WordPress already has some built-in SEO features, but SEO plugins give you more control over keywords, descriptions, and other optimization tools for higher rankings. Think of these plugins as your guides to help you optimize content without having to be an SEO expert and any one of these three will greatly help.
Yoast SEO
With over a million active installations, Yoast SEO is one of the top SEO plugins available. The plugin doesn’t just guide your SEO efforts, it also helps improve them over time by forcing you to pick a focus keyword and use it throughout your post naturally.
It’s not just about keywords, though. Some of the main features of Yoast SEO include:
- Full page analysis – Checks for keyword usage, images, word count, meta description, title length, subheadings, and more.
- Creates advanced XML sitemaps – Allows search engines to better index your site and boosts rankings of images as well.
- RSS optimization – Boosts your chances of search engines ranking your content versus content stolen by scrappers.
All in One SEO Pack
All in One SEO Pack is one of Yoast SEO’s biggest competitors. With more than a million active installations itself, it’s feature set offers powerful SEO optimization tools. Something many users love is automatic title optimization and meta tag generation, though you can still do this manually.
A few of All in One SEO Pack’s key features are:
- Advanced optimization – Customize nearly anything SEO related.
- Easy to install – It works without changing a single setting.
- Ecommerce integration – Marketed as the only free plugin (premium version available) to offer ecommerce SEO.
- Plugin compatibility – Designed to work well with other plugins.
SEO Ultimate
If you’re looking for a more advanced plugin, SEO Ultimate has you covered. While it’s just over 200,000 installs, it offers tools for those who want to fully customize their SEO. It goes way beyond keywords and meta descriptions and even monitors for 404 errors.
SEO Ultimate offers dozens of options and tools, such as:
- Full linking control – Auto-create, customize, and even reduce links for better SEO.
- Title and meta description editor – Fully customize both the title element and meta description.
- Author highlighting – Integrates with Google+.
- Rich snippet creator – Add rich snippet code to attract more visitors.
Check out your options and choose the right SEO plugin for your site and watch your rank start to increase.