WORDPRESS PLUGINS

15 Best WordPress SEO Plugins and Tools for 2020

Last Updated: 13 mins By: Editorial Team

WordPress was developed to be relatively search engine friendly by default but it doesn’t magically help you to get top rankings in the search engine. That’s why we have come up with the best WordPress SEO plugins and tools which helps to improve your business visibility in search engines.

Best WordPress SEO Plugins and Tools

The selection of plugins for WordPress is huge. However, this often makes it difficult for bloggers to find exactly the plugins that are best suited for certain purposes. There are around thousands of SEO plugins in the WordPress repository alone. There are also hundreds of premium plugins, all of which promise better rankings.

But which of them are really recommended now? Which tools do you really need?

To answer these questions, we’ve put together the 15 best WordPress SEO plugins and tools which help you with the optimization of your WordPress website and that can save you a lot of work.

1. Yoast SEO (Free+Paid)

best WordPress seo plugins and tools

No list of the best WordPress SEO plugins would be complete without Yoast SEO on the list. It’s the number #1 SEO plugin for a reason. Since the launch till now, Yoast has kept adding new features to keep the plugin helpful to WordPress users. Over 5 million websites have already installed the plugin on themselves.

The plugin easily handles central SEO functions such as updating meta titles and meta descriptions. As well as advanced functions like adding a schema, readability check, no-index of certain types of content, and setting canonical URLs.

Highlighted Features of Yoast SEO:

  • Allows you to mark important pages as cornerstone content.
  • Works in the block editor and in the classic editor
  • 1 year of free 24/7 support
  • Optimize for keywords, keyphrases and synonyms, related keywords, and all word forms
  • Helps You ‘Hide’ Specific Posts/Pages From Search Engines

2. SEMrush (Premium)

best WordPress seo plugins and tools

SEMrush is almost an all-in-one solution when it comes to SEO. This plugin shows you the top keywords of your competitors including backlinks. So if you want to find organic keywords for you along with the competitors and guide you on how to overtake them then this is the perfect tool.

With SEMrush you can conduct site audits with the tool and receive helpful tips on what to optimize and much more. The “Keyword Gap Analysis” is also a particularly interesting function. From this, you can see how the competitors are positioned for certain keywords in comparison to your own website.

Highlighted Features of SEMrush:

  • Comprehensive SEO reports (SEO audits)
  • Lots of metrics on search volume, keyword competition
  • Various functions for keyword research
  • Analysis of backlinks and competitors
  • Suitable for marketing agencies

3. WP Rocket (Premium)

best WordPress seo plugins and tools

WP Rocket isn’t exactly an SEO plugin like the others. It’s a tool that optimizes the speed and performance of your website. We can say that WP Rocket is the best caching plugin out there. It increases the speed of your website by enabling caching. This process will definitely optimize your website SEO.

WP Rocket makes it easy to control page caching, cache preloading, file compression, and sluggish loading. When activating optimization functions. It’s always best to enable them one at a time and then test your website. This ensures that the functionality is not impaired.

Highlighted Features of WP Rocket:

  • Media (Images, Videos) Optimization
  • Reduce the size of files including JavaScript, CSS and HTML files
  • Caching on mobile devices
  • Removes the jQuery migrate file
  • eCommerce Friendly (WooCommerce)

broken link checker

With this SEO plugin, you can check both your internal and external links for incorrect links. The plug-in notifies you either in the backend or via e-mail about any defective links it has discovered. You can view various information in the backend. The URL of the page with the incorrect link, the HTTP status code (e.g. 404), and the anchor text, etc.

If desired, you can set incorrect links to NoFollow so that the search engine bots do not follow the incorrect link. The incorrect links can also be corrected without having to look in the article. All the amazing features makes this plugin one of the best WordPress SEO plugin in this list.

Highlighted Features of Broken Link Checker:

  • Prevents search engines from following broken links
  • Notifies you either via the Dashboard or by email
  • Detects links that don’t work, missing images and redirects
  • Links can be edited directly from the plugin’s page, without manually updating each post
  • Monitors external links and internal links in your posts, pages, comments and custom fields 

5. ShortPixel (Free+Paid)

shortpixel

Images are often the largest file size element on a web page. Making sure they are optimized and compressed can reduce your page loading time and result in better user experience. This is where a plugin like Shortpixel comes into play.

Shortpixel compresses your images after uploading them to your website and in the background without any additional user input. The plugin works with JPG, PNG, GIF, and PDF documents. It can even generate webp versions of an image you upload.

Highlighted Features of ShortPixel Image Optimizer:

  • Bulk Image Optimization
  • Compress JPG, PNG, GIF and also PDF documents
  • Option to scale images down with 2 different options
  • Skip Image which have been already optimized
  • 30 days optimization report with overall image statistics

6. Rank Math (Free+Paid)

Rank-Math-Best-Free-WordPress-SEO-Tools-in-2020

Rank Math is one of the newcomers in recent years and has grown in popularity. One of the reasons for this is because not only has many functions but is also available free of charge at the same time. Simplifying the change is not the only strength of the plugin.

Rank Math also shines with automation functions for the mostly forgotten Image Alt Tags, which are taken directly from the file names. The integration of the sitemap function for Google News should also be possible soon. If you don’t want to spend money on an SEO plugin, Rank Math is definitely a good option.

Highlighted Features of Rank Math:

  • Large range of functions
  • High-performance SEO plugin
  • WooCommerce compatible
  • 404 monitoring and 301 redirects
  • 15 different rich snippet markups

7. The SEO Framework (Free+Paid)

The-SEO-Framework-–-WordPress-plugin-WordPress-org

The SEO framework takes a different approach than most WordPress SEO plugins. As the name suggests, the plug-in consists of various extensions that can be activated as required. And, SEO framework offers a variety of functions that Yoast, Rank Math & SEOPress do not offer. However, this is not necessarily a weakness of the plugin.

According to the SEO Frameworks team, they provide a high level of security so that the SEO plugin does not offer any attack surface. At the same time, the developers focus on the performance of your website. Meanwhile, there are overwhelming settings options in this one of the best WordPress SEO Plugin.

Highlighted Features of The SEO Framework:

  • Expandable SEO plugin
  • WooCommerce compatible with the Agency version
  • Highly customizable technical SEO settings
  • Separate Settings for different pages
  • Supports open graph for Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest

8. All in One SEO Pack (Free+Premium)

best WordPress seo plugins and tools

All in One SEO has been around since 2007 and has over 2 million active installs. It has many similar features as Yoast, but where it starts to be a little different, this plugin keeps it simple without building in all of the same features from Yoast.

With All in One SEO Pack, you can also edit some advanced aspects of your website, e.g. B. setting pages to noindex, setting canonical URLs, excluding certain URLs from the sitemap, etc. For users who want to keep things simple, this plugin is definitely worth a visit.

Highlighted Features of All in One SEO Pack:

  • Built-in API so other plugins/themes can access and extend the functionality
  • Supports WooCommerce even with Free Version
  • Automatically redirect attached files such as images, PDFs, and video
  • Compatibility with many other plugins 
  • Configures metadata in bulk

9. TinyJPG (Free+Paid)

tinyjpg image compressor

Images that are too large eat up storage space and unnecessarily increase loading times. In a few cases, it is definitely beneficial to include a high quality, detailed image in a blog post. Too often, however, large image files are integrated without actually having a right to exist.

What TinyJPG does is, it reduces the file size of JPEGs and PNGs and compresses the image files in the best possible way and without loss. In doing so, the image does not lose its quality, because TinyJPG removes unnecessary metadata, artifacts, etc. in its compression process without impairing the image quality.

Highlighted Features of TinyJPG:

  • Easy bulk optimization of your existing media library
  • Drag and drop more than 20 images at once
  • WooCommerce Compatible
  • Upgrade 5 MB to 75 MB file size limit
  • Show detailed statistics on the Analyzer tool

10. Easy Table of Contents (Free)

table of contents plugin

Easy Table of Contents can automatically generate a table of contents for your posts or pages based on the headings you use. The generated table of contents (TOC) can be automatically inserted into a page, or you can use a short code to put the TOC exactly where you want it to be displayed.

A table of contents can have a positive effect on your search engine optimization (SEO) by helping users navigate deeper into your page to find the specific content they want to read about. When you make it easier for a user to find the content they want, things like time on the page and bounce rate improve.

Highlighted Features of Easy Tables of Contents:

  • Performs well with Divi, Elementor, WPBakery Page Builder, and Visual Composer page editors
  • Several counter bullet formats (none, decimal, numeric and roman)
  • Option to hide or disable the table
  • Automatically generate a table of contents for your posts, pages, and custom post types
  • Highly Customizable

11. Redirection (Free)

redirection plugin

The free plug-in Redirection is a useful plug-in for managing redirects (301) and detecting faulty internal links (404). However, you should know what you are doing when using this plugin. If you are familiar with it, you can solve this by editing the .htaccess file.

For example, if you have carried out a relaunch and want to tell the search engines what the new URL structure is for certain subpages, then you have to give the old URL a 301 status code so that the search engines understand this. This plugin is ideal for this application.

Highlighted Features of Redirection:

  • Browser, referrer, and cookie redirects
  • Track 404 Errors
  • Login Status Analysis
  • Apache and Nginx Support
  • Import and Export Systems

12. Ryte FREE (Free+Paid)

Ryte FREE is one of the best known and best SEO tools for OnPage optimization and website analysis. The tool is free of charge for small websites with up to 100 URLs and offers webmasters over 160 innovative tools with extensive evaluations, detailed reports, and useful tips to optimize their own website.

If the free version is not enough for you, you can test the professional Ryte Basic Suite for free at any time. More domains and pages can be checked there and there are extensive professional functions such as real-time recommendations, server monitoring, data export, and much more.

Highlighted Features of Ryte Free:

  • No costs, no obligations, no term limits
  • 1 crawl per month with analysis of up to 100 URLs
  • Errors on the website listed by priority
  • 5 detailed single page analyzes per month for each URL
  • Keyword recommendations and topic inspiration for better rankings

13. Ahrefs (Premium)

site audit seo tool

With Ahrefs, you can do in-depth research on backlinks, monitor keywords, rankings, and much more. Ahrefs provide tools for reviewing similar content from your competitors and you can see how they do better, thus tweaking your content to improve your ranking.

Ahrefs has a fantastic set of tools that guarantee your SEO improvements. Such tools are competitive analysis, backlink research, web monitoring, and keyword research. The combination of all these tools will help your website further increase its SEO capacity and perform better on the web.

Highlighted Features of Ahrefs:

  • Analyze a website’s link profile
  • Conduct keyword research for Google, YouTube, and Amazon
  • Analyze Site’s Backlinks
  • Site Auditing
  • Full SEO Reports with competitor analysis

14. Google Search Console (Free)

Google Search Console is a free tool that Google offers to webmasters. This tool enables website owners to have a deeper and more detailed presence in their website’s ranking in Google rankings, the keywords it ranks for, the ways and sources their visitors come from, and many more.

The Google search console is very important and every website owner should take a close look at it. It not only shows the visitor’s behavior but also searches for errors and suggests corrections. And you can get all the benefits from Google Search Console for free of cost.

Highlighted Features of Search Console:

  • Monitor, maintain, and troubleshoot your site’s presence in Google Search results
  • Provides insights of crawl errors
  • Troubleshoot issues for AMP, mobile usability, and other Search features
  • Fix indexing problems and request re-indexing of new or updated content
  • Show you which sites link to your website

15. SEOQuake (Free)

seo tools seoquake

SEOQuake is an extension which provides a clear overview of the information relevant to search engines on the website you are currently viewing. Data such as page rank, Google index, and also the cache date are listed here. You can decide for yourself whether the data is displayed within an SEO toolbar or integrated into the Web browser (Firefox, Chrome, etc) toolbar.

The settings can also be used to specify which search engines should be taken into account. The tool comes with its own plug-in architecture and can be expanded with many functions and thus flexibly adapted to your requirements which makes this the best SEO tool.

Highlighted Features of SEOQuake:

  • Provides you with organic search data
  • Shows Keyword Density report,
  • Compatible with Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, and Safari.
  • Displays Internal/External Link analysis and even social metrics
  • Run a complete SEO Audit of a webpage

Conclusion

SEO doesn’t just consist of adjusting the meta title, meta description, and scheme for each page. Improving user engagement by staying on your page longer and loading speed are all important aspects of SEO. Once you’ve chosen your primary SEO plugin, you’ll want to examine the above plugins to take your SEO to the next level.

While the best WordPress SEO plugins and tools above can help you in your SEO endeavors. They won’t magically help you rank number #1 for competing keywords. They are just tools to help you achieve your goals. Ultimately, following the guidelines and keeping up with the latest algorithms are required to rank on top of search engines.

We hope this article helped you to choose best WordPress SEO Plugins and tools. If you found this article resourceful, kindly share it on your social media platforms.

Also, you can check our articles on best WordPress page builder plugins and best WordPress contact form plugins.

15 Best WordPress SEO Plugins and Tools for 2020
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Editorial Team

We are a team of SEO copywriters and editors who work together to present the best quality content related to WordPress. We also promote our product via our blog. Please follow us on Twitter @Zakra_Theme and Facebook Zakra Theme to get regular updates.

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