6 Steps to Get AI to Recommend Your Brand

You don’t need an SEO plugin to help your website rank in Google.

In fact, you can do more harm than good if you don’t know what you’re doing with them.

But:

They can make optimizing your website a whole lot easier if you do use them correctly.

We’re talking:

• Faster page speeds
• Better optimized content
• Fewer technical SEO issues

All without touching any code.

So how do you choose which plugin to use? Can you use more than one?

And the big one — should you use Yoast or Rank Math?

You’ll get the answers to these burning questions below.

But first, here’s the tl;dr on the best SEO plugins for WordPress:

1. Rank Math

Best all-in-one SEO plugin for new WordPress sites

Pricing: Free version available; Pro plans start at $7.99/month billed annually

Rank Math has pretty much everything you need in an SEO plugin. If you’re new to SEO, it’ll handle all the important stuff for you, including:

• Content optimization
• Image SEO
• Internal and external linking
• Local SEO
• Schema markup
• Sitemaps
• Redirects

And way more.

It’s actually the go-to recommendation from our own Head of SEO, Leigh McKenzie:

“Rank Math is my no. 1 choice across the board. For any site starting from scratch, I’d always recommend Rank Math first.”

Manage Metadata and Social Previews

Rank Math lets you manage your page’s SEO title, [meta description](/content/hub/seo/meta-descriptions "How to Write SEO-Friendly Meta Descriptions"/index.html), and how it appears on social media — right within the post editor:

It also lets you preview what the post will look like when you share it on Facebook and X:

This gives you more control over how your content looks in [SERPs](/content/hub/seo/serps "What Are SERPs & Why Are They Important for SEO?"/index.html) and social feeds.

Get SEO Suggestions as You Write

Rank Math gives you SEO guidance as you’re creating your content in the WordPress editor.

It’ll highlight things like missing focus keywords in your meta description, intro, and throughout your content.

But honestly? I never use this feature.

Broken Links and Redirects

Rank Math flags broken links on your site using its built-in 404 Monitor.

You can then set up a [redirect](/content/redirects "Redirects 101: A Beginner’s Guide to Setup & Best Practices"/index.html) right from the dashboard.

Downsides But Not Dealbreakers

Rank Math clearly has a lot of features, which is great. But it can also feel overwhelming at first.

2. Yoast SEO

Best for beginners who want step-by-step SEO guidance inside WordPress

Pricing: Free version available; Premium starts at $99/year

Yoast SEO is installed on 10+ million sites. It’s been around for so long and has such a clear purpose that its WordPress plugin directory URL path is literally just “/wordpress-seo/”.

In summary: We usually recommend Rank Math for a first-time WordPress site owner.

Optimize Search and Social Previews

Like Rank Math, Yoast helps you optimize how your content appears both in search results and on social media.

Get Real-Time SEO and Readability Feedback

Yoast analyzes your SEO as you write, using a simple green/orange/red traffic light system.

Manage XML Sitemaps

Yoast creates a dynamic XML [sitemap](/content/hub/seo/sitemaps "Sitemap: What Is It & Why Your Website Needs One"/index.html) for your site and updates it as you publish new content.

Downsides But Not Dealbreakers

Yoast’s SEO scoring system can feel rigid.

3. WP Rocket

Best for improving your website speed without needing a developer

Pricing: $59/year for one website, $119/year for three websites

WP Rocket is probably my favorite of all the plugins on this list, even if it’s not technically the best overall.

Caching Made Simple

WP Rocket makes performance optimization easy.

File Optimization

You can also dig into advanced settings to minify your CSS and JavaScript, optimize images and fonts, and connect to a CDN.

Downsides But Not Dealbreakers

Some layout elements may break if you enable file optimization without adding exclusions.

4. The SEO Framework

Best lightweight, minimalist SEO plugin

Pricing: Free; paid plans start at $7/month (paid yearly)

The SEO Framework is a free and lightweight plugin for WordPress that quietly handles the SEO essentials.

Get Instant SEO Feedback

One of the SEO Framework’s most helpful features is the plugin’s color-coded SEO bar.

Automate SEO Title and Meta Description Generation

Once you find titles and meta descriptions to optimize, the SEO Framework automatically generates meta them based on your content.

Downsides But Not Dealbreakers

The SEO Framework is lightweight, which means it’s also feature-light.

5. Semrush SEO Writing Assistant

Best for optimizing your content for search right inside the WordPress editor

Pricing: Free, but you can optimize more content with an active Semrush subscription

Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant helps you optimize content as you write it inside the WordPress editor.

Optimize Your Readability

Semrush calls out exactly what you need to fix to improve your content’s readability.

Improve Your On-Page SEO

The plugin also provides clear [on-page SEO](/content/on-page-seo "On-Page SEO: The Definitive Guide + FREE Template"/index.html) recommendations based on your target keywords.

Analyze Your Tone of Voice

The Semrush SEO Writing Assistant shows whether your writing comes across as casual, formal, or somewhere in between.

Downsides But Not Dealbreakers

The Semrush SEO Writing Assistant is not a comprehensive SEO plugin. It focuses on optimizing content for search engines and doesn’t replace Yoast or Rank Math.

Ready to Choose the Right SEO Plugin for Your Website?

The right SEO plugin can massively improve your WordPress website’s performance.