Nothing is more frustrating than putting in the many hours of work that is required for a successful blog, only to have it fall flat on its face and not know why.

If you’ve been putting out high-quality content but the traffic is just not coming in, then it’s likely that you’re ignoring the key tool that’s necessary for any blogger’s success. Good SEO optimization.

So, in this article, we’ll be comparing the top SEO plugins for WordPress.

Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin

Yoast offers an all-in-one solution for optimizing your site’s on-page SEO. In fact, one of the best features of Yoast is its content analysis feature, which outdoes nearly every other SEO plugin.

It’s also one of the most beginner friendly options available. It gives you clear directions to help you rank your pages higher in the SERPs even if you don’t know the first thing about SEO.

If you’re a beginner, this makes Yoast an invaluable addition to your plugin arsenal.

So, what’s the problem with Yoast SEO then? Some more experienced webmasters believe that this plugin goes overboard on optimization to the point of being annoying.

The free version of Yoast also tends to contain a ton of bloatware and ads. Developers, of course, need to make money like everyone else, but they are a little pushy in their approach.

All In One SEO Pack

All In One SEO Pack WordPress Plugin

One of the most attractive features of this plugin is that it allows you to purchase one premium subscription and use it on unlimited websites. Yoast does not let you do this, and if you have more than one blog it can get expensive quickly to go premium.

Premium plugins always have the best features and they allow you to go ad-free. However, this does come at a cost, because All In One SEO Pack doesn’t have as many features as Yoast does.

The page analysis tool which tells you where you’re lacking with optimization is missing in this plugin. However, if you already have a pretty firm grasp of what to do on this front, then you can get a lot of premium features for a lot less money with this option.

This allows you to do things like optimizing your videos for search with sitemap integrations. You can use this to get found in highly desired search snippets, which Google loves to put at the top of the page.

They also have a bulk update feature for search snippets on the all posts screen, allowing you to edit a ton of posts quickly. They also allow access to more in-depth on page technical optimizations like canonical URLs and no index and no follow options.

This plugin is a great choice for those who have multiple websites and want access to premium features without spending a fortune. However, If you don’t have a firm understanding of SEO yet then you may want to stick with Yoast.

The SEO Framework

The SEO Framework WordPress Plugin

Like the second plugin on our list, this one is intended for people who have at least a little SEO experience under their belt. Its best feature is that it’s very lightweight, making it a joy to use.

Plus, if you started out with Yoast as a beginner but you’d like to move on to something else, then SEO framework has another great feature. They allow you to migrate your SEO data to their plugin in about ten minutes, potentially saving you many hours of work.

While this plugin might be a tad intimidating if you’re a beginner, it does offer some great features. This includes an unobtrusive SEO optimization bar which will allow you to see how each post’s optimization is looking from the main post screen.

This setup makes it a little easier to see which posts need work at a glance. It’s particularly useful if you have a lot of content and you’re playing catch up on optimizing it all.

Unlike other free options which bombard you with advertisements, this plugin is actually ad-free as well, and the lack of bloatware is what makes it a top choice for many webmasters despite it missing a few features.

The most notable missing piece here being the keyword focused guidance present in Yoast. However, if you’re capable of completing normal SEO tasks without any hand-holding, then this plugin can offer you a streamlined, enjoyable and ad-free experience.

This plugin is a great choice if you’re at least semi-knowledgeable about SEO and you’re looking for a totally free plugin that won’t bombard you with ads or weigh down your WordPress installation.