Note: I'm still practicing, so you may see massive of blank and weak spots as well as bias in the article, you're welcomed to comment as well as making a CC.
Defining a SEO Plugin
Defining a SEO Plugin
There are probably hundreds of plugins containing the word SEO in wordpress.org's plugin repository, but there are only a few of them which can be considered as a SEO plugin, mainly because most of them are of limited functionality or even just a fix to some SEO tasks we've applied to our wordpress site... such as Robots Meta by Yoast, or they're packed with awesomeness and essential to site optimization, but not content related... such as W3 Total Cache by Fredrick Townes.
So what a Wordpress SEO plugin actually is?
Just to make it easy to understand, imagine that your site is a babe which needs to get dressed up for a party.
A Wordpress SEO plugin is a plugin which at least have the ability to make up your sites content by means of Title and Description rewriting, so it can easily attract the eye of search engines and peoples using it; I see it like facial and body treatment for the babe. It also should have the ability to stop the spiders / crawlers / bots to peek on certain parts of the site so you can optimize certain areas; like choosing the best bra to make the legendary cleavage effect instead of letting it fall freely.
The Major BrandsSo what a Wordpress SEO plugin actually is?
Just to make it easy to understand, imagine that your site is a babe which needs to get dressed up for a party.
A Wordpress SEO plugin is a plugin which at least have the ability to make up your sites content by means of Title and Description rewriting, so it can easily attract the eye of search engines and peoples using it; I see it like facial and body treatment for the babe. It also should have the ability to stop the spiders / crawlers / bots to peek on certain parts of the site so you can optimize certain areas; like choosing the best bra to make the legendary cleavage effect instead of letting it fall freely.
So the babe now needs a pack of cosmetics, and it's up to you to choose them, well... not really.
The majority of SEO plugins, moreover the popular ones, already have Title and Description rewriting and Indexation rule features; and all of the offers unique and extra accessories which also helps most of the times, but the accessories are just... well... accessories, extra features which should help the babe instead of confusing her.
All In One SEO Pack by Michael Torbert & Platinum SEO Plugin by Techblissonline Dot ComThe majority of SEO plugins, moreover the popular ones, already have Title and Description rewriting and Indexation rule features; and all of the offers unique and extra accessories which also helps most of the times, but the accessories are just... well... accessories, extra features which should help the babe instead of confusing her.
Downloaded 9,286,450 times (as I write this article), this plugin is undoubtedly the most popular wordpress SEO plugin. Yes, this is the SEO plugin installed by everyone (such as myself) when they first started learning / exploring wordpress and it's SEO. The upsides of this plugin are, The Title Tag rewriting is done automatically after installing and is tunable, the indexation rule feature is also there and configurable by the way of checkboxes, it has the ability to avoid duplicate content to be made on the site. The downsides are, with all those automatic features All In One SEO Pack is kind of limiting it's SEO ability and explorability, like a cheap cosmetic... it will still make the babe attractive... though...not THAT attractive. moreover the extra features offered are already included on other major brands, like Platinum SEO Plugin which has all of their features with extra No Yahoo Directory (noydir) and No Open Directory (noodp) available on their indexation rule.
Wordpress SEO by Joost de Valk (Yoast)
This plugin is following All In One SEO Pack's popularity but overlapped them in terms of features. The Title Tag and Description rewriting feature, which was inspired by HeadSpace2 SEO by John Godley, is the best part in this plugin, it's not automatic like that of All In One SEO Pack, which means you can tune the titles and description like certainly how you would like it for yourself; plus the ability to add the title attributes inside the description will help you to create default but unique descriptions for each of your posts / pages. It has the ability to edit robot.txt and .htaccess file without the opening the via FTP / admin panel as well as checkboxes for the indexation rule.
More features such as XML sitemap, Breadcrumbs, Manual 301 redirect, and the ability to clean the <head> area, is like having several plugins in one, your babe will go to the party not just with a complete dress up, but with her own Sport car plus her own personal driver and assistant.
SEO Ultimate by SEO Design SolutionMore features such as XML sitemap, Breadcrumbs, Manual 301 redirect, and the ability to clean the <head> area, is like having several plugins in one, your babe will go to the party not just with a complete dress up, but with her own Sport car plus her own personal driver and assistant.
The plugin writer named it The Swiss Army Knife Of SEO Plugins, I call it Lara Croft... a beautiful and rich royal babe with extra fighting and acrobatic skills plus intel collecting, opportunity awareness and partnership abilities, just imagine seeing her entering a party. It has wide range of features needed by a complete SEO plugin and the best part of this plugin is the Module area, you can disable the features which are already handled by another SEO plugin, certainly this put the myth that no one should use 2 SEO plugins to the trash bin. The plugin is also actively updated.
But even Lara Croft is not a flawless babe, she has some weaknesses in some parts, at least from my love experience with her. The options used on it's customization are counted as Orphaned Options, which are clutters in need to be cleaned up according to other wordpress optimization plugin such as Clean Options by Mittineague and if you clean them up... you'll lost all of your customization; also it doesn't have the ability to add title attributes in the default description like that in Wordpress SEO by Yoast and HeadSpace2 SEO by John Godly.
HeadSpace2 SEO by John GodlyBut even Lara Croft is not a flawless babe, she has some weaknesses in some parts, at least from my love experience with her. The options used on it's customization are counted as Orphaned Options, which are clutters in need to be cleaned up according to other wordpress optimization plugin such as Clean Options by Mittineague and if you clean them up... you'll lost all of your customization; also it doesn't have the ability to add title attributes in the default description like that in Wordpress SEO by Yoast and HeadSpace2 SEO by John Godly.
This plugin is mainly a meta data manager with lots of useful features, such as the Title Tag and Description rewriting feature which is adapted by Yoast on his SEO plugin, it also has modules like that in SEO Ultimate which can be used to enable or disable certain features of the plugin. The tracking options of HeadSpace2 SEO certainly made it one of a kind, you can add Google analytics, AWStats tracking, Mint Statistics, Statcounter, and a whole lot more; just imagine seeing Jill Valentine or Aya Brea entering a party.
Greg’s High Performance SEO by Greg Mulhauser
Perhaps not the most attractive in the sexist view, but a genius girl always have her own admirers and fans and is attractive in her own way. This plugin is created by Greg Mulhouser which have a Philosophy and Mathematics background, well... I can tell that he really is, just test the plugin and see how he played with logical arguments when explaining over than 100 separate settings, perhaps you'll get overwhelmed on the first encounter but actually this plugin is not that hard.
The unique features of GHPSEO is that they have Secondary Title and Description feature, SEO for paged comments, and Conflict checker with other plugins, and I guess this is one the reason why the writer create over 100 separate settings each with their own argument and explanation, and includes a detailed 5000-word usage guide and introduction to WordPress SEO.
I Installed The Plugin, What to Do Next?The unique features of GHPSEO is that they have Secondary Title and Description feature, SEO for paged comments, and Conflict checker with other plugins, and I guess this is one the reason why the writer create over 100 separate settings each with their own argument and explanation, and includes a detailed 5000-word usage guide and introduction to WordPress SEO.
Post quality contents, you cannot expect someone with zero attractiveness to stand out in a crowd which wants for perfection, even if you put all your money on her. These SEO plugins are just tools to help the babe to get in the party, and the rest is up to you.
