WordPress has SEO features built to help your website rank higher in search engine results. However, you can expand your SEO even further and improve your content in the process by using an SEO plugin.
There are over 1000 plugins for WordPress to help improve your search engine optimization. With so many plugins it can be difficult to know which to use. Here is a list of plugins that are considered to be the best of the best for SEO.
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO is one of the two most popular SEO plugins available. It’s designed to help you improve your content by leading you to focus on keywords. It’s easy to use and can be expanded even further through premium extensions.
Key Features:
- Page analysis
- Meta and link elements
- XML sitemaps
- RSS optimization
- Breadcrumbs
- Edit .htaccess and robots.txt file
- Social integration
- Import/export
- Import for other SEO plugins
- Multisite
- Premium extensions
All in One SEO Pack
All in One SEO Pack is the other of the two most popular SEO plugins. It’s simple to use and has lots of features that can be expanded further through premium extensions. Using settings that you adjust it will automatically optimize your website for search engines.
Key Features:
- XML sitemaps
- Support custom post types
- Notifies search engines of changes
- Built in security
- eCommerce integration
- Optimizes titles for search engines
- Automatically generates meta tags
- Advanced fine tuning
- Advanced canonical URLs
- Premium version available
SEO Ultimate
SEO Ultimate has lots of modules and features and gives you control over meta titles, descriptions, and more. It’s designed to be an all-in-one solution for free. You can even import your settings from the All in One SEO Pack plugin if you want.
Key Features:
- Title tag rewriter
- Meta description editor
- Deeplink juggernaut
- Open graph integrator
- Rich snippet creator
- Author highlighter
- Link mask generator
- Cananicalizer
- 404 monitor
- Permalink tweaker
- Meta robot tags editor
- Widgets
- Settings manager
- Premium version available
SEO by SQUIRRLY™
Squirrly SEO was made with non SEO experts in mind. It helps you create content that’s both SEO and human friendly. It gives you analytics and works with other popular SEO plugins. A premium edition adds even more features.
Key Features:
- Green light indicators
- Optimizes articles
- Retains previous SEO settings
- Finds keywords and topics based on reader’s searches
- Keyword analysis
- Tracks content marketing strategy
- Emails audit reports
- Provides advice
- Monitors weekly progress
- Optimize content for humans
- Helps you write better content
- Provides copyright-free images
- Suggests headlines based on keywords
- Social intelligence
Premium SEO Pack
Premium SEO Pack is a premium plugin that will also speed up your website by minifying your files. It contains more features than most other SEO plugins including features you wouldn’t expect such as Page Speed Insights, Smush.it, Google Analytics, and advanced social integration.
Key Features:
- On page optimization
- Minify code
- Page speed insights
- Local SEO
- Link builder
- Validator
- Optimizes images
- 301 redirect
- SERP tracking
- Google Analytics
- Sitemap
- 404 monitor
- Title and meta tags
- Backlink builder
- Social stats
- Edit .htaccess and robots.txt
- Twitter Cards
- Smush.it
- Social media icons
- Rich snippets
- Facebook planner
Final Thoughts
There are a lot of SEO plugins to choose from for WordPress but these five are the cream of the crop. Any of these plugins will help you rank higher in search engine results and many of them give you insights on improving your content. They range from free to premium and practically all of them can be expanded to improve your SEO even further.
What is your favorite SEO plugin?
Randy is a WordPress writer and child theme developer from east TN. You can catch him writing, reading, guitaring, or drinking coffee just about any time, night or day.
