CloudScale SEO AI Optimizer for WordPress Plugin Directory

Stop paying $99/year for Yoast Premium. CloudScale SEO AI Optimizer replaces Yoast Premium and RankMath Pro with a powerful SEO plugin available in two plans:

Bring Your Own API Key – free, forever. Paste your own Anthropic Claude or Google Gemini API key and pay the AI provider directly at roughly $0.50–$1.50 per 200 posts. Claude Haiku costs less than $0.10 per 100 posts; Google Gemini has a free tier sufficient for most personal blogs. The plugin itself charges nothing. Get a key in 2 minutes at console.anthropic.com or aistudio.google.com.

Managed Subscription – $10 per month. No API key required. Your AI usage is included. Cancel anytime.

Setup takes 2 minutes (BYOK): Install → paste your free API key → click Generate Missing. Done.

It handles all the technical SEO WordPress leaves out – sitemaps, robots.txt, structured data, OpenGraph, canonical URLs – and adds a full AI toolkit that generates meta descriptions, ALT text, article summaries, FAQ schema, and related article links in bulk. A built-in Site Audit scores your entire SEO setup across 20+ checks and surfaces one-click quick fixes so you can resolve issues without leaving the audit panel.

Core SEO Features

Custom meta title and description per post and page

Canonical URL output on every page

OpenGraph tags (title, description, image, type, locale)

Twitter/X Card tags

JSON-LD structured data: Person schema for author pages, Article/BlogPosting schema for posts, WebSite schema for the homepage, Breadcrumb schema

Configurable site name, locale, Twitter handle, and default OG image

XML sitemap generation (sitemap.xml index + child sitemaps) with configurable post types and taxonomy support

Plain-text sitemap at /sitemap.txt (one URL per line) for AI crawlers and simple scrapers

Custom robots.txt editor with AI bot blocking (GPTBot, CCBot, Claude-Web, anthropic-ai and others)

llms.txt support for AI crawler guidance

noindex controls for search results, 404 pages, attachment pages, author archives, and tag archives

UTM parameter stripping in canonical URLs

AI Auto Pipeline

Automatically runs all AI operations in a separate background process the moment a post is published – no WP-Cron dependency

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

Re-run on update toggle: re-triggers the full pipeline whenever a published post is saved

Gutenberg-safe internal link injection using block-level parsing; classic editor fallback via str_replace

Minimum 50-word content guard prevents meaningless output on stub or test posts

HMAC-authenticated async request (120-second TTL) keeps the pipeline secure

“Re-run AI Automation” button in the post metabox with live log output

Auto Pipeline settings live in a dedicated card at the top of the AI Tools tab

AI Meta Writer

Choose your AI provider: Anthropic Claude or Google Gemini

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

Generate meta descriptions for individual posts or in bulk across your entire site

Fix existing descriptions that are too short or too long

Fix titles that are outside the optimal 50 to 60 character range

Inline edit button on each post row – opens a textarea to manually enter or correct a description without leaving the panel

Configurable character range (min/max) injected into the prompt automatically

Automatic retry if the AI returns a description outside your target range

Rate limit handling with automatic backoff on HTTP 429 responses

Fully editable system prompt with reset to default

Sortable post table: sort by title, date, SEO score, description length, title length, or ALT status

Live progress log with timestamps during bulk runs

Stop button for interrupting bulk runs

Scheduled batch generation via WP Cron with per-day scheduling

Test Key button to verify your API key before running

AI SEO Scoring

AI rates each post from 0 to 100 with a one-sentence strengths or weaknesses note

Calculate SEO Scores button runs a bulk scoring pass across all posts

Generate Missing automatically scores any post that lacks a score after descriptions are written

Per post score badges shown in the AI Tools post table and dashboard widget

Scores stored in post meta (_cs_seo_score, _cs_seo_notes) and survive plugin deactivation

Title Optimiser

New 🎯 Title Optimiser tab – AI scans all published posts and suggests SEO-optimised replacement titles

Before/after SEO score (0–100) for every suggestion so you can see the improvement at a glance

Identifies primary and secondary keywords the article is actually about

One-click Apply per post: updates title and URL slug, automatically creates a 301 redirect from the old URL

“Apply All Suggested” bulk action with confirmation – applies and redirects all in one shot

Sort posts by date or by most-commented to prioritise which titles to fix first

Suggestions stored in post meta – safe to pause, review, and apply selectively

AI Summary Box

AI-generated article summary box automatically prepended to post content

Three fields generated per post: What it is, Why it matters, Key takeaway

Summaries now written SEO-first: primary keyword front-loaded, secondary keywords woven in, optimised for search intent rather than conversational reading

Bulk generation panel with progress tracking, stop button, and paginated post list

Force regenerate option to overwrite all existing summaries

Summary fields written to Article JSON-LD schema: description, abstract, and disambiguatingDescription

Collapsible display with modern card styling including gradient header and drop shadow

Toggle to show or hide the summary box globally without deleting generated content

ALT Text Generator

Audit all images across your posts for missing ALT text

Generate ALT text using AI with article context for better relevance

Configurable article excerpt length sent to the AI (100 to 2000 characters)

Bulk generation with progress tracking

Show All toggle to display images that already have ALT text

Related Articles

Automatically injects contextually related post links at the top and bottom of every post

AI-scored candidate pool built across the full post library; top and bottom counts configurable (2 to 5 top, 3 to 10 bottom)

Separate top and bottom toggles – enable or disable each block independently

Generate Missing button runs the scoring pipeline for unprocessed posts

Refresh Stale button re-runs previously completed posts when content has changed

Sync Counts button trims or fills all posts to match updated count settings without full regeneration

Post Status table shows per-post pipeline state (pending, complete, failed) with filter tabs

All injection is block-safe and works with both Gutenberg and classic editor posts

Related Articles links are also generated automatically via the Auto Pipeline on publish

Performance Features

Font display optimization with font-display: swap to eliminate Flash of Invisible Text (FOIT)

Font metric overrides (size-adjust, ascent-override, descent-override) to reduce Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)

Defer font CSS loading using media=”print” swap technique

Auto-download CDN fonts (Google Fonts) to local server for faster loading and GDPR compliance

Font CSS file scanner with terminal-style console output

Auto-Fix All with backup and undo capability

Defer render-blocking JavaScript with configurable exclusions

HTML, CSS, and JS minification (5 to 15 percent page size reduction)

HTTPS mixed content scanner and one-click fixer across posts, pages, metadata, options, and comments

SEO Health Dashboard

Dashboard widget shows five health pillars: Posts (meta coverage), SEO (score coverage), Images (ALT coverage), Links (related articles coverage), Summaries (AI summary coverage)

Colour-coded pills: green >= 90%, amber >= 60%, red < 60%

Refresh link rebuilds the health cache on demand; cache auto-rebuilds after any bulk AI run completes

“Posts need AI auto run” and “pipeline jobs queued” counters keep you informed of pending work

Dashboard Integration

WordPress dashboard widget with SEO health overview and per-pillar coverage pills

Post editor metabox with custom title, description, OG image, and inline AI generation

Gutenberg sidebar panel (CloudScale Meta Boxes) with custom title, description, OG image, AI summary fields, and one-click generation without leaving the editor

Per-post status badges showing description length, title length, SEO score, and ALT status

Tab state persists across page reloads – the settings page returns to your last active tab

Category Fixer

Scans all published posts and suggests improved category assignments using AI

Uses Claude to analyse post title, slug, tags, and AI summary box against your full category list

Proposes up to four categories per post – only from categories that already exist in WordPress

Never assigns Uncategorized

Colour-coded review table: green for additions, red for removals, grey for kept categories

Per post Apply and Skip buttons, plus bulk Apply All Changed

Filter bar: All, Changed, Unchanged, Low Confidence, Missing

Reload button re-analyses all posts with fresh AI calls

Per row re-analyse button for individual posts

AI analysis badge shows confidence score

No categories are changed until you explicitly click Apply

Category Health and Drift Detection

Category Health tab shows post counts per category with a pass/fail coverage indicator

Category Drift Detection uses AI to identify categories that have drifted from their original focus or become catch-all buckets

Drift analysis returns a verdict (drifting or catch-all) with a confidence score and AI reasoning for each flagged category

Results sorted by verdict type then confidence so the most actionable items appear first

Elapsed time counter and Stop button during long analysis runs

Readability Analyser

Pure-PHP readability scoring – no AI call required

Scores 0–100 with Easy / Moderate / Hard label based on sentence length, heading density, and passive-voice rate

Colour-coded badge in the post metabox with sub-metrics (average words per sentence, words per heading, passive voice percentage)

Sortable Readability column in the Meta Writer post list

Scores automatically recalculate on post save and after every Auto Pipeline run

Broken Link Checker

Scans all published posts and pages for outbound links with HTTP errors (4xx, 5xx) or connection failures

Server-side HEAD request per URL for accurate status – no browser-side fetch limitations

Deduplicates URLs across posts so each external URL is checked only once

Results table shows post title, anchor text, URL, and HTTP status with colour-coded labels

SSRF-safe: link-local, loopback, and private IP ranges are blocked server-side

Image SEO Audit

Scans the entire Media Library and flags images with SEO issues

Detects missing ALT text, camera-default filenames (IMG_001, DSC_0045, screenshot2, etc.), and oversized files (> 500 KB)

Results sorted by issue count with thumbnail previews and direct edit links

Summary counters for each issue type

What This Plugin Does Not Do

No third-party SEO data, keyword research databases, or rank tracking

No hidden upsells, no tracking

No lock-in – BYOK plan is free forever; subscription cancels anytime with no data loss

External Services 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.

Anthropic Claude API Service: Anthropic PBC

Website: https://anthropic.com

Endpoint: https://api.anthropic.com/v1/messages

Data sent: Post title and post content (up to 6,000 characters), plus your configured system prompt

When data is sent: 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.

API key: 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.

Anthropic Privacy Policy: https://www.anthropic.com/privacy

Anthropic Terms of Service: https://www.anthropic.com/terms

Anthropic API documentation: https://docs.anthropic.com

Google Gemini API Service: Google LLC

Website: https://ai.google.dev

Endpoint: https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/models/

Data sent: Post title and post content (up to 6,000 characters), plus your configured system prompt

When data is sent: 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.

API key: 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.

Google Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

Google Terms of Service: https://policies.google.com/terms

Gemini API documentation: https://ai.google.dev/docs

Google Fonts CDN Service: Google LLC

Websites: https://fonts.googleapis.com, https://fonts.gstatic.com

When contacted: 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.

Data sent: The URL of the Google Font stylesheet registered on your site. No personal data or post content is transmitted.

Purpose: 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).

Google Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy

Google Terms of Service: https://policies.google.com/terms

CloudScale Managed API Service: CloudScale Consulting (Pty) Ltd

Website: https://cloudscale.consulting

Endpoint: https://api.cloudscale.consulting/v1/messages

Data sent: Post title and post content (up to 6,000 characters), your configured system prompt, and your Managed API license key. No personal visitor data is transmitted.

When data is sent: Only when you use the AI Meta Writer, ALT Text Generator, or any AI generation feature with the Managed API option enabled. Also when you subscribe, check subscription status, or cancel your subscription via the plugin settings.

Purpose: Provides access to Claude AI without requiring your own Anthropic API key. Billing is handled via Paystack (see below).

CloudScale Privacy Policy: https://cloudscale.consulting/privacy

CloudScale Terms of Service: https://cloudscale.consulting/terms

Paystack Service: Paystack Payments Africa (Pty) Ltd (a Stripe company)

Website: https://paystack.com

When contacted: When you click “Subscribe” in the plugin settings, you are redirected to Paystack’s hosted checkout page to complete payment. The plugin itself does not transmit payment card data — all billing is handled entirely by Paystack.

Data sent to Paystack: Your email address (entered at checkout) and payment details (entered directly on Paystack’s page). Subscription management (cancel, refund) is also handled via Paystack.

Paystack Privacy Policy: https://paystack.com/privacy

Paystack Terms of Service: https://paystack.com/terms

Telegram Bot API Service: Telegram Messenger Inc.

Website: https://telegram.org

Endpoint: https://api.telegram.org/bot{token}/sendMessage

Data sent: An error summary message containing: the PHP error message, the file name and line number where the error occurred, and the relevant WordPress post ID or URL. No personal visitor data or post content is transmitted.

When data is sent: …