Head Meta Data vs Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI

✨ Add meta tags to your site ✨ Blazing fast performance ✨ Uses only 60KB of code! Head Meta Data (HMD) improves the definition and semantic quality of your website by adding tags to the section of your web pages. Super lightweight, fast, and user-friendly. 🤖 Default Meta Tags Customize the perfect set of meta tags for your site. For example: 🤖 Dynamic Meta Tags Use shortcodes to dynamically output SEO meta tags: [hmd_post_title] | My Awesome Website This outputs dynamic titles and descriptions, useful for SEO. You also can add unique meta tags and markup on specific posts and pages. Check out the Installation tab for more information. ✨ Help bots understand your content better 🤖 Features Simple and easy to use Clean, standards-based code Customize all tags Add your own custom tags Add custom meta tags on any post or page Supports X (Twitter) Cards and Facebook Open Graph tags Supports , , , , and Automatically adds tags to the section of all pages Check out a Live Preview of your meta tags and custom tags Auto-populates tags using your site’s information Use shortcodes to include dynamic information Easily disable any unwanted tags Lightweight, fast, and secure ✨ Check out Head Meta Pro to define tags for each page view 🤖 Shortcodes Shortcodes enable you to include dynamic bits of information in your meta tags. Head Meta Data provides the following shortcodes: [hmd_post_excerpt] Outputs post excerpt [hmd_post_date] Outputs post date [hmd_post_author] Outputs post author [hmd_post_title] Outputs post title [hmd_post_cats] Outputs post categories [hmd_post_tags] Outputs post tags [hmd_site_tagline] Outputs site tagline [hmd_site_title] Outputs site title [hmd_year] Outputs current year [hmd_tab] Outputs tab space to tag markup So you can display your own set of custom meta tags exactly as desired. Learn more » 🤖 Pro Features The Pro version can do everything the free version can do, PLUS: Define meta tags for Custom Post Types Define meta tags for each type of page-view (e.g., home, posts, pages, archive, search) Define tags for Facebook (Open Graph) Define tags for X (Twitter) Define Facebook and X tags for each type of page view 40+ advanced shortcut variables like %POST_AUTHOR% and %ARCHIVE_TYPE% Dedicated “Meta Tags” meta box for posts and pages Add custom meta tags to any post or page-view Add custom script and style to any post or page-view Meta Tags box integrates with SEO plugins Additional meta tags beyond the free version Dedicated setting for image_src link tag Premium support for pro purchases ✨ Level up your meta tags with Head Meta Pro » 🤖 Privacy This plugin does not collect or store any user data. It does not set any cookies, and it does not connect to any third-party locations. Thus, this plugin does not affect user privacy in any way. Head Meta Data is developed and maintained by Jeff Starr, 15-year WordPress developer and book author. 🤖 Support Development I develop and maintain this free plugin with love for the WordPress community. To show support, you can make a donation or purchase one of my books: The Tao of WordPress Digging into WordPress .htaccess made easy WordPress Themes In Depth Wizard’s SQL Recipes for WordPress And/or purchase one of my premium WordPress plugins: BBQ Pro – Blazing fast WordPress firewall Blackhole Pro – Automatically block bad bots Banhammer Pro – Monitor traffic and ban the bad guys GA Google Analytics Pro – Connect WordPress to Google Analytics Head Meta Pro – Ultimate Meta Tags for WordPress REST Pro Tools – Awesome tools for managing the WP REST API Simple Ajax Chat Pro – Unlimited chat rooms USP Pro – Unlimited front-end forms Links, tweets and likes also appreciated. Thanks! 🙂

Real-time SEO guidance, schema, and AI built in. Help search engines and AI systems understand your content. All AI tools included, no hidden fees. Yoast SEO: the #1 WordPress SEO plugin Since 2008, Yoast SEO has helped site owners get their content found. More than 10 million websites now run it, from small local businesses to some of the most visited sites on the web. Our mission is SEO for everyone. You should not need a specialist, a big budget, or a technical background to give your content a fair chance of being discovered. Yoast SEO gives you everything you need to manage your on-site SEO. The Yoast SEO Premium plugin and its extensions unlock more advanced and AI-powered tools. Ready for search, and ready for AI People no longer only type queries into Google. They ask AI assistants, and those answers are built from content the AI has crawled, understood, and trusted. Yoast SEO helps you prepare for both. Schema.org structured data, so search engines and AI systems can understand what your content is actually about. Premium outputs significantly more schema types, including the E-E-A-T signals (experience, expertise, authoritativeness, and trustworthiness) that help AI systems understand who you are. Schema aggregation for NLWeb (Premium), which combines your site’s structured data into a single, deduplicated graph, so AI agents get a complete picture of your content in one request. Turn it on with a single toggle. LLMs.txt management, to guide how large language models interact with your content, including manual control over which pages are included. Bot blocker (Premium), to control which AI crawlers can use your content for training, including GPTBot, CCBot, and Google-Extended. Abilities API, so AI tools, dashboards, and automated workflows can read your SEO, readability, and inclusive language scores directly. Algorithm changes have been arriving for over 15 years, and Yoast has tracked every one of them. Keeping the plugin updated means you benefit from ongoing technical improvements, schema updates, and AI advancements automatically, all guided by our signature traffic light approach. Real-time guidance while you write SEO is one of the most consistent and cost-effective sources of website traffic, though it can be complex. Whether you are just starting out or you have done this for years, Yoast SEO tells you what to fix before you publish, not after. Red, orange, green. That is the whole idea. You get in-depth content and readability analysis that helps you create content designed to perform well in search, without needing to learn a new discipline first. Quick and easy setup Setting up Yoast SEO is quick and straightforward. No technical background required. Our step-by-step configuration wizard walks you through the essentials, so Yoast SEO can generate accurate structured data that helps search engines understand your site. Switching from another SEO plugin? Migration is seamless. You can import your existing SEO data and settings safely with our built-in import and export tools. AI tools built into your workflow Yoast’s AI tools come with Yoast SEO Premium, and they sit inside the editor you already use. There is no separate AI subscription, no extra login, and no credit top-up to buy. Every suggestion waits for your approval before anything saves. Yoast AI Generate: creates five SEO-friendly titles and meta descriptions instantly, with one-click regeneration for more options. Yoast AI Optimize: suggests improvements to keyphrase placement, including introduction, distribution, and density, with the option to apply or dismiss each edit. Yoast AI Summarize: generates a quick summary of your post to place anywhere in the block editor, so readers grasp the value fast. Yoast AI Content Planner (Premium): suggests five site-specific post ideas and builds a structured starter draft the moment you open a new post. Ideas are grounded in your own site, not generic topics, so your team never begins from a blank page. Bulk editor with AI drafts: review and fix titles, meta descriptions, and focus keyphrases across your whole site from one workspace, with search and status filters and a dedicated view per content type. The bulk editor is free. With Premium, select what needs work and AI drafts the metadata, including social sharing titles and descriptions, for you to approve. All AI tools included: no extra accounts, no separate credit purchase, no hidden costs. Content analysis and optimization SEO analysis to guide your keyword targeting, with up to 5 keyphrases in Premium and support for 20+ languages. Readability analysis for clear, engaging, user-friendly writing. Inclusive language analysis, so your content is more considerate and accessible. SERP previews for both desktop and mobile results. HowTo and FAQ blocks with built-in schema support. Breadcrumbs block for improved navigation. Semrush integration for keyword research directly inside Yoast SEO. Wincher integration to track keyword performance from your dashboard. Elementor integration for optimization inside your favorite builder. Technical SEO, handled for you Yoast SEO takes care of much of your site’s technical SEO automatically, which frees you to focus on your content. Automated meta tag optimization right out of the box. Canonical URLs to prevent duplicate content issues. Advanced XML sitemaps for clear site indexing. Deep Schema.org integration to improve how search engines and AI systems understand your site. Complete breadcrumb control for visitors and crawlers. Performance improvements that help reduce load times. Crawl settings to manage how bots access your site and reduce unnecessary server load. Every update delivers ongoing technical SEO enhancements automatically. Keep your website in perfect shape Whether you are a creator, a business owner, or a developer, Yoast SEO helps you maintain your site’s SEO health: Cornerstone content tools to organize and prioritize your key pages. Front-end SEO inspector to view and edit titles, descriptions, and schema live. SEO roles to delegate plugin access securely across your team. Regular 2-week update cycle, so you stay compatible with the latest SEO standards and search engine changes. Powerful integrations Yoast SEO works seamlessly with popular WordPress tools: Google Site Kit: access insights from Search Console, Analytics, and PageSpeed inside WordPress. Advanced Custom Fields (ACF): combine with ACF Content Analysis for Yoast SEO for advanced field optimization. Elementor: use full Yoast SEO functionality inside Elementor’s editor. Algolia: improve internal search accuracy and performance. Semrush: discover and optimize for high-value keywords. Wincher: track keyword positions and trends in Google Search. Jetpack: manage SEO and social previews in one place. Easy Digital Downloads (EDD): improve digital product visibility with integrated schema. Mastodon: verify your website on Mastodon with Yoast SEO Premium. WooCommerce: optimize ecommerce SEO with the dedicated WooCommerce extension. Yoast SEO Premium: AI-powered SEO for WordPress Yoast SEO Premium builds on everything above with advanced automation, AI tools, and professional support. It helps you optimize efficiently for both traditional search and AI-driven discovery. What it helps you tackle: Keeping pace with algorithm changes and AI search. Reaching the right audience. Automating redirects, crawl controls, and internal linking. Finding orphaned content and improving your site structure. Getting expert help when you need it. Premium highlights: AI-generated titles and meta descriptions, page by page or in bulk. AI Content Planner, so you never open a blank page. Smart internal linking suggestions to strengthen your site structure. Social previews for Facebook and X. Redirect manager with bulk tools, CSV import and export, and automatic prompts when you move or delete content. Bot blocker for AI crawlers, including GPTBot, CCBot, and Google-Extended. Schema aggregation for NLWeb, plus significantly more schema types than free. IndexNow integration, so search engines hear about your updates the moment you publish. Front-end SEO inspector for real-time editing. SEO workouts for orphaned and cornerstone content. Task list, unlocked in full, showing what to work on next with priority levels and time estimates. Google Docs add-on, so writers can run the full Yoast analysis before content ever reaches WordPress. One seat included. 24/7 premium support from SEO specialists. Included at no extra cost: Yoast Local SEO: help nearby customers find you, with local schema, a store locator, and opening hours management. Yoast Video SEO: help Google understand your videos, with video sitemaps and schema. Yoast News SEO: help your news content get discovered in Google News and Top Stories. Yoast WooCommerce SEO: advanced SEO for online stores Yoast WooCommerce SEO builds on Yoast SEO Premium with ecommerce-specific tools for your store’s visibility. Key ecommerce features: WooCommerce-specific XML sitemap that excludes non-shopping content. Product structured data for rich results, including price, reviews, and availability. Canonical URL management to prevent duplicates. Ecommerce-focused content analysis for GTINs, SKUs, and short descriptions. AI Generate for ecommerce: optimized titles and meta descriptions for product and category pages, at page level or drafted in bulk for products and categories. What that gets you: Better product visibility through automated structured data. More efficient crawling for large catalogs. Time saved through metadata templates and automation. Metadata across your whole catalog without editing rows one at a time. Built for WooCommerce, trusted by thousands of online stores worldwide. For developers Yoast SEO is built with developers in mind. With modern APIs, hooks, and a unified indexables system, you can extend or integrate SEO functionality across custom themes, plugins, or headless setups. REST API Retrieve SEO metadata for any post or URL, including meta tags, Open Graph, Twitter Cards, and Schema.org data. Learn more about the REST API. Surfaces API Access SEO data directly in code via YoastSEO()->meta->for_current_page(). Supports titles, descriptions, canonicals, and schema. Read the Surfaces API documentation. Metadata API Use the Metadata API to filter, override, or extend meta tags with WordPress hooks such as wpseo_title, wpseo_metadesc, and wpseo_canonical. Schema API The Schema API lets you modify or extend Schema.org graph pieces, including Article, Organization, Person, Breadcrumb, and WebPage entities. Abilities API integration Let AI tools, dashboards, and automated workflows read Yoast SEO data programmatically, including SEO, readability, and inclusive language scores for recent posts. Block editor compatibility Yoast SEO integrates directly with the WordPress block editor. It outputs schema for HowTo and FAQ blocks by default, and you can extend schema for custom blocks. Indexables At the core of Yoast SEO lies the indexables system, unifying all SEO data for faster queries and consistent metadata across outputs. Ongoing support and education Yoast is powered by expert developers, testers, and SEO specialists who keep improving the plugin. We are committed to helping you grow your SEO skills: Yoast SEO Academy: free and premium SEO courses, included in all paid plans. Yoast SEO blog, newsletter, and webinars. Yoast SEO Update podcast for the latest SEO insights. Bug reports on GitHub, for issue tracking rather than support. Yoast SEO: built to make search optimization accessible, reliable, and ready for the future of AI search.