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56,000.
That’s approximately how many WordPress plugins are available to date on the official store.
Seeing as you might have 10–20 max on a website, choosing out of that pool can be a bit difficult.
That’s especially the case with SEO plugins. There are hundreds, if not thousands, to compare.
They all do amazing things too: analyze content, improve keyword usage, generate sitemaps. The whole shebang.
Two of our favourites include Yoast and SEOPress.
Let’s weigh these two plugins against one another to see which one is the best choice for you.
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Yoast SEO vs SEOpress overview
| Yoast SEO | SEOPress | |
| Free version | Yes | Yes |
| Keyword optimization | Yes | Yes |
| Readability check | Yes | Yes |
| Installation wizard | Yes | Yes |
| XML sitemap | Yes | Yes |
| HTML sitemap | No | Yes |
| Content analysis | Yes | Yes |
| Open graph data | Yes | Yes |
| Google Tag Manager | No | Yes |
| Import/Export settings | Yes | Yes |
| White label | No | Yes |
| Backlinks | No | Yes |
| Redirections | Yes | Yes |
| Htaccess, robots.txt, etc. | Yes | Yes |
| Breadcrumbs | Yes | Yes |
| Woocommerce | No | Yes |
| 404 monitoring | No | Yes |
Yoast review
We’re going to begin by reviewing Yoast and it’s major components.
Yoast features
Yoast has a wide variety of features as you can see from the above overview, but the following are some of the main ones it stands out.
Content and SEO analysis
Content and SEO go together like steak and wine. You can’t have one without the other.
That’s why Yoast includes content analysis to ensure that pages are the highest quality before being publishing. A box like this appears below every post:
The Green is good. Bad is red.
It alerts you of improvements that can be made to SEO titles, meta descriptions, linking, alt attributes, and more. All of which keep search marketers on their toes.
Additionally, there’s the readability score that tells you how easily readable a blog post is based on the Flesch Reading Ease score. You don’t need a Master’s in Linguistics when you have Yoast!
Fixing transition words and other problems will make it more enjoyable for readers and most likely to be ranked higher on Google.
Keyword optimization
Keywords are your bread and butter. You need to find the perfect between placement, usage, and density to rank. It’s like being a chef in a kitchen.
But, how do you measure keyword optimization? With Yoast’s keyword optimization tool!
Type in a keyword into the “Focus keyword” section and it automatically calculates how well you’re using that phrase and give you suggestions like:
- Adding it to the meta description.
- Optimizing alt text.
- Adding the keyword to the introduction.
- Etc.
All of these small details add up to improve ranks and traffic but are easy to miss. Having Yoast on your toolbelt will help prevent little SEO mishaps.
Additionally you can automatically get alerted when there are changes in metadata health by navigating to “Page Health” and “Organic” from the Morphio dashboard.
Click the arrow beside any landing page and the meta title/description are listed.
That brings me to my next point.
Technical tools
I like to think of SEO as little wins. They all compound and build together. That’s where Yoast’s SEO tools come into the picture.
They give you everything including:
- XML sitemap creation
- Robots.txt optimization
- Permalink URLs
- .htaccess file
Other features can be toggled on or off directly in the settings too.
This makes adjusting the technical aspects of a website and its search optimization less intimidating and much faster.
Yoast pricing
Alright. How much do you have to dish out for this bad boy?
The free version won’t cost you a dime although it has some limitations as expected. If you need a simple SEO tool, give it a shot.
Yoast Premium will run you $89 for a single website. The price is discounted if you wish a multi-site license, however.
This also includes one year of free access to 24/7 support.
SEOPress review
Next up in the ring: SEOPress. Let’s see how it stacks up compared to Yoast.
SEOPress features
These are the main features that make SEOPress stand out and worthwhile for search marketers.
Keep in mind you get all of the staples such as content analysis, sitemap generation, metadata editing, etc.
Much more integrations
SEOPress integrates with many other tools you may be using including Google Analytics, Google Ads, and Google Tag Manager.
Being able to plug this into SEOPress greatly increase the function and potential of each one.
Let me explain.
You simply connect Google Analytics directly from the plugin’s dashboard and then all of your GA data will be available directly on WordPress. Cool, right?
You don’t have to juggle multiple plugins (which can slow down your website) or have to constantly tab over.
The same applies to Google Tag Manager. Simply paste in the code from GTM into SEOPress and you will have much more data to understand ROI, behaviour, and other applications.
Woocommerce ready
If you or clients run e-commerce stores, SEOPress is a must.
It has direct integration with Woocommerce to make your product pages, category pages, and other content optimized for search engines.
After all, online stores are one of the most content and page-dense types of websites because you have up to hundreds or thousands of products.
White labelling
Unlike Yoast SEO, SEOPress is capable of being white labelled meaning you can replace the logo, labels, icons, and more to sell it as your own.
This is a great additional revenue stream for agencies and similar business models. For example, you might provide SEO services to a client and then sell SEOPress to them as a recurring fee.
The white labelling feature available in the free version too with no ads and is completely GDPR compliant.
SEOPress pricing
Okay, let’s talk dollars and cents. The free version of SEOPress is available similar to Yoast and the paid version (Pro) comes in at $39 with unlimited websites.
That means it’s less than half the price of Yoast and gives you reigns to use it on as many sites as you like instead of having to pay an increasing amount.
You also receive one year of updates and support.
Concluding Yoast SEO vs SEOPress
Yoast SEO and SEOPress are both excellent SEO plugins for WordPress. Both have a free version that I recommend testing the waters with.
But, where do they stand out?
Firstly, SEOPress is more affordable and has unlimited website capabilities versus Yoast which is double the price and requires multiple licenses. It also includes Woocommerce capabilities, more integrations, and white labelling.
Yoast—on the other hand—has a robust content analysis feature, keyword density checker, and miscellaneous tools like sitemap generator and indexing options.
Marketers that want to white label an SEO plugin or interface with online stores will find SEOPress a better option. The same goes for anyone keeping costs lean.
Yoast is better for those using the plugin on multiple websites and wants more comprehensive content and keyword analysis when writing content.
No matter your choice, you can significantly increase your search marketing results by trying Morphio today for free. Our marketing security software alerts you of metadata changes, competitors’ performance, and data spikes.
