12 Best WordPress SEO Plugins [Only List You Need to Improve Rankings in 2024]

I know finalizing the SEO plugins for a WordPress website is a task of HUGE Confusion. Isn’t it? 

There are so many options out there.

The worst part is that they all seem to do pretty much the same thing, with just a few small differences.

So, how do you decide?

Well, I am not throwing any random SEO plugins on my list. 

Instead, I’ll share the ones I actually use on my own site. Besides my top 5 choices, you won’t need any other SEO plugin because the ones I’m recommending cover everything from On-Page SEO to Site Audit, Schema Optimization, Sitemap creation, Image SEO, and more.

That means you don’t have to waste time trying out other plugins.

While I do pay for the premium versions of these plugins for my WordPress site to access all the features, the free versions still offer plenty of help. I only choose plugins where even the free version is really useful.

So, think of this post as your checklist for installing SEO plugins on your journey to improving your WordPress site. My goal is to provide you with a list of the best SEO plugins for WordPress that are highly necessary for your site.

Ready to go?

List of 12 Best SEO plugins for WordPress in 2024 [My Top Picks]

Without SEO, you can’t build a profitable online business in 2024 and beyond.

In this section, we are listing 2 types of SEO plugins:

• Category 1: SEO Suite based plugins that have many SEO tools built-in, installing them can eliminate the need for many plugins.

• Category 2: Miscellaneous SEO plugins: These are plugins that are known for their specific tasks. For example, WP Rocket is known for being a performance optimization plugin.

By considering these categories, here are the best SEO plugins for WordPress in 2024:

1. Rank Math SEO: Money Value SEO Suite Plugin

I have been using Rank Math on my site for a long time. I migrated here from the Yoast SEO plugin.

Why?

It has 15+ built-in SEO modules that cover everything from generating Schema and Sitemaps to editing Robot.txt files, optimizing images, and even handling Local SEO and WooCommerce SEO.

You can do a basic post SEO to advance level On-Page SEO with this plugin.

The reason to list Rank Math SEO plugin #1 in the list is not only because it’s free but it offers some AMAZING features. In fact, what Yoast SEO plugin offers its features in the premium version is what you can get for free in the Rank Math plugin.

The plugin offers you incredible features including;

• You can do a basic SEO like controlling the meta tags of a post including meta titles, meta description, post index/no index, more.
• You can run a detailed SEO analysis based on 30+ factors
• You get an AI assistant
• You can integrate Google Analytics & GSC and simplify data in a much better way
• You can use Rank Tracker and see how your keywords are fluctuating in SERP
• You can use a Schema generator for structured data optimization
• You can generate an XML sitemap
• You can optimize your content for up to 5 keywords
• You can get Google, Facebook, and Twitter previews
• You will get LSI keyword suggestions for each post
• You can easily redirect using their Redirect Manager module
• You’ll get automatic interlinking suggestions for links to other pages on your website, as you write.
• You can easily monitor your 404 page so you don’t lose visitors because they get stuck on a 404 Not Found pages
• More…

Above all, you can easily track your keyword positions on Google (you just need to connect your Google search console account). 

Such advanced functionality is seen only in premium SEO tools like Semrush. But Rank Math is giving you without charging extra money.

Rank Math offers so many features in a module form that you can quickly disable those which you don’t need at a time. 

I found their setup wizard really useful for getting started quickly. Otherwise, beginners might feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of settings.

Not just the default Gutenberg editor, Rank Math works properly on popular wordpress page builders like Elementor and Divi. 

So yes, when a plugin offers you a plethora of benefits, you should definitely give it a try. 

You can also read our Rank Math SEO Plugin review to know more about the plugin and its benefits.

Pros:

• Setup wizard makes a beginner life easy
• Compatibility is great, Rank Math works on all popular themes
• Offers so many features at the cheapest price in the market
• Very lightweight plugin
• Migrate from other SEO plugins to Rank Math is possible

Cons:

• You might end up not using all the features it has offered.

Pricing:

Personally, I must say that the Rank Math free version lacks many On-page SEO features. Without a pro version, you will feel empty. If you wish you can buy Rank Math Pro, starting from just $4.92/month (the cheapest in the market).

2. WordPress SEO by Yoast: Oldest Player

We can’t ignore the Yoast SEO plugin, can we?

This is a popular & oldest SEO plugin that is used by millions of bloggers to grow their search engine traffic. 

It is downloaded by over 10 million bloggers and webmasters, it says all about the importance of using this plugin to boost search engine traffic.

This plugin gives you a snippet preview on how your content, headline, etc. gets viewed in the search results so that you can optimize your headlines and meta description accordingly.

The best thing I find about Yoast is that you get exactly the features you need. Their main plugin, known as the “Yoast premium plugin”, provides essential on-page SEO functions.

Apart from the primary Yoast Plugin, you can purchase add-ons like Local SEO, News SEO, and Video SEO separately, according to your requirements. Distributing functionality through add-ons keeps your primary plugin simple, a feature we don’t see in the Rank Math plugin.

With Yoast, you can customize your plugin by using add-ons according to your needs, and embedding extra features. 

Still, When it comes to the number of features, Yoast’s free version doesn’t match up well compared to free versions of other SEO suites.

Key Features of Yoast SEO Plugin:

• Yoast has now adapted AI to generate optimized SEO titles & meta description
• The setup wizard is provided for simple & smooth configuration
• Users using other SEO plugins can easily migrate to Yoast without losing the data and settings
• You can configure canonical tags, sitemaps, and schema data structure as well
• The premium version allows you to optimize 5 keywords at a time
• The automatic redirection feature is inbuilt
• Yoast has a capability to provide internal link suggestions in a real-time
• Yoast is known for their unique advanced content SEO analysis feature. It not only guide you to produce SEO optimized content but also helps in improving the readability of the content
• Semrush integration is available, now users can do the keyword research right into the Yoast
• Rank tracking is possible through Wincher integration
• More…

Pros:

• Yoast is a much more secure platform than any other SEO plugin in the WordPress space
• Offering a simple experience by not just giving entire features at once.
• Offers a unique SEO content analysis feature no other plugin is giving
• Migration from Rank Math, AIOSEO, and other popular SEO plugins is possible

Cons:

• Little bit expensive
• The free version lacks so many features and hence it is not worth it to grab.

Pricing:

The main “Yoast SEO premium” plugin costs $99/year. If you want to purchase any add-ons in addition to this, their charges will be separate. And if you want to get the entire Yoast bundle (Premium plugin + All add-ons), it will cost you $229/year.

Read: Yoast SEO Premium plugin vs Free Version

3. AISEO (All in One SEO): Alternative SEO Suite Plugin

AIOSEO is the last plugin we would like to share in an SEO pack category. 

Well compared to Rank Math & Yoast, AIOSEO is ahead in terms of beginner friendliness. Because of such a factor, it got over 3 million plus downloads on WordPress.

If you are a complete novice, then you will find the AIOSEO user interface, and SEO process much better. Also, it is cheapest in terms of installing only 1 personal website.

The AIOSEO free version is far better than the Yoast free version. However, Rank Math is still on the top in terms of overall feature count. 

During our review process, We found that AIOSEO has the most number of possible integrations with third party tools. They include:

• Integration with Insert headers & footers plugin
• Integration with all webmasters tools including GSC, Bing SEO, Yandex, Baidu, GA, and more
• Social media integration
• Google AMP integration
• Semrush integration
• ChatGPT integration
• Microsoft clarity integration
• And more

When looking at the development pace, AIOSEO emerges as the most dynamic SEO plugin. With 2-3 updates released monthly, it’s constantly evolving with new features being added rapidly.

AIOSEO features inventory is rich. In the free version, you get:

• Schema markup (Supported all types)
• You can optimize the content for unlimited keywords
• Google keyword rank tracking is possible without any third party tools
• Common On-Page SEO tools like XML sitemap generator, interlinking, SEO audit, AI meta title generator, Redirection, 404 monitor, and More.
• TOC is inbuilt
• Knowledge graph support
• Optimization for Google Site links 
• Local SEO
• WooCommerce SEO
• Robot.txt editor
• More…

Pros:

• Include all On-Page SEO features possible in an SEO plugin.
• Designed by keeping beginners in mind
• The free version is valuable, and users often find it sufficient without requiring updates.

Cons:

• Didn’t like the pricing plan structure. In the starting plan, you only get one website where AIOSEO can be installed.

Pricing:

AIOSEO has 4 plans, starting from 1 website ($49.60/year) and going up to 100 site installs ($299.60/year). 

So, these are the main SEO suite plugins for your WordPress site. We recommend Rank Math as it offers maximum money value and in-house maximum features.

Out of these 3, you only need to install one plugin.

Now it’s time to explore miscellaneous SEO plugins that further optimize your Site SEO and ultimately help improve your rankings.

4. W3 Total Cache: Best Free Performance Plugin

So you have seen On Page SEO plugins so far?

But what about the performance of your site? The slow site never ranks well on Google. For lightning speed, you need a performance optimization plugin.

And if the free option is the priority, Then W3 Total Cache comes into play. 

It nullifies all the caches on your site and gives you minimal loading time for a better user experience. This plugin is used by almost every blog in the WordPress community.

This plugin is recommended by top web hosts like Page.ly, Synthesis, Dream Host, Media Temple, GoDaddy, Hostgator, and countless more. 

This plugin increases your website server performance and reduces the download times by providing transparent content delivery network (CDN) integration.

Recommended Reading: Know why W3 Total Cache is Better Than WP Super Cache

5. WP Rocket: Ultra Level Performance Optimization Plugin

Not able to satisfy with W3 Total cache or any other free performance plugin?

Well, WP Rocket is the fully-fledged paid performance optimization plugin you should try to achieve the highest performance scores. It has the power to make all metrics green.

I am using it on my site.

Every bit you invest in this plugin is worth it for your site. (The plans start from $59/year)

After using it, I realized its main benefits include easy setup and significant improvements in loading times. Users appreciate WP Rocket for its user-friendly interface and various caching features like browser caching and compression, which enhance website speed and user experience.

One reason to choose WP Rocket is its ability to instantly improve website performance without needing technical skills. 

However, it’s pricier compared to other caching plugins, which might be a drawback for some users who prefer free options. Despite this, WP Rocket remains a top choice for website owners looking to optimize their WordPress sites.

Read: WP Rocket Plugin Review: Is it Really Worth it?

6. Broken Link Checker: Link Audit SEO Plugin

Another useful plugin for technical SEO audits is Broken Link Checker.

Imagine having thousands of links on your site… Who knows which might be dead today or tomorrow?

Here comes this Broken Link Checker plugin.

Broken links or dead links are dangerous as they can kill your SERP rankings (Google penalizes sites that have dead links or broken links). So make sure to fix all the dead and broken links on your sites if you are concerned about getting more search engine traffic.

One of the easiest ways to find and fix broken links is to use the top SEO plugin in the WordPress directory, “broken link checker”.

This plugin thoroughly monitors your site and it will check your posts, comments, and other content for broken links and missing images, and notify you if any dead links are found.

The best part of this plugin is it is absolutely free of cost.

Here are some of the benefits of using this plugin:

• Monitors links in your posts, pages, comments, and custom fields.
• Detects links that don’t work, missing images, and redirects.
• Notifies you either via the Dashboard or by email.
• Makes broken links display differently in posts (optional).
• Prevents search engines from following broken links (optional).
• You can search and filter links by URL, anchor text, and so on.
• Links can be edited directly from the plugin’s page, without manually updating each post.
• Highly configurable as per your SEO needs.

However, one drawback is its potential impact on website performance due to continuous scanning. To maintain performance, make sure to use performance oriented web hosting like Kinsta.

7. WP Review Pro: Review Optimization Plugin

Are you into product review content? Well, you can’t miss this WP Review Pro plugin. This is another plugin we have been using on our site for a long time. 

We tested a lot of review plugins but finally settled on this one created by My Theme Shop.

Investing $67/per year into this plugin helps you get better rich snippets for your targeted keywords. A rich snippet is basically a short summary of your page in the search results of Google which usually includes star ratings, author photos, images, etc.

This plugin helps in getting better click-through rates which further increase your search traffic so make sure to grab it from the link below.

8. Google Analytics by MonsterInsights

We have integrated GA into our site using a manual approach (coding). But if you are not a coding person, then this plugin is for you.

We all know how important it is to install Google Analytics for our websites. But it’s always a pain to go to Google Analytics to check your traffic metrics. This problem gets solved by the MonsterInsights plugin which gives you instant access to your Google Analytics without from your WordPress dashboard itself.

Simply install the plugin, connect it to your Google Analytics account, and boom you can start tracking and checking your website traffic metrics whenever you want instantly from your dashboard.

With this incredible WordPress SEO plugin, you don’t need to wait till the next day to find out about traffic spikes or potential problems. You can get real-time stats along with the demographics.

9. Smush Image Compression SEO Plugin

Next plugin I use on my site is Smush, which is for optimizing the images and improving the performance. You cannot live without an image compression plugin.

Compressing the images that you use within your content can be so helpful for you in getting better rankings and more importantly, images with fewer sizes so your pages load really faster. This plugin is helpful in compressing your images without losing most of their quality.

Here are some of the benefits of using this plugin:

• Easily optimize your images using advanced lossless compression techniques.
• You can set maximum width and height and large images will automatically scale before being added to your media library Process JPEG, GIF, and PNG image files (this is an awesome feature so you can automatically scale your images without wasting your time).
• You can optimize any image in any directory from your sites (you can even access all of your pre-used images to compress all of them at once).
• Asynchronously auto-smush your attachments for super fast compression on upload.
• Manually smush your attachments individually in the media library, or in bulk 50 attachments at a time.
• You can easily smush all standard images that are 1MB or smaller in size.

This plugin is free until you scoop out the entire credits. Its plans are not pricey as well – start from $3/month.

10. Redirection

The Redirection plugin by John is another open-source gem people are still using if they don’t primarily have a SEO suite installed on the WordPress site.

If you’ve been running a website for some time, you already know the pain of 404 error pages, deal links broken pages, etc. They are not only bad for your audience but also hurt your website rankings because Google won’t tolerate sites with huge 404 error pages or broken pages.

You need to find and fix those broken pages as soon as possible. With this plugin, you can easily manage 301 redirects, keep track of 404 errors, and manage all your broken pages at once.

You can simply redirect your broken pages to some other high-performing pages for better rankings and you can easily keep track of all your 301 redirects in one place.

11. Schema & Structured  Data for WP & AMP Plugin

Not using any SEO suite plugin for schemas? Well, you can use this Schema plugin in that case. It has 30+ schemas supported and you can create custom schemas as well.

Its key benefits include support for over 35 schema types, covering articles, products, events, and more, all following Schema.org guidelines. 

With features like conditional display options, knowledge base support, and full compatibility with AMP plugins, it’s suitable for optimizing both desktop and mobile versions of websites. 

While the plugin offers extensive functionality, some users may find its setup and settings overwhelming, especially if new to structured data markup. That’s why I am using Rank Math in which the Schema configuration process is easier than I found anywhere else.

Talking about pricing, the full version of this plugin costs you $99 for a single license.

12. Table of Content Plus

The last must-have SEO plugin on your site is Table of Content Plus. It helps you in TOC creation for your posts and pages.

We have been using this and really liked the working of this plugin. You can use the shortcodes and customize the location of TOC anywhere you want.

You might find dozens of TOC plugins in WordPress, but this one which we are using is absolutely free of cost. Actually, this is one of the most underrated plugins you will find in WordPress. Most of the users fall into the paid TOC plugin, as they don’t know about this hidden gem.

Browse more WordPress Plugins:

• Best WordPress Plugins for massive traffic building on your blog

FAQs:

Final Words: Is There a Need for an SEO Plugin?

I feel great sharing my list of SEO plugins that I’m using on my WordPress site. Most of the plugins you’ve seen today are related to On-Page SEO & Technical SEO.

Most people think that they don’t need an SEO plugin. Well, they are right, and they really do not require an SEO plugin if they know how to perform common SEO tasks like Optimizing meta tags, Sitemap setup, Schemas setup, Optimizing content for keywords, Optimizing images, and more.

As I mentioned earlier, if you have an SEO suite (I am using Rank Math), you’ve already fulfilled 90% of the need for SEO plugins. Apart from that, the performance optimization plugins I’ve mentioned in this list (WP Rocket, Smush) are essential and cannot be avoided under any circumstances.

My only suggestion before using any top SEO WordPress plugin is that, know it well in advance. How the plugin functions, and who developed it as there are lots of plugin developers out there who are using bad practices to develop plugins and insert malicious codes. So beware of this fact before using any SEO plugin for WordPress sites.

How many of you are using the above-mentioned WordPress plugins? Do you have any more recommendations on new SEO plugins? Please share your thoughts in the comments.