You do not need 25 SEO plugins. You need one plugin that writes titles, descriptions, canonicals, and schema on the post you have open — Yoast, Rank Math, or SEOPress — and a site-wide audit for everything that sidebar cannot see: empty metas, orphans, thin pages, overlapping posts. That second job is what this 2015 roundup never covered, because per-post tools still cannot list your whole library.
This is the 2026 refresh of that list. Same URL. CommentLuv, Triberr, “404 everything to the homepage,” keyword-suggest widgets, and Google+ share bars are out. Core WordPress now ships a sitemap. Schema belongs in JSON-LD, tested with Google’s Rich Results Test — not the retired Structured Data Testing Tool.
- Jobs, not a pile of plugins
- One per-post SEO plugin
- Site-wide audit (the gap Yoast cannot fill)
- Schema and rich results
- Sitemaps, redirects, broken links
- Images and speed
- What to skip
- Common questions
Jobs, not a pile of plugins
WordPress still does not output a unique meta description per post by default. That is why people install an SEO plugin — covered in our HTML meta tags guide. The mistake is stacking a keyword toy, a comment-link scheme, a 404-to-home plugin, and two SEO packs at once. Two plugins printing <title> is worse than none.
| Job | Who does it | Do not also install |
|---|---|---|
| Title, description, robots, canonical, Open Graph on this post | Yoast, Rank Math, or SEOPress — pick one | A second “SEO pack” |
| Missing metas, orphans, thin pages, topic overlap across the site | NetoTraffic Content Suite (free audit) | Opening every post by hand |
| XML sitemap | WordPress core, or the SEO plugin’s sitemap if you enable it — one sitemap | An extra Google XML Sitemaps plugin unless you have a reason |
| JSON-LD / rich results | Same SEO plugin, or markup that matches visible content | Hidden schema, fake reviews |
| Redirects for moved URLs | SEO plugin redirects, or Rank Math / Redirection, plus a real 404 page | Send every 404 to the homepage |
| Image alt + compression | You write alt; Smush / ShortPixel / EWWW compress | Auto-alt that pastes the post title on every image |
| Page cache | One cache plugin (or host cache) | Two caches fighting |
| New draft from a keyword | AI SEO Toolkit if you want that — not a plugin sidebar | Treating the audit plugin as a writer |
Audit vs writing is a separate decision: WordPress content audit vs AI writing.
One per-post SEO plugin
Yoast SEO, Rank Math, and SEOPress all do the job this post used to assign to “All in One SEO Pack”: unique title and description, robots, canonical, Open Graph, XML sitemap, breadcrumbs, and schema. Rank Math and Yoast are the usual pair. SEOPress is the lighter alternative. All in One SEO still exists; if you already run it, you can keep it — just do not add Yoast next to it.
Use the editor fields. One title per URL, one description, no site-wide noindex. Details: meta tags for SEO.
Long-tail queries still matter for what you write. They do not require a “keyword suggest” widget that hits Google Autocomplete until you get blocked.
Site-wide audit — the gap Yoast cannot fill
The original list had Squirrly’s “weekly site audit” as a novelty. The actual gap is still there: Yoast scores the post you have open. It will not tell you that 40 published URLs have no description, that two posts compete for the same query, or that a page has zero internal links.
NetoTraffic Content Suite (formerly Content Health) is a free WordPress plugin for that scan: missing or weak metas, title length, thin and stale URLs, orphans, alt text, headings, corpus overlap. One Content Health score and a fix-first list. The audit reads the local database. Optional AI writes into Yoast / Rank Math / SEOPress fields only if you paste a key. Orphans walkthrough: find orphan pages in WordPress.
Schema and rich results
JSON-LD is the default. Microdata on the visible page is still valid; hidden “SEO schema” boxes are not. Google may ignore markup that does not match the content. Test with the Rich Results Test, not the old Structured Data Testing Tool.
Yoast and Rank Math output Article / Organization / FAQ when you use those blocks honestly. Breadcrumbs help users and can appear in results if the markup matches the nav.
rel="nofollow" / sponsored / ugc belong on paid or user-generated links — not on every internal link. Title attributes on links are for people on hover, not a ranking lever.
Sitemaps, redirects, broken links
Sitemap: Settings → Reading and the SEO plugin. Submit one sitemap in Search Console. You rarely need a separate “Google XML Sitemaps” plugin in 2026.
404s: Fix or 301 the specific old URL to the specific new URL. Do not point every missing path at the homepage. That was bad advice in the old “404 to Start” section and it still is — Google treats it as a soft 404.
Broken links: still worth checking. A heavy Broken Link Checker cron can slow the host — run it on demand or use the optional link check in Content Suite (it only requests URLs when you click). Online crawlers are fine for a one-off.
Images and speed
Write a real alt that describes the image. Title on the image is optional for visitors. Do not clone the post title onto every file.
Compress on upload (Smush, ShortPixel, or EWWW — pick one). Core WordPress now generates more sizes than in 2015; you still should not ship a 4000px hero.
Cache: one plugin or the host’s cache. CDN if you have global visitors. Minify can break CSS — if the page looks wrong, turn minify off. Speed is for users first; it is not a substitute for unique titles and a crawlable library.
Analytics: Google’s own Site Kit (or GA4 via GTM) replaced “Dashboard for WP” as the usual free path. If you buy traffic, panel unique IPs and GA4 sessions still will not match 1:1 — why the numbers differ.
What to skip from the old list
- CommentLuv / dofollow comment schemes — link spam with extra steps.
- Triberr auto-share tribes — not an SEO plugin.
- Keyword suggest / RB Keyword Research — Autocomplete scraping. Use Search Console and your own topics, or the Keyword Expander if you want a map from a seed.
- Pretty Link to “SEO shorten” permalinks — keep the real post slug. Shorteners on Netotraffic banner orders are a different job: cutt.ly / bitly only.
- Facebook Comments as an SEO play — optional UX, not a ranking plugin.
- Two related-posts plugins plus YARPP plus Contextual Related Posts — one related list is enough.
- Click-to-tweet / Pin It / AddThis as required SEO — share buttons are optional. Google+ is gone.
A sane stack
- One SEO plugin (Yoast, Rank Math, or SEOPress).
- Content Suite for a library scan — then fix missing metas and orphans.
- One image compressor, one cache, Site Kit or GTM for GA4.
- Redirects only for URLs you actually moved.
That replaces a 27-plugin page without pretending a share bar ranks you.
Common questions
Is Yoast enough by itself?
For the post in the editor, yes. For “how many URLs have no description,” no. Add a site-wide audit.
Can I run Yoast and Rank Math together?
No. Pick one. View source and count <title> tags if you are unsure.
Is Content Suite a replacement for Yoast?
No. It audits the library and can write into Yoast / Rank Math / SEOPress fields. Keep the SEO plugin.
Does WordPress still need a sitemap plugin?
Core outputs one. Your SEO plugin can replace it. Use a single sitemap in Search Console.
Should I 301 all 404s to home?
No. Redirect the old slug to the correct new URL, or leave a real 404.