{"id":29670,"date":"2019-08-22T15:03:05","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T23:03:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=29670"},"modified":"2025-12-18T09:16:12","modified_gmt":"2025-12-18T14:16:12","slug":"best-seo-plugins-for-wordpress","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/best-seo-plugins-for-wordpress\/","title":{"rendered":"15 Best SEO Plugins for WordPress (Tried &amp; Tested)"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"intro-txt\"> Looking to get your WordPress SEO off on the right foot, but feel overwhelmed by the number of SEO plugins available? Keep reading.<\/div>\n<p>Run a search for \u201cSEO\u201d in the <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WordPress plugins directory<\/a>,&nbsp;and you\u2019ll get 49 pages of results.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"330\" class=\"wp-image-29638\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/seo-plugins-wordpress.png\" alt=\"seo plugins wordpress\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/seo-plugins-wordpress.png 900w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/seo-plugins-wordpress-768x282.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/seo-plugins-wordpress-680x249.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><\/p>\n<p>There are 20 plugins per page, so that\u2019s 980 plugins! #overwhelming<\/p>\n<p>Now, I\u2019ll level with you: there\u2019s no such thing as a definitive list of the best SEO plugins for WordPress. These things are subjective.<\/p>\n<p>For that reason, the ones below are merely those I\u2019ve had good experiences with over the years, and some that we now use on the Ahrefs blog (which gets ~240k monthly visits from Google).<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s kick things off with the one you\u2019ve probably heard of already.<\/p>\n<div class=\"hub-link\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"SEO basics guide\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/svg\/6.svg\"><div class=\"hl-title\">New to SEO? Check out&nbsp;our<\/div><div class=\"hl-content\"><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/seo-basics\/\" target=\"_blank\">SEO basics guide<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n<div data-mode=\"normal\" data-oembed=\"1\" data-provider=\"youtube\" id=\"arve-youtube-cfi_jrvoqzk\" style=\"max-width:900px;\" class=\"arve\">\n<div class=\"arve-inner\">\n<div style=\"aspect-ratio:500\/281\" class=\"arve-embed arve-embed--has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"arve-ar\" style=\"padding-top:56.200000%\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<iframe allow=\"accelerometer 'none';autoplay 'none';bluetooth 'none';browsing-topics 'none';camera 'none';clipboard-read 'none';clipboard-write;display-capture 'none';encrypted-media 'none';gamepad 'none';geolocation 'none';gyroscope 'none';hid 'none';identity-credentials-get 'none';idle-detection 'none';keyboard-map 'none';local-fonts;magnetometer 'none';microphone 'none';midi 'none';otp-credentials 'none';payment 'none';picture-in-picture;publickey-credentials-create 'none';publickey-credentials-get 'none';screen-wake-lock 'none';serial 'none';summarizer 'none';sync-xhr;usb 'none';web-share;window-management 'none';xr-spatial-tracking 'none';\" allowfullscreen class=\"arve-iframe fitvidsignore\" credentialless data-arve=\"arve-youtube-cfi_jrvoqzk\" data-lenis-prevent data-src-no-ap=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/cFI_jRVOQZk?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"505.8\" loading=\"lazy\" name referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-presentation allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/cFI_jRVOQZk?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" title width=\"900\"><\/iframe><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>1. <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wordpress-seo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yoast SEO<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>Yoast SEO is one of the most popular WordPress SEO plugins, with more than five million active installations to&nbsp;date.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s also the \u201cmain\u201d SEO plugin we use on the Ahrefs Blog.<\/p>\n<p>What can you do with it? Lots of things.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Create an XML sitemap<\/li>\n<li>Verify your site in Webmaster Tools (Google, Bing, Baidu, Yandex, etc.)<\/li>\n<li>Exclude (\u201cnoindex\u201d) certain types of content from&nbsp;being indexed in search engine results (e.g., categories, tags, media&nbsp;pages)<\/li>\n<li>Create title and meta description templates<\/li>\n<li>Optimize your AMP pages. (You\u2019ll need <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/glue-for-yoast-seo-amp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Glue for Yoast and AMP<\/a>&nbsp;for that.)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>But that\u2019s all sitewide stuff. What about at the page-level?<\/p>\n<p>Yoast adds a meta SEO box to all posts and pages. Here, you can set custom title tags, <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/meta-description-study\/\">meta descriptions<\/a>, Open Graph Tags, canonicals, and <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/meta-robots\/\">meta robots tags<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"661\" height=\"386\" class=\"wp-image-29657\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/yoast-meta-box.png\" alt=\"yoast meta box\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"sidenote\"><div class=\"sidenote-title\">Sidenote.<\/div> It adds self-referencing canonicals by default, which is good SEO practice.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p>There\u2019s also a feature that shows how well the page is \u201coptimized\u201d for your target keyword.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"742\" height=\"552\" class=\"wp-image-29667\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/seo-analysis-yoast.png\" alt=\"seo analysis yoast\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/seo-analysis-yoast.png 742w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/seo-analysis-yoast-571x425.png 571w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 742px) 100vw, 742px\"><\/p>\n<p>However, we don\u2019t recommend paying much attention to&nbsp;this.<\/p>\n<p>The functionality is very basic and looks at things like the placement of exact-match keywords in titles, subheadings, and the content itself. None of these things are major ranking factors, and aiming for a perfect score will often make your content worse.<\/p>\n<p>The Readability analysis is slightly more useful, as this tells you how easy or difficult your content is to read (<a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/flesch-reading-ease\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Flesch Reading Ease score<\/a>). It also grades your sentence lengths, subheading distribution\u2014that kind of&nbsp;thing.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"762\" height=\"459\" class=\"wp-image-29662\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/yoast-readability.png\" alt=\"yoast readability\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/yoast-readability.png 762w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/yoast-readability-680x410.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 762px) 100vw, 762px\"><\/p>\n<p>Bottomline? Installing Yoast SEO is a good starting point for most WordPress site owners.<\/p>\n<h2>2. <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/all-in-one-seo-pack\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">All in One SEO&nbsp;Pack<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>The All in One SEO Pack has&nbsp;a lot of the same functionalities as Yoast SEO. It\u2019s just a little more customizable and has a few extra features.<\/p>\n<p>For example, you can use it&nbsp;to:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Edit your <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/robots-txt\/\">robots.txt file<\/a> via a user-friendly interface*<\/li>\n<li>Edit your .htaccess file without FTP*<\/li>\n<li>Block \u201cbad bots,\u201d including referral spam*<\/li>\n<li>Add <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/sitelinks\/\">sitelinks<\/a> search box markup<\/li>\n<li>Autogenerate meta descriptions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<div id=\"attachment_29650\" style=\"width: 607px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29650\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29650\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/htaccess-all-in-one-seo.png\" alt width=\"597\" height=\"289\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-29650\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Editing .htaccess using the All in One SEO&nbsp;Pack.<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"sidenote\"><div class=\"sidenote-title\">Sidenote.<\/div> All features marked with (*) require a free&nbsp;addon.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p>It also has support for AMP, meaning that it integrates with <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/amp\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">the official AMP WordPress plugin<\/a>&nbsp;out of the&nbsp;box.<\/p>\n<h2>3. <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/seo-by-rank-math\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rank Math<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>Rank Math is perhaps the most powerful WordPress SEO plugin on the market.<\/p>\n<p>It pulls off the rare feat of being feature-packed <em>and<\/em>&nbsp;user-friendly. There\u2019s even a setup wizard that guides you through the installation process, and it has the nicest UI of the&nbsp;bunch.<\/p>\n<p>So what does it have that Yoast and the other competitors don\u2019t&nbsp;have?<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Google Search Console integration<\/li>\n<li>Redirection (301, 302, 307, 410,&nbsp;451)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/rich-snippets\/\">Rich snippets markup<\/a> (14&nbsp;types).<\/li>\n<li>Card previews for Facebook and Twitter<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It also has a 404 error monitor, which looks for visitors hitting 404 (dead) pages and then lets you know the URLs and number of times they\u2019ve been&nbsp;hit.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"342\" class=\"wp-image-29639\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/404-monitor-rank-math.png\" alt=\"404 monitor rank math\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/404-monitor-rank-math.png 900w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/404-monitor-rank-math-768x292.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/404-monitor-rank-math-680x258.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><\/p>\n<p>You can then eliminate these issues by <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/fix-broken-links\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">redirecting or reinstating the dead page<\/a> or removing internal links to the 404. Rank Math even tells you the referrer so you can see where the link was clicked.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re looking to migrate to RankMath, you can import your existing settings from Yoast or All in One SEO&nbsp;Pack.<\/p>\n<h2>4. <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/autodescription\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">The SEO Framework<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>The SEO Framework is yet another strong alternative to Yoast and the All in One SEO&nbsp;Pack.<\/p>\n<p>Functionality-wise, it doesn\u2019t have much that the others don\u2019t have, although it is more lightweight.<\/p>\n<h2>5. <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/easy-table-of-contents\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Easy Table of Contents<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>Google <a href=\"https:\/\/webmasters.googleblog.com\/2009\/09\/using-named-anchors-to-identify.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">recommends<\/a>&nbsp;breaking long pieces of content into logical sections with associated on-page anchors.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Ensure that long, multi-topic pages on your site are well-structured and broken into distinct logical sections. Second, ensure that each section has an associated anchor with a descriptive name (i.e., not just \u201cSection 2.1\u201d), and that your page includes a \u201ctable of contents\u201d which links to the individual anchors.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That\u2019s what this plugin does\u2014it adds a table of contents to your posts and pages to make them easier to navigate.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s what it looks like in action:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"369\" height=\"229\" class=\"wp-image-29666\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/table-of-contents.png\" alt=\"table of contents\"><\/p>\n<p>Because a table of contents makes long pages less daunting, it can have a positive knock-on effect on SEO and improve things like time on page, <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/bounce-rate\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">bounce rate<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/glossary\/dwell-time\" data-ahr=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/dwell-time\/\">dwell time<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It can also help you win jump links in the SERP, which may increase your&nbsp;CTR.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"614\" height=\"145\" class=\"wp-image-29652\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/jump-links-serp.png\" alt=\"jump links serp\"><\/p>\n<p>As for the plugin itself, it\u2019s super customizable.<\/p>\n<p>You can choose precisely where it gets inserted, the types of headers (H2, H3, etc.) to be included in the anchors, and also whether it appears on all pages or just&nbsp;some.<\/p>\n<h2>6. <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/broken-link-checker\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Broken link checker<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>The Broken Link Checker looks for&nbsp;broken links on your website\u2014both internal and external.<\/p>\n<p>If it finds any, it tells you the <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/http-status-codes\/\">HTTP status code<\/a> (e.g., 404, 410), <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/anchor-text\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">anchor text<\/a> and source of the link. That makes it easy to find and&nbsp;fix.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"231\" class=\"wp-image-29664\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/broken-link-checker.png\" alt=\"broken link checker\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/broken-link-checker.png 900w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/broken-link-checker-768x197.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/broken-link-checker-680x175.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><\/p>\n<p>Because the plugin runs in the background all the time, it can continuously check for broken links and alert you by email should any pop-up.<\/p>\n<p>But perhaps the best feature is that you can fix links in a couple of clicks, and in&nbsp;bulk.<\/p>\n<p>For example, here\u2019s a broken link that the plugin found on my website. If I click \u201cunlink,\u201d then the dead link will be removed from the&nbsp;post.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"460\" height=\"131\" class=\"wp-image-29644\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/unlink-broken-link-checker.png\" alt=\"unlink broken link checker\"><\/p>\n<p>Perhaps even more useful is the fact that it suggests replacement links, and you can swap out the dead link for a working one in one click\u2014without ever having to dig into the post itself.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"625\" height=\"260\" class=\"wp-image-29668\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/update-link.png\" alt=\"update link\"><\/p>\n<p>It also tells you about <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/301-redirects\/\">301 redirects<\/a>, and there\u2019s also an option to fix those in bulk by replacing the redirect link with the final destination URL.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"536\" height=\"99\" class=\"wp-image-29669\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/fix-redirect.png\" alt=\"fix redirect\"><\/p>\n<p>So, what\u2019s the downside?<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, the plugin can slow down your website and use a lot of bandwidth. It\u2019s not something that we would recommend running if you have super cheap or slow hosting. In fact, one user <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/support\/topic\/slows-down-site-8\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">reported<\/a>&nbsp;losing around 20% of his traffic when running the plugin\u2014presumably because it has a negative effect on site speed for other&nbsp;users.<\/p>\n<p>So your best bet is to run it every now and again and then deactivate in between.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommendation\"><div class=\"recommendation-title\">do you want to find broken links on your site without so much strain on your web server?<\/div><div class=\"recommendation-content\">\n<p>Crawl your website with a third-party tool like <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Ahrefs Site Audit<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>This looks for broken links on your website, plus over 100 other technical and on-site issues.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_29663\" style=\"width: 1009px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29663\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29663\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/external-404s-site-audit.png\" alt width=\"999\" height=\"521\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/external-404s-site-audit.png 999w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/external-404s-site-audit-768x401.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/external-404s-site-audit-680x355.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 999px) 100vw, 999px\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-29663\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Broken external 4XX links found via Ahrefs Site Audit&nbsp;tool.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<h2>7. <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/shortpixel-image-optimiser\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Shortpixel<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>Shortpixel compresses and optimizes the images on your website.<\/p>\n<p>Because images are usually the slowest files to load when someone visits your site, image optimization can have a noticeably positive effect on <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/core-web-vitals\/\" data-ahr=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/advanced-pagespeed-guide\/\">page speed<\/a>\u2014which is a ranking factor <a href=\"https:\/\/webmasters.googleblog.com\/2010\/04\/using-site-speed-in-web-search-ranking.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">as of 2010<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s super easy to use. Just install, choose your settings, and then it will automatically optimize and serve any images you upload in the future.<\/p>\n<p>Compression options available are lossy, glossy, and lossless, and it supports Retina 2x images.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"830\" height=\"436\" class=\"wp-image-29642\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/shortpixel-compression-options.png\" alt=\"shortpixel compression options\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/shortpixel-compression-options.png 830w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/shortpixel-compression-options-768x403.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/shortpixel-compression-options-680x357.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 830px) 100vw, 830px\"><\/p>\n<p>It works with JPG, PNG, GIF, PDF documents. There\u2019s an option to convert to WebP, although that seems a bit hit and miss currently.<\/p>\n<p>For existing images, there\u2019s a bulk image optimizer. Run that, and it\u2019ll optimize all images already on your site in line with your settings.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"796\" height=\"275\" class=\"wp-image-29641\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/shortpixel-bulk.png\" alt=\"shortpixel bulk\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/shortpixel-bulk.png 796w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/shortpixel-bulk-768x265.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/shortpixel-bulk-680x235.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 796px) 100vw, 796px\"><\/p>\n<p>Shortpixel gives you 100 free credits per&nbsp;month.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/ewww-image-optimizer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">EWWW Image Optimizer<\/a>&nbsp;is your best bet if you\u2019re looking for a completely free alternative.<\/p>\n<h2>8. <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/a3-lazy-load\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">a3 Lazy&nbsp;Load<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>A3 Lazy Load is a simple plugin for enabling lazy-loading of images.<\/p>\n<p>Enable this, and images outside the viewport (visible area on the screen) won\u2019t get loaded until they become visible upon scrolling. This improves page speed, which, to reiterate, is a ranking factor.<\/p>\n<p>For the most part, it works out of the box. Just install and activate.<\/p>\n<p>If you want to exclude certain pages from lazy-loading images, that\u2019s possible in the settings.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"327\" height=\"304\" class=\"wp-image-29660\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/a3-page-exclusions.png\" alt=\"a3 page exclusions\"><\/p>\n<p>You can also exclude certain types of images from lazy-loading.<\/p>\n<p>For example, images in Gravatars.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"519\" height=\"362\" class=\"wp-image-29647\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/a3-lazy-load.png\" alt=\"a3 lazy load\"><\/p>\n<h2>9. <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/hreflang-tags-by-dcgws\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">HREFLANG Tags&nbsp;Lite<\/a><\/h2>\n<blockquote><p>Hreflang is an HTML attribute used to specify the language and geographical targeting of a webpage. If you have multiple versions of the same page in different languages, you can use the hreflang tag to tell search engines like Google about these variations. This helps them to serve the right version to their&nbsp;users.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Hreflang Tags Lite is super easy to use. Install it, then use the dropdown to add translated URLs to any page or&nbsp;post.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"653\" height=\"161\" class=\"wp-image-29665\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/hreflang-tags-lite.png\" alt=\"hreflang tags lite\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/hreflang-tags-lite.png 653w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/hreflang-tags-lite-650x161.png 650w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 653px) 100vw, 653px\"><\/p>\n<p>As you can see, you can also use it to set x-default tags.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, this isn\u2019t the most efficient way to add hreflang tags if you have a large site. But it works fine for smaller sites with a small amount of translated content.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s why we use it on the Ahrefs Blog.<\/p>\n<p>For example, here are the settings on <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wordpress-seo\/\">our full guide to WordPress SEO<\/a>, which we\u2019ve also translated to <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/de\/wordpress-seo\/\">German<\/a>&nbsp;and <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/es\/wordpress-seo\/\">Spanish<\/a>:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"770\" height=\"159\" class=\"wp-image-29648\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/hreflang-tags-wordpress-seo.png\" alt=\"hreflang tags wordpress seo\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/hreflang-tags-wordpress-seo.png 770w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/hreflang-tags-wordpress-seo-768x159.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/hreflang-tags-wordpress-seo-680x140.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 770px) 100vw, 770px\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"sidenote\"><div class=\"sidenote-title\">Sidenote.<\/div> For some reason, this plugin has some low reviews. But we use it on the Ahrefs blog, and it works just&nbsp;fine.&nbsp;<\/div>\n<p>Looking for something a little more robust for larger sites? Try <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/polylang\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Polylang<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>10. <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/redirection\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Redirection<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>Redirection is a simple plugin for implementing <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/301-redirects\/\">301 redirects<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Using it is super simple. Enter the source URL and target URL, then hit \u201cadd redirect.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"836\" height=\"438\" class=\"wp-image-29655\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/redirection.png\" alt=\"redirection\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/redirection.png 836w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/redirection-768x402.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/redirection-680x356.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 836px) 100vw, 836px\"><\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s also support for other 3XX redirects\u2026<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"645\" height=\"167\" class=\"wp-image-29659\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/3xx-redirects.png\" alt=\"3xx redirects\"><\/p>\n<p>\u2026as well as 4XX status codes:<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"605\" height=\"168\" class=\"wp-image-29653\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/4xx-status-codes.png\" alt=\"4xx status codes\"><\/p>\n<p>For more advanced users, there\u2019s the option to use regex matching for redirects, ignore trailing slashes, ignore <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/url-parameters\/\">URL parameters<\/a>, and so&nbsp;forth.<\/p>\n<p>Best of all, it\u2019s 100% free. There\u2019s no premium version.<\/p>\n<h2>11. <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wp-super-cache\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">WP Super&nbsp;Cache<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>Caching is critical if you want your website to load as fast as possible.<\/p>\n<p>What is caching? Here\u2019s<a href=\"https:\/\/winningwp.com\/what-is-website-caching-and-why-is-it-so-important\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">&nbsp;the best explanation<\/a>&nbsp;I\u2019ve found:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Normally, each time a browser requests a web page, the server has to do a bunch of complex (and time-consuming) calculations. It retrieves the latest posts, generates the header and footer, finds your site\u2019s sidebar widgets, and so on. However, in many cases, the result of all these calculations will be exactly the same. Wouldn\u2019t it be great, then, if we could simply make the server remember the final result, instead of processing each request separately? This\u2019s exactly what caching does!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>What WP Super Cache does, then, is create static HTML versions of all the dynamic content on your website. It then serves those pages to visitors instead of the slower-loading dynamic versions.<\/p>\n<p>The end result is the same, but web pages are served faster. It\u2019s a win-win.<\/p>\n<p>For most users, enabling the basic caching functionality is enough.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"577\" height=\"253\" class=\"wp-image-29654\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/caching-on.png\" alt=\"caching on\"><\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s <em>that<\/em>&nbsp;simple.<\/p>\n<p>For more technical users, there are some advanced settings to play around with (e.g., disabling caching for visitors who have a cookie set.)<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_29651\" style=\"width: 786px\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-29651\" class=\"size-full wp-image-29651\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/advanced-caching.png\" alt width=\"776\" height=\"553\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/advanced-caching.png 776w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/advanced-caching-768x547.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/advanced-caching-596x425.png 596w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 776px) 100vw, 776px\"><p id=\"caption-attachment-29651\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Some of the caching options for advanced users.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>An important thing to note when using a caching plugin like this is that you should clear the cache whenever you make a change on your site. Otherwise, it won\u2019t show up for visitors right&nbsp;away.<\/p>\n<h2>12. <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/autoptimize\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Autoptimize<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>Autoptimize minifies, compresses, and caches scripts and styles (i.e., CSS, Javascript, HTML,&nbsp;etc.).<\/p>\n<p>Long story short, it helps speed up your website.<\/p>\n<p>It also integrates with Shortpixel to optimize and convert images to WebP format, which are then cached and served from Shortpixel\u2019s global CDN to make things even faster. (This is entirely optional. Just select the checkbox in the settings to enable).<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"843\" height=\"458\" class=\"wp-image-29646\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/autooptimize.png\" alt=\"autooptimize\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/autooptimize.png 843w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/autooptimize-768x417.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/autooptimize-680x369.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 843px) 100vw, 843px\"><\/p>\n<p>There\u2019s also lazy-loading functionality built-in, and an option to optimize how Google Fonts are loaded.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"746\" height=\"189\" class=\"wp-image-29658\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/google-fonts-optimization.png\" alt=\"google fonts optimization\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/google-fonts-optimization.png 746w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/google-fonts-optimization-680x172.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 746px) 100vw, 746px\"><\/p>\n<h2>13. <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/really-simple-ssl\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Really Simple SSL<\/a><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/webmasters.googleblog.com\/2014\/08\/https-as-ranking-signal.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">HTTPS is a ranking factor<\/a>, so it\u2019s crucial that you have SSL in&nbsp;2019.<\/p>\n<p>LetsEncrypt offers SSL certificates for free, and a lot of hosts support this initiative. But installing an SSL certificate isn\u2019t all you need to do. You also need to permanently redirect the HTTP version of your site to the HTTPS version.<\/p>\n<p>Really Simple SSL makes this, well\u2026 simple. Just install, and check the box in the settings.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"312\" height=\"266\" class=\"wp-image-29645\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/really-simple-redirect.png\" alt=\"really simple redirect\"><\/p>\n<p>It can also help fix mixed content (i.e., when both secure and unsecure content is loaded over SSL) on your site, which is a common problem when making the switch. Once again, all you have to do is check a&nbsp;box.<\/p>\n<div class=\"recommendation\"><div class=\"recommendation-title\">IMPORTANT<\/div><div class=\"recommendation-content\">\n<p>Really Simple SSL does a good job of solving most issues that arise when moving from HTTP to&nbsp;HTTPs.<\/p>\n<p>But it isn\u2019t always perfect.<\/p>\n<p>For that reason, it\u2019s worth using a tool like <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-audit\">Ahrefs Site Audit<\/a>&nbsp;to check your site for any remaining SSL-related issues, even after installing and configuring this plugin.<\/p>\n<div data-mode=\"normal\" data-oembed=\"1\" data-provider=\"youtube\" id=\"arve-youtube-ljinwqfgyve\" style=\"max-width:900px;\" class=\"arve\">\n<div class=\"arve-inner\">\n<div style=\"aspect-ratio:500\/281\" class=\"arve-embed arve-embed--has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"arve-ar\" style=\"padding-top:56.200000%\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<iframe allow=\"accelerometer 'none';autoplay 'none';bluetooth 'none';browsing-topics 'none';camera 'none';clipboard-read 'none';clipboard-write;display-capture 'none';encrypted-media 'none';gamepad 'none';geolocation 'none';gyroscope 'none';hid 'none';identity-credentials-get 'none';idle-detection 'none';keyboard-map 'none';local-fonts;magnetometer 'none';microphone 'none';midi 'none';otp-credentials 'none';payment 'none';picture-in-picture;publickey-credentials-create 'none';publickey-credentials-get 'none';screen-wake-lock 'none';serial 'none';summarizer 'none';sync-xhr;usb 'none';web-share;window-management 'none';xr-spatial-tracking 'none';\" allowfullscreen class=\"arve-iframe fitvidsignore\" credentialless data-arve=\"arve-youtube-ljinwqfgyve\" data-lenis-prevent data-src-no-ap=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/LjinWqfGyVE?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"505.8\" loading=\"lazy\" name referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-presentation allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/LjinWqfGyVE?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" title width=\"900\"><\/iframe><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Doing this will uncover issues like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>HTTPS to HTTP redirects<\/li>\n<li>HTTP to HTTPS canonicals<\/li>\n<li>Internal links to HTTP&nbsp;pages<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<h2>14. <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/anti-spam\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Anti-spam<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>Anti-spam filters spam comments without requiring a captcha.<\/p>\n<p>Spam comments don\u2019t usually cause big SEO issues as long as the links in your comments section are <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/nofollow-links\/\">nofollowed<\/a>. But Google <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/webmasters\/answer\/81749?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">states<\/a>&nbsp;that comment spam is still harmful in several ways and that they might remove or demote pages overrun with user-generated spam to protect the quality of their search results.<\/p>\n<p>That means spammy comments can still negatively affect your SEO even if they\u2019re nofollowed.<\/p>\n<p>Luckily, the Anti-spam plugin makes avoiding spammy comments easy.<\/p>\n<p>Just install it, and you\u2019re off.<\/p>\n<h2>15. <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/rel-nofollow\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Rel NoFollow Checkbox<\/a><\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s easy enough to \u201cnofollow\u201d links in WordPress if you know HTML. Just add a rel=\u201cnofollow\u201d tag in the code\/text editor.<\/p>\n<p>But not everyone uses the code editor. Many prefer the visual editor.<\/p>\n<p>This plugin solves the problem by adding a \u201cnofollow\u201d checkbox to the WordPress UI.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"451\" height=\"185\" class=\"wp-image-29649\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/nofollow-wordpress.png\" alt=\"nofollow wordpress\"><\/p>\n<p>Check this to make any link nofollow.<\/p>\n<div class=\"sidenote\"><div class=\"sidenote-title\">Sidenote.<\/div> Rel NoFollow Checkbox only seems to work if you\u2019re using the <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/classic-editor\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Classic Editor <\/a>and not <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/gutenberg\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Gutenberg<\/a>. <\/div>\n<h2>Best SEO tips for WordPress<\/h2>\n<p>If <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-rank-higher-on-google\/\">ranking high in Google<\/a>&nbsp;were as easy as installing a few SEO plugins, then everyone with a WordPress website would be swimming in traffic.<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately, that\u2019s not the reality.<\/p>\n<p>We recently <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wix-seo\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">studied<\/a> 3.2 million WordPress sites and found that the majority get <strong>no<\/strong>&nbsp;organic traffic.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"886\" class=\"wp-image-29643\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/wordpress-vs-wix-traffic.jpg\" alt=\"wordpress vs wix traffic\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/wordpress-vs-wix-traffic.jpg 900w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/wordpress-vs-wix-traffic-768x756.jpg 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/wordpress-vs-wix-traffic-432x425.jpg 432w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t want to be part of that statistic?<\/p>\n<p>Follow these three simple SEO&nbsp;tips:<\/p>\n<h3>1. Do keyword research, <em>always<\/em><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-write-a-blog-post\/\">Writing blog posts<\/a>&nbsp;takes time\u2014a lot of&nbsp;time.<\/p>\n<p>Each post we publish on the Ahrefs Blog takes us between 15-20 hours to&nbsp;write.<\/p>\n<p>How do we make sure that time isn\u2019t wasted? By writing only about topics that we know people are searching for.<\/p>\n<p>How do we do that? By doing <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/keyword-research\" data-ahr=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-research\/\">keyword research<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div data-mode=\"normal\" data-oembed=\"1\" data-provider=\"youtube\" id=\"arve-youtube-x5ij0apr0eq\" style=\"max-width:900px;\" class=\"arve\">\n<div class=\"arve-inner\">\n<div style=\"aspect-ratio:500\/281\" class=\"arve-embed arve-embed--has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"arve-ar\" style=\"padding-top:56.200000%\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<iframe allow=\"accelerometer 'none';autoplay 'none';bluetooth 'none';browsing-topics 'none';camera 'none';clipboard-read 'none';clipboard-write;display-capture 'none';encrypted-media 'none';gamepad 'none';geolocation 'none';gyroscope 'none';hid 'none';identity-credentials-get 'none';idle-detection 'none';keyboard-map 'none';local-fonts;magnetometer 'none';microphone 'none';midi 'none';otp-credentials 'none';payment 'none';picture-in-picture;publickey-credentials-create 'none';publickey-credentials-get 'none';screen-wake-lock 'none';serial 'none';summarizer 'none';sync-xhr;usb 'none';web-share;window-management 'none';xr-spatial-tracking 'none';\" allowfullscreen class=\"arve-iframe fitvidsignore\" credentialless data-arve=\"arve-youtube-x5ij0apr0eq\" data-lenis-prevent data-src-no-ap=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/x5IJ0APR0EQ?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"505.8\" loading=\"lazy\" name referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-presentation allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/x5IJ0APR0EQ?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" title width=\"900\"><\/iframe><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>There\u2019s no one size fits all approach to doing that, but a good starting point is to type a handful of relevant words and phrases into a <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/free-keyword-research-tools\/\">keyword research tool<\/a>&nbsp;like <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/keywords-explorer\">Ahrefs Keywords Explorer<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>For example, if you had a fitness blog, you might enter words and phrases like:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>build muscle<\/li>\n<li>lose weight<\/li>\n<li>weight loss<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>From there, head to the \u201cQuestions\u201d report to see the questions people are asking, along with their monthly search volumes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"495\" class=\"wp-image-29661\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/questions-report-ideas.png\" alt=\"questions report ideas\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/questions-report-ideas.png 900w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/questions-report-ideas-768x422.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/questions-report-ideas-680x374.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"sidenote\"><div class=\"sidenote-title\">Sidenote.<\/div> Not an Ahrefs user? Try <a href=\"https:\/\/answerthepublic.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Answer the Public<\/a>.<\/div>\n<p>If your site is new and doesn\u2019t have much \u201cauthority\u201d yet, use the Keyword Difficulty (KD) filter to find some low-competition topics that should be easier to rank&nbsp;for.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"370\" class=\"wp-image-29637\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/kd-filter-questions-report.png\" alt=\"kd filter questions report\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/kd-filter-questions-report.png 900w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/kd-filter-questions-report-768x316.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/kd-filter-questions-report-680x280.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><\/p>\n<p>Found a topic that you want to write about? Follow <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/seo\/on-page-seo\" data-ahr=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/on-page-seo\/\">our on-page SEO guide<\/a>&nbsp;to give you the best chance of ranking.<\/p>\n<h3>2. Don\u2019t sleep on link building<\/h3>\n<p>Links are an important ranking factor.<\/p>\n<p>How do we know? Because Google is based on&nbsp;something called <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/google-pagerank\/\">PageRank<\/a>, which is effectively a way to use backlinks to rank pages on the&nbsp;web.<\/p>\n<p>Furthermore, we studied almost one billion web pages and found a clear correlation between links from unique websites (referring domains) and organic traffic.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"600\" class=\"wp-image-29636\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/referring-domains-vs-organic-search-traffic-ahrefs-content-explorer-1.png\" alt=\"referring domains vs organic search traffic ahrefs content explorer 1\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/referring-domains-vs-organic-search-traffic-ahrefs-content-explorer-1.png 900w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/referring-domains-vs-organic-search-traffic-ahrefs-content-explorer-1-768x512.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/referring-domains-vs-organic-search-traffic-ahrefs-content-explorer-1-638x425.png 638w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><\/p>\n<p>But how do you <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/high-quality-backlinks\/\">get more high-quality backlinks<\/a> to your WordPress website?<\/p>\n<p>Start with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=C5ddo63kHHI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">this video<\/a>:<\/p>\n<div data-mode=\"normal\" data-oembed=\"1\" data-provider=\"youtube\" id=\"arve-youtube-c5ddo63khhi\" style=\"max-width:900px;\" class=\"arve\">\n<div class=\"arve-inner\">\n<div style=\"aspect-ratio:500\/281\" class=\"arve-embed arve-embed--has-aspect-ratio\">\n<div class=\"arve-ar\" style=\"padding-top:56.200000%\"><\/div>\n<p>\t\t\t<iframe allow=\"accelerometer 'none';autoplay 'none';bluetooth 'none';browsing-topics 'none';camera 'none';clipboard-read 'none';clipboard-write;display-capture 'none';encrypted-media 'none';gamepad 'none';geolocation 'none';gyroscope 'none';hid 'none';identity-credentials-get 'none';idle-detection 'none';keyboard-map 'none';local-fonts;magnetometer 'none';microphone 'none';midi 'none';otp-credentials 'none';payment 'none';picture-in-picture;publickey-credentials-create 'none';publickey-credentials-get 'none';screen-wake-lock 'none';serial 'none';summarizer 'none';sync-xhr;usb 'none';web-share;window-management 'none';xr-spatial-tracking 'none';\" allowfullscreen class=\"arve-iframe fitvidsignore\" credentialless data-arve=\"arve-youtube-c5ddo63khhi\" data-lenis-prevent data-src-no-ap=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/C5ddo63kHHI?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" frameborder=\"0\" height=\"505.8\" loading=\"lazy\" name referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" sandbox=\"allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-presentation allow-popups allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/C5ddo63kHHI?feature=oembed&amp;iv_load_policy=3&amp;modestbranding=1&amp;rel=0&amp;autohide=1&amp;playsinline=0&amp;autoplay=0\" title width=\"900\"><\/iframe><\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Or read some of the blog posts&nbsp;below.<\/p>\n<div class=\"further-reading\"><div class=\"reading-title\">Further reading<\/div><div class=\"reading-content\">\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/link-building-strategies\/\">9 EASY Link Building Strategies (That ANYONE Can&nbsp;Use)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/resource-page-link-building\/\">Resource Page Link Building: The Only Guide You&nbsp;Need<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/how-to-get-backlinks\/\">How to Get Backlinks: 7 Tactics That Don\u2019t Require New Content<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/skyscraper-technique\/\">How to Execute the Skyscraper Technique (and Get Results)<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<h3>3. Use internal links to your advantage<\/h3>\n<p>Internal links are links from one page on the same domain to another.<\/p>\n<p>Google uses them to discover new content, and they also aid the flow of PageRank around your site. That\u2019s important because, as mentioned above, PageRank is the foundation of Google search.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s probably why <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/webmasters\/answer\/138752?hl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google says this<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The number of internal links pointing to a page is a signal to search engines about the relative importance of that&nbsp;page.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Unfortunately, Google discontinued public PageRank scores in 2016, so there\u2019s no way to see the PageRank of the pages on your&nbsp;site.<\/p>\n<p>But there are similar metrics around, such as Ahrefs\u2019 <a href=\"https:\/\/help.ahrefs.com\/en\/articles\/72658-what-is-ahrefs-url-rating\">URL Rating (UR)<\/a>\u2014a metric that shows the backlink \u201cauthority\u201d of a web page on a hundred-point scale.<\/p>\n<p>To see a web page\u2019s URL Rating, paste the URL into <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/site-explorer\">Ahrefs Site Explorer<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"167\" class=\"wp-image-29640\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/ur-score.png\" alt=\"ur score\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/ur-score.png 900w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/ur-score-768x143.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/ur-score-680x126.png 680w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><\/p>\n<p>According to our study of ~14 million web pages, there\u2019s a clear correlation between a page\u2019s URL Rating (UR) and organic search traffic.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"1033\" class=\"wp-image-29656\" src=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Ur_vs_search_traffic.png\" alt=\"Ur vs search traffic\" srcset=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Ur_vs_search_traffic.png 900w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Ur_vs_search_traffic-768x881.png 768w, https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/Ur_vs_search_traffic-370x425.png 370w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\"><\/p>\n<p>There are two ways to increase the UR of a&nbsp;page:<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Build backlinks to&nbsp;it<\/li>\n<li>Internally link to it from authoritative pages<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Learn the best way to do that in <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/internal-links-for-seo\/\">our guide to internal linking for SEO<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Final thoughts<\/h2>\n<p>WordPress SEO is no different from any other kind of&nbsp;SEO.<\/p>\n<p>For that reason, plugins will only get you so far. Sure, they make managing some technical and on-page aspects of your SEO easier, but that\u2019s not the be-all and end-all of&nbsp;SEO.<\/p>\n<p>New to WordPress SEO? <a href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wordpress-seo\/\">Start here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Got an SEO plugin to recommend that we missed? Let me know in the comments or <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/joshuachardwick?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">on Twitter<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Run a search for \u201cSEO\u201d in the WordPress plugins directory,&nbsp;and you\u2019ll get 49 pages of results. There are 20 plugins per page, so that\u2019s 980 plugins! #overwhelming Now, I\u2019ll level with you: there\u2019s no such thing as a definitive list<span class=\"ellipsis\">\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"read-more\">Read more \u203a<\/div>\n<p><!-- end of .read-more --><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":114,"featured_media":29703,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[335,329],"tags":[],"coauthors":[336],"class_list":["post-29670","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general-seo","category-technical-seo","odd"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>15 Best SEO Plugins for WordPress (Tried &amp; Tested)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Looking to rank your WordPress website higher in Google? Start with these 15 SEO plugins.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/best-seo-plugins-for-wordpress\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"15 Best SEO Plugins for WordPress (Tried &amp; Tested)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Kickstart your WordPress SEO with these 15 plugins.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/best-seo-plugins-for-wordpress\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SEO Blog by Ahrefs\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ahrefs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2019-08-22T23:03:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-18T14:16:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/fb-best-seo-plugins-for-wordpress-1.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1920\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"990\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joshua Hardwick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Kickstart your WordPress SEO with these 15 plugins.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@JoshuaCHardwick\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ahrefs\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/best-seo-plugins-for-wordpress\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/best-seo-plugins-for-wordpress\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Joshua Hardwick\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e6a89cbde8e750d22996aa26e213e712\"},\"headline\":\"15 Best SEO Plugins for WordPress (Tried &amp; Tested)\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-22T23:03:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-18T14:16:12+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/best-seo-plugins-for-wordpress\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":3104,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/best-seo-plugins-for-wordpress\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/fb-best-seo-plugins-for-wordpress-1.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"General SEO\",\"Technical SEO\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/best-seo-plugins-for-wordpress\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/best-seo-plugins-for-wordpress\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/best-seo-plugins-for-wordpress\\\/\",\"name\":\"15 Best SEO Plugins for WordPress (Tried & Tested)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/best-seo-plugins-for-wordpress\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/best-seo-plugins-for-wordpress\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/ahrefs.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/fb-best-seo-plugins-for-wordpress-1.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-08-22T23:03:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-12-18T14:16:12+00:00\",\"description\":\"Looking to rank your WordPress website higher in Google? 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