16 WordPress SEO Plugins Worth Installing in 2024

Part of the Overseas Website Building series.

# 16 WordPress SEO Plugins Worth Installing in 2024

WordPress runs a large share of the web, and its plugin ecosystem is the fastest way to add real SEO capability without writing code. The list below collects 16 plugins across six jobs: writing content, all-in-one SEO setup, speed, images, link maintenance, and trust signals. All prices are as published; the free tiers are genuinely usable for new sites.

## 1. Pick one all-in-one SEO plugin first

If you install only one plugin from this list, make it an all-in-one suite. These handle the foundational settings — title tags, meta descriptions, XML sitemaps, robots.txt, redirects, breadcrumbs, structured data — and most include a setup wizard that walks a new site through the basics in one pass.

- **Yoast SEO** (free; premium $99/year) is the veteran. It manages title tags, URL slugs, and meta descriptions, plus canonical URLs, meta robots, breadcrumbs, noindex controls, structured data, 301 redirect management, internal link suggestions, readability analysis, and a Semrush integration.

- **Rank Math** (free; paid from $5.75/month, billed annually) covers on-page SEO basics with a SERP preview, creates robots.txt and sitemaps, and ships a setup wizard with Google Analytics and Search Console integration, 404 monitoring, and structured data.

- **SEOPress** (free; paid from $49/year) handles titles and meta descriptions with over-length warnings, Open Graph tags, custom XML sitemaps, 301/302/307 redirects, and structured data — plus an OpenAI integration that auto-generates titles and descriptions.

- **All in One SEO (AIOSEO)** (free; paid from $49.60/year) offers a setup wizard plus titles, meta descriptions, Open Graph, robots meta, XML sitemaps, robots.txt, redirects, breadcrumbs, structured data, Search Console integration, a link assistant for internal link suggestions, image SEO (alt/title), and local SEO.

Pick one, run its setup wizard, and don’t install a second suite — two all-in-one plugins fighting over the same meta tags is a classic beginner mistake.

## 2. Write content search engines want to rank

- **Semrush SEO Writing Assistant** (free with a Semrush account) scores your draft on four axes — readability, tone of voice, originality, and SEO — and gives concrete suggestions. It also offers related keyword suggestions, an AI rewrite function, readability analysis, and tone analysis. Use it as a final pass before publishing: fix what it flags, keep what you wrote.

- **Semrush ContentShake AI** (free tier: 3 articles/month; paid $60/month) generates an outline from a topic — title, introduction, subheadings, image ideas, conclusion — plus keyword suggestions, readability suggestions, AI instant rewrite, and tone checks. Treat the outline as a starting point and rewrite it in your own voice; the tool drafts, you decide.

## 3. Make the site fast

Speed is a ranking factor and a conversion factor. Two plugins cover the standard playbook: browser and server caching, lazy loading, CSS/JS minification, cache preloading, and a CDN.

- **WP Rocket** (paid only, from $59/year) is the reference implementation — turn it on, and most of the speed checklist is done.

- **NitroPack** (free; paid from $17.50/month) offers caching, lazy loading, CSS/JS minification, a built-in CDN, and converts images to WebP. The free tier is a reasonable start for a new site.

## 4. Compress images without visible quality loss

- **ShortPixel** (free; paid from $3.99/month) compresses images with lossy, glossy, or lossless options, no file size limit, support for JPG, PNG, and WebP, and an optimization report so you can verify the savings.

- **Smush** (free; paid from $3/month) does one-click bulk compression, lossless compression, lazy loading, custom width/height resizing for oversized images, and a CDN. If your uploads folder is already full of unoptimized images, start here and bulk-compress.

## 5. Add a table of contents to every article

- **Easy Table of Contents** (free; paid from $49/year) auto-generates a table of contents for posts and pages. It’s responsive, the appearance is customizable (font size, colors, position), you can choose which heading types to include (H2/H3 etc.), and exclude specific headings. Long guides get more readable — and the jump links are a small on-page win.

## 6. Maintain your links

Links rot. Three free plugins cover the maintenance:

- **Redirection** (free): enter a source URL and a target URL and click “Add Redirect”. It monitors 404 errors and supports CSV import. Reach for it whenever you change a URL structure, merge pages, or delete content — a 301 preserves the equity the old URL earned.

- **Broken Link Checker** (free): finds and fixes internal and external broken links, showing the broken URL, HTTP status (404, 410, etc.), anchor text, and the page it’s on. You can edit or remove links inside the plugin, and get broken-link email notifications. Run it on a schedule.

- **Internal Link Juicer** (free; paid from $69.99/year): matches related posts by keyword and inserts internal links automatically, with diversified anchor text. You can cap how often a page gets linked and exclude specific pages. Internal links distribute authority and help crawlers — automating the obvious ones is worth it.

## 7. Earn trust: HTTPS and structured data

- **Really Simple SSL** (free; paid from $49/year) migrates a site from HTTP to HTTPS in one click. HTTPS is a confirmed Google ranking factor. The plugin checks the SSL certificate, can install one via Let’s Encrypt, redirects HTTP automatically, scans for mixed content, and adds security hardening.

- **Schema Pro** (lifetime $229, or $69/year) implements structured data across 20+ schema types — products, articles, recipes, reviews, and more — with real-time testing. Structured data is what earns rich results in the SERP, which lift click-through rates on pages that already rank.

## A sensible install order for a new site

1. Install one all-in-one suite (Yoast / SEOPress / Rank Math / AIOSEO) and complete its setup wizard: titles, meta descriptions, XML sitemap, robots.txt, breadcrumbs.

2. Migrate to HTTPS with Really Simple SSL on day one — it’s harder to fix later.

3. Add speed (WP Rocket or NitroPack) and image compression (ShortPixel or Smush).

4. Put Easy Table of Contents on articles, add Schema Pro to key pages.

5. Write with the Semrush Writing Assistant scoring each draft; use ContentShake AI for outlines when you’re stuck.

6. Maintain: Redirection for URL changes, Broken Link Checker on a schedule, Internal Link Juicer for automatic internal links.

That’s the whole stack: one plugin per job, nothing overlapping, free tiers wherever they’re enough.

(Figures and case details in this article are as reported in the source material and have not been independently verified.)

**Series: Overseas Website Building**