SEOPress vs Yoast SEO Comparison (2023) Which Is Better Option?

Trying to decide between SEOPress vs Yoast SEO? Which is a better option to improve search engine optimization on the WordPress site? Yoast SEO has been around almost as long as WordPress. It’s been one of the most popular SEO plugins.

Yoast is highly praised and popular, but it isn’t the only option. SEOPress and other SEO plugins are great alternatives. This article will compare SEOPress and Yoast SEO features so you can decide on which is a better option for your needs.

 

SEOPress vs Yoast SEO

In this Yoast SEO vs SEOPress comparison, I will compare the features of both plugins so you can see what each offers.

If neither of these two plugins is what you need, I suggest you check SEOPressor Connect review, Rank Math review, and Rank Math vs Yoast.

NOTE: The above comparison may be outdated as plugins often receive updates and changes. Be sure to check official sites for the most accurate info.

 

Yoast SEO

Yoast was launched in 2010. It has quickly risen in popularity and is one of the most used and trusted WordPress plugins. It has been installed on more than 5 million sites since it was first introduced.

It comes in free and pro version. The free version has all the basic features you will need but is still limited in available options. Yoast also offers a Premium version that provides additional functionality beyond the free edition.

Pro version comes with internal link recommendations, the ability to evaluate more than one keyword at a time, a redirect manager, and other functions. Alongside the Premium version, Yoast has addons that can be purchased additionally. Those addons are the Video SEO plugin, Local SEO, News SEO, and WooCommerce SEO.

 

Free version features:

• Assigning meta descriptions/SEO titles – Templates can be created that apply to content automatically. You can also manually adjust descriptions and titles.
• XML sitemap – Create customized XML sitemap.
• Keyword analysis – In the free version, you can enter one focus keyword. Entering the focus keyword shows you how your site content is optimized for that particular keyword.
• Sitewide schema – Add schema markup for the entire site.
• Content schema type – A sitewide default or individual custom schema type for content.
• Search console – Verify site with Search Console.
• Social media descriptions – You can manage how your content will be displayed on social sites like Twitter and Facebook.
• Basic WooCommerce SEO – Shop page and product descriptions and titles can be set.
• Cornerstone content – If you want particular pages to receive additional internal links and page views, they can be designated as “Cornerstone” content.
• Breadcrumbs – Integrate breadcrumbs with your website.
• Link counter – This feature will show how many internal links each piece of content has.

Premium features:

• Redirect manager- Create and manage 301 and 302 redirects.
• Internal link suggestions – Yoast SEO will recommend other content published on the site linked internally.
• Internal link blocks – You no longer need to add blocks with associated links manually. Yoast will perform that function for you automatically.
• Multiple focus keywords – Set more than one focus keyword.
• Related keywords – Get related keyphrases based on data from SEMrush.
• No ads – You will not see ads for Yoast SEO other products in the dashboard.
• Support – You get access to support.
• Elementor integration – Access to Yoast SEO tools in Elementor.

There are also paid add-ons for the Yoast SEO plugin:

• Local SEO – Adds structured data for local businesses/Knowledge Graph, enhances contact page, and supports multiple physical locations.
• Video SEO – Video search engine optimization features like having your videos listed in Google Videos and other enhancements.
• News SEO – You can create your own XML News sitemap, ping Google when one of your posts has been published, fully optimize the website for Google News and perform other related actions.
• WooCommerce SEO – You can have a more defined XML sitemap and use WooCommerce functions such as social media graph data, etc.

 

SEOPress

SEOPress plugin lets you determine how optimized your website will be for results on popular search engines. SEOPress comes as a free version and a pro version. You’ll need to have the free version installed and activated even if you are using SEOPress PRO.

 

 

There are some convenient features in the paid version, such as a backlink checker (for which you will need an active Majestic account), 404 error monitoring, Google Analytics support, and Google Page speed checks.

SEOPress Free features:

• Titles and metas – You can control the robots, meta descriptions, and titles for all of your pages and posts.
• HTML/XML sitemaps – Add HTML/XML sitemaps of your posts and pages to enhance search engine scans.
• Google Knowledge Graph – Social media profiles, company logo, and/or contact details can be gathered so that they will be shown in Google searches for your business.
• Open Graph – These tags allow for pushing a specific photo, title, or description to appear in search results.
• Google Analytics – Integrate your site with Google Analytics.
• Content analysis – A handy resource that can help you write search engine optimized content for your site pages and posts.
• Social networks – Control how your content will appear on social sites using Twitter Card, Open Graph, etc.

SEOPress Pro features:

• Google News XML sitemap – XML for sitemaps to boost SEO in Google News.
• Video XML sitemap – Increase search engine optimization in Google video search results with video XML sitemaps.
• Image XML sitemap – Images will be added to your sitemap automatically.
• WooCommerce SEO – The checkout and cart pages and client account indexing can be deactivated if you prefer. You can also get rid of the WooCommerce tag that your header creates automatically and add currency information and Open Graph Price for products.
• Robots & htaccess – WordPress backend can be used to edit htaccess files and robots.txt.
• 301/404 redirects – Create as many redirects as you need.
• 404 monitoring – You can be informed of every 404 error by email.
• Google PageSpeed – Monitor Google sore and see how your website is performing.
• Google Local Business – Display your store working hours, address, and other important information in Google search results.
• Google Structured Data – If you want your site to be shown more prominently in search engine results, Schema.org allows you to enhance visibility in searches.
• Backlinks – You’ll need a Majestic account to access this function. Once you have that, you can see the site’s backlinks right from the WordPress dashboard.
• Broken link checker – Check posts and pages for hyperlink issues.
• Breadcrumbs – You can enhance UX and SEO by adding breadcrumbs.
• Google suggestions – Get suggestions for keywords.
• Dublin core – Add Dublin meta tags that Bing and other directories and government entities use.
• Advanced settings – Verifying search engines, redirecting attachment pages, and removing stop words are just some of the advanced functions that experienced users can perform.

For more info, be sure to check SEOPress review and SEOPress vs Rank Math.

 

Setup Process

Yoast and SEOPress do a good job in introducing you to the important settings. They are incredibly intuitive and don’t take much time to configure, either.

 

SEOPRESS

You can set basic SEO settings for the website by starting the installation wizard. You can even import metadata and posts terms from other SEO plugins that you were using.

The installation wizard will guide you through steps like:

• Set the Google Knowledge Graph and create titles
• Specify which should be indexed with search engines.
• Set advanced options like redirect attachment pages to their file URL, remove a category from permalinks, show title tag column in post types, show meta description column in post types, etc.

 

 

You can also configure settings manually at any time. You can always deactivate any settings you don’t want to use, thanks to SEOPress’s modular approach.

 

YOAST SEO

Yoast has a handy configuration wizard that can assist you in getting set up in no time. The wizard can help you prepare the following settings for your website:

• Standard schema information for the entire site.
• Setting which parts of a website should be indexed.
• Set title templates for search engine optimization.

 

 

The Yoast SEO dashboard has some helpful recommendations and tips, and any possible site problems will be flagged.

 

 

You can turn off features that you’re not interested in because of Yoast’s modular approach. To deactivate certain features, you just need to use the appropriate toggle switches to disable those features.

 

WINNER: Overall, this category comes down to personal preference in terms of which one you prefer.

 

Content Analysis

Reviewing keyword optimization as content is being created is supported by both SEOPress and Yoast SEO. Add your targeted keywords, and the plugins will evaluate your content to see how optimized it is for those keywords. They will also inform you if any changes need to be made.

 

SEOPRESS

The SEOPress content analysis feature can be found on the bottom of the particular page or post you’re working on. It provides advice for content readability and optimizing content.

 

 

You can change your meta description, see a Google snippet preview of your post, add target keywords and perform other actions. It operates much like Yoast, but SEOPress’ design isn’t nearly as appealing to the eye.

 

YOAST SEO

You can set only one targeted keyword for content in the free version of Yoast, but you can add several focus keywords in Yoast’s paid version.

The analysis tips can be accessed from either the meta box that’s right below the content or using the block editor’s sidebar if using Gutenberg.

The analysis function operates much like the one in SEOPress. Yoast will assign a score for content after your keywords have been entered.

 

 

Yoast scores don’t give numeric ratings. Instead, there are only three color-coded options: red (bad), yellow (okay), and green (good). There’s another score that will be given for Yoast’s readability analysis. Results will be given in the same color-coded scheme as the keyword analysis.

 

WINNER: This one really depends on personal preference in which interface you like better. Yoast has a cleaner interface than SEOPress. But SEOPress lets you evaluate more than one keyword simultaneously, even in the free version. You can only add one keyword with Yoast’s free version, but you can add multiple keywords after purchasing the premium version.

 

Structured Data

Many websites use structured data to give search engines additional details about site content or the site itself. Over the last several years, structured data has become increasingly important.

Schema code can be implemented to activate more display selections in search results in many instances. For instance, a user’s review stars can be shown for a website right in Google search results.

 

SEOPRESS

If you want to add structured data with SEOPress, you’ll need to purchase the Pro version. This version has the following two types of schema:

• Manual – The structured data type metabox applies this kind of schema to posts, pages, and other publication types. The page that you’re altering at the moment will have the structured data applied to it accordingly.
• Automatic – To select this option, go to the SEO menu and then to the Schemas screen. Then you can click on the “Add Schema” button. This will add schemas by publication type. For example, all posts will have the same schemas applied to them. The Structured Data Types metaboxes for individual publications will show that schema after it is set.

 

 

You can choose the kind of local business type that you want from the list for the automatic local business schema. There’s no need to enter that information manually.

 

YOAST SEO

Unfortunately, Yoast dropped the ball in this aspect. It requires installing and activating a separate third-party schema plugin to accomplish this task (I recommend using Schema Pro).

Yoast will only create structured data from information such as your company name for search engines to read. Blog information, company details, and other info can be included in this data.

 

 

But you can add the FAQ boxes and How-To schema types with the Gutenberg editor. Yoast SEO doesn’t currently support events, reviews, rich cards, and many other schema possibilities.

 

WINNER: SEOPress is the clear winner in this aspect. Yoast only supports structured data for FAQ & How-To boxes and only for Gutenberg editor.

 

WooCommerce Integration

Many sites use WooCommerce. Because of that, it is good to have an SEO plugin that provides support for WooCommerce. This helps to enhance search results by optimizing category and product detail pages.

 

SEOPRESS

SEOPress fully understands WooCommerce’s importance. They have an entire section for this tool. You can choose to exclude from index customer pages, customer cart checkout, etc. Pricing meta and currency can also be added.

 

 

Some of its features are:

• You can enhance social sharing by adding currency and price meta tags.
• XML sitemap for products.
• XML sitemap support for WooCommerce product images and WooCommerce image galleries.
• Checkout, cart, and other similar pages can be set to noindex.
• Remove the WooCommerce generator meta tag in the source code.
• Create “automatic” and/or manual product schemas in JSON-LD.
• WooCommerce support for breadcrumbs.
• Global dynamic tags to insert in your metas titles/descriptions.
• Your WooCommerce metabox for product schema (barcode) can have the Product Global Identifiers field and type.

Be noted that WooCommerce integration is available only in the pro version.

 

YOAST SEO

You can do many of the same things in Yoast that you can with SEOPress WooCommerce integration. To access WooCommerce SEO optimization options, you will need to purchase the Yoast WooCommerce addon.

 

 

Features:

• Your reviews, products, and prices can have rich snippets.
• MPN/ISBN/GTIN information, color, brand, manufacturer, and other relevant product metadata can be configured.
• Pinterest and other social sites can use attributes such as item stock and price information to display robust, rich results.
• You can configure more than WooCommerce’s defaults for breadcrumb navigation.
• Most store sites have filter combinations when using store filters for product sizes, colors, price ranges, and other aspects. The Yoast WooCommerce SEO hides these from Google, so that duplicate content is not displayed.

 

WINNER: Both Yoast and SEOPress provided WooCommerce optimization options only in paid version, but considering that SEOPress is a far cheaper option, it is a winner in this section.

 

Image SEO

Optimizing images on your website allows search engines to understand its purposes.

 

SEOPRESS

Attachment pages can be automatically redirected to their file URL or post parent with SEOPress. Image description, caption, alt text, and title can also be set automatically.

 

YOAST SEO

Site images can be redirected to the respective root directory with Yoast SEO. Even though there isn’t an automatic selection, you can still adjust alt tags and titles for photos manually.

 

WINNER: SEOPress comes with image SEO optimization features like automatically adding image description, title, and alt text, while Yoast SEO doesn’t. 

 

Pricing

Both Rank Math and Yoast SEO are available for free at WordPress.org. And both have premium versions with more features available. Let’s check how their pricing differs.

 

SEOPRESS

SEOPress has a free version, and a Pro paid version. Their PRO plan costs $39 annually and can be used on unlimited sites. Renewal costs the same as your initial purchase price, even if the starting price should ever increase. There are plenty of useful features in the free version, but there is added functionality in the Pro version.

 

YOAST SEO

Yoast has two types of paid premium options. The core premium plugin allows you to use internal link suggestions, multiple keyword analyses, and other important functions. The Pro version is available for $89 per year for use on one website. You can also purchase licenses for more than one site and receive a discount.

Then, there are also four premium extensions for specific types of SEO:

1. Video SEO for WordPress – from $69 for a single site.
2. Local SEO for WordPress – from $69 for a single site.
3. News SEO for WordPress – from $69 for a single site.
4. Yoast WooCommerce SEO – from $69 for a single site.

 

WINNER: SEOPress is more affordable than Yoast SEO.

 

SEOPress vs Yoast SEO Conclusion

SEOPress is a comprehensive WordPress search engine optimization plugin. The basic version is free of charge. You can pay $39 annually and upgrade to the Pro edition. This version has additional features:

• Add breadcrumbs.
• Problems can be corrected quickly with broken link evaluation, link redirects, and 404 tracking.
• Monitor Page Speed.
• Specific content about your website will be displayed in an easy-to-understand thumbnail summary in search results in the Suggest and Local Business features that Google offers.
• URL Rewriting allows for easier keyword search compatibility.
• One payment for use on an unlimited number of sites.
• The price you pay when you become a new customer is a price that you’ll always pay. If the price is raised, all active account holders’ annual renewal rate will be the same as what they initially paid.

The free edition of Yoast SEO has some very impressive search engine optimization functions. Their paid Pro version adds some nice additional features. However, it doesn’t have nearly as many functions as SEOPress’ premium version.

Yoast SEO’s premium isn’t really worth the extra investment. All their pro features can be replaced in other ways. The free redirect plugin can take care of redirects, and there is no added benefit from the multiple focus keywords feature. There isn’t anything in the premium version that has a direct impact on improving search engine optimization.

If you’re thinking about the paid versions of these two plugins, I’d recommend using SEOPress Pro because it has more available options and it is cheaper.

On the other hand, Yoast SEO is a better choice if you want a free version without additional functions. I personally think that Yoast is simpler to use. SEOPress’ content analysis portion and user interface aren’t as easy to understand or navigate as with Yoast SEO.