A couple of weeks ago, Jeff over at WP Tavern noted that the All in One SEO Pack plugin had reached 10 million downloads. That is quite the milestone, no doubt. And the plugin’s popularity shows no signs of stopping – there have been over 100,000 more downloads since the WP Tavern post was published.
However, Jeff made the point in his post that it seemed the WordPress community does not consider AIO to be the best solution. There is a certain plugin known as WordPress SEO by Yoast that is rather well-respected amongst many WordPress users. This is despite the fact that it has just 10% the number of downloads of AIO.
What does an analysis of the available data tell us? Let’s take a look:
Requirements and compatibility are similar. Both have been updated within the last three months or so. But as you can see from the downloads history, AIO is getting over twice as many downloads.
What is quite telling however is the ratings. Despite SEO by Yoast only having been downloaded 10% as many times as AIO, it has more ratings. Not only that, the average rating is much higher. And if nothing else, an average rating of 4.5 is a pretty stunning achievement, given the number of ratings.
Over To You
So what do you think, noble WPMU reader? Are you an AIO guy, or a Yoast girl? Or do you use a completely different plugin – or no plugin at all? (Gasp!) Let us know in the comments section!
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In the beginning AIOSP was a great start – and it’s still great but there are more better alternatives nowadays!
The issue with all this SEO plugin stuff is that: the less real content people have the more SEO plugins or whatever they install…
I recently got a lot of clients with no clue in SEO but using Yoast’s plugin but weren’t able to adjust its settings. Such clients are resistent for any advise…
As a user of the Genesis Framework I am just happy with the SEO setting it provides which are absolutely great for everyday usage and solve most expections. These options are recommended also by Yoast and other SEO experts. And for me as admin and webmaster it’s stress-free life and still top-notch Google :-)
Calm down the SEO plugin madness!
5 years using wp, and plugins of all kind. Yoast > AIO, massivelly
I would have to agree with Dave. I believe Yoast has more options and settings, which are great for us SEO experts or internet marketing gurus.
But lets face it, the majority of WordPress users aren’t experts or necessarily internet marketing gurus. So for the majority of WordPress users, and our customers, AIOSP is the easiest plugin to use.
They both deliver ‘top-notch’ rankings, as Dave mentioned. So why not keep it simple? AIOSP over Yoast for almost all cases.
Hey Tom, I agree with Shawn.
Both Yoast and AIOSP are very effective in attaining high rankings, however for most cases it’s better to keep it simple stupid (K.I.S.S.). Most WordPress users are already sorely confused as to what type and which SEO plugin they need for their blogs and websites anyway.
I always suggest looking at a side-by-side comparison of the best seo
plugins for WordPress in order to make an informed decision of what the
best plugin is for that blogger and their website’s specific needs.
Here’s my most recent write-up on the subject:
SEO Pressor vs Easy WP SEO vs Scribe SEO
http://www.bestseopluginforwordpress.com/wordpress-seo/the-best-seo-plugin-for-wordpress/
Check it out and let me know what you think.
Great article btw…I’ll be referencing this post on my main blog.