XML sitemaps
- Schema markup
- Breadcrumbs control
- Support for ‘noindex’ content
- Title and meta description templates
- Language support
- Access to free Yoast courses
Pricing: Free.
The premium version also includes advanced functionality such as internal linking suggestions, content insights, and a redirect manager. Pricing starts at $89 per year for one website.Get YoastGo to top
Google Search Console
Google Search Console is a free tool offered by Google to help website owners monitor and maintain their site’s presence in Google search results.
It alerts you when Google is unable to crawl and index pages on your website. You also get helpful tips on how to fix those crawl errors.
Most importantly, it shows which keywords your website is ranking for, anchor texts, average position, impressions, and more. You can use this data to find keywords where you can easily rank higher by simply optimizing your content. You can also use this keyword data to come up with new blog post ideas.
For more details, see our comprehensive Google Search Console guide for beginners.
Tip: You can use MonsterInsights to track your keyword rankings inside WordPress admin area using Google Seach Console data.
MonsterInsights, another tool we’ll mention later, helps you bring the Search Console reports right inside your WordPress dashboard for easy access.
All In One SEO Pack
All in One SEO – Best WordPress SEO Plugin – Easily Improve SEO Rankings & Increase Traffic
Author(s): All in One SEO Team
Current Version: 4.1.4.4
Last Updated: September 22, 2021
all-in-one-seo-pack.4.1.4.4.zip92%Ratings2,000,000+InstallsWP 4.9+Requires
The All in One SEO Pack plugin is an excellent alternative to Yoast. With it, beginners won’t have to worry about complex settings as it works well immediately upon activation. For example, it automatically generates meta tags and optimizes your titles for Google and other search engines.
That said, advanced users will be able to customize their experience and override automatic features. Additionally, you can use the Robots.txt editor to instruct web crawlers about the contents of your site. All In One SEO Pack will automatically notify search engines about changes to your site as well.
Besides that, it also includes features such as:
- XML and RSS Sitemap support
- Image SEO
- Schema markup
- Advanced canonical URLs
- AMP support
- Duplicate content detection
- API support
- Ecommerce SEO
Pricing: Free.
The premium version gives you access to more advanced features and support for unlimited keywords starting at $39.60 per year.Get All In One SEO PackGo to top
Google XML Sitemaps
Author(s): Auctollo
Current Version: 4.1.1
Last Updated: March 11, 2021
google-sitemap-generator.4.1.1.zip98%Ratings2,000,000+InstallsWP 3.3+Requires
If getting your site indexed by search engines is your only concern, Google XML Sitemaps could be an excellent solution. This plugin enables you to automatically generate a sitemap so that crawlers can easily assess your site. Also, you can save your settings and re-apply them each time you publish new content.
It also gives you more control/flexibility than the built-in XML sitemap feature that WordPress added to the core in WordPress 5.5.
This tool’s sole focus is on providing complete XML sitemaps, so you won’t get as many features as you would with other SEO plugins. Still, it’s an excellent no-frills option that supports all WordPress generated content without overloading your site.
Pricing: Free.Get Google XML SitemapsGo to top
Schema Pro
Schema Pro allows you to add rich snippets to your website which makes it stand out in search results.
Rich Snippets allow you to make your website stand out in search results by showing star ratings below a review, prices below a product, image or video next to the description, and so on.
Top WordPress SEO plugins, like All in One SEO (AIOSEO) already add structured rich snippets data to your website. However, if you need more schema types or want to extend the functionality of your existing WordPress SEO plugin then Schema Pro is the way to go.
Schema Pro also allows you to use it alongside your existing WordPress SEO plugin by mapping the plugin data to Schema Pro fields.
Squirrly SEO
SEO by Squirrly – Best AI WordPress SEO Plugin 2021 – Rank Faster With AI SEO Strategy
Author(s): Squirrly SEO
Current Version: 11.1.10
Last Updated: October 22, 2021
squirrly-seo.zip92%Ratings100,000+InstallsWP 4.3+Requires
Squirrly SEO is a beginner-friendly SEO tool that generates recommendations in real-time. It enables you to optimize content for your chosen keyword as you’re writing your content. Also, it provides a competitor analysis with suggestions of what you can improve to outrank similar pages.
Besides that, Squirrly SEO comes with innovative features to help with your marketing efforts. For instance, it measures your audience engagement and offers actionable advice to improve your click-through rates (CTRs). Plus, it will transfer all your pre-existing settings if you switch from another SEO plugin.
Other features include:
- Schema markup
- Free coaching sessions
- ‘Noindex’ options
- Advanced eCommerce features
- Google Analytics integration
- Custom Robot.txt for site crawlers
- Sitemap XML
- Social media monitoring
Pricing: Free.
If you want to access the advanced features, pricing starts at $20.99 per month.Get Squirrly SEOGo to top
SEOPress
Author(s): SEOPress
Current Version: 5.1.0
Last Updated: August 27, 2021
wp-seopress.zip98%Ratings200,000+InstallsWP 4.7+Requires
SEOPress is a powerful plugin that’s completely white-labeled and free from ads. It comes with comprehensive features that enable you to fully optimize your site. As such, you can build your custom XML sitemap, manage redirections, analyze content based on keywords, and more.
The plugin is fully integrated with Google Analytics, enabling you to track your SEO efforts. Additionally, its content analysis tool will provide optimization tips to help you write better posts. Developers will be able to apply additional hooks to customize the plugin fully as well.
Beyond that, it also provides features such as:
- Intuitive setup wizard
- Support for unlimited keywords
- Image SEO
- Social media monitoring
- Dynamic titles and meta descriptions
- Custom canonical URLs
- ‘Noindex’ support
- Free SEO tutorials
Pricing: Free.
The premium version costs $39 per year and is suitable for multiple sites. It comes with advanced features for WooCommerce, breadcrumb optimization, and more.Get SEOPressGo to top
KeywordTool.io
KeywordTool.io is one of the best free keyword research tools available right now. It allows you to simply generate keyword ideas by typing in a keyword. These keyword suggestions are gathered from Google’s autosuggest feature. It also shows you keyword suggestions from Bing, YouTube, Amazon, and more.
These keyword suggestions are a treasure of information. You can also get search volume, cost per click, and other data for each keyword by upgrading to their paid plan.
Rank Math
Rank Math SEO – Best SEO Plugin For WordPress To Increase Your SEO Traffic
Author(s): Rank Math
Current Version: 1.0.74
Last Updated: October 13, 2021
seo-by-rank-math.1.0.74.zip98%Ratings1,000,000+InstallsWP 5.6+Requires
Our final recommendation is Rank Math, a feature-rich SEO plugin that’s easy to use. It comes with an intuitive setup wizard and smart automation features that will help beginners optimize their content in a few clicks.
Rank Math is also integrated with Google Search Console and keyword ranking tools, which is useful if you want to stay ahead of your competitors. Besides that, its built-in 404 monitor helps you resolve errors for a better user experience. Plus, its module-based system enables you to pick the features you need without overloading your site with unnecessary functions.
Some other key features include:
- Schema markup
- Support for unlimited keywords
- Advanced SEO auditing
- Redirect manager
- Local SEO
- Breadcrumbs optimization
- Internal linking suggestions
- XML sitemap
- Image SEO
Pricing: Free.
There’s also a premium version, which starts at $59 per year. It lets you track up to 1,000 keywords and adds other advanced SEO features.Get Rank Mat
Redirection
Redirection helps you set up SEO friendly redirects in WordPress. It is one of the most handy WordPress plugins that helps you easily fix 404 errors in WordPress by setting up redirects.
Broken links can affect your site’s SEO and create a bad experience for your users. If you have been running a blog for some time, then you should check your site from time to time for broken links and fix them.
There are multiple ways to easily find broken links in WordPress. Once you find a broken link, you may need to fix it by pointing users to the correct link or removing the incorrect link.
For more details, see our step by step guide on how to find and fix broken links in WordPress.
Conclusion
WordPress comes with strong SEO features via Yoast SEO. It’s an advanced SEO plugin which has the best SEO support on the internet. However, for some websites some other plugin can be better than Yoast. There are some great free and premium non-Yoast WordPress SEO plugins present in the market.