Useful WordPress SEO Plugins for Technical SEO 

If you’re building a site on WordPress, making sure your website is technically optimised is crucial. Technical SEO might seem complicated, but the good news is that WordPress SEO plugins can do a lot of the hard work for you. 

SEO plugins can improve your technical SEO and help your website rank higher on Google, without you having to do any coding. Importantly, the right plugins can help you stay competitive online.

This article will break down the most useful WordPress SEO plugins for improving your technical SEO to help you feel confident in knowing where to start, what to prioritise and making sure your business is getting the visibility it deserves. 

Technical SEO

You’ve probably heard of technical SEO before and know its importance. To set the stage, we’ll briefly summarise what it is and why it matters.  

Technical SEO focuses on optimising the technical components of a website, such as page speed, mobile friendliness and website architecture. Having a technically sound website helps search engines better find, understand and index your content. This increases your chance of ranking high in search engine results and boosts visibility. In short, technical SEO is key for remaining competitive. 

To learn more about technical SEO and 5 strategies you can implement immediately, read our article on What is Technical SEO and Is It Holding Back Your Website?

Why Use WordPress SEO Plugins? 

Technical SEO can be intimidating, especially if you’re not very tech-savvy. It can be difficult knowing where to begin and what to even do. This is where WordPress SEO plugins come in and carry out the hard work for you. 

These technical SEO tools automatically carry out complex tasks such as fixing broken links, adding sitemaps and improving website speed. All you have to do? Install it and get it activated. It’s as simple as that.

Top WordPress SEO Plugins

So, what are the top WordPress SEO plugins to improve your technical SEO?

This list has been created based on several factors such as setup, ease of use, extra features and most importantly, technical SEO settings. Here are 5 useful WordPress SEO plugins to improve your technical SEO:

1. RankMath 

RankMath is a powerful WordPress SEO plugin with a huge range of free features and it’s our SEO plugin of choice. The main reason we chose it is because it’s g faster, easier and more intuitive than Yoast and it’s also 66% lighter, which means it’s more efficient with fewer PHP requests. It’s also great whether you are a beginner or advanced user as it offers to choose between easy or advanced mode based on your level of expertise.

A few technical SEO tools you can find on RankMath include:

• Faster load times 
• 404 error monitoring 
• Link redirect implementation 
• XML sitemap creation 
• Schema markup 

2. Yoast SEO

Yoast is a popular WordPress SEO plugins, offering a user-friendly interface. A few technical SEO tools you can expect from Yoast are:

• XML sitemap creation
• Faster load times 
• SERP preview 
• Generates and manages canonical URL’s 
• Generating site breadcrumbs 

Yoast is extremely easy to use and handles both the basics and more technical aspects of SEO, making it a great choice for your WordPress website. 

3. WP Rocket 

WP Rocket is a valuable plugin for optimising site speed and performance. Some key technical SEO tools you can expect from this plugin include: 

• Minimising file sizes for faster loading times 
• Loading images once they enter the viewport, also known as lazy loading
• Cache preloading to ensure visitors receive the fastest version of your website 

Site speed is a known ranking factor, making WP Rocket an extremely useful plugin for boosting online visibility.

4. Redirection 

Redirection is a helpful SEO plugin for handling broken links and keeping your website intact. This is crucial for SEO and user experience. Some key technical SEO features include: 

• Manages 301 redirects 
• Tracks 404 errors 
• Helps prevent slow page speed

This means redirection is a particularly helpful WordPress SEO plugin when updating and restructuring a website. 

5. All in One SEO (AIOSEO) 

AIOSEO is another WordPress SEO plugin which caters to users at all levels. Some key technical SEO features include:

• Smart XML sitemap generation 
• Robots.txt editor to control which pages are indexed 
• Video SEO enhancement using a video sitemap generator 
• Adds schema markup to help search engines understand the page

Choosing the Right Plugin

Choosing the right WordPress SEO plugins depends on your website’s size, your goals and how comfortable you are with playing around with the settings. 

If you’re a beginner, RankMath and Yoast are a great choice since they have a simple interface with lots of support. These tools are also great if you are an advanced user too.

However, installing too many plugins can slow down your website and negatively impact your performance. You should only choose what your website needs.

Conclusion

Technical SEO can be tricky, but having the right WordPress SEO plugins means your technical SEO is automatically taken care of. This will help you rank higher, stay competitive and improve user experience.

Still not sure where to start? We’re an Birmingham SEO agency that specialises in all aspects of SEO. Get in contact today and let our Technical SEO Agency get your website optimised so that you generate more leads online.

FAQ

What is the best WordPress plugin for SEO?

The best WordPress SEO plugins will vary based on your website needs. A general list of the top SEO plugins for WordPress include:

• RankMath
• WP Rocket
• Redirection
• All in One SEO

Do WordPress SEO plugins work?

Yes! WordPress SEO plugins will take care of the technical behind the scenes tasks, making technical SEO much easier to manage. However, plugins can’t do everything. You still need a solid SEO strategy and focus on other areas of SEO for best results. Learn more about the four fundamental pillars of SEO.

Are WordPress plugins worth it?

Absolutely. WordPress SEO plugins can save you a lot of time and effort, especially for more complex tasks like technical SEO. They help ensure your site remains technically sound, which is essential for maintaining visibility, improving rankings and staying competitive online.

How many plugins should a WordPress site have?

There is no fixed number of WordPress SEO plugins that you need, it depends on your needs and your budget. For example, if you pay for RankMath Pro then this includes the ability to be able to bulk upload redirects via CSV so you wouldn’t need a separate plugin to be able to do this.

The average website uses around 20-30. However, it’s important to prioritise quality over quantity. You should focus on choosing plugins that will enhance your website’s functionality and avoid installing too many unnecessary ones, as this can slow down your website. The less plugins you have on your WordPress website, the better when it comes to speed!

How often should you update WordPress plugins?

As often as possible and at least once a month. Making sure your WordPress plugins are up to date keeps your website functioning smoothly, keeps it secure and fixes any bugs. Using old versions can lead to security risks, slower performance and missing out on new features. Just like you regularly update your mobile phone, your WordPress plugins need updating too.