When a WordPress site is created, most sites tend to have a SEO plugin used on the site before it’s made public. There are many options regarding the right SEO plugin for your needs, or you may not even need a plugin. But if they all tend to do the same thing (which is to help you website with SEO) then why are there so many different plugins?

There are so many SEO plugins for many reasons:

1) Some people prefer free vs freemium vs paid

There are many options you can choose when creating something, it can be free (with everything being available at no cost), freeium (where you get a set of things for free and if you want more or extra features then you have to pay), or paid (where you have to pay and get everything included). There are different SEO plugins for each budget.

2) Some plugins are easier to use

When someone else creates something they have a mind-set about how the person on the other end will use it, but there are many cases where the person on the other end has a completely different mind set and it’s actually harder for the person to use. Sometimes going into the settings are needed to configure something how you like, but sometimes the settings are so confusing that it’s not worth your time to try and configure it and instead get a different plugin.

3) Some people have loyalty to a certain plugin author

When someone uses a certain plugin for a while they tend to enjoy it and know how to use it, then if the plugin author releases another plugin the person will realize that the plugin has the same flow so why not continue using a plugin by the same author and continue to support them. After a while that the plugin author has a following, people will ask the plugin author for an SEO plugin. So the plugin author creates an SEO plugin.

4) Some SEO plugins have less bloat than others

Yoast SEO which is the most well-known SEO plugin has been known to have a tons of bloat, which tends to make WordPress sites slow for no real reason. There is no good reason why a SEO plugin should have bloat, there is only bloat because the developers are lazy and they use the plugin to promote either their paid version or to promote the other things they have to offer.

5) Some plugins that have been around for longer

When a plugin has been around for a long time it tends to become well-known, trusted and sometimes popular plugin. Some people tend to associate that with with it being a good plugin and a good company. Unfortunately, sometimes a plugin will be good to start which then go to worst, or sometimes the plugins becomes dead which sometimes has alternatives. You would think that if a plugin has been around for a while then it will continue to be around for years to come but that simply isn’t the case, there are numerous reasons why plugins suddenly become dead, from the person working on it no longer wanting to work on it, to the company behind it shutting down, to the plugin being sold to someone else and used for evil purposes.

So which plugin should you go with?

Go with a plugin that is free to start with, is kept up to date, doesn’t put up a banner on your dashboard that is not closeable, and try it out. If you find it unusable for any reason then try out a different plugin (make sure to remove the plugin first). You can’t always rely on reviews as people usually only review a WordPress plugin if they really love it, or hate it. There are many SEO plugins available at WordPress.org so try one out and see if you like it or not.

Need help figuring out the SEO plugin you just installed? We are available to help you.