A post on the best SEO plugins for WordPress? Isn’t that just a single item list that reads “Yoast SEO”?
Well, if you go with the mainstream answer, then probably yes. There’s no doubt that Yoast SEO is the most popular and most recommended WordPress SEO plugin out there. But didn’t your parents ever tell you that you shouldn’t jump off a cliff just because your friends are?
Ok, that’s unfair to Yoast. Using Yoast isn’t jumping off a cliff. But, I think there is an argument to be made that Yoast should not be the default plugin in 100% of situations.
So to that end, I’m going to spend this post investigating the best WordPress SEO plugins. Note that I’m going to focus on all-in-one SEO solutions, rather than plugins that offer tiny tweaks. And while that will certainly include Yoast, the list will not end after that entry.
What Should You Look for in An SEO Plugin, Anyway?
When it comes to SEO plugins, there are two main types of users:
- The newbies who just want an easy way to boost their site in Google. If that’s you, congrats! You’re making a great decision.
- The pros who want to do things like automatically format meta information on custom field variables and all that jazz.
Any good SEO plugin should be able to handle both. But some place more of an emphasis on one group than the other. For example, Yoast includes a simple startup guide and notifications, whereas some other SEO plugins just throw you straight to the wolves.
So when you choose your SEO plugin, make sure to go with one that approaches SEO in a way that fits your situation.
Additionally, if you’re running WooCommerce or something else with custom post types, you’ll need to make sure that the plugin supports that.
What Are the Best WordPress SEO Plugins?
Ok, now I’ll go through each SEO plugin in more detail.
You might have expected me to kick this post off with Yoast SEO but I recently came across Rank Math and was extremely impressed, so let’s dive right in…
1. Rank Math
Rank Math is one of the fastest-growing WordPress plugins for a good reason. They’ve managed to enter an extremely crowded and competitive space and slowly but surely start capturing a large share of the market.
Just as you’d expect, the plugin is extremely easy to use and has all the features that Yoast has, as well as what I would consider a better Schema implementation.
You might be surprised to hear that all of the functionality that is currently available – which is a lot when compared to other plugins including Yoast and All in One SEO Pack – is currently free and will remain free. Although the team has confirmed that they are working on a premium version of the plugin that will be released at some point in the future, which definitely leaves us something to look forward to.
Using the Rank Math WordPress SEO plugin makes it really easy to configure your posts, pages and custom post types with all of the following Rich Snippet types:
-
- Article Rich Snippets
- Course Rich Snippets
- Event Rich Snippets
- Job Posting Rich Snippets
- Local Business Rich Snippets
- Product Rich Snippets
- Review Rich Snippets
- Service Rich Snippets
- Software/App Rich Snippets
- and more…
In addition to this, you also have the ability to configure other more general settings such as a page’s canonical URL and whether you’d like to no-index a page.
The meta box also makes it easy to preview what your post will look like on social networks including Facebook and Twitter.
If you’re thinking of moving from Yoast to Rank Math, you’ll be pleased to hear that doing so is extremely easy thanks to the 1-click migration wizard that’s built right into the plugin. All you have to do install Rank Math and then go through the import process shown below:
And that’s it! The truth is that if you’re looking for a WordPress plugin, you really can’t go wrong with any of the plugins on this list but you really do get the most with Rank Math since it offers the functionality that most other SEO plugins do for free (something which only makes us look forward to their premium version even more).
2. Yoast SEO
Yoast is popular for a reason. It gives you tons of flexibility over your site’s content, letting you set up titles, meta descriptions, and social sharing information on a per-post basis. It gives you an easy way to set up a sitemap, adds some basic schema, and is generally pretty beginner friendly.
It’s so focused on being beginner friendly that it hides most of the good stuff behind an Advanced menu that you have to manually turn on to see. What’s do I count as good stuff?
Mainly custom variables to set up every title and meta tag on your site. For example, if you’re using a custom post type with custom fields, you can pull data from those custom fields to automatically use in your titles and descriptions.
Super helpful, albeit not very accessible for beginners.
And if you’re willing to pay for pro or add-ons, there are tons of helpful features like:
- Local SEO
- Video SEO
- Internal link recommendations
- Lots more
All that’s good…but here’s where many people either love or hate Yoast:
For those who haven’t used the plugin, that screen showcases all of Yoast’s SEO and readability recommendations. To be fair, plenty of people find these recommendations helpful.
But…I personally am not a fan. I think they’re useful as general suggestions, but many people put too much emphasis on Yoast’s recommendations. Yoast’s recommendations often:
- Encourage keyword stuffing
- Don’t recognize the importance of LSI
- Ding you for other silly things like a single “stop word” in your URL
And when it comes to readability, they often just plain…fall flat. I won’t beat around the bush there. I want to yell when Yoast marks me down for “passive voice” when the sentences…don’t actually contain passive voice.
Additionally, all of these helpful features add up to a ton of bloat. So much bloat, in fact, that one dev even created a WordPress SEO Weight Loss Program plugin to remove some of Yoast’s many additions.
Look, Yoast is generally just fine and has plenty of helpful functionality. It’s just not something you should take as gospel when it comes to its recommendations.
If you’re a beginner, you won’t go wrong with choosing Yoast. But if you’re fed up with Yoast’s ongoing quest to completely take over your WordPress dashboard (Cornerstone content, anyone?), then keep reading for a couple more options.
3. 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.
4. 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.
Wrapping Things Up
I know this wasn’t a huge list with double-digit plugins…but honestly, you only need one SEO plugin. And I think these are your best options. There’s no point featuring three other plugins that you’re not going to use.
To that end, I’m going to end this post by giving you a few decision matrixes:
- If you’re a total beginner just looking to add some basic SEO to your WordPress site, you should probably use Rank Math because it’s the easiest to use and is completely free (as in it doesn’t limit functionality).
- If you want a more stripped-down version of Yoast that’s still beginner friendly. Or if you’re running a WooCommerce store, then you should go with All in One SEO. Remember that support for taxonomies is only within pro.
- And finally, if you’re willing to try out a relative newcomer, The SEO Framework offers a delightful interface and a promising feature list, though in a package that’s not quite as beginner friendly.
Now over to you – what’s your first choice when it comes to WordPress SEO plugins?
what you haven’t covered and is ignored in many other comparisons is which is the lightest on system resources/ which is the fastest.
Also no comment on which gives better results in the main search engines and in social media
Thankyou
Hi Suzie,
you are right! A more in-depth analysis would be required to evaluate overall impact on system resources. Certainly anecdotal evidence would suggest SEO Framework is a bit lighter. Re: what gives “better results” in the main search engines – I think there’s very little difference between them. The key differences are more about how the plugins work within the WP Admin.
Best,
Colm
I found this video comparing speed of Yoast with TSF https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xi0-E6kS3PM At glance, The SEO Framework seems to be twice as fast in terms of raw speed/performance. But you should run your own test, ideally on your own website if you want to have truly unbiased and current results. None of the plugins gives you “better result in search engines”. They are for technical SEO, your part, content is crucial. These plugins will just help you serve your content to the search engines (and social networks) in best format.
Disclaimer: I didn’t make the mentioned video, I don’t know the dude who did it. But I’m fan of TSF.
Hadn’t heard of SEO Framework before, thanks for putting this post together!
It’s a good one 🙂
SEO Framework seems to be good plugin. Thanks for putting it. I will surely experiement with it.
Thank You for sharing seo plugins. I used all in one seo for my blog.
You just said my mind. I give it to All in One SEO. It works better for me than any other SEO plugin out there.
Hi Colin, I hope you are well! If you don’t mind, I wouldn’t like to comment about the remark considering The SEO Framework:
> 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.
This is a good point and I saw this mentioned on few other reviews. Out of–the–box the plugin is pre–configured with optimal settings. 99% of users don’t even have to change anything. You just have to fill things the plugin couldn’t possibly know — like your social network URLs and search engine verification codes. The fine tuning is optional, although recommended. If you think something in the plugin is daunting for beginners, please let me know, I would appreciate that. At the same time I have to agree, when the new user is presented with range of options, it might be off-putting. I’m not really sure if it is worthed adding the “First time setup” wizard like the one that is present in Yoast. I feel it is bloating the plugin, considering most people use it just once and then it just sits in your installation forever. But I might be wrong.
Otherwise, thank you for speaking about TSF so highly! It often gets overlooked in SEO plugin reviews. Have a nice day!
I started off using All in One plugin, but switched over to Yoast. I like all of the features, scores, and suggestions for changes it gives you. Thanks for sharing!
All in One Seo is Best Plugin. i am Using it Since 1 Years Still No issue
I’m here because I’ve been using Yoast about 15 months and I’m over it. I a looking for another plugin option. Yoast keeps giving me dings for things that are clearly there. It’s like it suddenly stopped recognizing things. I made sure I have the latest update too. I’m going to try All In One since I’m not totally tech savvy yet lol. Thanks for pointing me in the right direction.
Yeah those red and green “indicators”. I tried it once on my own properties (after using AIO forever) and now convert all clients that come on board with Yoast, to AIO. Just my 2.5c The PRO version of AIO. Wonderful, just enough tasks pulled into one area to be manageable, no bloat. One license can be used on infinite domains.
I’m all for All in One (day one user, tried Yoast many times and actually used the export tool to convert clients to SEOAIO). One thing that I see a lot… no one is using the PRO version of AIO during the comparisons. Yoast = Bloat for me and does so many things I don’t need, so many… learning curve higher. As long as we all get the job done for our clients I guess that’s what wins?
tested SEO frameworks, awesome new plugins but i am still sticking with Yoast, there is a plugin to remove and strip down all the yoast banners and links. perfect combo for me.
I’ve been looking for the right SEO plugin for a while, now. After reading this and trying it out, this is going on all my sites.
Yoast never did it for me and I found its interface overwhelming.
Thank you.
Oops, forgot to mention SEO Framework is what I installed. It’s fantastic.
Any thoughts on using multiple SEO tools. Is it possible to maintain both Yoast AND All-In-One, using the best features of each?
Hi Roy – you’d need to use one or the other. Each plugin will be overwriting each other’s meta data (title, description etc) amongst other things which could lead to problems.
I used Yoast till now. Now I want to shift to a different SEO plugin. I like to add Squirrly plugin. It has a keyword suggestion tool and SEO suggestion for humans and search engines. I would like to try All in one SEO plugin. Let me give it a try.
Hi Colin.
I just wanted to point out a new SEO plugin I recently released for free, Elevate (Elevate SEO in the WP repository). It’s not as full featured as Yoast, but in a lot of ways that was the point. I tried to scale it back to something that wasn’t overwhelming for most people. When I created it, I tried to imagine my parents or my sister using it, and I tried to make it user-friendly enough for them. I’d be happy to hear some feedback if you have time to play with it – https://elevatewp.io. Cheers.
looks good. will try it.
Hey Colin, Thank you for this informative article. I usually use Yoast SEO on all my blogs and have got good serp improvements from using it. All in one seo is not bad either. But yoast offers a bit more features than All in one seo. My vote goes to Yoast. Thanks
My bad was to upgrade from Yoast free version to Yoast Premium. Now I am drowned in notifications with lots of drama and hysteria about 90 percent of my 120 posts being “orphaned” – an intervention which is solely a Yoast fantasy which even Google does not care about.
So my $89 bill only paid me more fake news and more confusion.
That’s why I am seriously scouting for a new SEO assistant.
I will test SEO Framework thoroughly, thank you very much for detection.
I had never heard SEO framework. Thanks for sharing this and it is really great.
Great article. Yoast bugs me to no end. I pretty much have the same issues you’ve listed. Also my site is image driven and my visitors are visual people who don’t like too much text interference. Not only it feels stupid to write for robots which takes a lot of time away from the useful to my visitors content development, but also those damn disapproving red dots from Yoast are more intimidating than my elementary school teacher (and I grew up in the USSR).
Your article have liberated me from peer pressure- I feel confident to switch to another plugin and save whatever little self esteem I have left.
Are there support groups you can recommend for former Yoast user who just like me developed an inferiority complex? 🙂
Nice collection.
I was using Rank Math for a long time on my blogs. It combines many features to better manage and optimize the contents.
Later I shifted to Yoast Premium & I think it’s the best free plugin at this moment for SEO.
I think it’s one of the best plugins available for WordPress today. I do like all in one. But Yoast is my favourite.
Do SEO plugins affect the speed/performance of the user-facing website?
SEO plugins don’t adversely impact on site speed in my experience.
I use all in one SEO on all of my websites. But I heard some good words about the newer plugin Rankmath. Have you tried it ?
All three are very good. I am in the middle of an issue with Yoast Premium. If they can resolve it I will stay. If not, I will move on to one of the other two.
Does anyone here think Rankmath is any good, I have given it a go only for it to crash a website forcing me back to Squirrly who have now changed everything on their plugin. Will be giving The SEO Framework a go in the future looks interesting.
I tested Both plugins Yoast and SEOPress and i can see SEOPress is easy to setup, make things easy to newbie, by how quickly setup his own blog.
In the other hand what i don’t like in Yoast every time i open my dashboard there is an update for it and even and there is no a complete documentation for it.
If you want a good setting you need to buy their service. and even i think yoast developer’s they don’t understand how google work by using the old method by focus on meta (title + description and focus keyword). and keyword ratio.
Now we need something follow google update and advice us how we can setting a good article or page structure and gain google trust.
This is just my view about the both plugins
Regards
Badr
Great post! The article is very informative. I’m currently using Yoast SEO plugin. The features of the free version are enough for me for my business website. It’s doing a great job of suggesting options to make my posts friendlier to search engines.
If I use one of these SEO options I can use it to change meta data and other things that will improve search rating. I have Google Analytics. So there won’t be a conflict with the two tools correct? I think Google Analytics just reports. I have heard it described as an SEO tool. Since I should not have more than one SEO tool I want to be sure. This is a WordPress web site.
There won’t be a conflict using any of these tools with Google Analytics.
Moved from Yoast to SEO framework. Lot easier to work with. And like others have mentioned before, gets the job done without the intimidating triple lights
Amazing article. I’ve been using yoast seo for more than 5 years now. There are tons and tons of things I love about the plugin. But there are some things I love the most. Such as how the company keeps updating every now and then by adding new features in their updates. I also love how the plugin does the job of multiple plugins like making sitemap, adding verification code, and much more.
I love the plugin. Tried multiple SEO plugins but yoast takes the prize to be best wordpress seo plugin for me.
Hey, thank you very much for this informative article! I’m using Yoast and i’m happy with it, Yoast forever!
Rank Math is certainly one of the most feature rich SEO plugins. Its much better than Yoast. For beginners, I would recommend Slim SEO – its a very simple light weight plugin.
Really very Helpful article for my site and thanks for Shared About SEO WordPress plugins. Yoast SEO is one of my favorite plugins. It helps you to optimize your meta tags without entering into coding.
I had never heard about Rank Math SEO. ……….. Thanks for Sharing This Helpful Information
Thanks for sharing those collections of SEO WordPress Plugins. I use Yoast SEO plugins it’s work really awesome.
I tested Both plugins and i can see Rank math is easy to setup, make things easy to newbie, by how quickly setup his own blog.
In the other hand what i don’t like in Yoast every time i open my dashboard there is an update for it and even and there is no a complete documentation for it.
If you want a good setting you need to buy their service. and even i think yoast developer’s they don’t understand how google work by using the old method by focus on meta (title + description and focus keyword). and keyword ratio.
Now we need something follow google update and advice us how we can setting a good article or page structure and gain google trust.
This is just my view about the both plugins
Vielen Dank für diese Details, es ist sehr interessant, also noch einmal sehr geschätzt!
SmartCrawl by WPMUDEV might be another one to include. It has been pretty good on my site and not as system hogging in my opinion as Yoast.
Really Great Post ! I am using Rank Math and Google site kit both are performing well and thanks for sharing informative article.
Can I use all of these plugins at the same time on my website?
Best just pick one or there could be conflicts.
Always use one plugin for a particular purpose, especially SEO – the likelihood of having conflicts is way high.
All plugins mentioned here and elsewhere have the disclaimer: “You only need one…” I haven’t found anyone with suggestions on how to try different plugins! I don’t have the experience and I’m gun shy about deactivating important plugins.
When you’re looking for another article to research may I suggest the title “How to try different SEO plugins.” I’d like to see he results presented with this kind of template:
Plugin name: (Rank Math)
Before activation: Files to remove & settings to change
After activation: configuration wizard(?)
After activation: pros, cons
After deactivate: What’s left behind (site map, robots.txt?)
What to maintain, if anything?
Plugin name: (Yoast)
Before activation: Files to remove & settings to change
After activation: configuration wizard(?)
After activation: pros, cons
After deactivate: What’s left behind (site map, robots.txt?)
What to maintain, if anything?
Plugin name: (All-in-One)
Before activation: Files to remove & settings to change
After activation: configuration wizard(?)
After activation: pros, cons
After deactivate: What’s left behind (site map, robots.txt?)
What to maintain, if anything?
Plugin name: (etc)
Hi. I know this post is from a while ago but hope you can help. I have used a few plugins for SEO. Yoast is the most common amongst our clients on WordPress. However my issue is that if the schema created is incorrect or missing something I think should be there, I can’t modify it. Are you aware of any SEO plugins that allow modification of their output?
Thanks
hello.
yoast seo plugin provides an easy way to set up sitemap and robot also helps in txt file I like it, thanks.
Do you know why rank math disconnected when webmasters login into their WordPress blogs?
It is hard to decide what to use when there’s no specific direction. I guest it all comes down to personal experience with the product. I stay with RankMath SEO.