Blog Introduction
The SEO Tools for WordPress Optimized is a free plugin that allows you to monitor your site’s performance and get recommendations on ways to improve it. It offers lots of useful features, including:
- Keyword Position Tracking – This gives you an idea of how well-positioned your keywords are in the search engines. It also shows you what your competitors are doing with their keywords and lets you compare them with your own rankings.
- Keyword Analytics – This provides information about how many searches have been made for each keyword, so that you can decide whether or not it’s worth investing time and effort into.
- Social Media Sharing – You can use this tool to share content on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.
Table of Contents
Free Seo Tools For WordPress Optimized
Social media platforms may restrict organic growth to favor paid advertisements or even disappear altogether, but Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is one strategy you can always rely on! The free SEO tools listed in this guide will help you optimize your WordPress site in a variety of ways.
The good news is that there’s no need to heed the call of snake-oil SEO salesmen, especially when there are so many outstanding free SEO tools that can have a positive impact on your rankings – as long as you’re willing to take a little time to learn their ins and outs.
In this post, we’ve assembled a collection of seven free SEO tools for WordPress (and otherwise) to help improve your Google rankings, including our advice on how they can help you climb the ladder to the very top of search queries. Let’s get started!
Best free SEO tools for WordPress
1. Pingdom Speed Test
Pingdom Speed Test is a simple tool that enables you to measure exactly how long your site takes to load – down to the millisecond. Just enter the URL of the site you want to test, pick one of the available server locations, then sit back for a few seconds while it produces a detailed report.
Aside from load speeds, Pingdom will also compare how your site stacks up against their database and archived tests, and provide you with a list of performance insights you can put into action to improve your metrics:
Now, you might not care too much about how fast your site loads as long as it’s quick enough, but search engines do. So, if you want to boost your Google rankings, even shaving a couple of milliseconds off your page speed might just be the ticket to get there.
As far as WordPress goes, there are lots of ways to help improve your page speed times, and we recently covered ten of them in a two-part series: 5 Quick Wins to Speed Up WordPress Load Times and 5 More Quick Wins to Speed Up Your WordPress.
2. KWFinder
KWFinder allows you to search for detailed information about specific keywords. All you need to do is enter a seed keyword into the search bar, click “Find Keywords”, and wait a few seconds for KWFinder to calculate your results.
KWFinder reports show you how popular the keyword you’re searching for is, how the popularity of that keyword has changed over time, and related keywords you might want to consider:
Each keyword listed is also given a “Keyword Difficulty” or “KD” rating. This is calculated from Link Profile Strength using a system created by Mangools, the creator of KWFinder. Keywords are rated on a scale of 0-100, with 0 being the least difficult and 100 being the most difficult. The KD is highlighted in red, yellow, or green, so you can see which keywords are easy to rank for at a glance.
KWFinder does offer premium plans, but visitors to the KWFinder site can search for two keywords per day without signing up. You can also register for a free plan with up to five keyword searches per day. This is more than enough to suit the needs of most small business websites.
3. Chrome DevTools
The Chrome DevTools is a suite of web development and debugging tools built right into the Chrome browser. They include an elements panel (which enables you to manipulate your site’s CSS and see how the changes look in real time), a console that provides you with real-time diagnostics, and a networks section with insights regarding your site’s performance, among many others.
However, our primary interest lies with the Chrome DevTools dedicated to providing page performance and loading speed insights. To gain access to these free SEO tools you must first install Google Chrome, then head to the site you’ll be testing. Right-click anywhere on the page, select the Inspect option, and once there, click on the Network tab. Finally, press the F5 key to begin your first test:
Once the test is complete, you’ll be presented with a list of every single request made to the site and how long it took to complete, as well as an overall loading time. This list will show you which elements need to be optimized, but the usual suspects tend to be images, CSS, and JavaScript. We covered image optimization in a previous article, and both CSS and JavaScript can be easily dealt with too, by pressing a suitable plugin into service.
4. Alexa
When referring to Alexa, we must make a distinction between its free Site Overview service and its premium marketing stack, which only offers a short free trial period. Since we’re talking about free SEO tools, we’ll be focusing on the former and how it can help you improve your Google rankings.
Alexa keeps track of your site’s global and countrywide rank using its own algorithms alongside historical data, which enables you to see how your performance progresses over time. The Site Overview also breaks down the countries your visitors are coming from, which is useful from a geo-targeting perspective:
Most importantly, you’ll be shown a rough outline of your top performing keywords in search engines. Using this data, you can decipher the content that’s performing well, then use the information to either schedule more related posts for your WordPress blog, reinforce low performers with better content, or simply retire shoddy keywords.
5. Google Keyword Planner
The Google Keyword Planner enables you to obtain search volume data and historical trends for the keywords you choose, analyze how much competition there is for them, and dissect information on related keywords organized according to relevance:
With this data in hand, you can quickly select highly performing keywords and build your WordPress posts around them. These keywords can also be used in conjunction with the Yoast SEO plugin to help improve your Google rankings.
6. Google Trends
Google Trends is a powerful free SEO tool all by itself, but it shines when used alongside the Google Keyword Planner.
While the planner enables you to identify potential future keywords for your content, this tool provides you with hard data concerning keyword interest using Google’s vast database of search histories. You can even use Google Trends to compare interest in multiple keywords at once, and break down the regions for which they’re most relevant:
Historical trends can be an influential factor when determining the viability of keywords. For example, did you know that interest in WordPress themes usually peaks each year around January and February? A savvy WordPress blogger would heed this data and schedule a theme roundup around that time.
7. Keywords Everywhere
Keywords Everywhere is a free extension for Chrome and Firefox that integrates directly with Google Search, Google Analytics, eBay, and other major websites to show you keyword information in real time. For the purposes of this article, we’ll focus on how Keywords Everywhere integrates with Google Search.
Every time you search for something on Google, Keywords Everywhere will present you with two lists of keywords: one list of automatically-generated relevant keywords and a list of keywords also searched for by people googling the same thing. Search volumes, CPC (Cost-Per-Click), and Competition levels are also displayed.
Keywords Everywhere is particularly great for anyone who manages a WordPress blog because you can use it to generate ideas for Focus Keywords. This makes it easier for you to choose SEO-friendly article ideas at the outset, rather than trying to force an ill-fitting keyword onto an idea you’ve already written about.
Conclusion on the top free SEO tools
To boost your Google rankings, you’ll need patience and perseverance. You won’t see results overnight, even if you’re doing everything correctly. That being said, if you arm yourself with these free SEO tools – and have a willingness to see the job through and choose the right keywords – reaching that coveted first-page spot might only be a matter of time. Let’s recap the seven tools:
- Pingdom Speed Test: For analyzing your site’s speed.
- KWFinder: An easy way to assess how difficult it will be to rank for keywords you’re interested in, and what alternative keywords might be easier to rank for.
- Chrome DevTools: For obtaining more detailed performance data.
- Alexa: Great for all-round ranking and keyword information.
- Google Keyword Planner: A great tool for researching keywords.
- Google Trends: A simple tool to refine your keywords using historical trends.
- Keywords Everywhere: A great tool for finding keywords naturally as you surf the web.
best seo plugin for wordpress free
Search engine optimization (SEO) aims to increase traffic to your website through organic search engine results. Therefore, it encompasses many tasks and strategies that might be difficult to implement without help from WordPress SEO plugins.
A decent SEO plugin should help you generate meta tags and descriptions based on your chosen keywords. Some of the candidates in this list also provide content analysis with actionable tips for improvement. Furthermore, it’s crucial to create XML sitemaps so that search engine crawlers can index your site.
In this article, we’ll give you an overview of six of the best WordPress SEO plugins. Conveniently, they all offer free solutions. Let’s go!
Six best WordPress SEO plugins in 2022
Now that we’ve discussed why you should use an SEO plugin, let’s look at six excellent alternatives. The one that’s the best fit for you will depend the depth of features you need, but they all offer a budget-friendly way to implement your SEO strategy.
- Yoast
- All In One SEO Pack
- Google XML Sitemaps
- Squirrly SEO
- SEOPress
- Rank Math
1. Yoast SEO
Author(s): Team Yoast
Current Version: 18.8
Last Updated: May 6, 2022
wordpress-seo.18.8.zip96%Ratings5,000,000+InstallsWP 5.8+Requires
Yoast SEO is one of the most popular WordPress SEO plugins, and it’s easy to see why. It comes packed with excellent features out of the box to help you produce search-engine-friendly content that is easy to read.
For instance, Yoast SEO adds a meta box to all your pages and posts, which enables you to easily set your focus keyword, meta description, canonical URLs, and more. Also, its readability analysis will help you optimize your posts with practical suggestions for copy improvement.
Other features include:
- Advanced XML sitemaps
- Schema markup
- Breadcrumbs control
- Support for ‘noindex’ content
- Title and meta description templates
- Language support
- Access to free Yoast courses
Pricing: Free.
The premium version also includes advanced functionality such as internal linking suggestions, content insights, and a redirect manager. Pricing starts at $89 per year for one website.
2. All In One SEO Pack
All in One SEO – Best WordPress SEO Plugin – Easily Improve SEO Rankings & Increase Traffic
Author(s): All in One SEO Team
Current Version: 4.2.0
Last Updated: April 26, 2022
all-in-one-seo-pack.4.2.0.zip92%Ratings3,000,000+InstallsWP 4.9+Requires
The All in One SEO Pack plugin is an excellent alternative to Yoast. With it, beginners won’t have to worry about complex settings as it works well immediately upon activation. For example, it automatically generates meta tags and optimizes your titles for Google and other search engines.
That said, advanced users will be able to customize their experience and override automatic features. Additionally, you can use the Robots.txt editor to instruct web crawlers about the contents of your site. All In One SEO Pack will automatically notify search engines about changes to your site as well.
Besides that, it also includes features such as:
- XML and RSS Sitemap support
- Image SEO
- Schema markup
- Advanced canonical URLs
- AMP support
- Duplicate content detection
- API support
- Ecommerce SEO
Pricing: Free.
The premium version gives you access to more advanced features and support for unlimited keywords starting at $39.60 per year.
3. Google XML Sitemaps
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If getting your site indexed by search engines is your only concern, Google XML Sitemaps could be an excellent solution. This plugin enables you to automatically generate a sitemap so that crawlers can easily assess your site. Also, you can save your settings and re-apply them each time you publish new content.
It also gives you more control/flexibility than the built-in XML sitemap feature that WordPress added to the core in WordPress 5.5.
This tool’s sole focus is on providing complete XML sitemaps, so you won’t get as many features as you would with other SEO plugins. Still, it’s an excellent no-frills option that supports all WordPress generated content without overloading your site.
Pricing: Free.Get Google XML Sitemaps
4. Squirrly SEO
Author(s): Squirrly
Current Version: 12.1.00
Last Updated: May 16, 2022
squirrly-seo.12.1.00.zip92%Ratings200,000+InstallsWP 4.3+Requires
Squirrly SEO is a beginner-friendly SEO tool that generates recommendations in real-time. It enables you to optimize content for your chosen keyword as you’re writing your content. Also, it provides a competitor analysis with suggestions of what you can improve to outrank similar pages.
Besides that, Squirrly SEO comes with innovative features to help with your marketing efforts. For instance, it measures your audience engagement and offers actionable advice to improve your click-through rates (CTRs). Plus, it will transfer all your pre-existing settings if you switch from another SEO plugin.
Other features include:
- Schema markup
- Free coaching sessions
- ‘Noindex’ options
- Advanced eCommerce features
- Google Analytics integration
- Custom Robot.txt for site crawlers
- Sitemap XML
- Social media monitoring
Pricing: Free.
If you want to access the advanced features, pricing starts at $20.99 per month.Get Squirrly SEOGo to top
5. SEOPress
Author(s): SEOPress
Current Version: 5.7
Last Updated: May 13, 2022
SEOPress is a powerful plugin that’s completely white-labeled and free from ads. It comes with comprehensive features that enable you to fully optimize your site. As such, you can build your custom XML sitemap, manage redirections, analyze content based on keywords, and more.
The plugin is fully integrated with Google Analytics, enabling you to track your SEO efforts. Additionally, its content analysis tool will provide optimization tips to help you write better posts. Developers will be able to apply additional hooks to customize the plugin fully as well.
Beyond that, it also provides features such as:
- Intuitive setup wizard
- Support for unlimited keywords
- Image SEO
- Social media monitoring
- Dynamic titles and meta descriptions
- Custom canonical URLs
- ‘Noindex’ support
- Free SEO tutorials
Pricing: Free.
The premium version costs $39 per year and is suitable for multiple sites. It comes with advanced features for WooCommerce, breadcrumb optimization, and more.Get SEOPressGo to top
6. Rank Math
Rank Math SEO – Best SEO Plugin For WordPress To Increase Your SEO Traffic
Author(s): Rank Math
Current Version: 1.0.88.1
Last Updated: May 4, 2022
Our final recommendation is Rank Math, a feature-rich SEO plugin that’s easy to use. It comes with an intuitive setup wizard and smart automation features that will help beginners optimize their content in a few clicks.
Rank Math is also integrated with Google Search Console and keyword ranking tools, which is useful if you want to stay ahead of your competitors. Besides that, its built-in 404 monitor helps you resolve errors for a better user experience. Plus, its module-based system enables you to pick the features you need without overloading your site with unnecessary functions.
Some other key features include:
- Schema markup
- Support for unlimited keywords
- Advanced SEO auditing
- Redirect manager
- Local SEO
- Breadcrumbs optimization
- Internal linking suggestions
- XML sitemap
- Image SEO
Pricing: Free.
There’s also a premium version, which starts at $59 per year. It lets you track up to 1,000 keywords and adds other advanced SEO features.
Improve your SEO with these plugins today
SEO is an essential activity for any site owner. Fortunately, this is now an easy task for WordPress users thanks to the vast array of SEO plugins. The right tool can help you stay on top of your meta descriptions, optimize content to rank for your chosen keyword, create XML sitemaps, and more.Improve your rankings with these #WordPress #SEO plugins
In this article, we’ve discussed six of the best WordPress SEO plugins to help you with these tasks. Yoast SEO is the go-to solution for many, but All In One SEO and Rank Math include comparable feature sets.
For some tips on how to get started with your chosen SEO plugin, check out these articles:
- Essential SEO settings for new blogs
- Our SEO checklist
Conclusion
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below.
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