EDITS.WS

Tag: all in one seo

  • How to Properly Add SEO-Friendly ‘How to’ Schema in WordPress

    Are you wondering how to add ‘how to’ schema in WordPress?

    By adding ‘how to’ schema to your content, you can show images, videos, and detailed step-by-step instructions directly in the search results. This can make your content stand out and get you more clicks and visitors.

    In this article, we will show you how to add ‘how to’ schema in WordPress.

    How to add SEO-friendly 'How to' schema in WordPress

    Why Add ‘How To’ Schema in WordPress?

    ‘How to’ schema markup is a type of HTML code that’s added to your WordPress website.

    Instead of appearing on your site, ‘how to’ schema gives search engines more information about your tutorial articles. This can include detailed step-by-step instructions, a list of tools and supplies the reader will need, and how long the tutorial takes to complete.

    This helps the search engines understand your pages and posts and show them to people who are looking for content just like yours.

    Even better, search engines such as Google may use the ‘how to’ schema to create rich snippets and results. For example, Google might show your ‘how to’ steps in an ordered list.

    An example of a rich snippet on Google

    Depending on how your schema is set up, search engines may even display this information in the ‘people also ask’ section.

    These boxes appear for many search queries and offer a list of additional questions, each linked to a website for more information.

    An example of how to schema, on a SERP

    This section appears at the very top of the search results, so they can get you even more clicks and increase your blog traffic.

    Some rich results even include useful information, such as a list of required tools or how much money readers need to spend to complete the guide. This can help people quickly decide whether your ‘how to’ guide is right for them, which will improve the user experience.

    It’s important to note that adding ‘how to’ schema in WordPress will not guarantee that your content appears as a rich result. However, it will improve your chances, especially if your website is already SEO-optimized.

    Google’s ‘How To’ Schema Guidelines

    Before adding ‘how to’ schema to your pages and posts, it’s important to understand Google’s content guidelines.

    Firstly, you can’t use the ‘how to’ schema for advertising purposes or include any content that’s obscene, explicit, or violent. You also shouldn’t add ‘how to’ schema to any content that promotes dangerous or illegal activities.

    You can only use ‘how to’ schema once per page, and all the content in your schema markup must also be visible on that page. This means you can’t type out unique instructions or add images that don’t appear in the actual ‘how to’ guide.

    Finally, you can’t use the ‘how to’ schema for recipes. For this type of content, you will get much better results by using the SEO-friendly recipe schema.

    How To Add ‘How To’ Schema in WordPress

    The easiest way to add ‘how to’ schema in WordPress is with All in One SEO (AIOSEO). It’s the best SEO plugin for WordPress, used by over 3 million sites.

    AIOSEO allows you to add a growing number of schema types to your pages, posts, custom post types, categories, tags, custom taxonomies, and more. This can help search engines understand your content and increase your chances of getting rich snippets.

    The first thing you need to do is install and activate AIOSEO. For more details, see our guide on how to install a plugin in WordPress.

    Note: There is a free version of AIOSEO that allows you to optimize your site no matter what your budget is. However, you will need the premium version to add ‘how to’ schema in WordPress.

    Upon activation, the plugin will run a setup wizard, so simply follow the onscreen instructions. If you need more detailed instructions, then you can see our guide on how to properly set up All in One SEO for WordPress.

    The AIOSEO WordPress SEO plugin

    Once you have completed the setup wizard, AIOSEO will take you back to the WordPress dashboard. Now that All in One SEO is installed and activated, simply open the page, post, custom post type, or any other content where you want to add the ‘how to’ schema.

    After that, scroll to the bottom of the WordPress content editor, where you will see a new ‘AIOSEO Settings’ section.

    Adding schema using the All in One SEO plugin

    Go ahead and click on the ‘Schema’ tab.

    Here, you will see the schema settings are enabled by default.

    Adding how to schema to WordPress using AIOSEO

    To add the ‘how to’ schema, just click on the ‘Generate Schema’ button.

    This will open AIOSEO’s Schema Catalog, where you can choose from a wide range of different schema types. For example, you can add FAQ schema in WordPress, add GTIN, ISBN, and MPN schema, and more.

    Here, simply find the ‘how to’ option and click on its ‘Add Schema’ button.

    Adding AIOSEO schema markup to a page or post

    This opens a window where you can type in all the information you want to use in the schema.

    By default, AIOSEO adds a ‘Post Title’ smart tag to the ‘Title’ field. AIOSEO automatically replaces all its smart tags with real values, so you can create unique markup without having to manually type in all the information you want to use.

    If you want to use a different title, then simply delete the ‘Post Title’ smart tag. You can then type in the information you would like to use instead.

    Adding post title to how to schema

    Next, you will need to add a description. Search engines like Google typically show the description below the post title and above the list of steps, so it’s a great way to introduce the guide to potential readers.

    You can either type this information into the ‘Description’ box or click on any smart tag you want to use. To see the full list of smart tags, click the ‘View all tags’ link.

    Adding smart tags to your schema markup

    If the reader needs any specialist equipment or resources to complete the guide, then you should type them into the ‘Supplies’ field.

    After each item, press the ‘Enter’ key on your keyboard to add it to the schema.

    Adding supply markup to your WordPress schema

    Similarly, if the reader needs any specialist tools, then just type these into the ‘Tools’ section.

    With that done, you can specify how long it will take readers to complete the ‘how to’ guide. Simply type the correct numbers into the fields marked ‘Days’, ‘Hours’, and ‘Minutes’.

    Adding time schema markup to your pages, posts, or custom post types

    Sometimes, you may want to show the finished result. For example, if you are writing about how to create an email newsletter, then you might show a professionally-designed newsletter. If readers like what they see, then they are more likely to visit your website.

    Unlike other images that must be unique, you can reuse this image in the final step of your ‘how to’ schema. However, as always, the image must appear somewhere on the page or post.

    Simply click on the ‘Upload or select image’ button and then choose an image from the WordPress media library.

    Adding schema markup to images in WordPress

    Sometimes, readers will need to spend money to complete a ‘how to’ guide. For example, if you are writing a post about how to start a WordPress blog, then readers will need to buy WordPress hosting.

    In this case, simply type the total cost into the ‘Price’ field and select the currency.

    Adding pricing information HTML markup to a blog or website

    With that done, you are ready to add each step to the ‘how to’ schema.

    According to Google’s guidelines, each step must only include the information readers need to complete that step. With that in mind, you shouldn’t include any non-step data, such as an introduction section or a list of related posts.

    To start, type in a title for the step and enter the instructions into the ‘Description’ section.

    Adding step information to the WordPress schema

    Have you added anchor links in WordPress? For example, you might help readers find their way around the page by creating a table of contents where each step is an anchor link.

    If this is the case, then you can add the step’s anchor link to the ‘URL’ field.

    Adding anchor links to a website's markup

    You may also want to add an image that represents this step. This image must be unique and be visible on the page or post.

    According to Google’s guidelines, you should never use images that don’t reflect the step’s content or use the same image for multiple steps.

    When you are happy with how the first step is set up, just click on the ‘Add Another Step’ button.

    Adding steps to an HTML schema markup in WordPress

    This creates a section where you can add a title and description, plus an optional anchor link and image. Simply repeat this process to add all the steps to your ‘how to’ schema.

    When you are happy with how the schema is set up, go ahead and click on the ‘Add Schema’ button.

    How to add 'How To' schema to your WordPress blog or website

    You can now go ahead and publish or update the page to make the schema live on your WordPress website.

    If you want to test whether your ‘how to’ schema markup is working correctly, then scroll down to our section on how to test your WordPress ‘how to’ schema.

    Optional: Create a Reusable’ How To’ Schema Template

    If you publish lots of ‘how to’ guides, then you might create your own schema template. You can then apply this template to any page, post, custom taxonomy, custom post type, or other content with the click of a button.

    Applying a custom schema template to your content

    Schema templates tend to work best when you use smart tags. For example, tags can add the post’s title, excerpt, author, publication date, and other content automatically. In this way, you can create unique schema without having to manually type in all the information.

    Sometimes, you may even use the same tools, pricing, currency, or other information on all your posts.

    For example, if you run a photography blog, then you might always recommend that readers use your favorite camera model or lens. By typing this information into the template’s ‘Tools’ field, AIOSEO will automatically apply this schema to your content, which saves you even more time.

    Even better, you can override these default settings every time you use the template, so you can still customize the template for individual pages.

    To create a reusable template, you need to open any page or post and then click on the ‘Generate Schema’ button.

    Generating SEO schema for search engines like Google

    In the popup that appears, click on the button next to ‘How to’.

    This takes you to a screen where you can build the template. By default, AIOSEO will use the post’s title as the name.

    Adding post title to how to schema

    To change this, simply delete the ‘Post Title’ tag and then click on ‘View all tags.’

    You can now choose any tag from the dropdown menu.

    Adding smart tags to your schema markup

    You can also use a combination of plain text and tags or multiple tags.

    For example, you might use ‘Post Title’ and ‘Post Date.’ AIOSEO will then replace these tags with real values every time you use the template.

    Adding smart tags to a 'how to' schema template

    When you are happy with how the title is set up, you can add a description.

    Often, it makes sense to use the ‘Excerpt’ tag so that AIOSEO will use the WordPress post’s excerpt. However, you can use any smart tags you want or even type plain text into the ‘Description’ field.

    Automatically adding a post excerpt to a schema template

    With that done, you may want to add some plain text to the other fields. For example, there may be some tools and supplies that you use in all your ‘how to’ guides.

    Using WPBeginner as an example, it might make sense to add a domain name or Bluehost WordPress hosting to the ‘Tools’ field since most of our ‘how to’ guides require a domain and web hosting.

    Adding plain text to a schema template

    Remember, you can override these settings each time you use the template.

    After typing in any extra information you want to use, it’s time to go ahead and create the template. Simply click on the ‘Save Schema as Template’ button.

    Saving a reusable schema template using AIOSEO

    You can now type in a title for the schema template. This is just for your reference, so you can use anything that helps you identify the template in your WordPress dashboard.

    With that done, click on the ‘Save Template’ button.

    Adding a title to a schema template

    To apply the template to your content, simply click on the ‘Generate Schema’ button to open the schema catalog as normal.

    Then, click on the ‘Your Templates’ tab.

    Applying a template to a page, post, or custom post type

    You will now see the template you created earlier.

    If you want to apply the template without making any changes, then click on its ‘+’ button.

    How to add How To schema to your WordPress blog or website

    However, we recommend customizing the template as it typically creates more SEO-friendly schema. This can improve your WordPress SEO and help you get valuable rich snippets in the search engine results.

    To do this, simply click on the ‘pencil’ icon.

    Applying a custom template to WordPress

    You can now make changes or type in any extra information you want to use for this specific ‘how to’ guide.

    With that done, click on ‘Add Schema’.

    Customizing a how to schema template

    Simply repeat these steps to use the same template anywhere on your online store, website, or WordPress blog.

    How to Test Your ‘How to’ Schema in WordPress

    Since the ‘how to’ schema doesn’t appear on your website, you will need to test it using a free Google tool.

    To check that the schema is formatted correctly, head over to Google’s Rich Results Test page. Here, simply type in the URL where you added the ‘how to’ schema and then click on ‘Test URL.’

    How to test your site's schema markup using Google's free tools

    Google will now analyze your page for all kinds of schema markup. With that in mind, you may see multiple results if the page uses other kinds of schema, such as local business schema and FAQ schema.

    Once the test is complete, click on the section marked ‘How to’.

    Testing your how to schema

    You should now see all the information you added to this page or post. If this data is correct, then your ‘how to’ schema is working perfectly.

    If the information is wrong or it’s formatted incorrectly, then you will need to open that page or post in the WordPress content editor. Then, scroll to the AIOSEO Settings and select the ‘Schema’ tab.

    Here, find the ‘how to’ schema you added earlier and click on its pencil icon.

    Editing your website's schema settings

    You can then edit the schema by following the same process described above.

    When you are happy with the changes you have made, just click on ‘Update Schema.’

    Updating your site's schema settings

    You can now re-test the URL using Google’s Rich Results Test page.

    If you are still seeing the wrong information, then try clearing your WordPress cache because caching plugins may show an outdated version of your content to Google.

    We hope this article helped you learn how to add ‘how to’ schema in WordPress. You may also want to check out our guide on how to make money online blogging with WordPress or see our expert pick of the best SEO plugins and tools that you should use.

    If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

    The post How to Properly Add SEO-Friendly ‘How to’ Schema in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Easily Add Emojis to Your SEO Title in WordPress

    Are you looking to add emojis to your SEO title in WordPress? 

    Boosting the click-through rates (CTR) on your blog posts can make a huge impact on your traffic and your bottom line. Emojis are visually appealing and help your page stand out.

    In this post, we will show you how to add emojis to your SEO title in WordPress so you can stand out in search results and bring more traffic to your website. 

    How to Add Emojis to Your SEO Title in WordPress

    Why Add Emojis to Your SEO Titles? 

    Emojis are small digital icons used to communicate emotions, objects, activities, and other concepts. They can either replace text or enhance the message, giving it more meaning.

    On a page filled with words, colorful and bright emojis help your page stand out.

    By using emojis, you draw attention to your page and make your brand seem more human, attracting your target audience and boosting click-through rates. 

    While increasing your CTR isn’t guaranteed to help you rank better on Google, getting more traffic to your website is always a good thing. 

    That’s not the only reason. Search engines also support search queries with emojis. Try typing ‘🍕recipe’ into the search bar of Google.

    Emoji in search bar

    You’ll find a few search results with the ‘🍕’ emoji as Google likes to either find the best pizza recipe pages or pages with the exact ‘🍕’ emoji.

    How to Use Emojis in Your SEO Titles

    Emojis can negatively impact your click-through rates and SEO if they are seen as misleading or spammy.

    Before you start embedding emojis all over your titles, there are some ground rules to follow:

    • Consider your audience: Without a doubt, emojis work better for some niches than others. For example, including emojis on a recipe page for the best cocktails to make in the summer might be appropriate. But adding a heart or syringe to a page related to health care may hurt your brand’s reputation.
    • Don’t use emojis to replace words: It doesn’t matter how clear or descriptive your emojis are. They should never replace words because users are forced to interpret the meaning of the emoji instead of being told.
    • Use clear emojis:  Avoid ambiguous emojis that people can misinterpret. Instead, stick to simple ones that are widely known to all audiences. 
    • Use emojis that work on both light and dark backgrounds: Don’t use light emojis on a light background. For example, a yellow hand emoji works better on light backgrounds than a white hand emoji. This is especially important for SEO titles since Google’s default results background is plain white.

    Now that you know how to use emojis responsibly, you are ready to begin using them on your web pages.

    Let’s take a look at how you can add emojis to your SEO titles.

    How to Add Emojis to Your SEO Titles

    Adding emojis to your titles is incredibly easy once you have a good plugin. Without it, you’d have to scour the internet to find the right emoji code, which overcomplicates the process.

    The first step to adding emojis to your SEO titles is using the free All in One SEO plugin

    AIOSEO offers on-page analysis so you can optimize your blogs to rank higher in search results. You can also use the built-in emoji picker to add emojis to your SEO titles.

    AIOSEO also comes with an SEO checklist tool, a link assistant, and many other features you can use to optimize your website to boost your rankings.

    Start by installing the AIOSEO plugin. For more details, you can follow our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Once that’s done, you are ready to edit your blog posts and pages and add emojis to your SEO title.

    Edit Your SEO Title

    Optimizing your metadata is super simple with the AIOSEO plugin. In the left-hand menu of the WordPress admin dashboard, select Posts

    You can also do this for pages on your WordPress blog, but for this tutorial, we are just going to edit a post as an example.

    Find the blog post you’d like to update. Then click the ‘Edit’ link. If you have both the Block and Classic editors enabled, then either will work. 

    Edit blog post in WordPress

    Simply scroll down the WordPress content editor until you get to the ‘AIOSEO Settings’ tab.

    From there, you can edit the post title field.

    Aioseo settings

    Choose Your Emoji and Add It

    Now, you are ready to add your emoji to your metadata. To do that, scroll down a little further below the AIOSEO Settings.

    Under Post Title, click on the emoji icon next to the tags in each field. 

    Emoji picker

    It’ll open up a window with a selection of emojis for you to choose from.

    Browse through and pick the emoji of your choice, or just use the search bar to find what you are looking for.

    Post title emojis

    Lastly, make sure to hit ‘Update/Publish’.

    After that, the emoji will appear in the SEO title and display in search results.

    Publish blog in WordPress

    Now, select your emoji of choice, and that’s it! Congratulations, you’ve just added emojis to your SEO title! 

    Frequently Asked Questions

    Now that you know how to add emojis to your SEO titles, you may have a few more questions about how to effectively use emoticons to enhance your WordPress website.

    How Do You Add Emojis to HTML Titles? 

    To add emojis to HTML titles, you can use the Unicode character codes for emojis directly within the title tag. You can find these codes on various websites that provide emoji Unicode references. Look for the emoji you want to use and then copy its Unicode code.

    Inside the <title> tag, you can include the Unicode character code for the emoji. You must use the code &#x followed by the emoji code. For example, to add a smiley face emoji (😊) with the Unicode code U+1F60A, you would use &#x1F60A. 

    Do Emojis Affect SEO? 

    Google says you can use emojis in your SEO pages, including titles, but it won’t help or harm your search rankings in any way. However, emojis indirectly help your SEO efforts by improving click-through rates.

    Emojis can humanize your brand, and if users spend more time on your site or interact with your content, these signals could boost your search ranking position. 

    Do Emojis Go Before or After Your Title? 

    Most emojis should generally come after text and never before. You want people to get the message first. Using emojis before the title can give a bad user experience, especially for anyone using a screen reader.

    We hope this article has helped you learn how to add emojis to your WordPress SEO titles. You may also want to read our ultimate WordPress SEO guide for beginners and the most useful WordPress plugins for all websites. 

    If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

    The post How to Easily Add Emojis to Your SEO Title in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Setup All in One SEO for WordPress Correctly (Ultimate Guide)

    Do you want to install and set up All in One SEO for WordPress?

    All in One SEO (AIOSEO) for WordPress is the best WordPress SEO plugin that allows you to easily optimize your WordPress website for search engines and social media platforms.

    In this article, we will show you how to properly install and set up All in One SEO for WordPress to improve your SEO rankings.

    How to Setup All in One SEO for WordPress Correctly (Ultimate Guide)

    Why Use All in One SEO for WordPress?

    All in One SEO for WordPress is the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market, used by over 3 million websites.

    It is easy to use, and you don’t need to be an SEO expert or have any special skills.

    At the same time, it is incredibly powerful and allows you to make your WordPress website rank higher in search engines and get more free traffic from social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

    By default, WordPress provides an SEO-friendly environment, but there are still many things that you can do to improve your website’s SEO rankings.

    These include adding meta tags, generating XML sitemaps, adding schema markup, optimizing social sharing, and more.

    All in One SEO for WordPress helps you do all these things with an easy-to-use interface that blends into your WordPress dashboard.

    All in One SEO dashboard in WordPress

    It also shows a TruSEO score for your posts and pages, which helps you create more search engine-friendly content. Plus, you can do a complete sitewide SEO audit with the click of a button.

    That being said, let’s take a look at how to easily install and set up All in One SEO for WordPress. We will walk you through the complete setup, step by step.

    Here is what we will cover in this guide:

    Ready? Let’s get started!

    Video Tutorial

    If you’d prefer written instructions, then just keep reading.

    Installing and Setting Up All in One SEO for WordPress

    The first thing you need to do is install and activate the All in One SEO for WordPress plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Note: To demonstrate all the features of this power SEO plugin, we are using the Pro version. However, you can also download the free version of AIOSEO from WordPress.org.

    Upon activation, the plugin will automatically launch the setup wizard.

    You need to click on the ‘Let’s Get Started’ button to continue.

    AIOSEO Setup Wizard

    On the next screen, you will be asked to choose your website category or type.

    For instance, you can pick if your website is primarily a blog, a news website, an online store, a small business, or something else.

    AIOSEO set up wizard - website category

    For the sake of this tutorial, we will set it up as a blog.

    Below that, you can fill in the homepage SEO title and description. The SEO meta title and description are used by search engines, so it is important to use your main keywords.

    Homepage title and description

    You will notice the smart tags options here. These tags allow you to dynamically generate text for your SEO meta title and description. You can also just manually enter the title and description that you want to use.

    Note: You can always change these settings later, so don’t worry about missing something.

    Now, you can click on the ‘Save and Continue’ button to move on to the next step.

    On the next page, you will be asked whether you want to set it up as a person or an organization. For instance, if you run a personal blog, then you may want to choose a person.

    Otherwise, you would select an organization and enter your organization name and business phone number. If you don’t have a business phone number yet, then you can leave it blank and add it later.

    Fill website details for All in One SEO

    Below that, you need to provide a business logo and a default social sharing image.

    A default social sharing image will be used when someone shares a link from your website and if that page doesn’t have a specific featured image set for it.

    AIOSEO Wizard: Add a Logo and Social Image

    If you scroll down a little, then you will see the social profile section. This is where you will add social profile URLs associated with your website.

    The business logo and social profiles are important elements that Google and other search engines use for their Knowledge Panels.

    Adding social media profiles

    Once you have completed all the fields that you can, just click on the ‘Save and Continue’ button to move on to the next step.

    Next, you will be asked to turn on SEO features. The essential SEO features like XML Sitemaps and Optimized Search Appearance are already turned on. You can choose other features you want to enable.

    Turn on SEO features

    If you are unsure, then you can leave the default options and move on to the next step.

    Next, you will see the Search Appearance screen. The plugin will show you a snippet preview of how your site will look in the search results. You can click on it to change the homepage title and meta description.

    All in One SEO wizard - Search Appearance

    By default, the plugin will use the smart tags to display your site title, separator, and site tagline. You can customize these by clicking on the ‘Google Snippet Preview’.

    Your goal should be to use your main keywords in the site’s title and description. You can also change these later from the plugin settings.

    Below that, you will see advanced options. You can configure them to your own needs.

    Choose advanced site search appearance options

    The first option is to choose whether your site is live or under construction. If you don’t want search engines to list your website right now, then you can choose ‘Under Construction’.

    The next option is to include all post types (such as posts, pages, and products) in search results. If you are unsure, then keep it turned on for all post types.

    Next, you need to choose if you have a multi-author or a single-author blog. If you have a single-author WordPress blog, then you need to select this option to avoid duplicate content.

    The redirect attachment pages option is turned on by default. Attachment pages are low text pages, and it is highly recommended to redirect them because it will improve your overall SEO score.

    Click on the ‘Save and Continue’ button to move on to the next step.

    Finally, if you are using the PRO features of the plugin, then you will be asked to enter your license key. You can find this information in your account on the All in One SEO for WordPress website.

    Enter your license key

    After entering your license key, you will see the Congratulations page, letting you know that you have reached the final page of the All in One SEO setup wizard.

    You can click on the ‘Finish Setup’ button to save your settings and exit the wizard.

    Finish All in One SEO Setup Wizard

    Congratulations, you have successfully installed and set up the All in One SEO for WordPress plugin on your website. You are now ready to take full advantage of this incredibly powerful SEO tool to grow your business.

    In the next few steps, we will walk you through important SEO features and how to use them to grow your website.

    Optimizing Your Website Posts and Pages for SEO Using AIOSEO

    Optimizing your blog posts for SEO is a regular task and a very important part of creating content on your website.

    All in One SEO for WordPress shows a TruSEO score for each of your blog posts and pages. This includes practical tips on improving that score and optimizing your posts for better performance in search results.

    Simply edit any post or page on your website and scroll down to the ‘AIOSEO Settings’ section below the content editor.

    AIOSEO settings section for a single post or page

    From here, you will see a snippet preview of how that particular post or page will appear in search results. Below that, you can enter the SEO meta title and description.

    AIOSEO can automatically generate the SEO title and description for you. You can also manually enter it for each article, which will allow you to get creative and write catchy descriptions for your articles.

    Just make sure that your title and description fields are using the main focus keyphrase for your post or page.

    A focus keyphrase is the main keyword or phrase that you want to target. This is the phrase that your users are most likely to type into search engines to look for the information that you have in your article.

    Add focus keyword for your post or page

    Adding the focus keyphrase does not automatically improve your SEO. However, All in One SEO helps you optimize your content for the focus keyphrase using the content analysis feature. More on this later.

    Next, you need to switch to the ‘Social’ tab under the AIOSEO settings. This is where you can control how this post or page will appear on social media platforms with a preview of Facebook and Twitter.

    Social settings for your post or page

    From here, you can choose a different variation of title and description. You can also pick which image you want to use when a link is shared.

    This ensures that your social media images are not broken, and you can choose the perfect image to appear with your links.

    We will talk about the ‘Schema’ tab later in this article.

    Using Content Analyzer for TruSEO Score in WordPress

    One of the coolest features of All in One SEO is the content analysis and the TruSEO score. You can see them at the bottom of the ‘AIOSEO Settings’ section and also by clicking on the AIOSEO button in the top right corner of the screen.

    AIOSEO - TruSEO score and content analysis

    The content analysis feature looks for a detailed set of indicators to give your content an SEO score. This allows you to have a handy SEO checklist that you can go through when creating content for your website.

    You can expand different sections to view the checks and recommendations. AIOSEO will give you details about each recommendation that needs your attention and tell you how to fix it.

    Recommendations in AIOSEO

    For more details, see our tips on optimizing your blog posts for SEO.

    Using Headline Analyzer to Optimize Title SEO in WordPress

    Your post titles also play an important role in SEO. You can use All in One SEO’s Headline Analyzer to create headlines that get more clicks on search engine results pages.

    Simply click the ‘H’ button at the top of the content editor to get started.

    AIOSEO SEO Headline Analyzer

    Your title will be given a score, and you should aim for a score of at least 70.

    Below that, you will see different sections with tips on how to improve your headline. There are sections for word balance, sentiment, headline type, character count, and word count.

    You can expand these sections to see actionable tips and recommendations on how to improve your post’s SEO title.

    AIOSEO SEO Headline Analyzer Recommendations

    If you just want to brainstorm some great post headlines, then you can also access Headline Analyzer from All in One SEO » SEO Analysis.

    Once there, you need to click on the ‘Headline Analyzer’ tab at the top of the page.

    AIOSEO Headline Analyzer

    Now, simply type a headline and then click the ‘Analyze’ button.

    Your headline idea will be given a score, and you will see actionable tips to improve it.

    AIOSEO Headline Analyzer Results

    For detailed instructions, see our guide on how to use Headline Analyzer to improve SEO titles in WordPress.

    Optimizing WooCommerce SEO Using All in One SEO for WordPress

    All in One SEO for WordPress is ready for eCommerce stores and helps you optimize your WooCommerce SEO right out of the box.

    Let’s start with the product pages first.

    Simply edit any product in WooCommerce and scroll down to the AIOSEO Settings box below the product editor.

    Add Product Metadata in AIOSEO

    In the ‘General’ tab, you can change the product’s SEO title and description. You can use a product short description smart tag, or you can write a custom description. Just make sure your main product keyword is used in both the title and description fields.

    Next, switch to the ‘Social’ tab. From here, you can control how your product will look on social media platforms. You can set a different product image here to get more clicks and engagement from social media.

    Social settings for your product

    After that, you can switch to the ‘Schema’ tab.

    Schema markup allows search engines to better understand and display your content in search results. For instance, this is how search engines may show a product in search results:

    Product schema type used in search results

    AIOSEO will automatically select the correct schema type.

    It will also use the data from your WooCommerce product listing, like product pricing, availability of stock, and more.

    AIOSEO automatically adds product schema to WooCommerce products

    Additionally, you can click the ‘Edit Schema’ icon to add other information.

    You can add the brand, identifier type, material, color, pattern, and more if you need to.

    Edit product schema in All in One SEO

    The plugin also automatically generates WooCommerce XML sitemaps, including product and product category sitemaps. This brings us to the next step.

    Using XML Sitemaps in All in One SEO

    An XML sitemap is a file that lists all your website content in an XML format so search engines like Google can easily discover and index your content.

    Sitemaps are extremely important for SEO, and AIOSEO automatically sets them up for you.

    You can find your XML sitemap by adding sitemap.xml at the end of your domain name like this:

    https://example.com/sitemap.xml

    XML Sitemaps in All in One SEO

    You can customize your sitemap using All in One SEO.

    Simply go to the All in One SEO » Sitemaps page to review sitemap settings.

    Sitemap settings in All in One SEO

    You can scroll down below to the Sitemap Settings section.

    From here, you can manage sitemap indexes and include or exclude post types and taxonomies (categories and tags). You can also enable XML sitemaps for date-based archives and author archives.

    Sitemap settings

    The plugin also allows you to manually add pages to your XML sitemaps.

    For instance, you might do this if you have a standalone contact form, a landing page, or Shopify store pages.

    Adding additional pages to your sitemap

    Create a Video XML Sitemap

    All in One SEO allows you to create additional sitemaps like a video sitemap or a news sitemap.

    If you embed videos into your content, then adding a video sitemap displays the video thumbnail with a play button in search results.

    Example video search result

    You can enable the video XML sitemap by switching to the ‘Video Sitemap’ tab.

    The first time you visit this page, you will need to click the ‘Activate Video Sitemap’ button to turn on video sitemaps on your site.

    Click the 'Activate Video Sitemap' Button

    Once video sitemaps are activated, you will see the ‘Video Sitemap’ settings tab.

    Notice that the ‘Enable Sitemap’ toggle has been switched on.

    Enabling video sitemaps in All in One SEO for WordPress

    Note: You will need at least a PRO plan of the plugin to access the video sitemaps feature.

    Create a News Sitemap in WordPress

    If you run a news website, then you will need to generate a news XML sitemap to appear on Google Search’s News results page.

    All in One SEO makes it super easy to generate a news sitemap for your website. Simply switch to the ‘News Sitemap’ tab. The first time you visit this tab, you will need to click the ‘Activate News Sitemap’ button to enable news sitemaps on your site.

    Click the 'Activate News Sitemap' Button

    Now, you will see the ‘Video Sitemap’ settings tab.

    Notice that the ‘Enable Sitemap’ toggle has been switched on.

    News sitemap in All in One SEO for WordPress

    Below that, you will see the news sitemap settings.

    You can set your publication name and select a post type that you want to use for the news sitemap.

    News Sitemap Settings

    Note: You will need at least a PRO plan of the plugin to access the video sitemaps feature.

    Generate an RSS Sitemap

    An RSS Sitemap is different than an XML sitemap. Unlike XML Sitemaps, an RSS sitemap only contains your most recent content. It helps Google and other search engines to show your newer content in the search results.

    All in One SEO allows you to easily add an RSS sitemap to your website. Simply switch to the ‘RSS Sitemap’ tab and then make sure the ‘Enable Sitemap’ setting is toggled on.

    RSS Sitemap in AIOSEO

    To learn more about sitemaps, see our detailed guide on how to add XML sitemaps in WordPress.

    Using Schema Markup in All in One SEO for WordPress

    Schema markup is a special vocabulary that you can use in your post or page’s HTML code to tell search engines more about your content.

    For instance, you can tell search engines that the content they are viewing is a recipe or a product page. This allows search engines to use the microdata to display rich snippets in search results.

    Rich snippets in Google Knowledge Graph search results

    Schema markup also helps search engines display results in knowledge graph information panels. This enhanced placement in search results helps you get more clicks and visitors to your website.

    All in One SEO for WordPress comes with built-in support for schema markup for all your content.

    Setting Sitewide Schema Markup in WordPress

    First, you need to visit the All in One SEO » Search Appearance page and switch to the ‘Content Types’ tab.

    From here, you can open the ‘Schema Markup’ tab for each content type.

    Setting default schema type in AIOSEO

    For instance, you can choose ‘Article’ for your posts and then choose what type of articles they are, such as articles, blog posts, or news articles.

    Similarly, for your WooCommerce products, you can switch to the ‘Schema Markup’ tab and set the default markup type to ‘Product’.

    Changing Schema Markup for Individual Posts and Pages

    Now, what if you have mixed content that you publish as blog posts? For instance, you may occasionally publish a recipe instead of an article as a blog post.

    All in One SEO allows you to control schema markup for all individual posts, pages, and products. Simply edit the item that you want to change and scroll down to the AIOSEO Settings below the post editor.

    From here, you need to switch to the ‘Schema’ tab and click the ‘Generate Schema’ button.

    Change a single post or page's schema markup

    This will open up the Schema Catalog.

    Here, you can choose the schema type that you want to use.

    AIOSEO Schema Catalog

    Depending on which schema type you choose, you will see different options to provide additional microdata to be used in the schema markup.

    For instance, if you change it to ‘Recipe’ schema, then you will be asked to enter information such as the recipe name, description, image, dish type, cuisine, the time required, and more.

    Additional fields to enter recipe schema information

    Schema markup is an extremely powerful tool that helps you enhance the appearance of your content in the search results and get more free traffic to your website.

    Connecting Google Search Console and Other Webmaster Tools

    Google Search Console is a free tool offered by Google to help website owners track their websites’ presence in Google search results.

    All in One SEO for WordPress allows you to easily connect your WordPress site to Google Search Console.

    First, you need to add your website to Google Search Console using the URL prefix method. During the process, you will be asked to verify your ownership of the website. You should choose the HTML tag option.

    Copying the HTML tag

    Copy the HTML tag and switch back to your WordPress admin area.

    Now, simply go to the All in One SEO » General Settings page and switch to the ‘Webmaster Tools’ tab. From here, you can click on ‘Google Search Console’ and then enter the verification code you copied earlier.

    Connecting WordPress to Google Search Console

    Similarly, the plugin also allows you to add verification codes for other services like Bing Webmaster Tools, Yandex, Baidu, and Pinterest site verification.

    In fact, if any third-party service asks you to add some code to your site’s header, then you can use this page to add those codes in the ‘Miscellaneous Verification’ box.

    Miscellaneous Verification section in All in One SEO

    Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

    Viewing Google Search Console Statistics From All in One SEO

    While the Google Search Console offers a lot of useful statistics about your website on the Google Search Console website, many beginners find it difficult to find the information they need.

    Luckily, All in One SEO’s Search Statistics feature makes it easy to do this from inside your WordPress website’s dashboard.

    When you navigate to the All in One SEO » Search Statistics page for the first time, you will need to click the ‘Connect to Google Search Console’ button.

    Click 'Connect to Google Search Console'

    You will be asked to connect or choose your Google account and then give the All in One SEO plugin access to your Google Search Console account.

    Once you are redirected back to your website, All in One SEO will fetch your Google Search Console data for you. It will be presented in easy-to-understand reports featuring graphs.

    AIOSEO Search Statistics Dashboard

    Internal links are links between posts on your own website. They help search engines discover your content and rank them higher in search results.

    All in One SEO’s Link Assistant feature makes it easy to add links to your old and new content without having to open up the post. Simply head over to All in One SEO » Link Assistant in your WordPress dashboard.

    AIOSEO Activate Link Assistant

    The first time you visit this page, you will need to click the ‘Activate Link Assistant’ to enable the feature on your website.

    After that, the tool will need to scan every post and page on your website to collect the links you have and see which posts are linked to and which aren’t.

    Scanning Your Website Links Using Link Assistatn

    After a few moments, the scan will finish, and you will see an overview of the links used on your website.

    You will see the total counts for internal, external, and affiliate links. The report will also show you the number of orphaned posts that have not yet been linked to from another post or page.

    AIOSEO Link Assistant Overview

    The ‘Links Report’ tab provides detailed information on all your links.

    You will see a list of all your posts and pages with columns for internal, external, and affiliate links, as well as suggestions where you can add links.

    AIOSEO Link Assistant Links Report

    You can click on the right arrow button next to any post or page to see more details.

    For example, you can go to the ‘Link Suggestions’ tab to quickly view link suggestions and add links without directly editing a post or page.

    Viewing Link Suggestions Offered by AIOSEO's Link Assistant

    You can learn more in our ultimate guide on internal linking for SEO.

    Local Business SEO Setup

    A lot of WordPress users run small business websites that serve a particular town or region. These include businesses like restaurants, real estate agents, plumbing, maintenance service providers, small stores, salons, and more.

    Local business SEO allows you to optimize your website to appear more prominently in local search results.

    For instance, if someone is looking for an ‘Italian restaurant’, then your location would pop up in the results.

    Local SEO in action in Google Search

    This drives targeted customers and direct sales to your business.

    First, you may want to create a Google My Business account. This allows you to add your business listing, prove that you own the business, and manage your business information using Google’s My Business dashboard.

    Google My Business account

    All in One SEO for WordPress allows you to easily add local business SEO schema markup to your website. This helps you get even more enhanced placement in the search results and keep the information up to date for your business.

    Simply navigate to All in One SEO » Local SEO. The first time you visit this page, you will need to click the ‘Activate Local SEO’ button to enable local SEO on your site.

    Activate Local SEO in AIOSEO

    After that, you can set up your location settings. The first setting asks whether your business has multiple locations.

    After that, you need to decide how you will add location information to your website. Most users prefer to use Gutenberg blocks, but you can also use a shortcode, widgets, or PHP code.

    AIOSEO Local SEO Location Settings

    Now you can scroll down to the Business Info section

    Here, you can fill in your business’s information like name, logo, location, area served, and more.

    Local SEO settings in AIOSEO

    Once you have entered all of your business information, you can add your opening hours.

    In the ‘Opening Hours’ tab, you will find settings for whether to display your business hours and how to add them to your website, such as using a Gutenberg block.

    AIOSEO Local SEO Opening Hours

    After that, you can scroll down the page and enter your business hours.

    There are options for businesses that are open 24/7, or you can add your opening hours for each day of the week.

    AIOSEO Local SEO Opening Hours Settings

    The last tab allows you to add a map of your location to your website. This can help customers navigate to your office or physical store.

    For step-by-step instructions, see our guide on how to add a Google Maps store locator on WordPress.

    AIOSEO Local SEO Maps

    Don’t forget to click on the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your settings.

    Performing a Website SEO Audit in WordPress

    Now, as you work on your website, you will want to know how your website’s SEO is doing. All in One SEO for WordPress provides a built-in tool to perform a detailed website SEO audit.

    Simply go to the All in One SEO » SEO Analysis page to perform a complete site-wide SEO analysis.

    SEO analysis performed by AIOSEO

    On top of the page, it will give you an overall score for your site’s SEO health. Any score above 70 is acceptable, but there is always room for improvement.

    Below the score, you will see the breakdown of your site’s SEO audit report with different labels.

    SEO audit report in AIOSEO

    If there are any critical issues, then they need your immediate attention.

    Simply click on the ‘Important Issues’ tab, and you’ll see a list of issues that you need to fix. You can click on the arrow next to each item to expand, and it will show you how to fix it.

    Fixing important SEO issues

    As you fix an issue, you can click on the ‘Refresh Results’ button to regenerate the SEO Analysis score.

    Performing SEO Competitor Analysis in WordPress

    Want to compare your SEO analysis with your competitors? AIOSEO comes with a built-in competitor analysis tool that you can use inside WordPress.

    Simply go to the All in One SEO » SEO Analysis page and switch to the ‘Analyze Competitor Site’ tab. From here, you need to enter the URL of your competitor’s website to generate an analysis report.

    Competitor analysis in AIOSEO for WordPress

    AIOSEO will generate an SEO analysis report of your competitor.

    Below the score, you will get a detailed report on different SEO checks, top keywords, critical issues, performance, and a security analysis.

    Competition SEO analysis report

    You can compare this report with your own report and see if there is something that they are doing that you can use and improve upon.

    Expert Tip: You can also use the All in One SEO Analyzer browser extension to quickly see a website’s SEO scores on the front end.

    Miscellaneous SEO Settings and Tools

    All in One SEO for WordPress is an incredibly powerful SEO tool. Apart from the features we have covered above, it comes equipped with many features for advanced users.

    Moving From Yoast SEO to All in One SEO

    All in One SEO allows you to easily import SEO data from third-party plugins so that you can switch and use a more powerful and much better SEO tool.

    Simply go to the All in One SEO » Tools page and switch to the ‘Import/Export’ tab.

    Import export your WordPress SEO data and settings

    You can then import data by choosing a plugin from the dropdown list and clicking on the ‘Import’ button.

    Edit Robots.txt and .htaccess Files

    Sometimes, when following a WordPress tutorial or guide, you may need to edit your robots.txt or .htaccess file. All in One SEO allows you to easily do that.

    You can do this by visiting the All in One SEO » Tools page. From here, you will find the option to edit the robots.txt and .htaccess files.

    Robots.txt and .htaccess file editor in AIOSEO

    Manipulate Your WordPress RSS Feeds

    RSS Feeds are used by content aggregators to display your site’s articles or summaries.

    All in One SEO allows you to easily manipulate your WordPress RSS feeds to your own advantage by adding your own custom content before or after blog posts.

    You can do that by visiting the All in One SEO » General Settings page and switching to the ‘RSS Content’ tab.

    Add content before or after your WordPress RSS feed

    Control Who Can Access SEO Options in WordPress

    Many businesses have staff members responsible for creating content, marketing, or managing SEO. All in One SEO makes it easy for you to choose who has access to SEO settings.

    Simply go to the ‘Access Control’ tab and toggle the different settings on and off.

    AIOSEO Access Control

    It works seamlessly with WordPress user roles and permissions.

    Taking Your Website SEO to the Next Level

    Now that you have installed and set up All in One SEO for WordPress, the next step is to track how your website is doing and what you can do to grow it.

    The easiest way to track your website traffic is by using MonsterInsights. It allows you to see how many visitors are coming to your site, which pages they are viewing, and what they do on your site.

    If you haven’t set it up yet, then you can see our guide on how to easily install Google Analytics in WordPress.

    Bonus Tip: See what other important marketing data you must track on each of your WordPress websites.

    However, for most website owners, the main goal is not only to get more traffic but to convert those users into subscribers and customers.

    This is where you’ll need OptinMonster.

    It is the best conversion optimization software in the world and helps you convert website visitors into customers. It comes with beautiful lightbox popups, slide-in menus, countdown timers, notification bars, and more.

    We hope this article helped you properly install and set up All in One SEO for WordPress. You may also want to see our tips on how to increase your blog traffic and our expert picks for the best WordPress themes for SEO experts.

    If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

    The post How to Setup All in One SEO for WordPress Correctly (Ultimate Guide) first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • 7 Best Yoast SEO Alternatives For WordPress

    Are you looking for the best alternatives to Yoast SEO?

    Yoast SEO is one of the most popular WordPress SEO plugins, but it isn’t right for every website. If you choose the wrong SEO plugin, then you’ll struggle to appear in relevant search engine results and attract visitors to your website.

    In this article, we will show you the best alternatives to the Yoast SEO plugin.

    Best Yoast SEO Alternatives For WordPress

    Why Look for a Yoast SEO Alternative?

    Search engines are a major source of traffic for most websites, so it’s important to optimize your content for the search engines. However, WordPress SEO is a big topic that can be daunting, especially if you’re just getting started.

    That’s where an SEO plugin comes in.

    A good SEO plugin allows you to optimize for the search engines, without requiring any specialist skills or knowledge. Some SEO tools can even scan your content and suggest changes you can make, in order to improve your rankings.

    With that in mind, it’s important to find the best SEO plugin for your particular website. While Yoast SEO is a good choice for many sites, it does have some drawbacks.

    Firstly, Yoast offers many important SEO features as paid addons, rather than including them in the core plugin. For example, you’ll need to buy separate Yoast addons if you want to optimize your local SEO, video SEO, or news SEO.

    The core Yoast plugin also doesn’t have any WooCommerce features, which is a big problem if you run an online store.

    You’ll also need to buy a separate Yoast SEO subscription for every website where you want to use the plugin, as there’s no option to buy a multi-website license.

    That being said, let’s take a look at the best Yoast SEO alternatives that you can install. Simply use the quick links below to jump straight to the plugin you want to learn about.

    1. AIOSEO

    The All In One SEO (AIOSEO) WordPress plugin

    All in One SEO for WordPress (AIOSEO) is the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market. Used by over 3 million users, it is the most comprehensive SEO toolkit that shows how to improve your rankings without any complicated SEO jargon.

    The free version of AIOSEO has all the essential SEO features, but the pro version gives you everything you need to outrank the competition.

    Upon activation, the user-friendly setup wizard will help you choose the best SEO settings for your website. Yoast SEO has a setup wizard with similar options, but the AIOSEO wizard has fewer steps.

    To help optimize your blog posts, AIOSEO adds a new section to the page and post editor. Here, you can type in the focus keyword and any additional keyphrases you want the content to rank for.

    Adding a focus keyphrase to AIOSEO

    Unlike Yoast SEO, AIOSEO gives your content a clear score out of 10 so you can immediately see how well the content is optimized.

    AIOSEO also creates an actionable, easy-to-understand SEO checklist showing the exact steps you should take, in order to improve your score.

    Adding a target keyword or phrase to a WordPress SEO plugin

    Simply work your way through the list, and your content will stand a good chance of appearing higher in the search results.

    AIOSEO also comes with rich snippet schema markup, which encourages search engines to add rich content to your site’s search results. For example, you can show a product’s star rating, pricing, and other information by adding schema markup in WordPress.

    Adding Product schema to an online store or marketplace

    AIOSEO also integrates with the WordPress site health feature.

    If you visit the Site Health page after activating AIOSEO, then you’ll see some extra SEO health checks.

    The WordPress site health feature

    Both Yoast SEO and AIOSEO automatically generate XML sitemaps for your website. However, AIOSEO also allows you to manage your sitemap directly in the WordPress dashboard.

    Sometimes you may create pages outside of WordPress. For example, you might build stand-alone custom landing pages or sales pages. AIOSEO makes it easy to add these external pages to your sitemap, so search engines can find them.

    The AIOSEO SEO plugin and Yoast alternative

    AIOSEO has a built-in social media integration to add Open Graph metadata, so you can easily optimize your content for social platforms like Facebook and Twitter.

    AIOSEO will automatically use your post title and description for the Open Graph title and description. However, you can manually change the title, description, and thumbnail for each page and post.

    AIOSEO's Twitter and Facebook social settings

    If you use WooCommerce, then AIOSEO comes with built-in WooCommerce SEO tools.

    This includes optimizing your product titles and slugs, creating product meta descriptions, adding SEO titles and descriptions to your product categories, and more.

    AIOSEO's WooCommerce SEO settings

    By contrast, if you’re using Yoast then you’ll need to install a separate Yoast WooCommerce SEO plugin.

    Do you have a physical store, or sell to people in the local area? Then you can set up your local business schema with just a few clicks, including your address, phone number, and opening hours. Search engines will then include this information in local search results and Google Maps.

    Adding local SEO to your website or blog

    If you manage a multi-author WordPress blog, then AIOSEO comes with permissions and user roles so you can control exactly what features users can access.

    For example, you might allow guest bloggers to optimize their own posts, without giving them access to the rest of AIOSEO.

    Controlling access to your site's SEO plugin and settings

    Unlike other SEO plugins, AIOSEO offers a Link Assistant that will automatically suggest places where you may want to add more internal links.

    In this way, you can optimize your internal linking for SEO.

    Adding internal links to a blog or website

    For a more in-depth comparison of these two plugins, please see our guide on Yoast SEO vs All in One SEO – Which is the Best WordPress SEO Plugin?

    Pros:

    • A complete SEO toolkit
    • Easy to set up and use, even for SEO beginners
    • TrustSEO on-page analysis and score
    • SEO custom user roles
    • Robotos.txt editor
    • Built-in WooCommerce SEO
    • If you have only one website, then the Yoast and AIOSEO pricing plans are quite similar. However, if you run multiple websites then AIOSEO offers multi-website licenses, unlike Yoast SEO.

    Cons:

    • Although you can perform important SEO tasks using the free plugin, you’ll need to upgrade to unlock the most powerful features
    • If you want to track your keyword rankings, then you’ll need to buy an AIOSEO Elite plan. Another option is to invest in an analytics solution such as MonsterInsights.

    Why we chose AIOSEO: Overall, AIOSEO is the most beginner-friendly and comprehensive WordPress SEO plugin on the market. It allows you to optimize every part of your site, even if you’re new to SEO.

    Since it’s such a board and feature-packed plugin, you don’t need to install any extra plugins or software. This can save you a ton of time and money.

    Pricing: AIOSEO plans start at $124 per year. If you want to use AISEO on more than 1 website, then you’ll need to upgrade to the Plus plan ($249 per year) or higher. There’s also a free version of AIOSEO that can optimzie your site for the search engines, no matter what your budget.

    2. SEOPress

    The SEOPress WordPress SEO plugin

    SEOPress is a simple yet powerful WordPress SEO plugin. It includes all the features you would expect from an SEO plugin like meta title, description, open graph support, image and content XML sitemaps, redirects, and more. It also comes with a redirect manager, broken link checker, and 404 tracking.

    SEOPress has a straightforward setup wizard that’ll optimize your site with just a few clicks.

    SEOPress can generate news and video sitemaps, to help you get listed in Google News and Google Video search results.

    Even better, YouTube videos are added to your video XML sitemap automatically. This is perfect if you show videos from your YouTube channel in WordPress.

    Configuring your site's XML sitemap

    Similarly, SEOPress can automatically add your images to the XML sitemap to improve visibility in Google Images.

    This includes featured images, image galleries, and WooCommerce product images.

    Fine-tuning your website's image SEO

    You can also create custom XML sitemaps by adding custom post types and custom taxonomies. SEOPress will even automatically notify search engines when you publish new pages and posts, so they can rank your new WordPress content faster.

    If you’re looking to migrate away from Yoast, then SEOPress can import all your metadata from Yoast SEO, including title tags, Open Graph tags, meta robots, and more.

    Importing your SEO settings

    Unlike Yoast SEO, SEOPress uses AI to automate many of the basic SEO optimization tasks.

    For example, it can automatically generate meta titles and descriptions based on the content of your post, page, or custom post type.

    Automatically generating SEO metadata using a WordPress plugin

    If you want to connect with people and customers in your local area, then SEOPress can add local business schema to your WordPress website.

    It also has a local business widget that can show this information on your website. In this way, SEOPress can help improve your E-A-T (Expertise, Authoritativeness, and Trustworthiness).

    Pros:

    • Automatically adds WooCommerce product images and WooCommerce image galleries to your sitemap
    • Shows Google Analytics and Google Search Console data in the WordPress dashboard
    • Powerful schema generator with full support for a long list of schema including local business, product, video, event, and recipe schema
    • Set up unlimited redirects
    • Deploy SEOPress to your customers as a white-label tool complete with your own custom logo and branding
    • Integrates with Astra, Easy Digital Downloads, AMP, BuddyPress, and many other WordPress plugins, themes, and services.

    Cons:

    • The free SEOPress plugin is quite limited, compared to the free version of Yoast SEO. For example, you can edit your robots.txt file using the free version of Yoast, but you’ll need to upgrade to SEOPress Pro in order to optimize your robots.txt file for SEO.

    Why we chose SEOPress: The free plugin may be slightly lighter on features compared to some of its competitors, but the premium version has everything you need to optimize your site. This includes some features you don’t often see in SEO plugins such as AI-powered suggestions, plus integrations with both Google Analytics and the Google Search Console.

    Pricing: SEOPress licenses range from $49-$148 per year. There’s also a free plugin that you can download from the official WordPress repository.

    3. Rank Math

    The Rank Math WordPress SEO plugin

    Rank Math is another user-friendly SEO plugin.

    It comes with a setup wizard that checks your site’s settings and recommends any changes you need to make, in order to improve your SEO.

    The Rank Math setup wizard

    To get started, simply type in the focus keyword you want to rank for.

    Rank Math will then show actionable suggestions inside the WordPress content editor. In this way, you can fine-tune your content as you’re writing it.

    Adding focus keywords to your WordPress website

    You can also easily add a meta title, description, and Open Graph metadata to your WordPress blogs.

    The panel also shows how the post will look in the search engine results, and when it’s shared on social media. You can use these settings to fine-tune the preview, so you get more clicks and increase your blog traffic.

    Creating eye-catching snippets for social media and the search result pages

    To help you track the impact of your SEO activities, Rank Math shows information from Google Search Console directly in the WordPress dashboard. This includes the keywords you rank for, your sitemap status, and any indexing issues.

    Rank Math even displays Google URL Inspection API data, so you can see your site’s overall presence on Google, your content’s advanced index status, the last time your posts were crawled, and much more.

    Pros:

    • Advanced schema generator
    • Give yourself a head start by importing schema markup from any page, post, or URL
    • Check your schema markup against Google’s Rich Results validation tool
    • Build custom schemas and even add multiple schemas to a single post without having to write a single line of code
    • Integrates with Google Trends to show the latest search trends for keywords
    • Use Rank Math on an unlimited number of personal sites, even if you choose the least expensive plan

    Cons:

    • You’ll need to upgrade to a Business or higher plan if you want to use Rank Math on client sites
    • All the paid plans limit the number of keywords you can track

    Why we chose Rank Math: Rank Math shows an impressive range of tracking data and statistics inside the WordPress dashboard. This makes it a good choice if you haven’t installed Google Analytics in WordPress, or set up a similar analytics tool.

    Pricing: Rank Math Pro licenses start at $59 per year. However, if you want to use Rank Math on client websites then you’ll need to purchase a Business license ($199 per year) or higher. There’s also a free Rank Math plugin that you can download from WordPress.org.

    4. Slim SEO

    The Slim SEO WordPress plugin

    Slim SEO is a lightweight Yoast SEO alternative that aims to do all the heavy lifting for you.

    This plugin can automatically generate meta titles, meta descriptions, Open Graph, Twitter card tags, and more.

    Adding metadata to your website using a Yoast SEO alternative

    It can also generate schema types for all your content, image alt text, and XML sitemaps for search engines.

    To help visitors find interesting content on your website, Slim SEO comes with fully-customizable breadcrumb navigation that you can add to any page, post, or widget-ready area using a shortcode.

    Adding breadcrumbs to a site using a Yoast alternative

    If a third-party scrapes your site, then the duplicate content can hurt your rankings.

    To help prevent blog content scraping, Slim SEO can show excerpts in your RSS feed rather than the full content. It will also automatically add a link to each post in the WordPress RSS feed, so you’ll get a backlink even if someone successfully scrapes your content.

    If you need to set up a redirect, then Slim SEO supports 301 redirects, temporary redirects, 410 content deleted messages, and more.

    Adding a redirect to your website using a Yoast SEO alternative

    Sometimes, you may need to add third-party code to your website. For example, you might add code from Google Analytics, Google Tag Manager, Meta Pixel, or other webmaster tools.

    Unlike some other SEO tools, Slim SEO makes it easy to add custom code to WordPress. In the Slim SEO settings, simply paste the custom code into the boxes labeled header, body, or footer. Slim SEO will then go ahead and insert the code for you.

    Adding custom code to a WordPress website using an SEO plugin

    Pros:

    • Configures many important SEO settings automatically
    • Very lightweight and easy to use
    • Optimized for speed and performance
    • Automatically checks if a page needs to be indexed and will exclude it from the search results if necessary
    • Redirect broken or outdated URLs with just a few clicks
    • Integrates with many popular WordPress plugins including AffiliateWP, WooCommerce, and WPForms.

    Cons:

    • With its focus on ease of use, Slim SEO is missing some of the more advanced features you’ll find in plugins like Yoast SEO and AIOSEO.
    • While the automation can save you a ton of time, Slim SEO lacks the level of customization found in competing plugins.

    Why we chose Slim SEO: If you’re looking for a straightforward plugin that makes SEO feel effortless, then Slim SEO may be your ideal plugin. With its focus on automation, Slim SEO promises to deliver a significant SEO boost, without you having to learn complicated features and settings.

    Pricing: You can download Slim SEO for free from the official WordPress repository.

    5. SmartCrawl

    The SmartCrawl WordPress SEO plugin

    It’s easy to get started with the SmartCrawl Pro plugin, thanks to a one-click setup wizard.

    Once you’re up and running, SmartCrawl continues to make things easy with a straightforward user interface that allows you to see different modules with the click of a button.

    The SmartCrawl SEO dashboard

    The SEO Audits module is powered by Google Lighthouse and highlights any issues with your site’s SEO on both mobile and desktop devices.

    You can start a scan manually at any point, or set up an automated schedule. SmartCrawl will then email you the results, or notify you when your score drops below a certain percentage.

    SmartCrawl adds a new section to the WordPress All Posts and All Pages screens where you can see some basic information about your content. This includes the readability score and whether the title and description are within the recommended character count.

    Additional SEO data, in the WordPress dashboard

    SmartCrawl also adds a custom meta box to the post editor where you can fine-tune important content such as the SEO title and description, and OpenGraph elements.

    It also shows how easy the content is to read, based on the Flesch-Kincaid readability.

    An example of a Yoast alternative

    To save time and improve your internal linking, SmartCrawl can turn certain words or phrases into URLs automatically. For example, you may want to link to your pricing table every time you mention a particular product.

    You can also use SmartCrawl to set up redirects, edit your robots.txt file, set up breadcrumb navigation, add product schema to your WooCommerce store, and more.

    Adding breadcrumb navigation to your WordPress website or blog

    Pros:

    • Provides actionable recommendations on how to improve your content’s search engine rankings and readability
    • Automated SEO audits and sitemap crawler reports
    • Preview how your content will look in the search engine results
    • Analyze each post for up to three keywords
    • Integrates with WPML (WordPress Multi-language) so you can optimize the pages you’ve translated for search engines

    Cons:

    • No in-depth integration with WooCommerce
    • The free plugin doesn’t include many of SmartCrawl’s best features, including automated scanning, automatic linking, and built-in reports.

    Why we chose SmartCrawl: SmartCrawl is easy to set up, even if you’re just getting started with SEO. In fact, all its features are enabled automatically, so if you’re happy to use the default settings then you can set up SmartCrawl with just a few clicks.

    For advanced users, there are some more powerful features to explore, but this is a great plugin for anyone who wants to make SEO quick and easy.

    Pricing: SmartCrawl’s premium licenses start from $7.50 per month, which allows you to use the plugin on up to 10 sites. There’s also a free plugin that you can download from the official WordPress repository.

    6. Squirrly SEO

    The Squirrly Yoast SEO alternative

    Squirrly SEO is an AI-powered SEO toolkit that comes with 650 features pre-configured.

    To start, you can find the best keywords to target using Squirrly’s advanced keyword research tool, which shows important information such as the search volume data, and the level of competition for each keyword.

    The Squirrly SEO keyword research tool

    Squirrly SEO also comes with SEO AI Assistant. Simply enter the keywords you want to target, and Squirrly will use AI to create a personalized checklist on how to improve your rankings.

    Squirrly doesn’t just help you optimize for the search engines. As you create content, its Live Assistant will suggest ways to improve the article for human readers. For example, Squirrly will monitor your content for repetitiveness, keyword stuffing, and many other factors that can hurt the reader experience.

    Optimizing your WordPress website using an SEO plugin

    The Live Assistant is compatible with many popular page builder plugins including Divi, WP Bakery, and Thrive Architect. In fact, it can show complete audits and reports for pages created with these builders.

    Similar to many other SEO plugins, Squirrly lets you control exactly how your pages appear in the SERPs and on social media.

    Previewing a post in the SERPs using an SEO plugin

    When it comes to tracking the impact of your SEO activities, Squirrly SEO provides detailed audits, in-depth performance metrics, and performance scores. To provide even greater insight, Squirrly SEO integrates with Google Search Console and Google Analytics.

    Pros:

    • A complete SEO toolkit that can help you perform keyword research, content optimization, technical SEO, site audits, rank tracking, and more.
    • Track and optimize for over 113 ranking factors
    • A Master Control Board where you can quickly check if your website is SEO optimized
    • Built-in Google SERP Checker
    • WooCommerce SEO
    • Support for custom post types

    Cons:

    • A steeper learning curve compared to some SEO plugins
    • Limited keyword research that doesn’t show many long tail keywords

    Why we chose Squirrly SEO: With its built-in analytics and keyword research tools, this is a comprehensive SEO toolkit. The combination of an AI Assistant and Live Assistant also encourages you to optimize for both audiences: the search engines that index your content, and the people who visit your website.

    Pricing: Squirrly SEO licenses range from $29.99-$75.99 per month. There’s also an SEO Plugin by Squirrly SEO that you can download for free.

    7. Semrush SEO Writing Assistant

    The Semrush SEO Writing Assistant

    Semrush SEO Writing Assistant is a smart editor tool that helps you write more SEO-friendly content and improve your ranking for your focus keyword.

    This tool integrates with the WordPress post editor and offers actionable suggestions based on the top-performing content in Google’s SERPs.

    Based on this information, it gives the post an overall score, so you can easily see how well the content is optimized.

    The SEO Writing Assistant also uses the Flesch-Kincaid score to assess your content’s readability and make suggestions on how to improve the reader experience.

    Semrush's readability score

    The Semrush SEO Writing Assistant checks if your tone of voice is consistent, and also comes with an AI-powered rephraser.

    This rephraser will suggest ways to paraphrase any areas of text that are unclear, wordy, or awkward to read.

    Testing your content's tone using a Yoast SEO alternative

    When you type in a focus keyword, SEO Writing Assistant will suggest related keywords that you may also want to target.

    In this way, you can optimize your content for multiple keywords and get even more visitors.

    Semrush's recommended keyword settings

    With its focus on improving copy, SEO Writing Assistant is also a great tool for editors, proofreaders, and anyone who edits posts on their WordPress website.

    If you do allow users to submit posts on your WordPress site, then SEO Writing Assistant has a plagiarism checker. Duplicate content can hurt your site’s SEO and your reputation. In the worst-case scenario, search engines such as Google might even blacklist your website so you stop appearing in relevant search results.

    With SEO Writing Assistant, it’s easy to make sure each writer submits original content.

    Pros:

    • Features that improve the editorial workflow, including a plagiarism check and an AI-powered rephraser
    • A complete SEO toolkit that can optimize your content for search engines and human readers
    • An easy-to-understand overall SEO score
    • Identifies potential issues with links and alt tags

    Cons:

    • Limited built-in keyword research tools. If you want to research potential focus keyphrases, then you’ll need to create a separate Semrush account.
    • Depending on how you use the tool, you may also need to buy a Semrush subscription

    Why we chose Semrush SEO Writing Assistant: If you already have a Semrush subscription, then this plugin allows you to access Semrush features directly inside the WordPress dashboard.

    Pricing: You can download Semrush SEO Writing Assistant for free, but you will need to create a Semrush account before you can use any of the features. To use some of the more advanced settings, you may also need to buy a Semrush subscription (prices range from $129.95-$499.95 per month).

    The AIOSEO Broken Link Checker WordPress plugin

    There are many reasons why you might get broken links, but they commonly happen when you move a site to a new domain name, or delete a page without setting up a redirect. These broken URLs can hurt your SEO and the visitor experience, so it’s important to fix them.

    The Broken Link Checker plugin by AIOSEO is a simple tool that scans your posts, pages, and custom post types for broken links every three days.

    The AIOSEO broken link checker

    Every time it finds a broken URL, it’ll show the link’s HTTP status code, response headers, and how long the link has been broken.

    To fix the link, simply click on ‘Edit URL’ in the WordPress dashboard.

    Fixing broken URLs in WordPress using AIOSEO

    You can also simply remove the link, by clicking ‘Unlink.’

    Unlike some other plugins, Broken Link Checker is built as a SaaS service, so it won’t slow your website down. It also won’t be blocked by managed WordPress hosting companies like WP Engine because it pings for broken links using an external private server.

    Pros:

    • A simple and straightforward plugin that you can download for free
    • Automatically identifies broken links
    • Designed so it won’t slow down your website, or get blocked by managed WordPress hosting providers
    • Minimal settings to configure

    Cons:

    • This plugin is designed to do one job, and do it well. With that in mind, you’ll still need an SEO toolkit to manage all your other SEO tasks

    Why we chose Broken Link Checker: Fixing broken links is an important SEO task, but not every plugin manages broken URLs, especially if you’re using the free version of a premium plugin. If this is the case, then Broken Link Checker is a free, simple plugin that provides this missing feature.

    Pricing: You can download the Broken Link Checker by AIOSEO plugin for free.

    Conclusion: What is the Best Yoast SEO Alternative?

    If you’re looking for the best Yoast SEO alternative, then we recommend AIOSEO. Similar to Yoast, AIOSEO is a complete SEO toolkit that has everything you need to optimize your site for search engines. This means you don’t need to install any additional SEO plugins.

    Unlike Yoast SEO, AIOSEO has a range of plans including subscriptions for multiple websites. This makes AIOSEO a great option if you own more than one website, or need a plugin that you can use on multiple client websites.

    AIOSEO also supports WooCommerce SEO out of the box, without you needing to pay for an additional eCommerce SEO plugin. This is a big win if you run an online store, marketplace, or sell digital products.

    If you’re just getting started, then there’s even a free version of AIOSEO that gives you access to advanced SEO features, no matter what your budget.

    FAQs About Yoast SEO Alternatives

    In this guide, we have covered several popular Yoast SEO alternatives. If you still have questions, then here are our FAQs about choosing the right SEO plugin for your WordPress blog or website.

    What Are the Best Yoast SEO Alternatives?

    The best alternatives to Yoast SEO are AIOSEO, Rank Math, SEOPress, Slim SEO, SmartCrawl, and Squirrely SEO.

    However, we recommend AIOSEO as it’s easy to set up, easy to use, and creates a complete SEO checklist for every page, post, and custom post type across your WordPress website.

    What Is the Best Yoast SEO Alternative for WooCommerce?

    When it comes to eCommerce SEO, AIOSEO comes out on top. It has built-in support for WooCommerce, so you don’t need to install a separate plugin.

    AIOSEO allows you to optimize your product pages and automatically generates XML sitemaps for your products and product categories.

    You can also add product schema to your inventory, which encourages search engines such as Google to create rich snippets for your products. This includes showing the product’s average star rating, how many reviews it has, and its pricing.

    Is Rank Math Better Than Yoast?

    If you’re looking for a plugin that’s easy to set up and use, then Yoast is a great choice especially if you’re new to SEO. However, Rank Math has more advanced features including the ability to generate fully-customizable schema, perform detailed keyword analysis, create custom XML sitemaps, and even optimize your image SEO for smart displays and devices such as Alexa.

    For that reason, we recommend choosing Rank Math, despite the slightly steeper learning curve compared to Yoast.

    Is AIOSEO Better Than Yoast SEO?

    Both AIOSEO and Yoast SEO are powerful, user-friendly SEO plugins. However, AIOSEO offers more schema types, and gives you greater control over your XML sitemap.

    Both plugins can scan your content and create an SEO checklist, but AIOSEO tends to provide a clearer, more actionable plan thanks to its TruSEO score and Focus Keyphrase features.

    If you have multiple websites, then AIOSEO’s plans represent much better value for money. You can use AIOSEO on up to 100 websites, using a single license.

    By contrast, all of Yoast SEO’s plans are limited to a single website, so you’ll need to buy multiple licenses if you own multiple websites.

    How Do I Set up an SEO Plugin for WordPress?

    The first thing you need to do is install and activate your chosen SEO plugin. For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Upon activation, you’ll typically see a setup wizard that will guide you through the setup process. For example, if you’re using AIOSEO then you can simply click on the ‘Let’s Get Started’ button.

    The AIOSEO startup wizard

    You can then follow the onscreen instructions to set up the plugin and start optimizing your site. For detailed instructions, please see our guide on how to setup All in One SEO for WordPress correctly.

    We hope this article helped you find the best Yoast SEO alternative for your WordPress website. You may also want to go through our guide on how to make money online blogging with WordPress, or see our expert pick of the must-have WordPress plugins.

    If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

    The post 7 Best Yoast SEO Alternatives For WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Easily Track 404 Pages and Redirect Them in WordPress

    Are you looking for an easy way to find 404 error pages on your WordPress website and redirect them?

    404 errors occur when users try to reach a page on your website that no longer exists. These errors create a bad user experience, which can lead to a drop in search engine rankings and lower eCommerce sales.

    In this article, we will show you how to easily track 404 pages and redirect them in WordPress.

    How to Easily Track 404 Pages and Redirect Them in WordPress

    What Is a 404 Error?

    A 404 error is an HTTP status code that shows that the server couldn’t reach the web page you are trying to visit.

    This means that if you enter a URL of a web page that does not exist, then you will see a ‘404 Page Not Found’ error.

    404 Page Example

    Now, there are many reasons why the 404 error occurs. It could be because the visitor made a mistake when entering the URL, the page was deleted from the website, or the domain name no longer exists.

    Another cause of the 404 error is when a page was moved to another URL but wasn’t properly redirected, resulting in a broken link.

    Finally, sometimes server malfunctions can also lead to 404 errors on a WordPress website.

    Why Track and Redirect 404 Pages in WordPress?

    Now that you know the different causes of 404 errors, let’s take a look at why it’s extremely important for website owners to track 404 errors and fix them.

    404 errors are bad for your site’s user experience. If users can’t find the page they are looking for, then they will likely leave your site and go to your competitors.

    This means you will lose potential customers and miss an opportunity to convert your visitors into subscribers.

    Aside from that, 404 errors have a negative impact on your WordPress SEO rankings. Search engine ranking algorithms often penalize websites when they run into broken links.

    Not to mention, these broken pages will cause you to lose valuable backlinks for your website, which results in lower domain authority and a significant drop in Google keyword rankings.

    With that being said, let’s take a look at how you can easily track 404 pages and redirect them in WordPress. We will cover two different methods, so feel free to click the links below to jump ahead to your preferred method:

    Video Tutorial

    If you’d prefer written instructions, then just keep reading.

    Method 1: Track & Redirect 404 Pages Using AIOSEO (Recommended)

    The easiest way to track and fix 404 pages on your WordPress website is by using the All in One SEO plugin for WordPress, which is also known as AIOSEO. It’s the best SEO WordPress plugin that is used by over 3 million professionals.

    AIOSEO allows you to easily find pages with broken links and fix them with just a few clicks using its powerful Redirection Manager.

    The best thing about AIOSEO is that it helps you set up faster 301 redirects, which helps you improve search engine rankings.

    For this tutorial, we will be using the AIOSEO Pro version because it includes the powerful Redirection Manager addon. There is a free version of AIOSEO, but it doesn’t include 404 monitoring or the Redirection Manager.

    First, you will need to install and activate the AIOSEO Pro plugin. For more details, please see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Activating Redirects and Enabling 404 Error Logs in AIOSEO

    Once the plugin is active, you can go to All in One SEO » Redirects and click the ‘Activate Redirects’ button.

    Activating Redirects in All in One SEO

    After that, you need to visit the ‘Settings’ tab under Redirects and configure the plugin to keep 404 logs and track pages with broken links.

    Simply scroll down to the ‘Logs’ sections and make sure that the ‘404 Logs’ option is enabled. Next, select the time period to record the 404 logs using the dropdown menu. We recommend no longer than one month for optimal server performance.

    Enable 404 logs

    Once you are done, go ahead and click the ‘Save Changes’ button.

    You will now see a ‘404 Logs’ tab in the Redirects section in AIOSEO. When you first enable 404 logs, this page will not have any data because it only starts monitoring 404 pages after you enable the setting.

    In time, it will show a list of all the URLs that have a 404 error. You will see how many times someone tried to visit the link in the ‘Hits’ column and the date when it was last visited in the ‘Last Accessed’ column.

    Once you have identified the pages with broken links, you can simply redirect them by clicking the ‘Add Redirect’ button. You should redirect the URL to a relevant page on your website.

    Click 404 logs menu option

    When you click the button, you will see the option to enter a target URL and select the redirection type from the dropdown menu.

    For example, you can move a page permanently by selecting the ‘301 Moved Permanently’ option.

    Add redirect

    After that, click the ‘Add Redirect’ button, and your broken link will now automatically redirect to the new target URL.

    Clearing 404 Error Logs in AIOSEO

    With time, the size of your log file can grow and take up a lot of disk space. A lack of WordPress hosting disk space can lead to errors. To make sure that you don’t run into this problem, it’s a best practice to delete and clear 404 error logs.

    With AIOSEO, you can easily delete any individual 404 error from your logs by clicking the trash can icon.

    Delete 404 error log entry from AIOSEO

    You can also bulk delete your 404 logs by going to All in One SEO » Tools and then clicking on the ‘Database Tools’ tab.

    Now, just scroll down to the ‘Logs’ section and click the ‘Clear 404 Logs’ button.

    Clear 404 logs from database tools

    Permalink Monitoring in AIOSEO

    Aside from tracking 404 errors, the AIOSEO Redirect Manager also comes with permalink monitoring. This means that if you delete a page on your site, or change the URL of any blog post, then AIOSEO will automatically notify you to set up a redirect.

    In some cases, AIOSEO can even set up the proper 301 redirects for you without any effort.

    Bonus Tip: Set Up Faster 301 Redirects in WordPress With AIOSEO

    AIOSEO also allows you to set up faster redirects by going to the ‘Settings’ tab and choosing the ‘Web Server’ redirect method.

    AIOSEO Server Level Redirects

    This allows you to unlock significant speed improvements when compared to the default WordPress/PHP redirect method.

    Method 2: Track & Redirect 404 Pages Using the Redirection Plugin

    The next method to track and redirect 404 errors is by using the free Redirection Plugin for WordPress. This is an advanced plugin, so some beginners may find it harder to use.

    First, you need to install and activate the plugin. For more details, please see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Upon activation, go to Tools » Redirection and then scroll down and click the ‘Start Setup’ button to set up your redirects.

    Start setup of Redirection plugin

    After that, the plugin will ask whether you would like to monitor permalink changes in WordPress and keep logs of redirects and 404 errors.

    Just select the checkbox for these options and click the ‘Continue Setup’ button.

    Basic setup Redirection plugin

    The plugin will now test the REST API status.

    When the status result comes back as ‘Good’, you can click the ‘Finish Setup’ button.

    Rest API test in Redirection

    After that, the plugin will set up redirection. This will take several seconds, and when it is complete, you will need to click the ‘Continue’ button and then the ‘Ready to begin!’ button.

    Now, you can start to redirect your 404 pages.

    Simply enter the URL of the page you want to redirect in the ‘Source URL’ column.

    Next, select whether you’d like to exactly match the query parameters, ignore them, or pass them through to the target URL from the ‘Query Parameter’ dropdown menu.

    Now, you need to enter the Target URL to where the 404 page will be redirected, keep the Group option as ‘Redirection’, and click the ‘Add Redirect’ button.

    Add new redirection

    If you want more options to set up redirection, then just click the gear icon next to the ‘Add Redirect’ button.

    You can begin by adding the old URL showing 404 in the ‘Source URL’ field, selecting the Query Parameter like before, and adding a title to describe the purpose of this redirect.

    After that, select the ‘Match’ option from the dropdown. You will see multiple options, including URL only, URL and referrer, URL and user agent, and URL and login status.

    More options for add new redirection

    In most cases, you want to use the ‘URL and referrer’ setting. That’s because if you see several 404 requests for a specific page, then those users probably clicked on the same link to the wrong URL rather than all typing the same wrong web address.

    Now, whenever someone else clicks on the broken URL, it will automatically redirect them to the new location.

    Next, make sure that your action is ‘Redirect to URL’. The other options are complex and require advanced technical knowledge.

    For the redirection type, you need to select an option from the HTTP code dropdown. For a permanent redirection, this should be ‘301 – Moved Permanently’.

    Lastly, enter the target URL in the ‘Matched Target’ field. After you have entered this information, just hit the ‘Add Redirect’ button.

    You can go to the new URL to test and make sure that the redirection is working properly.

    The plugin also has the option to track 404 error logs. Simply click on the ‘404s’ tab at the top, and the plugin will show you recent 404 errors that occurred on your site since you installed the plugin.

    404 Logs in Redirection plugin

    Note: If you just enabled the Redirection plugin, then the 404 log page will be empty. It only starts keeping a log of 404 errors after the plugin is activated.

    Bonus: Design a Custom 404 Page With SeedProd

    Setting up redirects means that visitors shouldn’t run into many 404 error pages on your WordPress website. However, if they do land on a 404 page, it’s a good idea to have a custom design that will help out your users.

    Including your custom branding can make your 404 page look more reputable. Adding a contact form can allow users to tell you the address they entered that triggered the 404 error. You can even include links to your popular posts or products so that visitors will be tempted to stay on your website.

    Luckily, it’s easy to design a custom 404 page with SeedProd. It’s the best WordPress landing page builder and comes with plenty of customizable templates for 404 pages.

    Building a custom 404 page for your WordPress website

    You can learn more in our complete guide on how to improve your 404 page template in WordPress.

    We hope this article helped you learn how to track 404 pages and redirect them in WordPress. You may also want to see our guide on how to increase your blog traffic the easy way or our expert picks of the best 404 error page examples to inspire your website design.

    If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

    The post How to Easily Track 404 Pages and Redirect Them in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Redirect Your 404 Page to the Home Page in WordPress

    Do you want to redirect your 404 page to your home page in WordPress?

    Redirecting the 404 ‘Not Found’ page to your website’s home page can help reduce your bounce rate and allow your users to discover other useful content on your website.

    In this article, we will show you how to redirect your 404 page to your home page in WordPress.

    How to Redirect Your 404 Page to the Home Page in WordPress

    Why Redirect Your 404 Page to Your WordPress Home Page?

    When a user tries to visit a page that doesn’t exist on your WordPress website, WordPress will show them a 404 error page instead.

    The wording and appearance of this page can vary depending on the theme you are using.

    Default WordPress 404 page

    Most users who land on the default 404 page will leave your site quickly. This can increase your overall bounce rate and negatively impact your search engine rankings.

    That’s why you should take the time to create a custom 404 page. However, until you do that, you can take the shortcut in this tutorial and redirect users to the homepage.

    In a perfect world, you would also redirect specific 404 error requests to the most relevant pages.

    That being said, let’s look at how to redirect all 404 errors to your home page. We will cover two methods and also show you how to create custom redirects for individual pages:

    Method 1: Redirect All 404 Errors to the Home Page in WordPress

    For this method, we will be using All in One SEO for WordPress (AIOSEO). It is the best WordPress SEO plugin that allows you to set up redirects, optimize your content for search engines, and more.

    The first thing you need to do is install and activate All in One SEO (AIOSEO). For more details, see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Note: There is a free version of All in One SEO, but we will be using the Pro version since Redirect is a Pro addon.

    Once the plugin is activated, you need to go to All in One SEO » Redirects.

    If you haven’t set up redirects yet, then you must click the ‘Activate Redirects’ button.

    Activating Redirects in All in One SEO

    This will install All in One SEO’s Redirects module.

    Next, you will need to click on the ‘Settings’ tab at the top of the page. This page allows you to configure redirects in AIOSEO.

    The AIOSEO Redirects Settings Page

    You need to scroll down the page until you find the ‘Advanced 404 Settings’ section. Enable this section by simply clicking the toggle button so that it turns blue.

    Now you will be able to see some more settings. You should toggle the ‘Enable default 404 redirect’ button to the on position. After that, make sure that the ‘Home Page’ option is selected.

    Enabling Default 404 Redirect in AIOSEO

    Notice that there’s also a ‘Custom URL’ option. This allows you to redirect 404 errors to any post or page. Don’t forget to click the ‘Save Changes’ button at the top or bottom of the page to store your settings.

    Now when your visitors try to visit a URL on your website that doesn’t exist, they will be taken to the home page instead of seeing the default 404 page.

    Method 2: Redirect All 404 Errors to the Home Page Using Code

    If you prefer not to use a plugin, then you can use a simple code snippet to redirect all 404 pages to the homepage.

    In this method, you need to add code to your WordPress files. If you haven’t done this before, then see our beginner’s guide on pasting snippets from the web into WordPress. You may also like to see our guide to the WordPress theme template hierarchy.

    First, you will need to create a new file in your WordPress theme folder and name it 404.php. If your theme already has a 404.php file, then you must edit that file instead.

    To edit this file, you need to connect to your WordPress hosting account with an FTP client or their file manager tool.

    FTP 404 php file

    Once you are connected to your website, you will be able to see the 404.php file in your WordPress themes folder.

    You need to add the following code as the first line in your 404.php file:

    <?php
    header("HTTP/1.1 301 Moved Permanently");
    header("Location: ".get_bloginfo('url'));
    exit();
    ?>
    

    Next, save the 404.php file and reupload it to your theme directory using FTP or your hosting control panel.

    Now, when a page is not found, instead of seeing a 404 page, visitors will be redirected to your WordPress home page.

    Bonus: Set Up Custom 404 Page Redirects With AIOSEO

    The best and most SEO-friendly way of handling 404 errors is to redirect visitors to the most relevant page, not just your homepage.

    The All in One SEO plugin’s Redirects feature can also track all 404-page errors and let you set up smart 404-page redirects in WordPress.

    If you installed and activated AIOSEO when you followed Method 1, then all you need to do is navigate back to the All in One SEO » Redirects page and click on the ‘Settings’ tab.

    Next, scroll down until you see the ‘Logs’ section. Your 404 logs are a record of URLs that your visitors have tried to use to visit pages that no longer exist on your site.

    Make sure the ‘404 Logs’ is toggled on so that it looks blue. You can also choose how long you want the plugin to record your logs by selecting the time period from the dropdown menu.

    Enable 404 logs

    Don’t forget to click ‘Save Changes’ before moving on.

    After that, you can click the ‘404 Logs’ menu option to see the last accessed 404 page.

    Remember, since you just enabled logging, it may not display anything right away. You might need to wait up to 24 hours before you see any useful insights there.

    Click 404 logs menu option

    The ‘URL’ column will show you the pages users tried to visit but don’t exist.

    You can redirect any of these URLs to an existing page by clicking the ‘Add Redirect’ link in the ‘Redirect’ column. This will open a dropdown where you can enter your redirect information.

    For best results, you need to enter the most relevant page for the original query in the ‘Target URL’ box and then click ‘Add Redirect’.

    Add home page redirect

    For example, if you deleted a tutorial on how to start a WordPress blog and then wrote a new one, then it’s best to redirect that old URL to the new blog post rather than your homepage.

    To add multiple 404-page redirects, simply follow the same steps as above.

    Remember, generally, you don’t want to redirect your 404 page to your home page forever. It’s a great temporary solution until you create a custom 404 page design that will convert better or set up individual redirects that take users to a relevant page that does exist.

    We hope this article helped you learn how to redirect your 404 page in WordPress. You may also want to see our ultimate WordPress SEO guide and the best drag-and-drop WordPress page builders to create custom 404 pages.

    If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

    The post How to Redirect Your 404 Page to the Home Page in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • Introducing a New Chrome Extension by All in One SEO: Analyze Your SEO in a Click

    Do you think SEO is hard and tedious?

    Ever wished there was an easy way to point out nitty-gritty details of your SEO, so you don’t have to worry about it?

    Every minor detail can fluctuate search rankings, but ensuring they’re in place is not easy.

    Today, I’m excited to share the launch of my brand new Google Chrome extension, All in One SEO Analyzer, which shows you all your SEO details in a click.

    We built this tool to help you save time with fast SEO checks, so you can focus on creating great content while our tool handles the SEO details.

    new chrome extension by aioseo

    What is All in One SEO Analyzer Chrome Extension?

    The free All in One SEO Analyzer Chrome extension is the easiest way to run an SEO audit of any website instantly with a click.

    Once you install the extension on your Chrome browser, all you have to do is to visit the page where you want to perform an SEO analysis. Then click on the extension, and you’ll get a detailed SEO report of that page, which includes…

    • Analysis of basic SEO elements, like meta descriptions, titles, keywords, and content structure
    • SEO score analysis of your meta data, which shows you whether they need further improvement
    • Quick links to your robots.txt file and your website’s sitemap
    • Detailed reports of your heading tags, image’s SEO, internal, and external links, schema markups, social media tags, and more.
    demo aioseo extension chrome

    In a nutshell, the All in One SEO Analyzer Chrome extension shows you all your SEO details instantly.

    Why Use the All in One SEO Analyzer Chrome Extension?

    For most website owners, SEO is complex because there is no clear-cut way to analyze your website’s SEO unless you hire an SEO consultant or buy premium software that costs a fortune.

    Unfortunately, not everyone has the budget or resources to do so, which limits their ability to grow their website and rank better on search engines.

    We want to fix it once and for all. This is why we decided to build a free Chrome extension for SEO analysis and make it free for everyone.

    Our SEO extension makes it easy to do quick SEO checks and make necessary changes to your site in no time.

    Easily Generate an SEO Audit Report

    Ever wondered if there’s any room for optimizing your content to boost your SEO?

    No matter how well-structured your content is, there will still be room for improving it. With AIOSEO’s Chrome extension, you can scan your entire page with a click and generate an SEO audit report to see if there is any room for improvement to boost search rankings and organic traffic.

    Here are a few elements that our Chrome extension helps you analyze and improve.

    • SEO title and meta description: Optimize how your search results are being shown on search engine result pages for higher click-through rates.
    • Keywords used and heading tags: The extension shows you how many heading tags are used and what keywords you were using on the site.
    • Image SEO: It shows you how many images you’re using, whether they’re optimized with alt tags and titles.
    • Internal and external link count: Have a quick understanding of the total number of links you use on your site, whether they’re internally linked or externally.
    • Schema.org data: Schema is a type of microdata that provides additional information about the content of a web page to search engines. You can quickly figure out whether you’re using the right Schema markup.
    • And more…

    Perform SEO Analysis of Any Websites

    The best thing about our Chrome extension is that it lets you analyze any website you want, whether yours or your competitors.

    It also helps you learn from the SEO strategies of your top competitors and peers in your industry so you can discover how they structure their content and replicate the process on your site.

    headings chrome extension aioseo

    For example, you can visit any blog post you admire, click the extension, and then navigate to the Heading section. Then click the Export button.

    All headings used in that article will be downloaded in a CSV file.

    Find SEO Errors Right Within WordPress

    Do you want to perform a detailed SEO audit and find critical errors right inside your WordPress dashboard? Then, we recommend installing the All in One SEO (AIOSEO) WordPress plugin.

    SEO audit

    Aside from showing you a detailed report, its free plugin offers suggestions to improve it.

    AIOSEO also offers a premium version that provides you with advanced features like a redirection manager, powerful sitemap tools, schema markups and more.

    What’s Coming Next?

    All in One SEO Analyzer is a great Chrome extension to help you step up your website’s SEO strategy.

    SEO takes time, but with the right tools at your disposal, like our Chrome extension, you can save your efforts with fast SEO checks.

    The All in One SEO Analyzer Chrome extension provides you with an SEO report, but if you want to get actionable insights into how to make improvements to grow your traffic, then install the free All in One SEO plugin.

    Aside from SEO suggestions, it comes with several essential tools, like breadcrumbs, sitemaps, and more, to optimize your site.

    We’re truly building something special here. If you have ideas on how we can make the plugin more helpful to you, please send us your suggestions.

    As always, I want to thank you for your continued support of WPBeginner, and we look forward to continue serving you for years to come.

    Yours Truly,

    Syed Balkhi
    Founder of WPBeginner

    The post Introducing a New Chrome Extension by All in One SEO: Analyze Your SEO in a Click first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • 12 Best Lead Generation WordPress Plugins (Powerful)

    Are you looking for the best lead generation WordPress plugins?

    Using the right lead generation tools can help you get more customers and sales faster so that you can grow your business.

    In this article, we will share some of the best lead generation WordPress plugins to help you improve your marketing.

    Best Lead Generation WordPress Plugins (Powerful)

    What Is Lead Generation, and Why Does It Matter?

    Lead generation means getting the interest of prospective customers. It can be done in several different ways.

    On your website, lead generation might mean getting visitors to:

    • Join your email newsletter.
    • Submit a contact or inquiry form on your website.
    • Contact someone at your company through live chat.
    • Talk to a chatbot (automated chat).
    • Call your sales team, or book a call with them.

    Lead generation is essential for all online businesses. Of course, it’s also important to have a strong process for converting the leads into customers. However, most businesses struggle to get enough leads in the first place.

    Even if you run a nonprofit, lead generation matters. It can help you get more donations and more support.

    Our goal with this list is to share the absolute best WordPress lead generation plugins that you can use to grow your business faster.

    Unlike other best lead generation tool lists, we are not just sharing a list of plugins that do the same thing. Instead, we’re focusing on lead generation from a holistic point of view.

    For each lead generation solution category, we share an expert pick along with one alternative option for that category. This will help us keep this list comprehensive without causing choice paralysis.

    With that said, here are the best lead generation plugins for WordPress.

    1. WPForms

    WPForms

    WPForms is the best contact form plugin on the market. Over 6 million website owners use the beginner-friendly, drag-and-drop builder to create any kind of online form for their WordPress sites.

    It comes with over a hundred pre-built form templates you can use as a starting point. After that, you can customize the form to match your needs using the drag-and-drop form builder interface.

    Here are just some of the lead generation forms you can create:

    WPForms also integrates with your favorite email marketing services and CRM providers. This lets you automatically add leads to your email list.

    Each time someone submits the form, you will automatically get an email notification. You can easily turn this off if you prefer not to receive email alerts. WPForms will store each completed form entry in your WordPress database too.

    It’s also possible to send notifications to multiple recipients using WPForms. For example, you might want to send a customer inquiry notification to a specific person in the sales team and their supervisor.

    Price:

    WPForms pricing starts at $49.50/year. There’s also a free version of the plugin, which has limited features.

    Alternative:

    Formidable Forms ($39.50 per year) is a good alternative to WPForms. It has powerful tools that let you create different forms, including lead generation calculators. However, it’s not as beginner friendly as WPForms.

    2. OptinMonster

    OptinMonster

    OptinMonster is a powerful lead generation and popup plugin that you can use on your WordPress site.

    It lets you create high-converting popups and email signup forms that help you turn abandoned website visitors into subscribers and customers.

    It has lots of useful features, including Exit Intent® technology. This lets you show your popup at the exact moment when someone is about to leave your site.

    You can combine it with their page targeting feature to show customized popup messages for each page on your site, which is proven to increase conversions.

    With OptinMonster, you even get special popups like spin the wheel popups and Yes/No optins. These can boost your conversion rate even further.

    OptinMonster Spin Wheel Campaign

    There are lots of different professionally designed templates included in the app. This makes it quick and easy to create your lead forms using the drag-and-drop builder.

    You can also use OptinMonster to generate leads in other ways. For instance, you might use the content-locking feature to ask visitors to join your email list before they can read your full content.

    You don’t necessarily need to use it to generate email leads, either. You could add a click-to-call button to your popup, use it to show special discount codes, and more.

    Price:

    OptinMonster starts at $9/month when billed annually. To get advanced features like Exit Intent technology and Yes/No forms, you need the Pro plan from $29/month.

    Alternative:

    Thrive Leads ($99 per year) is a good alternative to OptinMonster. It offers a range of different types of lead generation forms and popups. It also has a built-in template library to speed up the building process.

    3. SeedProd

    SeedProd website builder

    SeedProd is the best WordPress website and theme builder on the market. It’s used by over a million website owners to easily create any type of website without writing any code.

    It has dozens of professional templates you can customize easily with the drag and drop builder.

    SeedProd also provides you with a beginner-friendly landing page builder. And you will find a ready-made sales page, opt-in page, webinar registration, coming soon page templates, and more.

    All of these landing page templates can be completely customized to help you start generating leads as quickly and easily as possible.

    Customize SeedProd

    It includes dozens of blocks designed to help you build better landing pages, like testimonial blocks, countdown timers, CTA buttons, pricing tables, and so much more.

    You will find a searchable stock photo library with over 2 million photos that you can add to your pages to improve conversions.

    It also has powerful integrations with the top email marketing software and thousands of third-party apps via Zapier. This lets you easily send your leads to your lead management tool of choice.

    For online store owners, you can use the WooCommerce blocks to build custom WooCommerce product pages easily, thank you pages, and more to collect leads and sell more products.

    Price:

    SeedProd starts from $39.50 per year (only $3.29 per month). Plus, there’s a free version you can try to see how the plugin works.

    Alternative:

    Instapage offers similar page builder features but is more expensive and starts at $199 per month (billed annually).

    4. LiveChat

    Live Chat Inc Website

    LiveChat is the best live chat software for WordPress websites. It’s very easy to set up, and you can integrate it with dozens of other marketing services.

    By adding live chat support to your WordPress website, you can build a better relationship with your users and convert more visitors into customers.

    This plugin places a chat button in the bottom right-hand corner of your website. Visitors can click on this to chat with your team in real time.

    Plus, your support team members don’t need to log in to WordPress to use LiveChat. Instead, they can use the LiveChat app on their laptop or mobile devices.

    LiveChat will create a support ticket if a visitor contacts your team outside of support hours.

    LiveChat is fast and easy to use for your visitors and your support team. It lets you quickly turn leads into customers by answering pre-sales questions straight away.

    Price:

    LiveChat starts at $20 per month when billed annually with a 14-day free trial. Our LiveChat coupon gives you an extended 30-day free trial plus a 30% discount.

    Alternative:

    Brevo (Previously Sendinblue) offers a simple, free live chat feature that you can use on your website. It also offers email, SMS, and a CRM tool that integrate with live chat.

    5. ChatBot

    ChatBot

    ChatBot is one of the best AI chatbot software options on the market and lets you use automated live chat to connect with your potential customers and respond to questions 24/7.

    To help you get started quickly, ChatBot has lots of pre-designed templates. For instance, you can use the lead generation bot to book calls. Meanwhile, the sales bot template allows you to sell products directly from the chat window.

    ChatBot can be used in Facebook Messenger as well as on your website. That makes it a great option for companies and organizations that get a lot of inquiries through Facebook.

    It’s easy to integrate it with other apps, such as LiveChat. A live agent can step into the conversation seamlessly if needed.

    Price:

    ChatBot pricing starts at $52 per month. There’s a 14-day free trial available.

    Alternative:

    Hubspot offers a suite of business CRM tools, including a chatbot builder and live chat. You can get started free, and paid plans start at $30 per month.

    6. RafflePress

    RafflePress

    RafflePress is one of the best WordPress giveaway plugins on the market. It allows you to easily create viral giveaways and contests that you can use to grow your website traffic and email list.

    You can use the drag and drop builder to quickly create giveaway campaigns in minutes without writing any code. Plus, there’s a built-in template library to help make giveaway creation even faster.

    A unique refer-a-friend feature lets you do word-of-mouth marketing by letting users share your contest on their social media profiles.

    This helps to build engagement and can get you a lot of new visitors to your WordPress blog.

    You will find many other powerful features that help improve your campaigns, like email verification, fraud protection, social logins, giveaway landing pages, success tracking, and more.

    Plus, your giveaways will run on mobile devices, so you can reach your visitors no matter where they happen to be.

    For more details, see our guide on how to run a giveaway/contest in WordPress.

    Price:

    RafflePress has a free version of the plugin you can use to get started. Paid plans start at $39.50 per year for the starter plan.

    Alternative:

    Gleam is an advanced giveaway platform you can use to run contests and giveaways. However, it’s not as beginner friendly, and you will need at least the $97 per month Pro plan to unlock useful features.

    7. PushEngage

    PushEngage

    PushEngage is the best web push notification software on the market, used by over 10,000 companies, including Harvard, Dominoes, and Business Insider.

    It lets you easily send targeted push messages to visitors after they leave your website.

    We use push notifications here at WPBeginner, and they are consistently a top 5 source of our traffic. They are a highly-effective way to convert website visitors into loyal followers and customers.

    Visitors simply give their permission to receive push notifications by clicking a button:

    An example of a push notification optin on the WPBeginner website

    You can set up push notifications to automatically send out to your subscribers whenever you publish a blog post or use them to send completely custom messages.

    It’s a very easy-to-use solution for beginners to advanced users. You will find powerful features like A/B testing, custom-triggered campaigns, interactive messages, custom drip campaigns, and so much more.

    Plus, you can use the marketing automation features to create abandoned card sequences, scheduled messages, and more.

    You will be able to see a detailed breakdown of your subscriber engagement and even the transactional revenue generated from your push campaigns.

    Price:

    PushEngage starts at $9 per month and gives you support for 100,000 subscribers and unlimited campaigns. There’s also a free plan available that gives you 30 campaigns per month for 200 subscribers.

    Alternative:

    OneSignal has a free plan for unlimited notifications on mobile. For advanced features like delayed notifications, pricing starts at $99 per month.

    8. FunnelKit

    FunnelKit homepage

    FunnelKit, formerly known as WooFunnels, is the best sales funnel builder for WordPress.

    You can use it to create lead-generation funnels, sales funnels, high-converting checkout pages, one-click upsells, and more.

    It’s essentially a ClickFunnels alternative that helps you convert website visitors into leads and customers.

    FunnelKit comes with a built-in library of beautiful funnel templates that you can import in one click.

    FunnelKit templates

    You can easily customize the templates using the WordPress block editor as well as popular page builder plugins like Elementor, Divi, and others.

    FunnelKit offers in-depth analytics so that you can see how your funnels are performing in real time. Plus, it comes with A/B testing that lets you experiment with different versions of your funnels to find out which one converts best.

    In addition, FunnelKit has a marketing automation solution called FunnelKit Automations. It allows you to set up automated email and SMS campaigns for lead nurturing, welcome series, abandoned cart recovery, post-purchase upsell, and more.

    Price:

    FunnelKit starts at $99.50 per year. To access FunnelKit Automations, you need at least the Professional plan, which costs $249.50 per year.

    Alternative:

    SeedProd, which we mentioned earlier in this list, can also be used to easily create lead generation pages, sales pages, custom WooCommerce checkout pages, and more.

    9. WP Call Button

    WP Call Button

    WP Call Button allows you to easily add a ‘click to call’ button on your WordPress website or WooCommerce store. Visitors can simply click or tap the button to call you straight away.

    If your customers need to call you before purchasing a service or booking an appointment, adding a click-to-call button on your website will increase your leads and sales.

    It can also be used to easily set up business call forwarding.

    WP Call Button makes adding your button to any post or page easy. You can include it in your WordPress sidebar, too. It’s also easy to create a sticky floating call button that stays visible all the time.

    Price:

    WP Call Button is free and works with all top business phones and business VoIP providers.

    Alternative:

    You can also create a click-to-call link using the manual method covered in our article on adding a click-to-call button in WordPress.

    10. AffiliateWP

    AffiliateWP

    AffiliateWP is one of the best affiliate tracking and management solution for WordPress. It lets you simply create your own fully featured affiliate program on WordPress.

    By creating an affiliate program, you can have your own team of affiliates promoting your products in exchange for a commission.

    This can help you get more visibility online, traffic, and of course, make more sales. You can even create your very own WooCommerce affiliate program using this plugin.

    It comes with everything you need to manage your program, including accurate affiliate tracking, integrated payouts, real-time reporting, affiliate coupon tracking, and so much more.

    With manual affiliate approval and top-performing affiliate data, you can build lasting partnerships with your most valuable affiliates for years to come.

    Price:

    AffiliateWP starts at $149.50 per year and has everything you need to run a successful affiliate program.

    Alternative:

    Easy Affiliate is another popular WordPress plugin for creating and managing an affiliate program. The basic plan starts at $99.50 per year.

    11. All in One SEO

    All in One SEO

    All in One SEO is the best WordPress SEO plugin used by over 3 million websites. It’s the most comprehensive SEO toolkit that makes it easy to improve your SEO rankings without learning any complicated SEO jargon.

    Doing WordPress SEO is an important part of lead generation. You need to bring people to your website before they can join your email list, call you, subscribe to push notifications, or do anything else on this list.

    Once you install and activate the plugin, an easy-to-use setup wizard will help you choose the best SEO settings for your business, so you can start getting more traffic.

    It has a TruSEO score, which offers detailed on-page SEO analysis and gives you an actionable SEO checklist to help you easily optimize your posts and pages.

    AIOSEO checklist

    All in One SEO can help you improve your post SEO titles and meta descriptions, generate rich snippet schema markup and create smart XML sitemaps and RSS sitemaps.

    Plus, there are built-in WooCommerce SEO settings, like individual product optimizations, product image SEO, and more, to help your online store get more visitors from the search results.

    Price:

    AIOSEO starts at $49.60 per year for access to advanced SEO features. You can also try out the free version to begin optimizing your site for SEO.

    Alternative:

    Yoast SEO is another popular SEO plugin for WordPress that will help you optimize your site. There is a free version and a premium version that starts at $99 per year.

    12. MonsterInsights

    The MonsterInsights Google Analytics plugin

    MonsterInsights offers a powerful way to add Google Analytics to your WordPress website. It lets you quickly and easily see crucial statistics about your site and find your most important pages.

    This means you can easily find out what’s working and what’s not, focusing on the areas that really matter.

    For instance, you might use MonsterInsights to enable author tracking and see which writers for your site are producing the best-performing posts.

    Or you could use MonsterInsights to track link clicks and button clicks. This lets you figure out which links and buttons are getting clicked and which ones aren’t, letting you pinpoint areas for improvement.

    MonsterInsights is quick and easy to set up and gives you real-time stats. It can even track things like your eCommerce data, form completions, and file downloads. This gives you more insights into your lead generation efforts.

    Price:

    MonsterInsights starts at $99.50/year. There’s also a free version available for WordPress with limited features.

    Alternative:

    ExactMetrics offers similar features to MonsterInsights and starts at $99.50 per year.

    Bonus: Nextiva

    Nextiva

    Nextiva is the best business phone service for small business owners in terms of features and ease of use.

    If your business relies on phone calls for lead generation, then Nextiva can help you improve your business communication across the board.

    It has a web-based admin panel that will let you manage your entire unified communications platform in one place.

    You will find business phone features like call routing, voicemail to text and email, SMS messaging, unlimited domestic calling, online faxing, and so much more.

    Every new account can get a free local or toll-free number. Plus, you get all standard features like caller ID, call forwarding, routing, custom greetings, and more.

    You can even integrate your business phone with powerful features like live chat and CRM services.

    We use Nextiva at WPBeginner for our business phone service. It works well for our remote team since they can receive business calls on their cell phones while still keeping their numbers private.

    Price:

    Nextiva starts at $14.95 per month per user for all your business phone needs. The Enterprise plan costs $26.95 per month per user and includes video conferencing, call recording, and more.

    Alternative:

    RingCentral is another popular business phone provider that’s packed with features. Paid plans start at $20 per month per user.

    What Is the Best Lead Generation Plugin for WordPress?

    We believe you need multiple plugins for a robust lead-generation strategy on your site.

    With that said, WPForms is the best lead generation plugin for WordPress. You can use their drag-and-drop form builder to create any online form.

    If you are looking for a live chat solution to improve leads and support, then LiveChat and ChatBot are both great options.

    If you want to improve your overall conversion rate on your website, then nothing beats the powerful features that OptinMonster has to offer.

    If you want to improve your existing website and product pages to generate more leads and make more sales, then SeedProd is a must-have plugin.

    With any lead generation strategy, attracting leads is only the first part. You have to ensure a proper sales process to close the deal.

    If you rely on phone calls, then we recommend using Nextiva. It comes with auto-attendant, call-routing, CRM, and powerful sales features that you can use to increase your sales.

    To summarize, our top lead generation tools are:

    1. WPForms
    2. OptinMonster
    3. SeedProd
    4. LiveChat.com
    5. ChatBot.com
    6. Nextiva

    We hope this article helped you learn about the best lead-generation plugins and tools for WordPress.

    You might also want to see our other guides that can help you generate new leads and turn them into customers.

    Best WordPress Guides for Lead Generation

    If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

    The post 12 Best Lead Generation WordPress Plugins (Powerful) first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Add FAQ Schema in WordPress (2 Methods)

    Do you want to add FAQ schema in WordPress?

    Adding FAQ schema can help boost your SEO rankings and organic click-through rate by making your frequently asked questions appear directly in Google’s search results.

    In this article, we will show you how to add FAQ schema in WordPress and improve your rankings, step by step.

    How to Add FAQ Schema in WordPress (2 Methods)

    What Is FAQ Schema?

    FAQ schema is a smart markup code, also known as structured data, that you can add to your website pages to help Google identify an FAQ section.

    If you add FAQ schema, then Google may choose to reward you with an enhanced search result listing that also shows FAQs directly below the name of your WordPress website.

    Here’s an example of an FAQ result. Google shows the questions, and you can click the down arrows to see the answers.

    Example of FAQ rich result

    This increased visibility on Google means more traffic to your website. It also makes your blog look like an authority on the subject.

    Plus, FAQ schema makes your content more helpful to users who prefer the question-and-answer approach.

    With FAQ schema, you have control over the questions and answers. You can customize the content however you like. You can even add emojis to boost your organic click-through rate (CTR).

    Your FAQs can also appear in Google’s ‘People also ask’ boxes, which is another potential visibility boost.

    These boxes appear for many search queries and offer a list of additional questions, each linked to a website for more information.

    FAQ schema can appear in the People Also Ask box

    It’s important to note, though, that adding FAQ schema in WordPress will not guarantee that your FAQs appear on Google. However, it will improve your chances of being seen.

    FAQ Schema Guidelines

    Before adding FAQ schema to your pages and posts, it’s important to understand Google’s content guidelines.

    FAQ schema content guidelines

    You should only use FAQ schema if your page has a list of questions with answers. If your page only asks one question, then you should use the QA schema instead.

    You should not use FAQ schema for advertising purposes or for questions and answers that contain violent, obscene, hateful, dangerous, or illegal language.

    If the same question and answer appear multiple times on your page, then it’s important to only add FAQ schema in one instance.

    The questions and answers in your FAQs must also appear in the content on your page.

    Finally, make sure each question includes the entire text of the question and each answer includes the entire text of the answer.

    How to Add FAQ Schema in WordPress

    The easiest way to add FAQ schema in WordPress is to install a plugin that handles it for you, but you can also do it without a plugin.

    We will cover both options and you can use the quick links below to jump to the method you want to use:

    Method 1: Adding FAQ Schema in WordPress With All in One SEO

    The best way to add FAQ schema in WordPress is with the All in One SEO Pro plugin. It’s the best SEO plugin for WordPress, used by over 3 million sites.

    The first thing you need to do is install and activate the plugin. For more details, see our guide on how to install a plugin in WordPress.

    Note: There is a free version of All in One SEO available, but you need the premium version to add FAQ schema in WordPress.

    Upon activation, the plugin will run a setup wizard. You can follow the on-screen instructions to set it up. If you need more help, then please take a look at our guide on how to properly set up All in One SEO for WordPress.

    All in One SEO setup

    Once you are done with the setup, you will return to the WordPress dashboard.

    You can see a new ‘All in One SEO’ menu item in the admin sidebar.

    All in One SEO menu item

    If you had the free version of All in One SEO installed, then all of your settings will automatically transfer to the Pro version. The free version will be automatically deactivated.

    Now that All in One SEO is installed and activated, you need to navigate to the page or post where you would like to add FAQ schema.

    Simply scroll down to the bottom of the content editor, where you will see the AIOSEO Settings.

    When you click on the ‘Schema’ tab, you can see that the schema settings are automatically enabled by default. Then, you can click on the ‘Generate Schema’ button to customize it.

    All in One SEO Schema Settings

    This will bring up the Schema Catalog, where you can select the type of schema you want to implement.

    Next, you need to find the FAQ option and click the ‘Add Schema’ button next to it.

    Choose FAQ from the Schema Catalog in AIOSEO

    Now, you can start entering your FAQ information.

    Start by adding a name and description for your page or post. You can even use AIOSEO’s easy emoji picker to add emojis to these fields.

    Add name and description for FAQ

    After that, you should scroll down to start adding the Question and Answer fields for your first FAQ question.

    You can also click the ‘Add Another Question’ link to add more questions.

    Add FAQs to All in One SEO

    Once you are done, don’t forget to click the ‘Add Schema’ button.

    If you want to test whether your FAQ schema markup is correctly added, then scroll down to our section on how to test your WordPress FAQ schema.

    Method 2: Adding FAQ Schema in WordPress Without a Plugin

    If you want to add FAQ schema in WordPress without a plugin, then you can do it by using our manual code method.

    First, you will need to generate the FAQ schema code. You can do this by using the FAQPage JSON-LD Schema Generator.

    FAQ schema generator

    Start by adding your questions and answers on the left side of the tool. You can click ‘Add Another FAQ’ to add as many questions as needed.

    As you type, the schema markup will update on the right.

    Add questions to schema generator

    Your next step is to paste the code you just created into WordPress. Simply click ‘Copy FAQ Schema’ to copy the code.

    After that, navigate to the page or post where you want to add the FAQ schema.

    If you are using the block editor, then you need to add a Custom HTML block and paste the FAQ schema markup inside that.

    Add FAQ schema in the block editor

    If you are still using the old classic editor, then you need to toggle to the text editor.

    After that, you can paste the schema markup at the bottom of your post.

    Add FAQ schema in the classic editor

    When you are finished, just click the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button to save your changes.

    Testing Your WordPress FAQ Schema

    Since your FAQ schema code is specifically for Google, you can’t tell whether it’s working just by looking at your page.

    To test whether your FAQ schema markup is correct, you can use Google’s Rich Results Test page. Simply enter the URL of the page with FAQ schema and click ‘Test URL’.

    Google's Rich Results Test

    Google will analyze your page for all kinds of schema markup, not just FAQ schema. You may see multiple results if your page uses other kinds of schema.

    Once the text is complete, expand the results under the “FAQ” heading.

    Rich results FAQ schema section

    You should see the actual question-and-answer pairs that you added to your FAQ section. If these are correct, then you are all set.

    If they aren’t correct, then you will need to go back and double-check that you set up your FAQ schema properly.

    FAQ schema test results

    If the correct items still aren’t showing, then we recommend clearing your WordPress cache because caching plugins may show an outdated version of your content to Google.

    We hope this article helped you learn how to easily add FAQ schema in WordPress. You may also want to see our ultimate WordPress SEO guide to boost your rankings and our expert picks for the best social media plugins for WordPress.

    The post How to Add FAQ Schema in WordPress (2 Methods) first appeared on WPBeginner.

  • How to Add GTIN, ISBN & MPN Schema in WordPress

    Are you looking for a way to add GTIN, ISBN, and MPN schema to your WooCommerce store or WordPress website?

    Using GTIN, ISBN, and MPN schema on your WordPress site can help search engines better understand your products. This can boost your website’s SEO rankings.

    In this article, we will show you how to easily add the GTIN, ISBN, and MPN schema in WooCommerce and WordPress.

    Adding the GTIN, ISBN & MPN schema in WooCommerce and WordPress

    Why Should You Add GTIN, ISBN, & MPN Schema in WooCommerce and WordPress?

    GTIN (Global Trade Item Number) is used for identifying trade items such as products or services. By contrast, ISBN (International Standard Book Number) is used for tracking books, eBooks, and audiobooks.

    On the other hand, MPN (Manufacturer Part Number) is for tracking specific electronic components and parts, such as integrated circuits and resistors.

    GTIN, ISBN, and MPN schema properties are markup code that you can add to your WordPress website to provide detailed and accurate product information to search engines.

    This markup can help improve your content visibility and improve the SEO of your website. When people search for a specific ISBN, GTIN, or MPN, then your products may show up in the search results.

    For example, if your run an online store that sells books, then you can add the ISBN schema to increase your website visibility.

    Buy books preview

    Using schema markup in WooCommerce or WordPress can be a great way to get more clicks to your website from organic search results, which can lead to more sales.

    It can also improve the customer shopping experience by making it easier for users to find and purchase your products.

    That being said, let’s see how to easily add GTIN, ISBN, and MPN schema in WordPress and WooCommerce. You can use the quick links below to jump to the method you want to use:

    Method 1: Add GTIN, ISBN, & MPN Schema to WordPress Website

    If you are looking to add GTIN, ISBN, or MPN schema to your WordPress website, then this method is for you.

    You can easily add this schema using All in One SEO (AIOSEO), which is the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market used by over 3 million websites.

    The plugin also allows you to add different types of schema to your website, including FAQs, recipes, articles, and product schema.

    First, you need to install and activate the AIOSEO plugin. For detailed instructions, you may want to see our beginner’s guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Note: AIOSEO also has a free version. However, you will need the Pro version of the plugin to unlock the schema markup feature.

    Upon activation, the plugin will launch the setup wizard on your screen, which will walk you through the setup process.

    If you need any help with it, then you may want to see our step-by-step guide on how to set up All in One SEO in WordPress.

    Click let's get started AIOSEO setup wizard

    Next, you need to visit the AIOSEO » Search Appearance page from your WordPress admin sidebar and switch to the ‘Content Types’ tab.

    From here, scroll down to the ‘Products’ section and switch to the ‘Schema Markup’ tab. After that, you need to select the ‘Product’ option from the ‘Schema Type’ dropdown menu.

    Finally, click the ‘Save Changes’ button to store your changes.

    Configure the Search Appearance settings

    Now, you will be able to add separate schema markup for all your products. To do this, head over to the page or post where you want to add the ISBN, GTIN, or MPN schema from the WordPress admin sidebar.

    Once you are there, scroll down to the ‘AIOSEO Settings’ section in the block editor and switch to the ‘Schema’ tab.

    Next, you need to click on the ‘Generate Schema’ button.

    Click the Generate Schema button

    This will launch the ‘Schema Catalog’ popup on your screen, where you can select the schema template you want to add.

    Go ahead and click the ‘+’ button next to the ‘Product’ option.

    Select the Product schema

    This will open up a modal where you can add the details for your product and tell search engines like Google all of its information.

    You can start by providing a name, description, brand, and image for your product.

    Once you have done that, scroll down to the ‘Identifiers’ section, where you can insert the GTIN, ISBN, or the MPN of the product.

    Add the GTIN, ISBN, or MPN into the schema

    After that, you can further scroll down to add the price, attributes, reviews, and shipping destination for the product in the schema markup.

    Once you are done, just click the ‘Add Schema’ button to save your schema markup for the product. Now, you can repeat the process for the other products on the page.

    Add other details and click Add Schema button

    If you sell books online, then you can also select the ‘Book’ schema from the ‘Schema Catalog’ popup. This will open up a new modal where you can add the title, author, description, and image of the book.

    After that, scroll down to the ‘Editions’ section and add the ISBN for the book. Finally, click the ‘Add Schema’ button to generate the schema.

    Add book details

    Once you have added the GTIN, MPN, or ISBN schema for all the products, don’t forget to click the ‘Update’ or ‘Publish’ button at the top to save your changes.

    You and your visitors won’t be able to see a difference on the front end of your website, but search engine bots will now have the ISBN, GTIN, or MPN details for the products.

    Method 2: Add GTIN, ISBN, & MPN Schema to Your WooCommerce Store

    If you want to add GTIN, ISBN, or MPN schema markup in your WooCommerce store, then you can use this method.

    You can easily add the schema markup for ISBN, GTIN, and MPN using the All in One SEO (AIOSEO) plugin, which is the best WordPress SEO plugin on the market.

    First, you need to install and activate the AIOSEO plugin. For detailed instructions, you may want to see our step-by-step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

    Note: AIOSEO has a free version, but you will need the Pro version to unlock the schema markup feature.

    Upon activation, the plugin will launch a setup wizard on your screen. If you need any help, then you may want to see our tutorial on how to set up All in One SEO in WordPress.

    Click let's get started AIOSEO setup wizard

    Next, head over to the Products » All Products page from the WordPress admin sidebar.

    Once you are there, just click the ‘Edit’ link under the product where you want to add the GTIN, ISBN, or MPN schema.

    Click Edit link under a product

    This will open up the ‘Edit Product’ page, where you need to scroll down to the ‘AIOSEO Settings’ meta box.

    From here, switch to the ‘Schema’ tab, where you will see the ‘Product’ schema is already in use by default. Now, simply click the ‘Edit’ button next to the schema.

    Click the Edit Schema button

    This will open up an ‘Edit Product’ popup on the screen, where you will see that the ‘Autogenerate Field’ toggle has been switched to ‘Yes’.

    This means that AIOSEO automatically fetches and fills the schema data for the product title, image, and description.

    However, if you would like to fill these fields manually, then you can simply switch the ‘Autogenerate Fields’ toggle to ‘No’.

    Toggle the Autogenerate Fields switch

    After that, scroll down to the ‘Identifiers’ section and add the GTIN, ISBN, or MPN for your product. You can also add other attributes, shipping destinations, and product reviews in the schema markup.

    After you have made your changes, don’t forget to click the ‘Update Schema’ button.

    Add the ISBN, GTIN, or MPN and click Update Schema button

    If your online store only sells books, then you can click on the ‘Generate Schema’ button in the Schema tab and then select the ‘Book’ schema template from the catalog.

    This will open the Schema Generator on the screen, where you can add the title, image, and description for the book you are selling.

    Add book details

    After that, scroll down to the ‘Editions’ section and add the ISBN for your book.

    After entering the details, simply click the ‘Add Schema’ button to generate your schema markup for books.

    Add book details

    Finally, click the ‘Update’ button at the top to store your changes.

    You have now successfully added a schema markup for your products, including the GTIN, ISBN, or MPN details.

    Keep in mind that these changes will not be visible on your website’s front end but will help search engine bots rank your content.

    We hope this article helped you learn how to easily add the GTIN, ISBN, and MPN schema in WooCommerce and WordPress. You may also want to see our tutorial on how to add FAQ schema in WordPress and our expert picks for the best WordPress schema markup plugins.

    If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

    The post How to Add GTIN, ISBN & MPN Schema in WordPress first appeared on WPBeginner.