20 Best WordPress SEO Plugins For Higher Rankings in 2022

March 6, 2022 By Arsalan Rauf

20 Best WordPress SEO Plugins For Higher Rankings in 2022

WordPress is one of the best and SEO friendly content management systems which is available in millions of websites. SEO plugins of WordPress are backbone of WordPress and they play an important role in helping millions of people or webmasters to optimize their sites. In addition, they also rank them better in search engines or search results.

There are several WordPress SEO plugins available for free of cost and premium plugins are also available. But all of these SEO plugins do not give the best results.

It is a confusing task when you have to select the right SEO plugin for your site when you are a WordPress beginner. In this post, I shall highlight the best WordPress SEO plugins for your site. You will be able to make the right decision when it comes to select an SEO plugin.

Before going through different premium and free SEO plugins, let’s have a look at what kind of important consideration you need to make when you choose an SEO plugin.

SEO lies in two categories: On-page SEO and Off-page SEO. If you are not aware of SEO then check our SEO Definitive guide to learn SEO.

Let’s see the list of 20 Best WordPress SEO plugins. If you are already using some of them, you can skip those and try the rest of plugins.

But first of all, you need to know the functions of each plugin and the plugin is beneficial for your website or not.

Best WordPress SEO Plugins

WordPress SEO by Yoast
All In One SEO Pack
SEO Ultimate
The SEO Framework
SEO SQUIRRLY™
All In One Schema.org Rich Snippets
Smush Image Compression and Optimization
Broken Link Checker
Rankie – WordPress Rank Tracker
WordPress Ping Optimizer
W3 Total Cache
Redirection
WooCommerce – All in One SEO Pack
Glue for Yoast SEO & AMP
SEO Optimized Images
EWWW Image Optimizer
Simple 301 Redirects
Google XML Sitemaps
Pretty Link Lite
WP SEO HTML Sitemap

How to Choose a Good WordPress SEO Plugin

A good WordPress SEO plugin should have the following qualities:

Clean and Efficient Code–

A good SEO plugin consists of clean code and does not require JavaScript and CSS scripts which can add unnecessary load on your website. You need to make sure that plugin is fast and efficient and does not slow down your site. The plugin should be easy to understand and one should know how every section of the code works. Clean code is the basis of functioning WordPress plugin.

Multiple SEO Features – The best SEO plugin should have multiple SEO features and it should reduce the number of SEO plugins on your website. There are single feature SEO plugins are also available which do one task like 301 redirection. The best SEO plugin should be full of features and it will make it efficient and complete plugin. It can handle multiple tasks. I do not recommend to install multiple plugins of SEO on your site because it will increase the load on website.
Extensive Documentation – Plugin documentation is also necessary because it helps the user to understand the features of the plugin. The documentation should be in written or video form, written articles with describing images on how to install, configure and update the plugin. Most of the SEO plugins consist of admin dashboard and you do not need to configure it. Seo plugin should have clear instructions on how to do setting or configuration, a guide should be available for the user to make him understand.
Good Customer Support: A good SEO plugin should have good customer support. There are free WordPress plugins available in the directory of WordPress with free support in the respective plugin support forum. You need to find the support which is offered by the developer of the plugin on the support forum before you decide whether to use it or not. The user needs to use the plugin support forum on WordPress repository to be aware of the common problems accompanied by the plugin and the available solutions for it.
Good Reviews & Ratings: All SEO WordPress plugins get ratings and reviews from the users. So you can use them as a guide to know the value of the plugin that it will add on your site.
Regular Update: A WordPress SEO plugin should be updated on regular basis to make it compatible with the latest version of WordPress. If a plugin is not updated for a long time, it will become incompatible with the core files of WordPress plugins. You should never compromise on the update of the plugin when you select the best SEO plugin for your WordPress website. Check the changelogs of the plugin to know the status of updates and what changes have been done before.
Plugins Compatibility: WordPress SEO plugins should be highly compatible with other WordPress plugins. Otherwise, this incompatibility will lead your WordPress website to certain errors which can cause your website to crash. SEO plugins which are using JavaScripts libraries are more likely to get more conflicts.

Best WordPress SEO Plugins

Selecting the right SEO plugin will show that whether your website is going to be successful or not. There are a number of WordPress plugins which support a wide range of SEO features but there are some specific plugins that offer necessary aspects for on-page SEO.

You should know your SEO needs before getting started. There are plugins which create XML sitemaps and there are some which optimize images for fast loading speed. This type of single task plugins cannot be used to optimize a full WordPress website.

In a nutshell, let’s see the features of the 20 best SEO plugins.

1 WordPress SEO by Yoast

WordPress SEO by Yoast is one of the famous WordPress SEO plugin. Millions of webmasters are using it for on-page optimization of posts and pages on their website. Yoast has become a prominent plugin because it enables you to set page titles, URL, sitemap and even the meta description.

It has the ability to create sitemap and link up your website with Google webmaster tools for verification.
Yoast SEO plugin can also enable you to link up your website to Bing Webmaster console.
This plugin is the leading WordPress SEO plugin on the market now, more than 3 million users are using the free version of this plugin.
Yoast SEO also provides the complete SEO page analysis and scores the page depending on the focus keyword.
It has SEO indicators which can easily tell you that whether the page is well optimized or not.
Yoast SEO plugin is available in both free as well as in premium version. You can get the premium version from Yoast official website.
You can add more keywords using the premium version of Yoast. It means that multiple keywords optimization using one plugin.
It also supports social media integration that allows the content to optimize for social media sharing.
Yoast SEO is also compatible with WordPress multisite making, that is why it is the best WordPress SEO plugin for multisite too.

Yoast SEO is the most complete SEO plugin and it is available for free.

2 All In One SEO Pack

All in One SEO pack is the second most comprehensive WordPress SEO plugin available in WordPress directory for optimizations of posts and pages. It is also a very popular SEO plugin like Yoast SEO and it has more than 3 million downloads with these features:

You can create XML Sitemap using this plugin and submit it to Google and Bing to help improve your search rankings.
All in One SEO Pack supports Google Accelerated Mobile Pages that makes it an effective plugin for mobile search optimization.
This SEO plugin supports Google Analytics and works efficiently to help you track the traffic on every page of your site.
Optimizing custom post types is also achievable with All in One SEO Pack plugin.
It supports Canonical URLS.
You can create redirects from WordPress attachments to the parent posts making the attachment pages SEO friendly.
You can automatically notify search engines like Google and Bing whenever there are new changes on your website.
All in One SEO Pack has an inbuilt API that other plugins and themes can access to extend its functionality.
All in One SEO Pack plugin is the only free plugin that has the ability of SEO integration for ecommerce sites and also supports WooCommerce.
It is compatible with Nonce security and PHP 7 is built into the plugin making it secure for all websites.
This plugin automatically optimizes the posts, pages and custom post types titles for search engine ranking and also automatically generates Meta tags. It also avoids the chance of duplicate content penalty.
All in One SEO Pack is a good plugin for WordPress beginners since they do not need to configure any settings; it starts working right after installation – out-of-box solution for WordPress SEO. For advanced users, you can adjust the features to make your site more appealing to search engines.
Has a feature to override the title and the Meta description that are set automatically. You can add your own custom titles and Meta description just like in the Yoast SEO plugin.

In short words, All in One SEO pack plugin is the second most famous free SEO plugin that is the choice of millions of sites. It also has a premium version that provides premium support and users can upgrade to it.

3 SEO Ultimate

SEO Ultimate is the next WordPress SEO plugin on our list which is also free and available in WordPress directory. You can download it from there. SEO Ultimate, as the name suggests, seems to be a perfect on-page optimization plugin which has a lot of features.

This plugin has more than 200,000 active installs and continues to remain in the top position of best WordPress SEO plugins due to its popularity.

There is a notable issue in this plugin that is, it does not offer support in WordPress forums. So if you need support, you will have to upgrade to the premium version to get access to dedicated email support. The premium version consists of training videos like how to use the plugin and exclusive features. These are the SEO features offered by SEO Ultimate:

Title tag rewriter feature enables you to edit your title posts and optimizes them for improved on-page SEO and to rank higher in the search engines.
Meta Description Editor enables you to add a Meta Description to your posts, categories , pages, attachments, tags and even the homepage. This allows you to optimize the Meta description for the potential keywords and rank higher in the search engine.
Deep link Juggernaut is an awesome anchor text driven internal linking feature that enables you to create deep links between related posts. These internal links are very good for SEO.
Ability to enhance the internal ranking pattern of SEO.
The open graph feature enables you to automatically create open graph data for posts, homepages, user profiles and attachments.
Snippet creator allows you to add quality snippet code for reviews.
Author highlighter makes code to make sure the author’s Google+ profile image is visible together with the post that appears in Google search results.
The 404 monitor allows you to improve the experience of users and spiders visiting your site by using a redirection on “page not found” errors.

4 The SEO Framework

The SEO framework is another free SEO plugin for WordPress that gives an automatic solution for SEO. It is ideal for every WordPress website. This plugin allows you to make enhanced SEO value for content of your site.

This plugin is excellent for both beginners and experts who are looking for a reliable SEO solution. It is not branded therefore, no one will ever know the tools that you are using for your client or for your site. The user can use the plugin in WordPress interface and it will make you believe that it is the part of WordPress.

It does not consist of any advertisement that can be irritating for your users. It has small and hidden HTML comments which you can deactivate using an extension or filter. In addition, the plugin will enable users to set different standards for every post and page manually.

The code of the plugin uses flexible, temporary caching and can reach PHP level. It will help to reduce the page load time of the plugin even if you are using several meta tags. You do not need caching plugin while using The SEO Framework.

Here is a summary of the Plugin:

The Plugin supports custom post such as bbPress and WooCommerce.
It gives beginner-friendly SEO solution.
This plugin makes a canonical URL to prevent duplicated content with full Domain Mapping, subdomain and HTTPS
It enables you to create open graph images that can automatically be resized and enhanced to match the requirements of user.
The plugin allows you to adjust more than 100 website settings such as Schema.org Structured Data output options.
This WordPress plugin makes it easy for your pages to be shared in an attractive way on social sites including Facebook and Instagram.
The plugin is preconfigured to give an ideal starting point for a range of sites.
It enables you to adjust SEO using global options.
This plugin is developed to help avoid canonical errors with Multisite Domain Mapping, pages, categories and subdomains.
It stops 404 pages and empty classifications from being indexed despite them not sending a 404 response.
You can automatically notify Google, Bing, and Yandex on your site updates by using sitemaps.
You can disable the small and hidden HTML comments with the help of a filter or extension.
This WordPress plugin enables users to manually set different standards for every page, post, term and public CPT.
It is not branded so no one will be able to know the tools you have used to make your site or that of your client.
The plugin does not contain any advertisements.

5 SEO SQUIRRLY™

SEO Squirrly another best SEO plugin for WordPress that is free and it is helpful for newbies. It enables the beginners to create high quality content which is human as well as SEO friendly. It will provide an interesting content to your readers and will also give you boost in your Google ranking of your site.

It uses one of the best SEO tools that is Audit website and enables you to track your content marketing strategy. This will help you to improve your SEO statistics by getting reports from your site on weekly basis.

You can also provide these reports to your SEO team and content writer using email. These reports will help you to understand different SEO strategies and content marketing using email training. In addition, it also tells you which areas of your WordPress site needs improvement.

It is compatible with most of the themes and plugins which we can expect to be on your site. This plugin will also give you the real time optimization of your posts or articles when you write or edit them. SEO Squirrly will help you to find the keywords and topics of your user’s interest to help you to out-rank your competitors. Here is a short overview of this plugin and it’s features:

It gives you with copyright-Free Imagesthat the user can use.
Squirrly enables you to write high-quality content with the help of social intelligence using the Inspiration Box.
This WordPress SEO Plugin lets you pay attention to your E-commerce SEO strategy with just a few clicks.
The JSON-LD structure and the Squirrly Snippet enable you to show the way that your site appears on Google.
It enables you create SEO content which is friendly for SEO and human readers.
This SEO plugin also creates your site’s XML Sitemap for Google and Bing.
It gives you email alerts when there is something that needs instant attention on your WordPress site.
The plugin contains open graph generator that includes the OG protocol to your articles to enable you to preview videos and images when you share posts and articles on Facebook.
The Integrated Pinterest Rich Pin Validator has more details when your site is pinned to help, users are aware whether the image pinned indicates an article, a product, a recipe or even an application.

6 All In One Schema.org Rich Snippets

All in One Schema.org Rich Snippets is another best SEO plugin for WordPress which is free. It gives you a short summary of your site page in search results of search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo. Sometimes in the News feed of Facebook in a setup that show author photo, star ratings, and image with other details.

See the plugin features below:

The plugin gives the search engine with only the necessary and specific information to display in the snippets of the search result.
It gives very interactive snippets with images, star ratings, price as well as author to make it easy for you to get over the competition.
The Rich Snippet plugin allows improving the Click Through Rate AKA(CTR).
It enables you to rank higher in the search results.
This WordPress plugin enables Facebook display correct information when users share the links of your posts on Facebook.
The plugin supports a wide range of Schemas including reviews, articles, people, products, events, and recipe among others etc.

7 Smush Image Compression and Optimization

Smush Image Compression and Optimization is another best SEO plugin for WordPress which is free. It enables you to compress images with the help of WordPress image smusher. It is considered as one of the proven and tested image enhancement plugins for quality as well as for speed. The plugin also enables you to resize the image by setting the maximum height and width to scale down the large images. It also allows you to resize the size of files without losing its quality.

It has WPMUDEV’s super servers that allow it to smush every image in order to remove unnecessary data without making the site slow. The plugin scans every image you upload or available in your site and removes all the unwanted data before adding the image in your media library. Here are the features of this plugin:

The plugin enables you to resize and compress images uploaded and those available in any other directory including those in NextGEN, Amazon S3 and images in other WordPress plugin and theme.
It can be used with all media library plugins.
The WordPress plugin uses innovative lossless compression procedures to resize and compress your images.
It enables you to select a maximum width and height to automatically scale large images before including them in your media library.
The plugin asynchronously and automatically smushes your attached images for fast compression whenever you upload.
You can manually smush each of your attachments separately in the media library, or in sets of 50 attachments in a sequence.
It has WPMU DEV’s fast and dependable Smush API to avoid any slowdown during smushing.
The plugin gives individuals and global settings that are ideal for multiple websites.
It enables you to see innovative compression statistics for each attachment and library totals.

8 Broken Link Checker

The Broken link checker is another best SEO plugin for WordPress that identifies broken links on your site or blog. When the plugin detects broken links, it informs you.

After installation, the plugin begins to analyze posts, bookmarks and any other content on your site to look for links. The plugin begins to check every link to observe if it is working properly. If it detects any broken link, it will display you the broken links in a new tab on WP admin panel in the tools category.

You will also get a notification in the ‘Broken Link Checker’ widget available on dashboard. When you get the list of broken links, you can select the to edit the links to make sure that they are working. It can be completed by using ‘Edit URL’ feature.

The “Unlink” button enables you to delete the broken link but leaves the link text untouched. When you come to know that a link has been wrongly identified as broken, you can manually mark the link as functional with the help of “Not Broken” button. The user can also create a new link filter by hitting the “Create Custom Filter” button.

Broken Link Checker enables you to monitor links in your pages, comments, blogroll, posts as well as in custom fields.
This WordPress SEO plugin not only finds broken links but it also detects redirects, missing images and links that are not working properly.
It informs you through email or dashboard when it finds broken images.
You can make the broken images to be seen differently in posts.
The plugin stops search engines from reaching broken links.
It allows you to search and filter links with the help of anchor text or URL.
You can edit broken links directly from the page of the plugin, without physically updating every post.
The plugin is easy to configure.

9 Rankie – WordPress Rank Tracker

Rankie-Wordpress-Rank-Tracker-Plugin-by-ValvePress-

Rankie – WordPress rank tracker is a premium SEO plugin for WordPress that allows you to check the ranking of your website on Google. It enables you to follow the keyword position closely.

It has the ability to create comprehensive reports and it updates the keywords rank positions on daily basis. The plugin also merges high-quality research tool that creates quality keyword lists users are already searching. Here is a quick overview of the features:

The plugin enables you to track WordPress ranking on Google using the keywords by updating the ranks on regular basis to make sure it works like a WordPress SERP plugin.
Rankie plugin gives you ranking reports regularly on monthly and annually basis to keep you updated on your website ranking.
The plugin also allows you to download the reports in PDF format.
This plugin not only acts as a WordPress SERP tracker but it also works as a keyword research tool that gives a large list of quality keywords that are taken from Google suggestions.
Rankie WordPress plugin also adds auto track searched keywords to the dashboard for effective tracking.
It gives four procedures for finding the website position on Google for keywords.
The 4 site location positions are: Google Directly, Google via F-secure.com, Google Custom Search API, and Google via kproxy.com proxy.
This plugin sends you an email daily with every position change from up or down.
This plugin gives distinctive ranking information and creates a ranking graph for every keyword it tracks.
The WordPress rank tracker plugin allows keywords tracked to be instantly clarified by site, group or by search term.
The Rankie WordPress plugin has the ability to use proxies when retrieving Google for search.
The plugin gives you comprehensive action log that displays every action completed by the plugin.

10 WordPress Ping Optimizer

WordPress consists of internal mechanism of pinging services whenever a user publishes a new post on his WordPress website. The ping services to be notified can be put on the settings page in the dashboard of WordPress.

At times, when you abuse pinging services, your site may be marked as spam. To prevent the abusing or unnecessary pinging, you have to use a plugin such as WordPress ping optimizer. Here is the list of the features of WordPress ping optimizer:

The WordPress Ping Optimizer allows you to prevent your blog from being penalized as a ping spammer. WordPress blogs tend to have unnecessary pings that occur every time you edit a post.
WordPress blog pings all the times when you hit on the “Save and Continue Editing” or “Save” button. This plugin is made to get rid of those unwanted pings.

11 W3 Total Cache

W3 Total Cache is another free and best SEO WordPress plugin that is made to help you to make the user experience better and SEO of your site. The plugin allows you to reduce the download time with the help of features such as the content delivery network (CDN). This plugin enables you to improve the search engine results ranking, especially for websites with a responsive design and those that use SSL or HTTPS certificates.

It also allows you to increase the conversion rates and the “site performance” that is known to affect the ranking of the website on Google. The WordPress plugin also helps to better web server performance to make sure high traffic timings.

The plugin saves you about 80% of bandwidth by minify and HTTP compression of HTML, CSS, feeds and JavaScript. Here is a brief overview of the plugin:

The plugin gives you with enhanced progressive render for quick rendering and interaction.
It is compatible with shared hosting, clusters and dedicated servers.
The WordPress plugin gives transparent content delivery network (CDN) board along with Media Library, WordPress itself and theme files.
W3 Total Cache plugin also supports Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP).
The cache WordPress plugin supports HTTPS or Secure Socket Layer (SSL).
It enables caching of minified and compressed pages and posts in the memory or on disk.
The caching of minified and compressed CSS and JavaScript files in memory, on disk or on CDN is supported.
It also supports caching of feeds, objects and fragments in memory, search results pages, database objects, on CDN or on disk.
It has mobile support for individual caching of pages by referrer or groups of user agents as well as theme converting for groups of user agents or referrers.

How to Install W3 Total Cache Plugin in WordPress

12 Redirection

Redirection is another free and Best SEO WordPress plugin that is made to help you handle 301 redirections, find all the 404 errors and organize any unattached ends that may be available on your website.

This makes it easy for you when you are shifting pages from an old site to a new one. You will also find it useful when you are altering your WordPress installation directory.

The plugin helps in tracking 404 errors by capturing a log of the errors and easily mapping the errors to 301 redirects.
It allows routine ‘pass-through’ redirection letting you pass a URL through to another page, file or website.
Redirection is established on user agent, referrer or login status.
Redirection plugin supports full logs for all redirected URLs.
The plugin enables all URLs to be redirected.
It supports WP CLI.
It automatically includes a 301 redirection whenever the URL of the post changes.
You can manually add 301, 302, and 307 redirection for a WordPress post or for other files.
The plugin supports complete import/export to Nginx rewrite.rules, CSV, JSON, and .htaccess.
It gives support to full regular expression.
The plugin acts entirely inside WordPress thus it does not need Apache .htaccess to work
It gives support for Apache and Nginx.
It gives you with redirection data informing you on the number of times a redirection has occurred, the last time it occurred, the person who tried to do it and the location they found your URL.
This plugin is entirely localized and available in multiple languages.

13 WooCommerce – All in One SEO Pack

The WooCommerce – All in One SEO Pack is another Best WordPress plugin that is made to work as an extension of the All in One SEO Pack Plugin by Michael Torbert. This plugin supports the All in One SEO Pack dialog on the Add or Edit Products screen in WooCommerce.

The plugin enables you to add, edit and organize All in One SEO Pack Meta information. Before installing this WordPress plugin, it is important for you to keep in mind that the plugin has a disclaimer that the author or developer is not responsible for any harm that might happen to your website when you install the plugin. It is, however, a straightforward and easy to install plugin and necessary for those users with WooCommerce websites.

The following are some features of this plugin :

The plugin displays the All in One SEO Pack dialog on the Add/Edit Products screen in WooCommerce.
It enables you to add, edit and organize All in One SEO Pack meta information
This free WordPress plugin works as an extension of the All in One SEO Pack Plugin by Michael Torbert.

14 Glue for Yoast SEO & AMP

Glue for Yoast SEO & AMP is a free plugin that integrates Yoast SEO into your AMP pages. The WordPress AMP plugin gives you the technical execution of the AMP specifications to make sure that your website pages have valid AMP code. The plugin also makes sure that your meta-data is applied in a proper way.

The plugin provides you an easy way to modify your AMP pages.
It includes basic styling in the form of link styles and colors to give your AMP pages a similar feeling to your main pages.
This WordPress plugin enables you to change your AMP page design.

15 SEO Optimized Images

The SEO Optimized Images is another SEO friendly WordPress plugin enables you to include Seo Friendly title, attributes and alt attributes to your pictures or images. When you install and activate the plugin, you should choose the pattern you want and the plugin will automatically switch the title tags and alt tags without making any changes to the database.

It means that if you want your website to return to how it looked before you activated the plugin; you need to deactivate the plugin and everything will be back. This plugin also enables you to add post category, image name and post title in title and alt attributes of images.

This WordPress plugin gives you an effective opportunity to add SEO friendly title attribute and alt attributes to your images.
SEO optimized images plugin also makes it easy for you to approach your site to its original state that it had before you activated the plugin.
The WordPress plugin enables you to add image name, post category and post title in title and alt attributes of pictures.
It automatically switches the title tags and alt tags without making any changes to the database.

16 EWWW Image Optimizer

EWWW Image Optimizer is another best SEO plugin for WordPress that is developed to help you intensify the speed of your page using image optimization. Increasing your page speed can enable you to improve your search engine ranking. It can also enable you to get better conversion rate , in this way, increasing your sales.

An increase in the speed of your posts and pages can also reduce your storage space and bandwidth. This plugin automatically improves the quality of new images that are uploaded.

The plugin also has the ability to modify the images that have already been uploaded and change them to the ideal file format. It enables you to either select pixel perfect compression or high compression selections that are visually lossless.

The plugin does not have limitations of file size and speed.
It uses optional Parallel Optimization and automatic Background Optimization to avert upload delays.
EWWW Image Optimizer makes sure smooth management with pixel-perfect optimization with the help of industrial standard tools and progressive translation.
This WordPress plugin gives you the top compression quality ratio available with a range of options for PDF, JPG and PNG files.
It gives adaptive navigation with quick conversion selections to get the perfect image format.
The plugin is free and gives you API to make sure that you never pay for an image that cannot be compressed.
The EWWW image optimizer gives you ample coverage without leaving out any images and optimizing everything on your site.
The plugin utilizes high quality SSL encryption for all communications to ensure safety.
It gives free image backup that enables you to store your original images for one month.

17 Simple 301 Redirects

The Simple 301 Redirects is another free SEO plugin for WordPress that is developed to give you a simpler way of redirecting requests to other pages on your site or somewhere else on the web. It makes it convenient for you when you shift your website to WordPress and you are unable to retain the structure of your URL.

You can setup the 301 redirects from your old pages to your new pages to make sure that any inbound links are effortlessly migrated with their page rank.

It is a plugin that provides you an easier way to redirect requests to other pages on your site.
The plugin enables you to setup the 301 redirects from your old pages to your new pages so that the inbound links migrate with their page rank during WordPress shifting of your Website.

18 Google XML Sitemaps

Google XML Sitemaps is another Best SEO plugin for WordPress that allows you to improve the SEO of your site by generating distinct XML sitemaps to help search engines such as Google, Yahoo, Bing, Ask.com to index your website with ease.

The sitemaps make it easier for crawlers to observe the whole structure of the website and regain it effectively. This plugin is compatible with custom URLs and all types of pages made by WordPress.

The plugin sends notifications to key search engines every time you create a post about new products or content.
Google XML Sitemaps plugin is ranked as one of the top WordPress plugins that enable you to create XML sitemap for search engines.
It a free WordPress plugin that comes with a plenty of translations.
The plugin is compatible with custom URLs and different types of pages created by WordPress.
The plugin makes it easier for crawlers to observe your website.

19 Pretty Link Lite

Pretty Link Lite is a free SEO plugin for WordPress that gives additional tools and redirection that makes it possible for you to automatically create cloak links as well as pretty links. You can replace the keywords in your blog with pretty links to improve your search engine optimization. Pretty links are designed to help you use your domain name to shorten links.

Pretty Links not only allow you to create links but also help you track every hit on URLs for a detailed overview on the origin of the hit, browser, and the host. This plugin is however not perfect for those users who want to clear their affiliate links, Twitter links to come from their domain, track clinks through email or improve the reach of their site through distributing the links on forums, other blogs and comments.

The plugin enables you to make quality and simple URLs on your site that you can redirect to other URLs.
It enables you to create random 3-4 character slugs for your URL as well as allows you to name a custom slug for your URL.
The plugin enables you to filter the report based on the precise link clicked; the date choice or exclusive clicks.
Pretty Link Lite allows you tracks the amount of clicks for each link.
This plugin enables you to track the amount of unique clicks on each link.
It gives you a reporting interface to enable you to see an organized chart of clicks every day.
It lets you see click details as well as IP address, remote host, referring site, browser and operating system.
The plugin supports a spontaneous Javascript/AJAX Admin user interface.
You can allow custom bounds to your scripts using pretty link and enjoy full tracking ability.
This plugin also allows you to except IP Addresses from data.
It enables you to send your pretty links through email right from your WordPress admin.
The WordPress plugin allows you to select temporary 302 or 307 redirections or permanent 301 redirections for pretty links in your site.
It gives a cookie based structure for effective tracking visitor actions across clicks.
This plugin also supports you to make links into groups, generate nofollow/noindex links and switch on/off tracking on each link.
It gives you Pretty Links Bookmarklet.

20 WP SEO HTML Sitemap

WP SEO HTML Sitemap is another SEO plugin for WordPress that gives an HTML sitemap for those who use plugins that do not offer them with HTML sitemap features such as WordPress SEO plugin by Yoast.

You do not need to install WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin to use this plugin. However, you may not be able to gather the full advantages of the plugin’s settings linked to the XML sitemap settings. These are the features of this sitemap plugin:

The plugin spontaneously utilizes all sitemap xml settings from common WordPress SEO by Yoast Plugin
It enables you to choose the number of columns you want to show.
It provides you columns with a masonry effect and functional with all current browsers.
WP SEO HTML Sitemap plugin provides you overwrite, shortcode, prepend and append options for posting on your sitemap page.
It gives fully responsive HTML on all devices.
The output of the plugin supports several languages.
The HTML code developed in the plugin has W3C Markup Validation approval without any errors.
The plugin gives you the ability to deactivate the CSS of the plugin.
It allows you to create an optional link to your sitemap_index.xml file.

Final Thoughts

WordPress SEO plugins are a part and parcel of any website and they make sure that the content published on the site is highly optimized for the search engines. The SEO WordPress plugins also support a wide range of features that allows making sure your on-page SEO is 100% compliant with all Google and other search engines requirements. Due to the SEO requirement, every post or page published on your website should have a properly written meta description with the focus keyword included.

The keyword placement in the content, title and URL (slug) should be properly done. You should also make sure you configure the robot.txt file properly and submit the XML sitemap to the Google search console for ideal indexing of your site. It helps if you can find a useful plugin that does all these work without installing a plugin for every task.

The advanced SEO WordPress plugins work as you expect from them to make sure that your site is linked with Google webmaster tools. It will keep you update about your crawl errors and also let you know whether you are compliant with Google’s SEO standards or not.

SEO is a continuous process, and you should check the health of your website from time to time and fix the problems or errors reported by search console.

To quote one example; Yoast SEO plugin also enables users to link and verify their sites with the Google Webmaster, Bing Webmaster, and Yandex Webmaster. It also enables users to generate an XML site map for submission to search engines.

How to Add Google maps in WordPress

Finally, you will often realize that SEO plugins only improve your on-page SEO, there is a lot more effort required for you to rank higher.

The quality of the content published on your site plays an important role in ranking of your website. Another essential off page SEO factor that you need to focus is your backlink profile. This backlink profile includes the number and quality of the links that point to your site.

If the backlinks pointing to your site are spammy in nature, I recommend that disavow them asap, otherwise, there is high chance of getting penalized by Google.

I hope that you liked the post on Best SEO plugin for WordPress. What is your favorite SEO plugin? Do not forget to share your opinion in the comment section.

Do not forget to share this post with bloggers.

Arsalan Rauf

Arsalan Rauf is an entrepreneur, freelancer, creative writer, and also a fountainhead of Green Hat Expert. Additionally, he is also an eminent researcher of Blogging, SEO, Internet Marketing, Social Media, premium accounts tips and tricks, etc.

www.greenhatexpert.com

Mobile SEO guide in 2022 – How to Optimize Your Website for Mobile SEO

December 25, 2021 By Arsalan Rauf

In this post, I shall share with you everything you need to know about mobile SEO in 2021.

I shall also tell you why mobile optimization is necessary now?

In addition, I will also help you to ready your website for Google’s mobile first algorithm.

Mobile SEO guide in 2022 – The Definitive Guide

CHAPTER 1: Mobile Optimization 101

In this chapter I’ll help you to learn the basics.

So if your site is not mobile optimized or you are not sure, this chapter will move you to the right track.

In upcoming chapters, you will learn advanced strategies and techniques.

What Is Mobile SEO?

Mobile SEO stands for the practice of optimizing your website for users on tablets and smartphones or android. It also refers to make your site resources accessible to search engine spiders.

Why Is Mobile SEO Important?

In short: the number of mobile searches is increasing day by day.

In fact, 58% of all searches in Google are now done from a mobile device.

This trend is growing rapidly. According to statistics of Google, mobile has 27.8 billion more queries than desktop.

So the mobile is the future of SEO. This is the reason why Google and its algorithm are focussing on mobile search.

SEO in 2019: The Definitive Guide

Is “SEO” Now About Optimizing for “Mobile SEO”?

Yes, if you want to optimize your site for Google.

Today, 95% of searches are from the search engine of Google.

Google will retain this level of dominance by twisting their algorithm.

So you need to optimize your site for mobile users first.

Firstly, Google launched its Mobile-Friendly Update (which many people called “Mobilegeddon”).

This update affected those sites which were not mobile friendly for android or smartphones.

If your target audience does not search using their smartphones, this update was not a big deal for you.

Unless Google made every search a mobile search by implementing its Mobile First algorithm.

What Is Google’s Mobile-First Index?

Google Mobile first index will rank the search results according to the mobile version of the page. It occurs even if you are searching from a desktop as well.

Before this update, Google ran two indexes side-by-side: desktop version and mobile version.

If someone is searching from an iPhone or android, Google will show them results from mobile index. If someone searches on a desktop, he will get desktop results.

Today, it does not matter what device you use, Google will show you the results from mobile index.

I shall discuss more about optimization for mobile SEO in chapter 3, 4 and 5.

Is Google’s Mobile-First Index a Big Deal?

It depends.

If your site is optimized for mobile, you are good to go.

If your site….

Loads resources across all devices
Does not hide content on mobile versions of your site
Loads quickly like mobile users expect
Has working internal links and redirects
Boasts a UX which is optimized no matter what device your visitors use

If all is done, you are good.

If not, Google may drop your rankings.

Therefore, I am making this whole guide for you to optimize your site for mobile.

Firstly….

What Does Google Consider “Mobile”?

Most of the people consider “mobile device” a table or smartphone.

Google puts tablets in their own class and states that they do not include tablets in the definition.

In short, according to Google: mobile=smartphones.

The main purpose is to optimize your site and content for every device. It includes tablets, phones and other mobile devices.

Image on right side

CHAPTER 2: How to Implement a Mobile Website That Ranks in Google

To get over mobile SEO, your site has to work on mobile devices at least.

If a visitor goes to a mini version of your desktop site, you will be in trouble.

Luckily, to implement a mobile website is not a hard nut to crack.

So in this chapter, I shall teach you different ways to implement a mobile version of your website by focussing on mobile SEO.

When It Comes to Mobile, You’ve Got 3 Options

There are 3 different ways to configure your site for mobile.

First of all, you have got separate URLs which is also known as“m” configuration.

With this setup, you have a mobile version which is “M” version of your site and you also have the “main” means desktop version of your site.

In short, your site figures out what type of device your visitor is using and redirects them to optimized URL for that device.

Separate URLs were common in the past but now, not anymore.

Why? It is because they are hard to manage.

“M” version creates SEO problems and you require multiple URLs for every piece of content on your website. It also needs complicated “rel=canonical” and “rel=alternative” tags.

That is why I do not suggest M/separate URLs configuration. It is the worst way to configure your website for mobile SEO.

Next, we have Dynamic Serving.

When you serve content dynamically, all of your content is on the same URL. But you show every user different CSS/HTML that depends on the device that they use.

For example, if you visit https://www.greenhatexpert.com/seo-this-year on a desktop, you will see a pre-made desktop version of the site.

But if you will visit the page from your iPhone 8, you will still be on https://www.greenhatexpert.com/seo-this-year but you will see the iPhone 8 version of the page.

Dynamic serving is a better choice for SEO as compared to “M” version of the site. It has some downsides.

For example, it is notorious for showing desktop version to mobile users.

You need to create different versions of your content for upcoming devices. If you do not do this, your site will not be able to recognize a new device. And will show them the terrible version of your site.

Finally, we have Responsive Design.

I saved the best for last.

With the help of responsive design, the content and page’s layout responds to every user.

Responsive design gets rid of separate URLs and different HTML for every device.

In case of being SEO friendly, responsive design is the best and perfect option.

Why?

All of your content is on a single URL (good for sharing and getting links)
Minimal SEO headaches (no “rel=canonical tags”, duplicate content issues etc.)
Insanely user friendly (UX is a big part of SEO thanks to RankBrain)
No redirects (which cause technical SEO issues and can slow down your site)

Still not convinced? Google recommends responsive layouts.

CHAPTER 3: How to Mobile Optimize Your Site

After going through 2 chapters, your site is configured for mobile users. Now it’s time to do mobile SEO.

In this chapter, I shall show you how to tell Google and other search engines that your site is optimized for mobile.

Use Google’s Mobile Usability Test

This tool is available in Google Search Console and it will let you know the issues of your site regarding mobile usability.

To use it, go to your Google search console account. Click “search traffic”>Mobile usability.

There Google will let you know if your mobile users are facing any problem.

(For example, the tool may let you know that you use Flash or that your font is too small for mobile users to read).

You can also use Google’s Mobile-Friendly test.

Just enter your URL into the tool.

And get a full report.

As you can observe, I passed. But it is telling me that mobile Googlebot is having trouble to load all of my resources on my page.

Desktop Googlebot is having no problems to crawl the resources. But the mobile version is unable to do it.

With Google’s Mobile first index live, it is a serious issue. And this is something which remains unknown without this tool.

Super duper helpful.

Let Google Crawl Everything

Do you block Googlebot from accessing Javascript, CSS or other important parts of your site’s code?

It used to be no big deal. But today, it is a very bad idea.

Until Google cannot fully crawl your page, it cannot tell whether it is mobile friendly or not.

How do you know if this is an issue?

First of all, check your robots.txt file.

This file tells Googlebot to not index or crawl certain parts of your site. This file is usually available at site.com/robots.txt. You can also find it inside of Google search console.

While you’re there, click on “Google Index” —> “Blocked Resources”. This will let you know if you’re blocking Googlebot from crawling certain parts of your site.

If you are not blocking anything important, you are good to go.

Put the Kibosh on Interstitial Popups

I know: everyone HATES popups.

Google also hates popups….. especially for mobile users.

Remember: Google #1 priority is to show their users amazing and engaging content. If the content is hidden behind a popup and it is not a good thing.

In fact, Google rolled out an update that specifically targets “Intrusive” popups.

So if you are using popups on your site, it can affect your rankings.

How do you know which popups are OK?

Google gives a few examples of acceptable popups…

…and popups that can get your site penalized.

**How Does Your Responsive Site Actually Look? Check Out This Cool Tool**

It is to see how Google views your mobile site.

But nothing can beat seeing your site on different devices.

If your site is responsive, I recommend checking this free tool.

It’ll show you how your site looks on iPhones, tablets and more:

Image

I love this tool.

Use The Mobile Version of “Fetch as Google”

Like most people, I’m a visual learner.

It is a nice thing to see a list of mobile SEO issues.

Personally, it is more helpful to know how Google sees my page.

Therefore, I suggest spot testing a few pages on your website using Google search console’s Fetch as Google feature.

Just enter a URL of a prominent page of your site into it:

(Make sure to select “Mobile” from the dropdown box)

And it will show you exactly that same result what Google Bot saw. You can also scroll down to see if Google missed anything like videos, menus and images etc.

Image

Very helpful.

Let Mobile Users See It All

In past, people would block certain resources from mobile users.

(For example, they might block javascript from loading or hide some content)

They were not doing anything suspicious. To block these resources allow them to load their page faster on mobile devices. It also improves the user experience.

Here is an example of what I mean:

See you need to click “read more” to watch the rest of the content. It may be a problem with Google’s first mobile index.

Why?

With Mobile-first, Google will consider the mobile version of your page as the main version.

If the content is hidden from the mobile visitors, it may not crawl or index or affect the weight of this content.

Back in the day, when it came to hiding content for desktop users, Google has said that:

“If something is relevant to the page, then it’s probably relevant to the user too, so I’d recommend showing it to the user.”

But then Google’s John Mueller recently said that, for the Mobile-first index:

“On the mobile version of the page it can be that you have these kind of tabs and folders and things like that, which we will still treat as normal content on the page. Even if it is hidden on the initial view.”

He also said that, when it comes to Mobile First Index:

“If it’s critical content, it should be visible.”

I shall wait for the official announcement on Google blog before saying anything on this.

In the meantime, here’s my take:

If you will hide or block the content for mobile users, Google will put less weight on it or simply ignore it.

So observe your website on different mobile phones. If desktop users can see something and mobile users are missing it. I suggest that fix it asap.

CHAPTER 4: How to Optimize Your Mobile Sitefor UX Signals

As you know, SEO today is less about focussing on meta tags and more about building an awesome website.

In fact, Google’s RankBrain algorithm is paying attention to Google searchers and how they interact with your site.

If RankBrain observes that your is frustrating for mobile users, it will drop your rankings like a stone.

In this chapter, I shall show you some tips that make sure that mobile users love your website.

Master Mobile Sitespeed

Does Google care how fast your mobile site loads?

Yes.

In fact, they recommend that your site should load under a second for mobile users.

That is a hard nut to crack. Luckily, there are some free tools on the market to help you to reach Google’s guideline.

First of all, we have Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool.

This tool allows you to know the time of site load on mobile.

In addition, it also gives you suggestions that you can use to speed up.

You can also check out WebPageTest.org. By default, it will load your site on a desktop browser. You can select a mobile browser from the menu:

And it will give you a list of suggestion which are for mobile browsers:

If you are really interested in pagespeed, check out this excellent resource.

This guide will help you to load your site like lightening.

Make Your Content Insanely Easy to Read on Phones

Do users have to pinch, scroll or squint to read your mobile content?

So they will press the ‘back’ button.

For example, you don’t want your content to look like this:

Yes, this page is optimized for mobile. But it is hard to read.

You need your font to be big, bold and legible:

So:

How can you make your mobile content more readable?

Use at least 14px font (I prefer 15 or 16)
Use short paragraphs (1-2 lines per paragraph)
Go with a line length between 50-60 characters
Make sure there’s tons of contrast between text and background (people use phones outside, which can make low-contrast text harder to read)

It is also helpful if your content is good and interesting but that is another thing.

Use HTML5 For Video and Animated Content

Do you embed videos in your content?

Does your page perform all sorts of fancy animations when people visit?

If the content is coded in flash, it will not work on mobile devices.

Instead, you need to code that up in HTML5.

Don’t Forget the “Viewport Content” Tag

Do you use responsive design?

If yes, do not forget the viewport meta tag.

This tag changes the size of your page based on the device of user.

Google also suggests that you setup your viewport meta tag like this:

If you will forget this tag or you will not configure it correctly. Your site will look funky to mobile users.

You have double check it to know that you have set this up.

Implement These 3 Quick Mobile UX Hacks

These are 3 quick tips designed to boost the usability of your site for mobile Google searchers.

Make Header Images Really Small

Mobile Google users want to get answer now.

It means you do not have to use giant header images like this:

So delete them or make them smaller for mobile users or visitors:

Use Lots of “Negative” Space

Negative space is the space between buttons, text and design elements. It is really important for mobile websites.

On a desktop, you can use a covered page.

But on a phone, you cannot get away with a covered page.

It is very important for content which you want to rank in Google. If a Google visitor is having trouble to read your content or finding what he needs. He will bounce your site and will return to search results.

And using a lot of negative space, like this, is another way to reduce the bounce rate and improve the dwell time:

Put Social Share Buttons as a Tab Bar

The fact is: social sharing buttons can increase the amount of shares of your content.

Social share buttons work well when they are in a sidebar:

They do not distract but if someone wants to share, the buttons are right here.

The problem is: the setup is not possible on mobile.

Therefore, I suggest using a tool like Sumo that shows the social icons as a tab bar at the bottom of the page.

Image

Simple.

CHAPTER 5:Advanced Mobile SEO Tips and Best Practices

Now your site is mobile optimized, it’s time to take things to the next level.

In this last chapter of my guide, I shall give you an advanced mobile SEO tips, strategies and best practices.

Fix Your Mobile CTR, Get More Traffic

I do not need to tell you that your organic click through rate is a Huge Google ranking factor.

If Google will observe that the mobile users do not click on your result, it will downrank you.

But how do you know that your CTR is up to the mark? Here is the process:

First, go to the Google Search Console’s Search Analytics section.

Image

Next, click “Compare Devices”.

Image

And choose “Desktop” vs. “Mobile” and hit “Compare”:

Image

Now, take a look at how your desktop and mobile CTR size up.

Image

It is a normal thing for your desktop and mobile CTRs to be different here.

If you notice that your desktop CTR presses your mobile CTR for a certain keyword, search for that keyword in Google using your phone.

It can be that the mobile SERPs have more ads which are crowding organic results.

Or it can be your title tag is cutting off.

Either way, you will come with an insight which you can use to increase your mobile CTR.

Turn Mobile Donkeys Into Unicorns

Google’s Mobile first index means that Google will put more weight on mobile UX signals.

In simple words, if mobile users bounce from your site like crazy, it will put a negative effect on your rankings.

Therefore, I suggest compare your desktop vs mobile bounce rate and dwell time using Google analytics.

It is very easy and well worth.

To do it, login to your Google analytics account. Click Site Content>Landing Pages.

Image

It will show you the most popular pages on your website. Click on a page which you want to get more traffic to.

Image

Then click “Secondary Dimension”> “Device Category”.

Image

It will show you how your UX signals compare on desktop vs mobile.

For example, for this page, my bounce rate and dwell time are almost similar. So this page is probably optimized well for mobile users.

Image

But if Google analytics shows you the big difference between mobile and desktop users, then visit the page on your own phone.

You may find something bad that is causing mobile users to bounce your page.

When you are done, move to the next tip.

Boost Your Mobile Page Speed With These 3 Tips

After Google’s mobile-first update, Google will look into the mobile page speed. Will my desktop speed will still matter? Maybe.

But it will not get that importance as how your website loads on mobile.

Here is how you can skyrocket the mobile loading speed of your site.

First of all, do a mobile speed test at ThinkWithGoogle.com:

Image

This tool is similar to any other speed testing tool. It even loads your site on 3G to create the mobile environment.

It will give you a helpful report that will tell you how long your site takes to load on a mobile device.

Image

And also how to remove the speed breakers.

Image

Here are some other quick tips to try out:

Smash your images: If you use WordPress, I suggest installing an image optimizer, like Smush Image Compression. These SIGNIFICANTLY reduce the file size of your images, which can speed up load times dramatically.
Implement Browser Cache: Google themselves suggested caching your site to make your site load faster.
Get a CDN: CDNs can make page elements (especially images) load 2-3x faster.

Optimize Title and Description Tags for Mobile SERPs

Do you get the majority of the organic traffic from mobile?

Then you need to optimize your title and descriptions tags according to the mobile search results.

Here’s how:

Google provides more title tag characters to work on mobile. But your meta description is short.

(Go figure)

Here’s the exact breakdown:

Desktop
Title: Approximately 70 Characters
Description: Approximately 300 Characters

Mobile
Title: Approximately 78 Characters
Description: Approximately 300 Characters

In short words, if your title tag is 69 or fewer characters, it will not get cut off on mobile or on desktop.

But let’s suppose you get more traffic from mobile. You may want to expand the title tag and take advantage of the extra space. Even if you exceed the desktop characters limit.

For example, your title tag looks like this:

Image

That’s 66 characters. So this title will show in-full on desktop and mobile.

Now suppose you wanted to use a word or phrase that can increase your CTR. Your title tag will be look like this:

Image

That’s 78 characters.

Yes, 78 characters mean that Google will cut your title tag on desktop searches. But it will show up just fine on mobile.

If you have small traffic of desktop users. It may be worth making your title tag longer to increase the CTR.

Should You Implement AMP?

Accelerated Mobile Pages are designed to load quickly on mobile devices. In fact, AMP pages load 4 times faster than non-AMP pages.

As you may know, Google has led the charge on AMP.

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As AMP is a Google project, that is why a lot of SEO experts are implementing AMP on their client’s sites.

(It is due to the fact that Google will reward AMP-friendly sites with higher rankings)

Apart from higher rankings, Google also shows a little icon in the search results that may boost your CTR.

Image

The question is:

Does it make sense to use AMP?

The choice is yours, I do not recommend it.

Here’s why:

First, AMP puts SERIOUS limits on your page’s functionality.

Want full control of your ads? Not happening.

How about a lightbox or popup? No.

AMP also puts serious restrictions on CSS. This makes your site load faster but makes your content look like generic.

Secondly, AMP can hurt your link building efforts.

When someone links to your content, those links point directly to your site.

But here’s the deal:

When someone links to your AMP pages, this link will give a link to Google.com domain

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In other words, AMP can cost you in the link department as well.

So links to your AMP pages will boost Google domain authority, not yours.

Finally, AMP may not last.

LTE is already SUPER fast. And 5G is just around the corner.

So the idea of jumping through a thousand methods to increase in mobile loading speed can make sense. But moving forward makes more sense.

Bottom line? Unless you have a compelling reason to do so, I do not suggest AMP for most publishers.

Use Schema Structured Data To Stand Out in Mobile SERPs

As you may know, mobile SERPs show the search results like cards:

Image

And these cards make Schema.org structured data super effective.

Why?

Well structured data can hook you up with recipe images, review stars and event dates in SERPs. It can increase your organic CTR.

For example, look at the downshiftology mobile results from ToddyCafe.com. this contrast is not powerful on desktop:

Image

In a nutshell, if you want more clicks from mobile Google searchers, implement well structured data.

Now It’s Your Turn

So that’s it for my guide to mobile optimization.

I hope you enjoyed it.

What are you doing to get your site ready for mobile SEO?

Or maybe you have a question about something from today’s guide.

Either way, let me know by leaving a quick comment below.

Do not forget to share this post.

Related Posts:

Arsalan Rauf

www.greenhatexpert.com

How to Embed a Facebook Video in WordPress

July 7, 2021 By Arsalan Rauf

How to Embed a Facebook Video in WordPress

Do you want to embed a Facebook video in WordPress?

Due to the recent popularity of Facebook videos and Facebook live platform, people also want to embed Facebook videos in WordPress. In this post, I shall show you how to embed Facebook videos in WordPress with ease and Facebook live video in WordPress.

Why Add Facebook Videos in WordPress?

I suggest to my friends and followers that they should not upload videos to WordPress. I also suggest using a video sharing site like YouTube.

Currently, Youtube is the largest video hosting platform in the world, Facebook is the biggest social network and their videos are growing very fast. Recently Facebook has introduced Facebook live video and Facebook auto-play features. Marketers are paying attention to these features from all over the world. It is because they increase user engagement and overall reach.

By using Facebook videos, you can increase the likes on your Facebook page. For more social experience, you can install Facebook comments, add Facebook page plugin, and add Facebook like button on your WordPress website.

After this discussion, let’s take a look how to embed Facebook videos on a WordPress website.

Embedding Facebook Videos in WordPress

First of all, you need to select the video that you want to embed on your website.

Now use the right click on the video date or name, and copy the link address.

After doing so, you have to go to Facebook embedded video player website and scroll down to reach code generator section.

Now paste the URL that you copied earlier while clicking on the video name or date.

The next step is to click on the get code button and it will show you a popup of two boxes that contain code.

The first part of the code will go in the header section of your site.

There are several ways to add this code to your site.

If you are comfortable with editing files of theme, then you can add it to your theme and you need to edit header.php file and paste it after the <body> tag.

In addition, you can also install Insert Headers and Footers plugin to add it. For more details, see our post on how to install a WordPress plugin.

After activation, now go to the settings>Insert Headers and Footer page in admin of your WordPress and paste the code in the footer box. And press save changes to save it.

Note: You only have to add the first part of the code one time. For the next time, you need to add a Facebook video, to do that, you will copy and paste the second part of the code.

So go to the Facebook video embedder page to copy the second part of the code to paste it.

You can add the code in your pages, posts and even a sidebar widget of your WordPress site. While adding the code to your page and posts, you will have to go to the text editor, otherwise, WordPress visual editor will mishandle the code.

Now go to your site to see the Facebook video embedded.

How to Embed Facebook Live Video in WordPress

You can embed the Facebook live video as well as a regular video let’s see how to do it. The difference is, you need to get the link of your Facebook live video.

The question is how to get the URL of Facebook live video?

Facebook does not enable you to get a URL of your live video before you launch the live video. If you want to broadcast your live video of Facebook on your site, you need to go live.

You need to do the same procedure after going live, right click on the date and select the copy link address to copy the URL of live video.

After getting the URL, you need to visit Facebook embedded video player website and paste the link in the ‘URL of video’ field.

Then the video embed code generator will fetch and show a preview of live Facebook video. You will have to click on the get code button and follow the rest of the instruction as described above to add these codes to your site.

After adding the Facebook live video code on your website, your visitors will be able to watch the Facebook live video from your site directly and also in their Facebook feeds.

I hope that you liked the post and you learn how to embed Facebook videos in WordPress. You may want to see our guide on Voice Search SEO.

Arsalan Rauf

www.greenhatexpert.com

Best WordPress Plugins to Protect AdSense From Invalid Clicks

May 18, 2019 By Arsalan Rauf

Every blogger knows about Google Adsense. It is a program powered by Google and it enables you to show ads on your website or blog. When someone clicks on your ads then you earn money. It seems to be an easy task but Adsense is very strict for invalid click activities on Adsense account. In this post, I am going to share best WordPress plugins to protect Adsense or Adsense invalid click protector plugins.

If you want to know about Google Adsense

Read our posts about:

Invalid clicks are common all over the world. According to the report, invalid clicks are targeting Asian bloggers most of the time. If you are also facing invalid clicks on your WordPress site, you can protect Adsense account from invalid clicks using plugins. It will also prevent it. Go through this post to know the best WordPress plugins to protect invalid clicks, how to use them etc.

What is Click bombing or Invalid Clicks?

Click bombing or invalid clicks stand for getting more clicks on your ads than previous days. For example, usually, you get 15 clicks on your ads on daily basis. The very next day you observe that you are getting 40 to 50 clicks. It is known as click bombing. If your Adsense account shows CTR of 5, 10 or 15 that is more than normal CTR. It means that click bombing is going on.

In other words, if you are getting clicks from a single IP address can lead to click bombing and invalid clicks. This activity can disable or ban your Google Adsense account.

How to Protect Your Adsense Account from Invalid Clicks?

There are a number of plugins available on WordPress that can help you to protect your Adsense account from invalid clicks or activity. I give preference to two of them that are super easy to use. So let’s see them. If you do not know how to install a plugin, see our guide on how to install a plugin on WordPress.

Plugins to Protect Your AdSense from Invalid Clicks

1. AdSense Invalid Click Protector (AICP)

I personally use this plugin on my websites. Adsense Invalid Click Protector for blogger is super easy to use and it can protect your Adsense account from invalid click activities.

Adsense Invalid Click Protector plugin which is also known as AICP. It will protect your Google Adsense account from invalid clicks and click bombing. According to Google Adsense terms, Google does not claim any liability towards this invalid click activity or click bombing and call Adsense publisher into question. It considers him/her responsible for this activity. So you need to put an end to this issue for good.

How to Use AdSense Invalid Click Protector?

First of all, you need to install the plugin on your WordPress website by searching it on WordPress plugins like this:

Now click on activate, you will be able to see the plugin in your WordPress menu area:

Now click on the plugin to see an interface that will show settings. You need to set the Ad click limit, set the visitor ban duration and click counter cookie expiration time. Simply fill the settings according to your own wish or you can use these settings.

2. ClickBomb Protect

Clickbomb protect is another Adsense click bombing protection plugin. It is also known as Google Adsense click bomb barrier and protection plugin. It is easy to use. This plugin responds to any suspicious activity on your ads and prevents it. As a result, it stops the click capacity of advertisements on your post or page. You can set the number of clicks from the same IP, time of banning the user and so on.

Clickbomb protect also has the ability to work with any topic as well as format. This plugin will not let your Adsense account ban. In addition, it can block IPS that are doing any suspicious activity on your page or post and makes that user handicap.

How to Use Clickbomb-Protect?

Follow the same instructions for this plugin too. Just search it from WordPress directory and install it.

Upon activation of this plugin, you will be able to see the plugin in the plugins section like this:

You need to click the plugin and it will show you an easy interface where you can do configuration. It includes click duration, click limit and ban duration etc.

Complete the settings according to your wish and relax from the headache of invalid clicks.

Google is always strict about invalid click or click fraud and will not allow that user to show ads if they caught him.

In addition, you need to pay attention to your Adsense report and details on daily basis. You may see variation in your CTR and it seems to be invalid activity for you.

So these were the best WordPress plugins to protect Adsense from invalid clicks and click bombing.

Am I missing something?

Do not hesitate to share your ideas.

Do you know any other best plugin to protect your Adsense?

I hope that you liked this post. Do not forget to share this post.

Arsalan Rauf

www.greenhatexpert.com

How to Get a Free SSL Certificate for Your WordPress Website

August 12, 2018 By Arsalan Rauf

How to Get a Free SSL Certificate for Your WordPress Website

Do you want a free SSL certificate (HTTPS) for your WordPress site?

Everyone needs an SSL certificate to accept online payments and secure their site during this task. Starting today, July 1st, 2018, Google Chrome will show all sites which are not using HTTPS as insecure. In this post, I shall show you how to get a free SSL certificate for your WordPress site with ease.

What is SSL?

SSL refers to Secure Sockets Layer. It is an internet protocol for securing data transfer between the browser of the user and the website they are visiting.

Every web user transfers info when they visit sites. This information can often be sensitive such as credit card information, payment details, or login details.

Using the normal HTTP protocol means this information can be taken over by rogue people. This is where SSL or HTTPS is useful.

Websites using HTTPS require an SSL certificate issued by one of the recognized certificate issuing authority. This certificate is verified and highlighted in the browser of the user’s address bar with HTTPS and green secure sign instead of using HTTP.

Do I need an SSL Certificate for my WordPress website?

SSL / HTTPS is suggested for all websites on the web. However it is absolutely needed for all websites that collect user information such as credit card information, login information, payment details and so on.

If you are running a membership site, an online store, or ask users to log in, then you need to get an SSL certificate straight away.

Most online payment services also ask your website to use SSL/HTTPs before you start receiving payments.

Apart from security, SSL certificate also gives a positive impression of your brand on your visitors. Google also suggests using SSL and provides a tiny bump to SSL enabled sites in the search engine or search results.

Last but not least, if your website is not using a SSL certificate, then Google Chrome will show your visitors that this website is not secure. It creates a negative impression.

How Does SSL Certificate Work?

SSL protects information by encrypting the data transfer between the website and the browser of the user. When a user visits an SSL/HTTPs website, their browser first verifies if the SSL of the website is valid or not.

If everything is working fine, then the browser uses special keys to encrypt the data transfer. This data is then sent back to the intended server (website) where it is decrypted with the help of unique SSL key.

How Much Do SSL Certificates Cost?

The price of SSL Certificates is different from one certificate authority to another. Their cost could be anywhere between $50-200 per year. Some providers provide add-on services with their certificates which may also affect the pricing of your SSL certificate.

If you are going to purchase an SSL certificate, then I suggest GoDaddy. They are the largest domain name registration service in the whole world, managing more than 76 million URLs.

They have simple SSL certificate plans starting from $69.9 per year. After you have bought an SSL certificate, you can ask your hosting provider to install it for you.

How Can I Get a SSL Certificate for Free?

A number of website owners are hesitate to use SSL because of the additional cost. This left many of these sites vulnerable to data and information robbery.

A non-profit project known as Let’s Encrypt decided to fix this by establishing a free certificate authority. Due to the importance of the project, it quickly got the support of major companies including Facebook, Google Chrome, WordPress.com, Shopify and so on.

If you want to install Let’s Encrypt by yourself, then you should have the know how of coding, server knowledge, and Shell / SSH access to use command line tools. Therefore, it is quite difficult for beginners to properly setup Let’s Encrypt SSL on their website.

Thanks to the best WordPress hosting companies are now also offering free SSL certificate or HTTPS along with their hosting plans. Selecting one of them saves you from the irritation of installing a SSL certificate on your own.

Here are the best WordPress hosting companies that provide free SSL certificate with their hosting plans.

Bluehost
WPEngine
GreenGeeks
Liquid Web
Dreamhost
SiteGround
InMotion Hosting

If you are already using hosting of one of these companies, then you can turn on your free SSL certificate from your hosting dashboard with ease. You can also ask your hosting provider’s support to set it for you.

If your web hosting company does not offer free HTTPS, then you have to switch your hosting provider and move your site to the hosting listed above.

Setting up WordPress After Enabling Free SSL Certificate

Once you have enabled your free SSL Certificate, you have to set up WordPress to begin using HTTPS instead of HTTP in all your URLs.

The easiest way to do this is by finding and installing the Really Simple SSLplugin on your WordPress. For more details, see our step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

After activation, the plugin will check to see if your SSL certificate is working. After that, it will turn on http to https redirect the URLs and change your site settings to start using SSL/HTTPs.

While this plugin tries to fix all mix content problems, there may still be some files loading from HTTP instead of HTTPS. To solve that, you will need to find those files with the help of Inspect tool and fix them.

Most commonly, these files are loaded by poorly coded WordPress plugins. If you are unable to get rid of them, then feel free to uninstall those plugins and find a suitable replacement for it.

I hope that you liked the post on how to get a free SSL certificate for your WordPress site.

You may also want to see my guide on How to Add SSL and HTTPS in WordPress.

Do not forget to share this post.

Arsalan Rauf