WordPress themes make it easy for users to regularly manage their content, update their pages, and create a more professional look. However, the best way to promote your website is to spend some time downloading and installing plugins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Plugins are third-party software programs that add new features to your existing site. Written in PHP, these plugins can easily integrate with your current theme. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this discussion, we will cover seven of the best WordPress SEO plugins to improve your traffic and optimize your page for search engines.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Most WordPress reviews admit that these seven plugins are a “must-have” if you're serious about standardizing your website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yoast SEO proved to be the best, offering a balance between costly but thorough research. Below, we detail the pros and cons of each plugin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Why hire an SEO consultant when Yoast SEO can give you that consultation for free? Yoast can teach you how to get more traffic from search engines, attract social media users, and increase engagement with many interactive features.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yoast helps you automatically create related keywords and synonyms for better SEO traffic, based on your input. You can also improve indexing by controlling the metadata, allowing search and social platforms to identify your site. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You get previews of how your site looks on social platforms and a readability check for natural flowing sentences and SEO efficiency. You can even check against duplicate content or mark certain links as “no follow.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some of our favorite features include getting suggestions for internal linking, the ability to add proper internal linking structure, and content insights, which intelligently analyzes your SEO keyword strategy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Customer support includes premium level, and one year of 24\/7 support and updates, or free, just a knowledge base. Yoast SEO was the plugin most users put at the top of their list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Price<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some consider SEMRush the best overall SEO tool, on account of all the awards its won (US Search, MENA Search, SEMY, Interactive Marketing) and how comprehensive its set of tools are to the experienced web manager. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
SEMRush does let you find organic keywords and search terms that you can actually compete for and easily rank for – which is much appreciated in a competitive field. Designed to help you outperform the competition, you can analyze other websites, including their ads, content, and social media pages. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can research what other sites are doing with your targeted keywords and discover ways to top them. Aim for the top 10 results with focus keywords and also integrate your social media accounts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
SEMRush also auto-researches your industry, going so far as to report market leaders, game changers, and influencers to watch, see how they're breaking the industry, and do to capitalize. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plugin assists in four areas: eCommerce, enterprise, and lead generation for larger agencies. You can select PPC, content marketing, or social media ads for easy management and tracking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The only reason SEMRush isn't higher ranked is because of its high price compared to other plugins.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It can be a chore going through the maze of the Google Analytics website. Most days, you want a fast update with the most relevant information. The Google Analytics Dashboard by ExactMetrics will report on traffic spikes, insights, real-time stats, and even eCommerce tracking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can easily customize the plugin to track affiliate links, Adsense banner ads, file downloads, outbound link clicks, and conversions for each WordPress form. You can even check out advanced insights like scroll depth (how long people scroll on your site), referrals from traffic sources, custom event tracking, and custom analytical reports that you design. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
There's no need to hire a developer when all you have to is click a few buttons and get reports delivered to your WordPress dashboard. The premium service comes with a 14-day money-back guarantee. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you're a bit lost looking over the complex results from Google Analytics or Yoast, know that SEO Squirrely offers a more accessible interface. The plugin also lets you manage your content in a search-friendly and ideal for human readers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
SEO Squirrely helps with tasks like finding targeted keywords, analyzing your content for mistakes and efficiency, and giving advice on improving the user experience. Choose between a non-SEO export mode, or perform 300 various SEO tasks manually. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With SEO Squirrely, you can check traffic reports, track engagement with your content, and even see ranking positions for all your pages accordingly. Get suggestions from AI on how to bring more traffic and how to make your pages more visible and readable for long-scrolling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plugin also performs several technical issues, such as generating an XML sitemap and also helps you create viable rich snippets and social snippets. The so-called “Non-Human Private SEO Consultant that lives inside your WordPress” doesn't compete with other SEO plugins but enhances them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Using red\/green elements design explains what you need to do to change red-coded problems (site and SEO issues) into a green solution. The more “greens” you have, the more you will notice a correlation between top Google search results. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Along with an easy interface, SEO Squirrely also comes with an education cloud, coaching lessons, and 14 “recipes” to follow to improve SEO traffic immediately. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The free version of the plugin is limited by volume, but surprisingly, most features are still enabled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The WPML plugin is ideal if you're going for an international or multilingual audience. The plugin was designed for blogs, not just corporate sites, meaning it has many advanced features beyond simple translation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The plugin performs technical processes, such as translating pages and taxonomy, menus, theme texts, and custom types. The plugin also works with every theme, plugin, or even page builders that use modern API. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You also get control over-optimization, specifically for multiple languages. Customize how you want URLs to look, or set SEO metadata for translations. Sitemaps are also generated for the language of choice and guaranteed to pass Google Webmasters validation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With this plugin, search engines can understand your site's structure and not be confused by inconsistent language. Drive traffic to the right pages, but always in the right language. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
WPML comes in two versions: blog and CMS. Over 40 languages are installed and available for easy translation and publishing. Another great feature is that you can add your unique language variants to the WPML language editor. Or, you can customize different languages according to directories, domains, or subdomains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Subscription rates are for the year, with a lower renewal rate than signup, making it fairly inexpensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many plugins developers claim their product is free but lets you download a “lite” version. Not so with SEO Framework, perhaps the only 100 percent freeware plugin that's useful for SEO. No ads, no waiting, and no limits on what the product offers. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
SEO Framework is not built for an agency but a small business. It's also powerful enough to support a team and not just an individual. It integrates with WordPress and offers a colored scale showing how to optimize your posts for searchability. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
By hovering the mouse cursor over the column, you get detailed notes on how to improve your pages according to traditional white-hat theory. It's a must-have for users who have a limited understanding of SEO in the first place, particularly Google's penalization policies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
SEO Framework operates on an almost-expert level, with the ability to generate meta tags (in multiple languages) and automating various technical processes. You don't have to be an expert to understand the menus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You tweak various words and structures according to the automated advice, which is based on Google webmaster guidelines – a great source of information for modern web design. Another excellent feature is the free support forums where users answer questions, usually within 48 hours. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
You can also get advice for sharing on social media, avoid the most common mistakes, check for duplicated content, and notifying search engines when new content has been published. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While SEO Framework doesn't have the in-depth analytics or systems of paid services, they offer a competitive package for a growing company (or individual) who can't afford to invest in something more significant. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Called the “most affordable” plugin, SEO Press offers a low-cost monthly subscription or a free SEO tool kit for free, with limited options. Basic SEO services are provided, even for the free services, such as automatic breadcrumbs (linking pages together), redirections, sitemaps, and broken link monitoring. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
With an installation wizard, you can easily modify title tags or create a sitemap for indexing. Manage meta description for every post, page, or custom post type. Or, opt to improve your social networking presence with open graph protocol, pioneered by Facebook. An “open graph” lets you standardize metadata to represent a page's content more efficiently. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite being low-cost (or free for the lite plan), the service does not contain ads, nor does it send back private information to the publisher. Multiple features are free, such as titles, metadata, sitemaps, content analysis, unlimited keywords, and some Google analytics integration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For the premium service, additional features include importing and exporting SEO data, custom schemas, URL rewriting, breadcrumbs, 404 monitoring (for missing pages), WooCommerce integration, and unlimited sites. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
One reason to download an SEO plugin immediately is to protect your site against a Google search penalty. Google's penalties<\/a> against websites have been well-documented, and in some cases, highly speculated upon, since the company explains very little about their algorithms. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While many will debate over what companies are allowed to earn #1 ranking, most smaller companies are guilty of minor breachers – most of which can be resolved. Even if you do get penalized, you can take steps to correct the issues, using Google's webmaster site, or even reading a list of known Google penalties<\/a>, such as from Search Engine Journal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Keep in mind that many plugins and even some themes will not work with older versions of WordPress. Most plugins require not only a newer WordPress installation, such as 5.5.1 but also a newer PHP version 5.620 or higher. <\/p>\n\n\n\n While it's easy to update WordPress with just a click, updating PHP older versions may require installing new software on the web host Cpanel directory and then reinstalling WordPress. Your web host may assist with these issues, or they may not have higher PHP updates. Contact the company to know for sure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Things have changed quite a bit, and unfortunately, many businesses are experiencing “unexplained” drops in traffic as a result. As many SEO consultants would tell you, ranking high in SERPs is now a matter of better customizing your content for a targeted audience. <\/p>\n\n\n\n According to influencer Neil Patel, some SEO fundamental principles are still the same. Choosing the right keywords is critical, but it's not just about producing keyword-friendly content anymore. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Some tips he recommends (and which some of our plugins address) include: <\/p>\n\n\n\n“Why do some plugins not work when I try to install them?”<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
“I haven't read up on SEO for a while now\u2026 how have things changed?”<\/h3>\n\n\n\n