andrewjbaker

<p>CloudScale SEO AI Optimizer is a completely free SEO plugin built for technical bloggers and site owners who want full control without the overhead of Yoast or RankMath. There is no Pro version, no upsells, no feature gates, and no licence keys.</p>
<p>It handles the essentials cleanly and adds a full AI toolkit that uses either the Anthropic Claude API or the Google Gemini API to generate meta descriptions, ALT text, summaries, SEO scores, focus keywords, internal links, and related articles — all from WP Admin, with no extra subscriptions required.</p>
<h4>Core SEO Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>Custom meta title and description per post and page</li>
<li>Canonical URL output on every page</li>
<li>OpenGraph tags (title, description, image, type, locale)</li>
<li>Twitter/X Card tags</li>
<li>JSON-LD structured data: Person schema for author pages, Article/BlogPosting schema for posts, WebSite schema for the homepage, Breadcrumb schema</li>
<li>Configurable site name, locale, Twitter handle, and default OG image</li>
<li>XML sitemap generation (sitemap.xml index + child sitemaps) with configurable post types and taxonomy support</li>
<li>Plain-text sitemap at /sitemap.txt (one URL per line) for AI crawlers and simple scrapers</li>
<li>Custom robots.txt editor with AI bot blocking (GPTBot, CCBot, Claude-Web, anthropic-ai and others)</li>
<li>llms.txt support for AI crawler guidance</li>
<li>noindex controls for search results, 404 pages, attachment pages, author archives, and tag archives</li>
<li>UTM parameter stripping in canonical URLs</li>
</ul>
<h4>AI Auto Pipeline</h4>
<ul>
<li>Automatically runs all AI operations in a separate background process the moment a post is published — no WP-Cron dependency</li>
<li>Steps run per publish: meta description, SEO score, focus keyword, ALT text for all post images, AI-suggested internal links, AI summary box, and Related Articles</li>
<li>Re-run on update toggle: re-triggers the full pipeline whenever a published post is saved</li>
<li>Gutenberg-safe internal link injection using block-level parsing; classic editor fallback via str_replace</li>
<li>Minimum 50-word content guard prevents meaningless output on stub or test posts</li>
<li>HMAC-authenticated async request (120-second TTL) keeps the pipeline secure</li>
<li>“Re-run AI Automation” button in the post metabox with live log output</li>
<li>Auto Pipeline settings live in a dedicated card at the top of the AI Tools tab</li>
</ul>
<h4>AI Meta Writer</h4>
<ul>
<li>Choose your AI provider: Anthropic Claude or Google Gemini</li>
<li>Model selector: Automatic (always resolves to the current recommended model), Claude 3.5/3.7 Sonnet, Claude Haiku, Gemini 2.0 Flash, Gemini 1.5 Pro, or a Custom model string</li>
<li>Generate meta descriptions for individual posts or in bulk across your entire site</li>
<li>Fix existing descriptions that are too short or too long</li>
<li>Fix titles that are outside the optimal 50 to 60 character range</li>
<li>Inline edit button on each post row — opens a textarea to manually enter or correct a description without leaving the panel</li>
<li>Configurable character range (min/max) injected into the prompt automatically</li>
<li>Automatic retry if the AI returns a description outside your target range</li>
<li>Rate limit handling with automatic backoff on HTTP 429 responses</li>
<li>Fully editable system prompt with reset to default</li>
<li>Sortable post table: sort by title, date, SEO score, description length, title length, or ALT status</li>
<li>Live progress log with timestamps during bulk runs</li>
<li>Stop button for interrupting bulk runs</li>
<li>Scheduled batch generation via WP Cron with per-day scheduling</li>
<li>Test Key button to verify your API key before running</li>
</ul>
<h4>AI SEO Scoring</h4>
<ul>
<li>AI rates each post from 0 to 100 with a one-sentence strengths or weaknesses note</li>
<li>Calculate SEO Scores button runs a bulk scoring pass across all posts</li>
<li>Generate Missing automatically scores any post that lacks a score after descriptions are written</li>
<li>Per post score badges shown in the AI Tools post table and dashboard widget</li>
<li>Scores stored in post meta (_cs_seo_score, _cs_seo_notes) and survive plugin deactivation</li>
</ul>
<h4>Title Optimiser</h4>
<ul>
<li>New 🎯 Title Optimiser tab — AI scans all published posts and suggests SEO-optimised replacement titles</li>
<li>Before/after SEO score (0–100) for every suggestion so you can see the improvement at a glance</li>
<li>Identifies primary and secondary keywords the article is actually about</li>
<li>One-click Apply per post: updates title and URL slug, automatically creates a 301 redirect from the old URL</li>
<li>“Apply All Suggested” bulk action with confirmation — applies and redirects all in one shot</li>
<li>Sort posts by date or by most-commented to prioritise which titles to fix first</li>
<li>Suggestions stored in post meta — safe to pause, review, and apply selectively</li>
</ul>
<h4>AI Summary Box</h4>
<ul>
<li>AI-generated article summary box automatically prepended to post content</li>
<li>Three fields generated per post: What it is, Why it matters, Key takeaway</li>
<li>Summaries now written SEO-first: primary keyword front-loaded, secondary keywords woven in, optimised for search intent rather than conversational reading</li>
<li>Bulk generation panel with progress tracking, stop button, and paginated post list</li>
<li>Force regenerate option to overwrite all existing summaries</li>
<li>Summary fields written to Article JSON-LD schema: description, abstract, and disambiguatingDescription</li>
<li>Collapsible display with modern card styling including gradient header and drop shadow</li>
<li>Toggle to show or hide the summary box globally without deleting generated content</li>
</ul>
<h4>ALT Text Generator</h4>
<ul>
<li>Audit all images across your posts for missing ALT text</li>
<li>Generate ALT text using AI with article context for better relevance</li>
<li>Configurable article excerpt length sent to the AI (100 to 2000 characters)</li>
<li>Bulk generation with progress tracking</li>
<li>Show All toggle to display images that already have ALT text</li>
</ul>
<h4>Related Articles</h4>
<ul>
<li>Automatically injects contextually related post links at the top and bottom of every post</li>
<li>AI-scored candidate pool built across the full post library; top and bottom counts configurable (2 to 5 top, 3 to 10 bottom)</li>
<li>Separate top and bottom toggles — enable or disable each block independently</li>
<li>Generate Missing button runs the scoring pipeline for unprocessed posts</li>
<li>Refresh Stale button re-runs previously completed posts when content has changed</li>
<li>Sync Counts button trims or fills all posts to match updated count settings without full regeneration</li>
<li>Post Status table shows per-post pipeline state (pending, complete, failed) with filter tabs</li>
<li>All injection is block-safe and works with both Gutenberg and classic editor posts</li>
<li>Related Articles links are also generated automatically via the Auto Pipeline on publish</li>
</ul>
<h4>Performance Features</h4>
<ul>
<li>Font display optimization with font-display: swap to eliminate Flash of Invisible Text (FOIT)</li>
<li>Font metric overrides (size-adjust, ascent-override, descent-override) to reduce Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)</li>
<li>Defer font CSS loading using media=”print” swap technique</li>
<li>Auto-download CDN fonts (Google Fonts) to local server for faster loading and GDPR compliance</li>
<li>Font CSS file scanner with terminal-style console output</li>
<li>Auto-Fix All with backup and undo capability</li>
<li>Defer render-blocking JavaScript with configurable exclusions</li>
<li>HTML, CSS, and JS minification (5 to 15 percent page size reduction)</li>
<li>HTTPS mixed content scanner and one-click fixer across posts, pages, metadata, options, and comments</li>
</ul>
<h4>SEO Health Dashboard</h4>
<ul>
<li>Dashboard widget shows five health pillars: Posts (meta coverage), SEO (score coverage), Images (ALT coverage), Links (related articles coverage), Summaries (AI summary coverage)</li>
<li>Colour-coded pills: green >= 90%, amber >= 60%, red < 60%</li>
<li>Refresh link rebuilds the health cache on demand; cache auto-rebuilds after any bulk AI run completes</li>
<li>“Posts need AI auto run” and “pipeline jobs queued” counters keep you informed of pending work</li>
</ul>
<h4>Dashboard Integration</h4>
<ul>
<li>WordPress dashboard widget with SEO health overview and per-pillar coverage pills</li>
<li>Post editor metabox with custom title, description, OG image, and inline AI generation</li>
<li>Gutenberg sidebar panel (CloudScale Meta Boxes) with custom title, description, OG image, AI summary fields, and one-click generation without leaving the editor</li>
<li>Per-post status badges showing description length, title length, SEO score, and ALT status</li>
<li>Tab state persists across page reloads — the settings page returns to your last active tab</li>
</ul>
<h4>Category Fixer</h4>
<ul>
<li>Scans all published posts and suggests improved category assignments using AI</li>
<li>Uses Claude to analyse post title, slug, tags, and AI summary box against your full category list</li>
<li>Proposes up to four categories per post — only from categories that already exist in WordPress</li>
<li>Never assigns Uncategorized</li>
<li>Colour-coded review table: green for additions, red for removals, grey for kept categories</li>
<li>Per post Apply and Skip buttons, plus bulk Apply All Changed</li>
<li>Filter bar: All, Changed, Unchanged, Low Confidence, Missing</li>
<li>Reload button re-analyses all posts with fresh AI calls</li>
<li>Per row re-analyse button for individual posts</li>
<li>AI analysis badge shows confidence score</li>
<li>No categories are changed until you explicitly click Apply</li>
</ul>
<h4>Category Health and Drift Detection</h4>
<ul>
<li>Category Health tab shows post counts per category with a pass/fail coverage indicator</li>
<li>Category Drift Detection uses AI to identify categories that have drifted from their original focus or become catch-all buckets</li>
<li>Drift analysis returns a verdict (drifting or catch-all) with a confidence score and AI reasoning for each flagged category</li>
<li>Results sorted by verdict type then confidence so the most actionable items appear first</li>
<li>Elapsed time counter and Stop button during long analysis runs</li>
</ul>
<h4>Readability Analyser</h4>
<ul>
<li>Pure-PHP readability scoring — no AI call required</li>
<li>Scores 0–100 with Easy / Moderate / Hard label based on sentence length, heading density, and passive-voice rate</li>
<li>Colour-coded badge in the post metabox with sub-metrics (average words per sentence, words per heading, passive voice percentage)</li>
<li>Sortable Readability column in the Meta Writer post list</li>
<li>Scores automatically recalculate on post save and after every Auto Pipeline run</li>
</ul>
<h4>Broken Link Checker</h4>
<ul>
<li>Scans all published posts and pages for outbound links with HTTP errors (4xx, 5xx) or connection failures</li>
<li>Server-side HEAD request per URL for accurate status — no browser-side fetch limitations</li>
<li>Deduplicates URLs across posts so each external URL is checked only once</li>
<li>Results table shows post title, anchor text, URL, and HTTP status with colour-coded labels</li>
<li>SSRF-safe: link-local, loopback, and private IP ranges are blocked server-side</li>
</ul>
<h4>Image SEO Audit</h4>
<ul>
<li>Scans the entire Media Library and flags images with SEO issues</li>
<li>Detects missing ALT text, camera-default filenames (IMG_001, DSC_0045, screenshot2, etc.), and oversized files (> 500 KB)</li>
<li>Results sorted by issue count with thumbnail previews and direct edit links</li>
<li>Summary counters for each issue type</li>
</ul>
<h4>What This Plugin Does Not Do</h4>
<ul>
<li>No third-party SEO data, keyword research databases, or rank tracking</li>
<li>No paid tiers, no upsells, no tracking</li>
</ul>
<h3>External Services</h3>
<p>This plugin connects to external AI APIs to generate meta descriptions and ALT text. Connections are made when you use the AI Meta Writer or ALT Text Generator buttons in WP Admin, and optionally on a scheduled basis via WP Cron.</p>
<h4>Anthropic Claude API</h4>
<p><strong>Service:</strong> Anthropic PBC<br />
<strong>Website:</strong> https://anthropic.com<br />
<strong>Endpoint:</strong> https://api.anthropic.com/v1/messages<br />
<strong>Data sent:</strong> Post title and post content (up to 6,000 characters), plus your configured system prompt<br />
<strong>When data is sent:</strong> Only when you click Generate, Fix, or the Generate with Claude button in the post editor, when the scheduled batch runs for posts without a meta description, or automatically on post publish/update when Auto Pipeline is enabled in AI Tools settings.<br />
<strong>API key:</strong> You must supply your own Anthropic API key. The key is stored in your WordPress database and is never transmitted anywhere except directly to api.anthropic.com.</p>
<p>Anthropic Privacy Policy: https://www.anthropic.com/privacy<br />
Anthropic Terms of Service: https://www.anthropic.com/terms<br />
Anthropic API documentation: https://docs.anthropic.com</p>
<h4>Google Gemini API</h4>
<p><strong>Service:</strong> Google LLC<br />
<strong>Website:</strong> https://ai.google.dev<br />
<strong>Endpoint:</strong> https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/models/<br />
<strong>Data sent:</strong> Post title and post content (up to 6,000 characters), plus your configured system prompt<br />
<strong>When data is sent:</strong> Only when you click Generate, Fix, or the scheduled batch runs, when Gemini is selected as your AI provider, or automatically on post publish/update when Auto Pipeline is enabled in AI Tools settings.<br />
<strong>API key:</strong> You must supply your own Google AI API key. The key is stored in your WordPress database and is never transmitted anywhere except directly to Google.</p>
<p>Google Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy<br />
Google Terms of Service: https://policies.google.com/terms<br />
Gemini API documentation: https://ai.google.dev/docs</p>
<h4>Google Fonts CDN</h4>
<p><strong>Service:</strong> Google LLC<br />
<strong>Websites:</strong> https://fonts.googleapis.com, https://fonts.gstatic.com<br />
<strong>When contacted:</strong> Only when you use the Font Display Optimizer’s “Download Fonts” feature in WP Admin (Performance tab). This feature downloads Google Fonts files to your server so they can be served locally.<br />
<strong>Data sent:</strong> The URL of the Google Font stylesheet registered on your site. No personal data or post content is transmitted.<br />
<strong>Purpose:</strong> To copy font files from Google’s CDN to your own server, eliminating the external Google Fonts request from your frontend pages (improves GDPR compliance and Core Web Vitals).</p>
<p>Google Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy<br />
Google Terms of Service: https://policies.google.com/terms</p>
<h4>Broken Link Checker (server-side URL probing)</h4>
<p><strong>What it does:</strong> When you use the Broken Link Checker in WP Admin, the plugin extracts all outbound hyperlinks from your published posts and pages, then sends an HTTP HEAD request from your server to each unique URL to check its status.<br />
<strong>Data sent:</strong> Only the URL itself is fetched — no post content, no user data. Standard HTTP headers (User-Agent identifying your site) are sent with each request.<br />
<strong>When it fires:</strong> Only when you open the Broken Link Checker tab and start a scan. No automatic or scheduled scanning.<br />
<strong>Note:</strong> <code>sslverify</code> is disabled for these requests so that sites with expired or self-signed certificates can be checked. Requests to loopback, link-local, and private IP ranges are blocked.</p>
<p>There is no separate terms of service for outbound HTTP HEAD requests — your server is simply fetching publicly reachable URLs listed in your own content.</p>


CloudScale SEO AI Optimizer

AI-powered SEO & AEO: meta descriptions, auto linking, category management, ALT text. Bring your own Claude or Gemini API key. Free, open source.

Martin Lormes

<p>Automagically adds Open Graph tags to your blog. Control how your posts and pages are presented on Facebook and other social media sites. No configuration needed.</p>
<p>When someone likes or shares your blog on Facebook, your header image is shown. If someone likes or shares a post, the featured image (post thumbnail) is shown. If you haven’t selected a featured image, then the plugin looks for the first image inside the post. If there aren’t any images in your post, then your blog’s header image is shown.</p>
<p>For more information on the Open Graph protocol go to http://ogp.me/</p>


Open Graph Pro

Adds Open Graph tags to your blog. Control how your posts and pages are presented on Facebook and other social media sites. No configuration needed.

CloudScale SEO AI Optimizer vs Open Graph Pro