Best Free SEO Plugins for WordPress 2023 (Reviewed)

Every website owner knows that the best source of traffic is Search Engine Optimization also known as SEO, for WordPress users, implementing SEO on WordPress is super easy using plugins. 

In this article, we’ll discuss the best free SEO Plugins for WordPress in 2022, there are all available in the WordPress Repository and you may need to purchase a subscription to unlock more features. 

So here goes the big question, which a lot of people ask:

Do I Need SEO Plugins for WordPress?

You should, it makes the SEO job easier because most of them help you create SEO Content that’ll get you more traffic from Google. 

They help you add redirects and meta-tags to your website pages, so your site can display more rich content on Google Search. 

Though most people don’t like using SEO Plugins these days, it’s recommended you use them, I remember watching a video by Passive Income Geek (Morten) a while ago on YouTube and he described why he was no longer using WordPress SEO Plugins. 

Morten feels like the Google Search algorithm is now much smarter these days (and that is true), the bot goes through your content with a series of ranking factors and signals to determine whether your content is suitable for the searcher.

I noticed that Google changes my ‘meta description’ tag based on the keywords which the user searches, you know that one piece of content can rank or 100s if not 1000s of keywords. 

“If the algorithm can change my meta tag description, what’s the use of editing them in the first place, I just feel like Google knows what best to display and I’ll leave it at that” – Passive Income Geek. 

Nevertheless, I still encourage you to use WordPress SEO Plugins, even if it’s the free versions (that is.. the ones that I’ll mention below). 

Best Free SEO Plugins for WordPress

• Rank Math SEO 
• Yoast SEO
• All in One SEO
• The SEO Framework
• SEOPress
• Squirrly SEO
• XML Sitemaps
• Slim SEO
• SmartCrawl

Rank Math SEO

Rank Math SEO is the best free SEO plugin for WordPress, it significantly helps you boost your Website Traffic with its vast features. 

The one feature that makes Rank Math SEO stand out from the crowd is the Content AI, I love this feature, it gives you intelligent optimization settings for your article (basically what you need to outrank the top search results). 

For newbies, the free version of the Rank Math SEO Plugin comes with an easy-to-follow setup Wizard that pretty much sets up your WordPress website’s SEO for you. 

It also comes with an SEO Analyzer feature that’ll analyze your entire website for possible threats to your Google rankings while also giving you solutions.

Rank Math SEO Plugin for WordPress also features: 

1. Google Search Console and Analytics Data Integration.
2. Keyword and Rank Tracker.
3. Automated Image SEO.
4. Instant Indexing for Top Search Engines.
5. Advanced Watermark and Image filter settings.
6. Rich Snippets Generator.
7. Integrated Google Trends Insights.
8. Advanced SEO Analysis tool. 

With all these features I’ve listed, I wonder why you’re not yet using the Rank Math SEO Plugin because it’s simply the best in what it does. 

While you can use the free version of this plugin, I believe buying a premium subscription will do you more good as you get access to every feature, most especially Content AI. 

Rank Math SEO Pro plans start from $129 per year to $999 per year (Agency Plan), the PRO plan is most suitable for Bloggers like me who don’t create websites for clients. 

If you purchase a Rank Math SEO premium subscription today, you can save up to 50% of the original plans, you can now get the PRO plan for just $59 per year. 

Yoast SEO

The oldest and most prolific WordPress SEO Plugin is the Yoast SEO Plugin, it also comes with an installation wizard, very much like the Rank Math SEO Plugin. 

The Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin analyses your content based on Readability and SEO so that your content has a higher probability to rank higher on Google. 

Yoast SEO does not come with the Google Analytics and Search Console feature like the Rank Math SEO Plugin, but it partnered with Wincher and Bertha AI to take you and your site to the next level. 

With The Wincher Integration, you can track your article’s keywords and its synonyms and receive daily, weekly or monthly changes straight to your inbox. 

The Bertha.AI partnership enables you to generate your site’s content using Artificial Intelligence, you can generate product descriptions, blog post topics, and paragraphs and also paraphrase already written text to sound better and rank better. 

Let’s take a look at some features of the Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin:

1. Automatic SEO Improvements.
2. XML Sitemaps.
3. Save Title and Meta Description tags as templates.
4. FAQ and How-to Content Blocks (Schema). 
5. Zapier Integration
6. Internal Links Suggestion

All these features and many more are available for free (up to an extent), the Yoast SEO Premium extends the functionality of the plugin and gets it in better shape. 

Purchasing Yoast SEO premium includes complimentary access to new features and tools as well as the Yoast SEO Academy which teaches newbies on-page and off-page SEO. 

Yoast SEO Premium slightly costs more than the Rank Math SEO plugins, it sells for $99 per year, you can start with the free version and then upgrade when you feel it’s necessary. 

All In One SEO

Talk about the third-best free SEO plugin for WordPress in 2022, the All in One SEO plugin is only one step behind the revolutionary Rank Math and Yoast SEO Plugins. 

Around 3 Million WordPress Website owners use All in One SEO to optimize their site’s content and get more traffic. This plugin has been around for over 15 years now… huge, isn’t it? 

All In One SEO also comes with a WordPress SEO Setup Wizard which helps you set up SEO on your website, just the way you want it… you’re totally in control. 

I love the TruSEO analysis feature which the All In One SEO comes with, it enables you to better optimize your pages and blog posts for more rankings and ease of reading for your visitors. 

The AIO SEO plugin seamlessly integrates with Social Media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and more.

According to the developers, this helps you control how your content looks both on the search and on Social Media Platforms like the ones mentioned earlier.

Some Unique Features of the All In One SEO WordPress Plugin:

1. Easy Connection with Webmaster Tools.
2. RSS SEO Sitemap.
3. Advanced Redirection Manager.
4. Google AMP SEO.
5. Link Assistant. 
6. Headline Analyzer. 

These features and many more are what you’ll get by using the All In One SEO WordPress Plugin, you can install the plugin via the WordPress Repository. 

But if you want to get the best SEO optimization possible, going for the premium version is most advisable. 

AIO SEO Basic plan sells for $49.50/yr and it contains all the addons you need to rank your site higher in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page). 

The SEO Framework 

With over 100,000 WordPress site owners actively using this plugin, it’s one of the best free SEO plugins for WordPress in 2022. It’s fast, automated, and very easy to use. 

Yes… The Plugin comes pre-configured, so you don’t need any more optimizations, this is great for SEO newbies, but this doesn’t mean that you can’t configure it to meet your standards. 

Even if you’ve been using other SEO Plugins like Rank Math, Yoast SEO, and All In One SEO, The SEO Framework Plugin has a feature that allows you to import your data from them, so don’t worry about switching. 

The SEO Framework Plugin boasts complete features, let’s take a look at some of them:

1. Meta Data Optimization.
2. Title tags and Meta Description Auto Generated. 
3. Google AMP SEO. 
4. Supports WordPress MultiSite.
5. BreadCrumbs.
6. Seamlessly Integrates with your WordPress Dashboard. 

To expand the functionality of the SEO Framework Plugin, the developers designed a sister plugin known as the ‘Extensions Manager’, this gives you access to premium functionality for a free or little fee. 

SEOPress 

You simply cannot talk about the Best Free SEO tools for WordPress in 2022 without mentioning SEOPress, an SEO plugin built for on-page optimization. 

The SEOPress Plugin does all the job for you so that you can focus on the other important aspects which include marketing, link building, and many others. 

I love this plugin because it fully supports the best WordPress Page Builder Plugins, it works with them to make sure that all your pages are optimized to rank higher and get you more traffic. 

You don’t need to know how to code to use this plugin, it also comes with free and advanced tutorials to make sure that you can use the amazing plugin much easier than you can recite the English alphabet. 

Let’s take a look at some of the features of SEOPress which more than 200,000 WordPress Website Owners love:

1. Index now and Google Indexing API.
2. Quick Installation Wizard helps you set up.
3. SEO Content Analysis. 
4. Integrates with Microsoft Clarity, to help you understand how users interact with your site. 
5. XML Sitemaps optimized for Images.
6. Image SEO.
7. Import Meta Data from other SEO Plugins.

The free version of the SEOPress plugin is available in the WordPress Repository for download, but if you want to take your SEO to the next level, you have to go for the PRO Version. 

SEOPress is one of the most affordable SEO Plugins for WordPress, it’s available for just $49/yr, and the plugin is even recommended by one of the World’s most renowned SEO Experts, Neil Patel. 

Squirrly SEO 

With over 650 features already pre-packaged and ready for activation, Squirrly SEO took the SEO Plugins Industry by surprise. 

Unlike other SEO Plugins mentioned in this article, Squirrly SEO scans through your article and gives you custom recommendations that’ll make your content rank higher in the SERPS. 

With the free plugin, you can perform Keyword Research and find long-tail keywords which your site can rank for, optimize your content, track your keyword rankings, and many more. 

Here are features you’ll get access to after installing Squirrly SEO Plugin on your WordPress Website: 

1. SEO Suggestions
2. SEO Audit
3. GSC and GA Integration
4. Keyword Rank Tracking
5. Advanced Schema Generator
6. Keyword Research tool
7. AI assistant for newbies

As you may have noticed, Squirrly SEO comes with unique features that no other plugin offers and as usual, the free version is available on the WordPress Repository. 

I suggest you go for the premium version, and as you know by now, this plugin lets you do everything from keyword research to your article going live, so it covers the money you’re supposed to spend on tools like SEMRush, Ahrefs, Ubersuggest, etc. 

For just $29.99 a month ($20 on your first month) you can access all the features of the Squirrly SEO WordPress Plugin and achieve new heights with your Website. 

XML Sitemaps 

To let Google and other Search Engines know about your site, you have to first verify ownership and then submit your sitemap to them. 

This helps them crawl your website and display the pages of your site to potential audiences and get you more visitors, if you have Sitemap issues, your content won’t get discovered. 

What better way to manage your sitemaps than to use a plugin dedicated to doing so, if you’re satisfied with how Search Engine Bots are crawling your website when your managing your sitemap with other SEO Plugins, then there’s no need for this one. 

However, if you wish for Google to better index your website, you can install and activate this plugin from the WordPress Repository alongside over 1 Million WordPress site owners. 

Slim SEO

Looking for a fast and automated free SEO Plugin for WordPress? then, Slim SEO has got you covered with its one-of-a-kind and world-class optimization settings. 

According to the developers, not everyone is blessed with SEO Knowledge right away, the plugin will automatically do all the heavy lifting on your site for you, while you focus on other aspects of Search Engine Optimization. 

I’m personally a fan of Slim SEO because, unlike other SEO Plugins that possess similar functions, it has a simple interface consisting of only four tabs. 

It’ll only take you a minute to configure SEO for your website, just the way that you want it, you don’t have to toggle options you know nothing about. 

That being said, let’s check out some cool features of the Slim SEO WordPress Plugin:

1. Insert Code in Header and Footer
2. Create Optimized Meta title tags and description
3. Automatic Redirection for deleted content
4. Sitemap Management
5. SEO Data Migration
6. Custom Social Preview

The Slim SEO WordPress is available for free, so you don’t have to spend any cent, it’s available in the WordPress Repository if you wish to use it. 

SmartCrawl 

SmartCrawl is a WordPress SEO Checker, SEO Analyzer and SEO Optimizer, the plugin was developed by WPMU Dev and is used on over 20,000 websites. 

The SmartCrawl WordPress Plugin helps optimize your articles to rank for your target keyword(s), manage your meta tags and boost your Pagerank on Google (If you still use the metric as part of your SEO analysis). 

This plugin comes with a one-time setup wizard which enables you to select the SEO settings that’ll take your site to the next level, let’s take a look at other features: 

1. Daily SEO Checkups and Reports
2. Social Media Tags optimization
3. Free Sitemap Generator
4. SEO Crawler which notifies search engines on new and updated content
5. Redirections Manager
6. Smart Page Analyzer scans through your site’s pages to ensure that there are no technical SEO difficulties. 
7. Moz SEO Tools Integration: this helps you perform competitor analysis, and check your website’s rank and link profile all from your WordPress Dashboard. 

While some of SmartCrawl’s features may be available for free, the premium version is 10x better (speaking from experience), and the free version is available in the WordPress Repository. 

You can unlock the premium version by opting for a WPMU Dev Membership, the basic plan costs only $7.50 per month and you’ll get access to all the premium plugins developed by WPMU Dev which include Speed Optimization plugins, Form Builder plugins, and SEO plugins like SmartCrawl. 

FAQs

Conclusion on the Best Free SEO Plugins for WordPress in 2022 

The 9 Plugins listed in this article are the best and most free SEO Plugins for WordPress Websites in 2022, they may have paid extensions and you may have to purchase the pro version but that’s only if you want more features. 

A WordPress website can only manage one SEO Plugin to avoid ranking issues, choose one SEO Plugin and stick to it, not that you can’t switch if you want to, but if you change frequently, there may be SEO issues as repercussions. 

Of all the Plugins mentioned in this article, Rank Math SEO and Yoast SEO are my favorites, though I prefer Rank Math to roast because of free features like Rank Tracking, Google Search Console, and Google Analytics integration. 

If you can’t decide on the plugin to use between Yoast and Rank Math, check out my article on Rank Math SEO vs Yoast SEO Comparison for beginners.

Feel free to seek support and answers to your different questions in the comments.