ranklite

RankLite focuses on the essentials of on-page SEO. It’s intentionally small, fast, and easy to configure. You get all the core tools—without the kitchen sink:
<ul>
<li>Titles & Meta Descriptions per post/page with live counters</li>
<li>Global defaults with smart fallbacks</li>
<li>Open Graph & Twitter Cards (title, description, image)</li>
<li>Canonical and robots meta (index/noindex, follow/nofollow)</li>
<li>XML Sitemaps (<code>/sitemap.xml</code>) with pretty permalink support and pings to Google & Bing</li>
<li>JSON-LD Schema for Website, Article, Breadcrumbs + FAQ/How-to blocks (basic)</li>
<li>Breadcrumbs output helper</li>
<li>Manual 301 Redirects</li>
<li>Analytics helpers (Google Analytics/GTAG & Google Tag Manager passthrough)</li>
<li>Optional data wipe on uninstall</li>
<li>Multisite-aware and performance-minded</li>
</ul>
No telemetry. No ad pixels. No phone-home calls—everything stays on your site.
<h3>Why RankLite?</h3>
<ul>
<li>Performance first. Lightweight code, minimal queries, no admin nag spam.</li>
<li>No lock-in. Uses standard WordPress fields/meta so you can switch any time.</li>
<li>Clean UI. Sensible defaults and clear controls that won’t overwhelm you.</li>
</ul>
<h3>What’s included in the Free version?</h3>
<ul>
<li>Titles/meta with counters and fallbacks</li>
<li>Canonical, robots</li>
<li>Open Graph & Twitter Cards</li>
<li>Website/Article/Breadcrumbs + FAQ/How-to schema (basic, JSON-LD)</li>
<li>XML sitemaps with Google/Bing pings</li>
<li>Breadcrumbs helper</li>
<li>Manual redirects (301)</li>
<li>Analytics & GTM helpers</li>
<li>Tools page with wipe on uninstall option</li>
</ul>
<h3>Pro add-on</h3>
A separate Pro add-on (not required) can extend RankLite with AI-assisted titles/descriptions/alt-text/articles, advanced schema & sitemaps, a 404 monitor, and auto-redirects. The free plugin is fully functional on its own and does not require Pro.
<h3>Features</h3>
<ul>
<li>Meta box on posts/pages for custom SEO Title & Description</li>
<li>Smart fallback to site title/tagline or post excerpt</li>
<li>Open Graph/Twitter image fallback</li>
<li>Robots (index/noindex, follow/nofollow) per post and global</li>
<li>Sitemaps: index + post types; pretty <code>/sitemap.xml</code> with:
<ul>
<li>Fallback query route for non-pretty permalinks</li>
<li>Automatic pings to Google and Bing when content changes (with safe throttling)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Schema: Website, Article, Breadcrumbs + FAQ/How-to via blocks (basic) with safe defaults</li>
<li>Breadcrumbs: simple template function/filter to output a trail</li>
<li>Redirects: add simple 301 manual redirects from an admin screen</li>
<li>Analytics: GA4/gtag and GTM helpers (paste ID and go)</li>
<li>Developer-friendly (filters/actions documented below)</li>
<li>Privacy-friendly: no data leaves your site</li>
</ul>
<h3>Privacy</h3>
This plugin does not:
<ul>
<li>Collect personal data</li>
<li>Send usage data to third parties</li>
<li>Set cookies on the front end by itself</li>
</ul>
If you enable Analytics or GTM helpers, you are integrating external services—ensure you have the proper disclosures/consent (e.g., via your cookie banner).
<h3>Performance</h3>
<ul>
<li>Minimal queries and safe caching behavior</li>
<li>No assets loaded on the front end unless necessary</li>
<li>Short timeouts and safe throttling for sitemap pings to Google/Bing</li>
</ul>
<h3>External services</h3>
This plugin can optionally connect to the following external services:
<ol>
<li>Google Search and Bing (sitemap ping)</li>
</ol>
– What it does: When sitemap pinging is enabled, RankLite can notify search engines that your sitemap has been updated. 
– What is sent: The public URL of your sitemap is sent as a query parameter to: 
 – https://www.google.com/ping?sitemap= 
 – https://www.bing.com/ping?sitemap= 
– When: Only when sitemap pinging is enabled in the plugin settings and a sitemap is generated/updated. 
– Terms / Privacy: 
 – Google: https://policies.google.com/privacy / https://policies.google.com/terms 
 – Microsoft (Bing): https://privacy.microsoft.com / https://www.microsoft.com/servicesagreement
<ol>
<li>Google Analytics / Google Tag Manager (optional)</li>
</ol>
– What it does: If you choose to enable Analytics or Tag Manager in RankLite, the plugin outputs the official tracking/snippet code provided by Google. 
– What is sent: Standard analytics/usage data as defined by Google, associated with your own property IDs (e.g. GA4, GTM). No additional data is sent by RankLite beyond what Google’s scripts normally collect. 
– When: Only when you explicitly enable these features and enter your own tracking IDs. 
– Terms / Privacy: 
 – Google Analytics / Tag Manager: https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/us/ 
 – Google Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
<h3>Developers</h3>
<h3>Filter the final title string</h3>
<pre><code>`php
</code></pre>
/** 
 * Filter the final value RankLite outputs. 
 * 
 * @param string $title Final title string. 
 * @param array $parts Parsed parts (h1, site_name, brand, etc). 
 * @param WP_Post|null $post Current post object (or null). 
 * @param string $type Detected type: ‘news’ | ‘product’ | ‘default’. 
 */ 
add_filter( ‘ranklite_meta_title_final’, function( $title, $parts, $post, $type ) { 
 return $title; 
}, 10, 4 ); 
 `
<h3>Add extra sitemap index entries (e.g. news/video)</h3>
<pre><code>`php
</code></pre>
add_filter( ‘ranklite/sitemaps/index_items’, function( $extra, $opts ) { 
 $extra[] = array( 
 ‘loc’ => home_url( ‘/news-sitemap.xml’ ), 
 ‘lastmod’ => gmdate( ‘c’ ), 
 ); 
 return $extra; 
}, 10, 2 ); 
 `
<h3>Tweak the breadcrumb trail before output</h3>
<pre><code>`php
</code></pre>
add_filter( ‘ranklite_breadcrumb_trail’, function( $trail ) { 
 // $trail is an array of arrays like [ ‘name’ => ‘Blog’, ‘url’ => ‘https://example.com/blog/’ ]. 
 return $trail; 
} ); 
 `
<h3>Programmatic redirect registration</h3>
<pre><code>`php
</code></pre>
do_action( ‘ranklite/register_redirect’, ‘/old-path’, ‘/new-path’, 301 ); 
 `
See inline docs for more hooks and parameters.

RankLite – Fast, Clean SEO

Fast, clean SEO: titles & meta, Open Graph/Twitter Cards, JSON-LD schema, and XML sitemaps with Google/Bing pings. No bloat, no tracking.

Serphot

SEO Forge is an all-in-one solution for SEO optimization of WordPress websites, providing all the essential tools to improve search engine rankings.
<h3>Key Features:</h3>
📊 SEO Analytics & Views Counter 
* Detailed page view statistics by different time ranges 
* Interactive charts by days, weeks, months, and years 
* Track popular content 
* Author-based view statistics 
* Import/export view data
🗺️ XML Sitemaps 
* Automatic XML sitemap generation for all content types 
* Support for posts, pages, categories, tags, and authors 
* Image sitemap for improved media indexing 
* News sitemap for Google News 
* Automatic splitting of large sitemaps 
* HTML sitemap for users
🎯 SEO Meta Tags 
* Custom SEO Titles and Descriptions for all pages 
* Template support with dynamic tags 
* Progress bar to control meta length 
* Automatic canonical link generation 
* Hreflang support for multilingual sites
📱 Open Graph & Social Media 
* Configurable Open Graph tags 
* Facebook, Twitter, and other social media support 
* Automatic featured image for sharing
🏗️ Schema.org Markup 
* Automatic markup for articles, organizations, and products 
* Built-in FAQ block support 
* Author profile markup 
* Breadcrumbs 
* Structured data for different content types
🔧 Advanced SEO Tools 
* Robots.txt file management 
* Remove category base from category URLs 
* Automatic URL transliteration 
* Built-in spell checker 
* Export SEO data to Yoast SEO
🧩 Gutenberg Blocks 
* FAQ block with automatic structured data 
* Pros & Cons block 
* Full Gutenberg compatibility
🌐 Multilingual 
* Full Polylang support 
* Automatic hreflang tags 
* Localized SEO templates 
* Language-specific sitemaps
<h3>Detailed Usage Guide</h3>
<h3>🎯 Setting Up SEO Meta Tags</h3>
Step 1: Go to SEO Forge → SEO Templates
Here you can configure templates for all page types: 
– Posts 
– Pages 
– Categories 
– Tags 
– Author Archives 
– Date Archives 
– Search Results 
– 404 Pages
Step 2: Use Available Template Tags
In Title and Description fields you can use: 
– <code>{site_name}</code> – website name 
– <code>{current_title}</code> – current title (works for all page types) 
– <code>{category}</code> – category name 
– <code>{separator}</code> – separator (|) 
– <code>{year}</code> – current year
Example template for posts: 
 <code>Title: {current_title} {separator} {site_name} 
Description: Read the article "{current_title}" on {site_name}. Updated information for {year}.</code>
Step 3: Individual Settings
For each post/page you can set: 
– Meta Title (with progress bar for 50–65 characters) 
– Meta Description (with progress bar for 160–180 characters) 
– Custom URL Slug
<h3>📊 Using the Views Counter</h3>
Viewing statistics: 
1. Go to SEO Forge → View Statistics 
2. Select a time period: today, week, month, year, or all time 
3. Filter by page type, category, or author 
4. Explore interactive charts
Shortcodes: 
– <code>[ONEX-TOTAL-VIEWS]</code> – total views of the current post 
– <code>[ONEX-TODAY-VIEWS]</code> – today’s views 
– <code>[ONEX-WEEK-VIEWS]</code> – weekly views 
– <code>[ONEX-MONTH-VIEWS]</code> – monthly views 
– <code>[ONEX-AUTHOR-TOTAL-VIEWS]</code> – total views of the author 
– <code>[ONEX-AUTHOR-WEEK-VIEWS author_id="1"]</code> – author’s weekly views
PHP template usage: 
 `php 
$views_counter = \OnexSEO\Post_Views_Counter::get_instance();
echo $views_counter->get_post_views(get_the_ID()); 
echo $views_counter->get_post_views_today(get_the_ID()); 
echo $views_counter->get_post_views_this_week(get_the_ID()); 
echo $views_counter->get_post_views_this_month(get_the_ID()); 
echo $views_counter->get_post_views_range(get_the_ID(), ‘2023-01-01’, ‘2023-01-31’);
echo $views_counter->get_author_total_views(get_the_author_meta(‘ID’));
$top_posts = $views_counter->get_top_posts_by_period(‘week’, 5); 
$top_posts = $views_counter->get_top_posts_by_period(‘week’, 5, 15); // Category ID 15 
$top_posts = $views_counter->get_top_posts_by_period(‘total’, 10, null, 1); // Author ID 1 
 `
<h3>📱 Open Graph Settings</h3>
Step 1: Go to SEO Forge → Open Graph
Step 2: Configure defaults: 
– Site name for social media 
– Default description 
– Default sharing image 
– Content type (website, article, etc.)
Step 3: Per-page/post: 
– Featured Image is used automatically 
– If none, the default image is applied 
– Title and Description are pulled from SEO settings
<h3>🗺️ XML Sitemaps</h3>
Automatic generation: 
– Main sitemap: <code>yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml</code> 
– Image sitemap: <code>yourdomain.com/sitemap-images.xml</code> 
– News sitemap: <code>yourdomain.com/sitemap-news.xml</code>
Content type settings: 
1. Go to SEO Forge → Dashboard 
2. Choose which content types to include 
3. Save settings
HTML sitemap: 
1. Go to SEO Forge → Dashboard 
2. Click “Create HTML Sitemap” 
3. A new page with interactive sitemap will be generated
<h3>🏗️ Schema.org Markup</h3>
Automatically added for: 
– Articles (Article) 
– Organizations (Organization) 
– Author profiles (Person) 
– Breadcrumbs (BreadcrumbList) 
– FAQ blocks
Additional fields: 
1. Edit post/page → SEO settings section 
2. Fill in extra Schema.org fields 
3. Data will be automatically included
<h3>🧩 Gutenberg Blocks</h3>
FAQ Block: 
1. In Gutenberg editor click “+” 
2. Find “SEO FAQ” block 
3. Add questions and answers 
4. FAQPage schema is generated automatically
Pros & Cons Block: 
1. Find “Pros & Cons” block 
2. Add pros in green area 
3. Add cons in red area 
4. Customize styles if needed
<h3>🔧 Advanced Tools</h3>
Robots.txt management: 
1. Go to SEO Forge → Dashboard 
2. Edit robots.txt content 
3. Save changes
Remove category base: 
– Automatically active after installation 
– Changes <code>/category/name/</code> to <code>/name/</code>
URL transliteration: 
– Cyrillic slugs are automatically converted to Latin 
– Works for new posts/pages
Spell checker: 
– Integrated spell check in editor 
– Highlights mistakes and suggests fixes
<h3>📊 Import/Export Data</h3>
Export to Yoast SEO: 
1. Go to SEO Forge → Export to Yoast SEO 
2. Click “Start Export” 
3. All SEO data will be transferred
Import from other plugins: 
1. Go to SEO Forge → Import SEO 
2. Select source (Yoast, RankMath, etc.) 
3. Click “Import Data”
<h3>👤 Author Page SEO</h3>
Setup: 
1. Go to Users → Your Profile 
2. Scroll to “SEO settings for author page” 
3. Enable/disable indexing (noindex switch) 
4. Set SEO Title & Description for each language
Available tags for authors: 
– <code>{site_name}</code> – site name 
– <code>{current_title}</code> – author name 
– <code>{category}</code> – main category 
– <code>{separator}</code> – separator 
– <code>{year}</code> – current year
<h3>🌐 Multilingual (Polylang)</h3>
Automatic features: 
– Hreflang tag generation 
– Language-specific sitemaps 
– Localized templates
Per-language settings: 
1. Templates adapt to active languages 
2. SEO metaboxes per language 
3. Open Graph generated per language
<h3>📈 Dashboard & Analytics</h3>
Dashboard includes: 
– Quick actions 
– View statistics 
– Sitemap status 
– Configuration check
Views column in admin: 
– Automatically added to posts/pages list 
– Shows number of views 
– Sortable by views
<h3>Troubleshooting</h3>
Issue: Views not showing 
– Ensure counter is enabled 
– Check DB tables exist 
– Clear cache
Issue: Sitemaps not generating 
– Check permalink settings 
– Ensure content types are selected 
– Regenerate permalinks
Issue: SEO fields not saving 
– Check user permissions 
– Verify nonce check 
– Clear browser cache
Issue: Schema not visible 
– Test with Google Structured Data Testing Tool 
– Fill required fields 
– Check conflicts with other plugins
<h3>Requirements</h3>
<ul>
<li>WordPress 5.0+</li>
<li>PHP 7.4+</li>
<li>MySQL 5.6+</li>
<li>Recommended: PHP 8.0+, MySQL 8.0+</li>
</ul>
<h3>Compatibility</h3>
Compatible plugins: 
* Polylang 
* WooCommerce (basic support) 
* Contact Form 7 
* Gutenberg blocks
Tested with themes: 
* Twenty Twenty-Three 
* Twenty Twenty-Two 
* Astra 
* GeneratePress 
* OceanWP
<h3>Updates</h3>
When updating, all settings/data are preserved. Recommended: 
1. Backup your site before major updates 
2. Test after updating 
3. Clear site cache 
4. Regenerate permalinks (Settings → Permalinks → Save)
<h3>Support</h3>
Official support: 
* Documentation included 
* GitHub repository 
* Developer site: https://serphot.com/
Bug reports: 
Provide: 
1. WordPress & plugin version 
2. List of active plugins 
3. Problem description 
4. Steps to reproduce
Feature requests: 
We welcome your suggestions.
<h3>License</h3>
This plugin is licensed under GPL v2 or later.
<h3>Credits</h3>
Thanks to all users for feedback. Special thanks to: 
* WordPress community 
* Polylang developers 
* Testers & contributors
<h3>Additional Information</h3>
Performance: 
* Optimized SQL queries 
* Efficient caching 
* Minimal page load impact 
* Asynchronous stats loading
Security: 
* Sanitized & escaped data 
* Nonce checks 
* User capability checks 
* SQL injection protection
Accessibility: 
* Semantic HTML 
* Keyboard navigation 
* High-contrast UI 
* Screen reader friendly
For more info visit the official plugin website.

SEO Forge

A powerful SEO plugin with support for all content types, automatic XML sitemap generation, Schema.org markup, and comprehensive analytics.

RankLite – Fast, Clean SEO vs SEO Forge