WordPress handles content well but leaves many SEO basics out. Out of the box, you can’t easily write a custom title tag or meta description for each page, control which pages are indexed, or add detailed schema. An SEO plugin fills those gaps from inside the WordPress editor.
What they do
Most SEO plugins cover:
- SEO titles and meta descriptions per page, with templates for posts, categories and products
- XML sitemaps that update automatically
- Canonical tags on every page
- Indexing controls: noindex for thin archives, tags, attachments and specific pages
- Schema markup for the site, articles, products and local businesses (see schema markup)
- Breadcrumbs
- Social sharing tags (Open Graph) for Facebook, LinkedIn and others
- Redirects (in some free versions, or premium tiers)
- Content analysis that scores readability and keyword use
The main options
| Plugin | Notes |
|---|---|
| Yoast SEO | The longest-established; the redirect manager is in Premium |
| Rank Math | Feature-rich free version, including redirects and more schema types |
| SEOPress | Clean interface, no ads in the admin, white-label option in Pro |
| All in One SEO (AIOSEO) | Long-running, beginner-friendly setup wizard |
All four do the core jobs well. The best one is usually the one already installed and configured properly. Switching later is possible, as most include import tools.
Why it matters
Brightside Dental’s site had two SEO plugins active after a developer handover: Yoast and Rank Math. Each output its own canonical tag and schema, so every page had two conflicting sets. Search Console flagged duplicate structured data, and some pages showed old titles in Google. Deactivating one plugin (after importing its settings into the other) fixed it.
Setting one up well
- Use one SEO plugin only.
- Run the setup wizard and set your business details, logo and social profiles.
- Set sensible templates for titles and descriptions, then write custom ones for important pages.
- Noindex thin archives (tags, author pages on single-author sites, attachment pages).
- Submit the plugin’s sitemap to Search Console.
- Don’t chase a green content score at the expense of readable writing.
Common mistakes
- Two SEO plugins running at once
- Leaving “Discourage search engines” ticked under WordPress Settings, Reading
- Relying on the plugin’s traffic-light score instead of what searchers need
How RankThat works with them
RankThat’s free WordPress Bridge plugin works alongside Rank Math, Yoast and SEOPress. RankThat drafts fixes such as SEO titles and descriptions for your review, and the Bridge plugin writes them into your existing SEO plugin’s fields, with one-click undo. See the WordPress integration for details.