If you want your WordPress-based website to rank high on search engines, nail these Top-5 Current Best SEO Practices and Metrics. Really, they apply to any website, but some estimates say around half of the world’s websites are built on WordPress, so that’s the focus here.
- Post helpful, original content that matches intent. Write to satisfy the searcher first, and provide real-world experience/expertise; this is what Google’s ranking systems are built to reward.
- You need flawless crawl-ability and indexation hygiene. Employ clean URL structure, sensible internal links, correct canonicals, robots directives, and XML sitemaps (useful for search engine discovery, but not guaranteed).
- Leverage structured data to earn ranking. Add schema that Google actually supports, and keep it current as support changes. That way you’re eligible for richer presentations in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
- Don’t neglect page experience and performance. Hit Core Web Vitals, serve over HTTPS, be mobile-friendly first, and avoid intrusive interstitials (aka pop-ups and irrelevant content). These practices align with what search engines rank high.
- Use deliberate internal linking (and clean external links). Make links crawlable with descriptive anchors; internal links help engines like Google, Bing, Yandex, etc., find/understand your content and provide context/importance.
The 5 Best FREE WordPress SEO plugins (and what they’re best for)
- Yoast SEO (Free): rock-solid defaults, excellent schema graph, huge ecosystem; 10+ million active installs; updated frequently. Best default for most sites.
- Rank Math (Free): generous feature set in their free tier (schema types, redirects, 404 monitor, internal link suggestions, IndexNow for Bing); 3+ million installs. Best for the most free features.
- All in One SEO (Free): a mature toolkit with sitemaps, schema, and an approachable setup; 3+ million installs. Best for guided setup.
- The SEO Framework (Free): lightweight, privacy-first, no ads or up-sells, fast; 200,000+ installs. Best for performance-sensitive or minimalist builds.
- SEOPress (Free): clean UI, white-label option, XML/HTML sitemaps, social/OG, image SEO, Google Indexing API; 300,000+ installs. Best for agencies or power users who value control.
NOTE: A quick reality check on “instant indexing” plugins: IndexNow pings help Bing, Yandex, and others, but not Google. Google’s Indexing API is limited to jobs and live-streams, not general pages. Any plugin that promotes “instant Google indexing” is bogus!
The Verdict (as of Aug 27, 2025):
Overall, it makes sense to go with Yoast SEO for most WordPress sites. That’s what my site uses.
Why? Yoast SEO ships out-of-the-box with high-quality schema (that tracks with Google’s ever-changing rich-result support). It has sane defaults that prevent common technical mistakes, and it delivers outstanding compatibility across themes and builders. It’s also backed by the largest install base and most active maintenance (frequent updates). Combined, that keeps your site eligible for good ranking and avoids getting dinged when schema types are deprecated.
When to Choose Differently:
Pick Rank Math Free if you specifically want the richest feature set without paying (built-in redirects, 404 monitor, more schema presets, IndexNow for Bing, etc.). Rank Math is excellent, but the variety of features means more settings you have to manage.
Go with The SEO Framework if you’re on modest hosting or you value minimalism and speed over “suite” features. SEO Framework stays out of the way and is hard to misconfigure.
Quick How-To SEO (15-minute checkup checklist):
- Install your chosen plugin and run its setup wizard.
- Configure titles/meta, enable XML sitemaps, and verify in Search Console.
- Implement essential schema (Organization/Person, Breadcrumbs; add Article/Product/etc. where relevant).
- Audit internal links on key pages; add descriptive anchors to related content.
- Measure CWV (Core Web Vitals for Google).
- Fix slow templates and assets (i.e. use a page cache plugin and optimize images/videos); focus on LCP (Largest Contentful Paint, aim for less than 3 seconds initial page load) and INP (Interaction Next Paint, aim for less than 200ms response time).
I hope this helps! May you be blessed in your web-building adventures.