8 Best SEO Plugins for WordPress and Your Dental Website

WordPress is one of the most powerful Content Management Systems (CMS) and web development platforms available – so much so that it powers over a third of all live websites.

Your dental website may be based on WordPress, or you may be considering hiring WordPress developers for your custom dental website. If so, there are numerous WordPress plugins available to help boost your website’s organic traffic and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) scores.

If you’re unsure what SEO is, check out our guide to SEO for Dental Practices before continuing. Otherwise, keep reading to find the eight best SEO plugins for WordPress and your dental website.

Why Your WordPress Site Needs SEO

There are many benefits to your website when making SEO considerations. The following are just three main advantages of WordPress SEO:

Increase Traffic

When done correctly, SEO is an effective way to increase your website’s organic traffic. This is because SEO consists of several considerations that appease search engine algorithms.

For example, an essential part of search engine optimization is website speed. Slow sites tend to have high bounce rates, as the average user typically abandons a website if it takes longer than three seconds to load. This negatively impacts your standing with search engines, and ends up reducing your SEO score.

By contrast, websites that load quickly are more likely to have low bounce rates, making them more appealing to search engines and increasing your SEO score and position on Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs).

Your position on SERPs is determined by several parameters outlined by search engines. These include site speed (as discussed above), keyword usage, site structure, user experience (UX) and metadata.Improving these factors, along with the other 200+ elements outlined by Google, will help to improve your SEO score and increase dental website traffic.

Targeted Advertising

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) allows you to target specific and niché keywords otherwise unavailable to other forms of advertising, such as Social Media Marketing. This is because it is primarily based on keyword usage. Search engines identify keywords and phrases used on your website and match them with user search queries. As a result, you can use highly targeted keywords to attract interested and relevant users.

For example, if you were running a local SEO marketing campaign and wanted to attract potential patients in the Orange County, CA area, you could include phrases such as, “Dental Service, Orange County.” This particular phrase highlights the usage of the location. By having your area in keywords, you help search engines identify which users are most likely to be interested.

Improve Credibility

There are many dental scams circulating the web. In fact, scammers have cost customers and dental insurance companies over $12.5 billion. This can make many patients cautious when discovering new dental practices online. As a result, it’s crucial that you properly present your credibility to users. That means having a well-made website that fits an image of authenticity and employing comprehensive SEO tactics. WordPress SEO plugins may be the place to start.

SEO improves credibility by helping to increase your SERP position. When a website appears high on a SERP and is not an ad, it signals to users that it is a popular, relevant, and, therefore, a trustworthy site.

Local SEO takes credibility a step further by having Google recommend dental clinics through Google My Business (GMB) integrations, which has business directly implemented within SERPs. As Google verifies GMB pages, this adds an extra layer of authenticity.

8 Useful WordPress SEO Plugins for Your Dental Website

The WordPress plugin database is vastly populated with many SEO-focused add-ons, but not all are equal. The following is a list of eight exceptional WordPress SEO plugins as recommended by The Dental SEO Experts.

1. Rank Math

   Rank Math is one of WordPress's most popular Search Engine Optimization (SEO) plugins. In fact, it is used by several leading online organizations, such as WebMD, Twitch, and AppSumo.

   Thanks to its impressive roster of compelling features, Rank Math is now in active use on over 500,000 WordPress websites, including on The Dental SEO Experts. Its features include focus keyword analysis, quick edit meta title and description editing and internal link suggestions.

   Pros

   • Simple user interface (UI)
   • Low site speed impact
   • Detailed SEO analytics
   • Social media integration

   Cons

   • Learning curve
   • Many features are challenging to find
   • Incompatible with many other plugins

2. Yoast SEO

   With roughly 5 million active installations, Yoast SEO is by far the most widely used SEO plugin on this list. In general, Yoast SEO aims to improve the organic digital marketing efforts of your dental website. However, there are several variants of the plugin with different focuses like Local SEO and eCommerce, for example.

   Yoast SEO executes technical SEO considerations particularly well, but with functionality that satisfies all facets of SEO, making it  an excellent choice for all comprehensive SEO campaigns. You can read more about technical SEO in this guide from The Dental SEO Experts.

   Pros

   • User-friendly UI
   • Keyword suggest tool
   • Helps identify content mistakes
   • Auto-Generates XML sitemaps

   Cons

   • Slows site speed
   • Known security flaws
   • No site structure control
   • Inability to define canonical URLs

3. WP Meta SEO

   As the name suggests, WP Meta SEO is primarily concerned with optimizing your dental websites metadata, which can be simply defined as information about information.

   A meta-title, for example, is used to tell search engines the title of your website for organizational purposes. This also includes alt. text on images. Though it has powerful and user-friendly features to help users fine-tune their SEO practices.

   The main features of WP Meta SEO include bulk meta editor and site-wide meta-view, elementor optimization, native image size display, and Google Search Console integration. Together, this eclectic array of functionality makes WP Meta SEO the underdog of WordPress plugins, poised to rival the more popular add-ons.

   Pros

   • Macro view of SEO and metadata
   • Comprehensive 404 and a redirect manager
   • Google search console integration
   • On and off-page content analysis

   Cons

   • Not as advanced as other plugins
   • Overwhelming UI

4. Ahrefs SEO

   Ahrefs is a big player in the world of SEO, with a reputation for excellent SEO analysis and digital marketing tools. Though its WordPress plugin is not as popular as its legacy software, with a comparatively meager active user base of 10,000, Ahrefs SEO still offers several valuable features.

   For example, with the Ahrefs SEO WordPress plugin, users can enjoy robust backlink indexing, Google Analytics integration, Google Search Console integration and content audits. For users who are already familiar with the Ahrefs platform, this WordPress plugin is an obvious and effective choice.

   Pros

   • Simple installation
   • Easy to configure
   • Little impact on site speed
   • Ahrefs account integration

   Cons

   • No WooCommerce support
   • Limited features
   • Google Analytics and Search Console accounts are required

5. Squirrly SEO

   The Squirrly SEO WordPress plugin's Unique Selling Point (USP) is the fact that it is AI-powered. Squirrly SEO presents users with data-driven goals provided by an AI SEO consultant while also offering a comprehensive optimization toolkit.

   This WordPress SEO plugin offers all the essential features, such as a keyword research tool and internal linking suggestions, as well as advanced functionality, such as readability analysis and SEO content grading. The AI support makes this plugin a suitable choice for both SEO experts and novices.

   Pros

   • Easy to understand
   • Feature-rich
   • The tool adapts to the user's SEO knowledge
   • Regularly updated

   Cons

   • Lack of human support
   • Expensive monthly subscription

6. SEOPress

   Despite being the new kid on the block, SEOPress is a widely used WordPress SEO plugin compatible with all page builders and WordPress themes. It has an extensive catalog of excellent features for comprehensive website optimization. Although this may lead to a steep learning curve for newcomers, it also drives results.

   However, that learning curve is somewhat remedied by the SEOPress’ automatic parameter configuration wizard. This wizard may take some time to understand in of itself, but once you have a grasp, it makes defining SEO parameters relatively easy with little knowledge of Search Engine Optimization.

   Pros

   • Completely white-label
   • Excel and Google Sheets integration
   • WooCommerce integration
   • Extensive FREE features

   Cons

   • Learning curve
   • Confusing configuration process

7. All In One SEO

   All In One SEO is one of the most long-standing WordPress SEO plugins available. Developed in 2007, the plugin has been refined over the years to make for an expertly honed and highly-functional plugin. Their WordPress plugin page even offers the plugin up as an alternative to hiring an expert SEO marketing agency. However, at The Dental SEO Experts, we recommend enjoying the benefits of both plugins and human specialists.

   This plugin acts as an SEO tool kit that enables you to set up essential SEO considerations that help your dental website rank highly on search results, as it’saimed at affording beginners and laymen SEO users the power of experts. Still, it features extensive functionality that can be utilized by specialists too.

   Pros

   • User-friendly UI
   • On-page SEO analysis
   • Content preview in search results and on social media
   • Solid metadata editing options

   Cons

   • No option to import Google Search data
   • No SEO scoring

8. MonsterInsights

   Unlike the other WordPress SEO plugins on this list, MonsterInsights is more concerned with data and analytics than giving users optimization functionality. As a result, MonsterInsights is best used in combination with another SEO plugin rich in functionality. However, it’s featured on this list for a reason–analytical insights are an essential part of understanding your website's SEO positioning.

   Comprehending website analytics is a challenge without the correct expertise, thus making it difficult to find use in data, but thisis precisely where MonsterInsights exceeds expectations. The plugin offers users tutorials on how to read and use website statistics to their benefit, making it an excellent tool for all levels of knowledge.

   Pros

   • Effortless Google Insights integration
   • Statistical insights and tutorials
   • Extensive reporting options
   • Track multiple analytics

   Cons

   • Some users report the automatic installation of additional plugins

SEO Dental Marketing from The Dental SEO Experts

The plugins featured in this list are all useful in their own right, effectively increasing your dental website Search Engine Optimization quality. None of these plugins, however, can compare to the comprehensive digital marketing strategies of The Dental SEO Experts.

Our team of dedicated SEO professionals is ready to increase your website's online presence and increase your lead flow. Schedule a free consultation with us today to learn more.