SiteSEO – SEO Simplified
by Softaculous · SEO
Also makes 12 other plugins · 4.2M+ installs across the portfolio →
SiteSEO is an easy, fast and powerful SEO plugin for WordPress. Unlock your Website's potential and Maximize your online visibility with our SiteSEO!
Try it live opens a temporary test site in your browser, which can take about 20 seconds to load. Plugins that rely on outside services or a full server may not work completely there.
Install count doesn't reflect chosen adoption
400K+ installs but only 8 reviews: about 0.2 per 10,000 installs, where plugins people pick from the directory typically sit above 10. The install count also held flat for months and then climbed several tiers within weeks, the shape of a distribution change rather than organic adoption. Install bases built through bundling or preinstallation look like this. That is a legitimate way to ship software, but it means the install count says little about how many users chose this plugin.
Not a judgment of the plugin itself. We keep it off install-based leaderboards because the count isn't a popularity signal here.
Health
B 84/100
Few reviews
Active installs
400K+
≈500K estimated
Momentum
-9%
downloads vs prior 30d
Biggest opportunity: Add “online visibility”, “instant indexing” and “seo slugs” to your wp.org tags. You rank #4, #6 and #9 for them without listing them, close enough for a declared tag to move you up. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so with 4 listed these are the slots worth spending.
84 health vs 65 average across 2,223 SEO plugins
Install conversion
How it's measured →21%
of downloads still active
At least 400K of 1.9M lifetime downloads are still running, above its category: the median SEO plugin keeps 1.2%, across 1,193 plugins.
Downloads count every update, not just first installs, so older and more frequently released plugins read lower. Compare against other SEO plugins, not across the directory. wp.org reports active installs as the bottom of a band, so the real rate is this or higher.
This plugin shipped 10 releases in the last 12 months, and every existing install that updated counted as another download. wp.org publishes no split between first installs and updates, so we show the raw rate rather than guess at one.
Details
Directory ranking optimization
How it's scored →How well this listing is tuned to rank in WordPress.org search, on the factors an owner controls. Not popularity, optimization.
Excellent listing optimization
Most to gain: Rating quality
Updated 38 days ago
Tested up to WordPress 7.1.4, the current branch or newer
4.0★ over 8 reviews, smoothed to 4.09★ and held back under 25 reviews
4 of 5 tags set · short description in place
1 of 1 support threads resolved in the last 2 months
To rank higher: Too few reviews to rank on quality — nudge happy users to leave one.
Get the full rank-higher report →Search visibility
How it's tracked →Directory searches this plugin turns up in, and which way each one is moving. WordPress.org publishes no history of search positions, so this starts the day we first tracked a keyword and never backfills.
35
Momentum
Losing ground
-0.6
Velocity
places per keyword, 28d
15%
Breadth
of keywords climbing, 28d
-0.5
Acceleration
recent half vs earlier
wp.org is where the directory puts the plugin for that search. On merit is where it would sit if results were ranked on rating, support and updates, without the install boost. The last column is how far the wp.org position moved, from our first reading in the last 90 days to the latest.
| Keyword | wp.org | On merit | wp.org move, 90 days |
|---|---|---|---|
| maximize | #2 | #11 | — |
| online visibility | #4 | #19 | 0 |
| meta description your tag | #7 | #20 | down 1 |
| instant indexing | #6 | #15 | 0 |
| unlock | #9 | #24 | down 5 |
| knowledge graph | #7 | #19 | down 1 |
| seo your tag | #13 | #23 | up 4 |
| indexnow | #8 | #12 | up 2 |
| seo slugs | #9 | #21 | down 1 |
| local seo | #10 | #24 | 0 |
| keyword analysis | #10 | #21 | 0 |
| htaccess | #10 | #22 | up 1 |
| seo friendly | #11 | #24 | up 3 |
| google news sitemap | #12 | #19 | down 2 |
| indexing | #12 | #19 | 0 |
| content analysis | #12 | #22 | down 2 |
| seo plugin | #18 | #23 | down 2 |
| seo friendly urls | #13 | #23 | 0 |
| seo editor | #13 | #22 | down 1 |
| seo analysis | #13 | #21 | 0 |
| schema your tag | Not in the top 24 | ||
296 searches this plugin appeared in over the last 90 days, 20 listed. 230 left out as unrelated or noise (years, numbers, stray words). 1 of its tags isn't in the top 24 for their own search.
What to do about it
- Add “online visibility”, “instant indexing” and “seo slugs” to your wp.org tags. You rank #4, #6 and #9 for them without listing them, close enough for a declared tag to move you up. WordPress.org counts only your first five tags, so with 4 listed these are the slots worth spending.
- One page off on “seo”. #13 puts you just past the first ten results, where almost all the clicks stop. The gap to close is small.
Daily downloads
Since 30 Dec 2023 · 1,038 days · wp.org + Plugin Pulse archive
30-day downloads
Rolling 30-day volume · peak 272.4K · peaks are release surges
Directory rank vs rivals
wp.org popularity rank over time · higher is better · when a rival's line climbs above yours, they've overtaken you
Rating trend
Star average over time · dips mark rough releases
Health trend
Composite health score, snapshotted daily
Update activity
How busy the existing users are, measured as downloads in the last 30 days for every 1,000 active sites. A spike means a new release everyone's pulling; a long, slow decline means an aging user base that updates less.
Release cadence
Actively maintainedHow often this plugin actually ships. A steady rhythm is the maintenance signal a single "last updated" date can't show.
10
releases in the last 12 months
1mo ago
latest release · v1.4.2 · 24 Sep 2026
27
tagged releases on record
Recent releases
What its installed base runs
via wordpress.orgShare of active installs on each version of this plugin · 4% run the current release. Green is the current release; a big slice on older versions is a user base that has stopped updating.
Estimated active installs
The public count shows “400K+”. Our estimate pins where the real number sits.
Crossed into this band 12 days ago and a band this size takes about a year or more to cross, so the real count is still just under 500K.
Install history since 29 Dec 2023
Recent reviews
All reviews on wp.org ↗- ★★★★★ propagatica7mo ago
This plugin could compete with Yoast or Rank Math — but certainly not in its free version. It lacks many features that other plugins offer at no cost, such as Author Base, LLMs.txt, Redirections, or Structured Data. All of these, for example, are available in the free version of Rank Math. The plugin is popular mainly because many LiteSpeed and LiteSpeed Enterprise hosting providers bundle the PRO version as part of their hosting packages. It can also be attractive for SEO agencies, since the PRO plan at $249 — with no site limit — is cheaper than most competing plugins.
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Ben N7mo ago
The pro version is great. Love using it for my own website. Wouldn’t use anything else 🙂
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ richarddush12mo ago
Great tool yet easy to use
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ HJ1.1y ago
works well
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ Juan Akbary1.2y ago
Excellent plugin… works just as expected
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ focusdigi1.3y ago
This plugin is extremely basic and will get the basic things done, but lacks many features expected of a modern SEO plugin — particularly their “pro” addon which is a joke
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ jorge19921.5y ago
Excellent plugin… works just as expected
Read on wp.org ↗ - ★★★★★ stitch23red1.5y ago
It seems to do what it claims to do. I don’t think the 1-star review was deserved. Perhaps this will offset it. 🙂
Read on wp.org ↗
Latest updates
via wp.org changelogRecent releases and news for this plugin
- — Version 1.4.0 [Feature] Added AI Abilities Pro feature [Improvement] Made compatibility with WPML plugin [Bug-Fix] There were issues with external and internal links in SEO analysis, this has been fixed. 1.4.0
- — Version 1.3.9 [Pro-Improvement] Added pagination support for the HTML sitemap. [Improvement] Made compatibility with the Divi 5 page builder. [Bug-Fix] Fixed an issue where gtag was being enqueued twice. [Bug-Fix] Fixed an issue with 1.3.9
- — Version 1.3.8 [Pro-Feature] Added SEO Quick Settings options. [Pro-Feature] Added Advanced Redirect feature. [Pro-feature] Added External Links Manager feature. [Bug-Fix] Fixed missing Gutenberg blocks issue caused by block category o 1.3.8
- — Version 1.3.7 [Feature] Added support for keywords meta tags [Improvement] Improved SEO analysis and scoring. [Improvement] You can now easily remove social tag images from the metabox. 1.3.7
- — Version 1.3.6 [Pro-Feature] Introduced the SEO Alert feature. [Pro-Feature] Added support for custom Author base. [Pro-Feature] Introduced Podcast feature. [Bug Fix] Fixed an issue in the Local Business schema. 1.3.6
- — Version 1.3.5 [Pro-Feature] Added a Schema importer, user can now import schema from URL, HTML, or JSON. [Pro-Improvement] Added modification date support for the global Article schema. [Bug-Fix] A function that required PHP 8+ has be 1.3.5
Security history
via Wordfence IntelligenceAll 4 disclosed vulnerabilities are patched in the current version (1.4.2). Sites still on an older version should update.
- Patched Medium · 6.4 SiteSEO – SEO Simplified <= 1.2.7 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Broken Regex Expression ↗2025-08-26 CVE-2025-9277 Improper Neutralization of Input During Web Page Generation Affects <= 1.2.7 Patched in 1.2.8
Vulnerability records provided by Wordfence Intelligence. Copyright 2012-2026 Defiant Inc. License and terms.
CVE records: Copyright 1999-2026 The MITRE Corporation. CVE terms of use.
Behavioral tests
via WP HiveAutomated install-time checks, tested on PHP 8.1.12 · WP 7.0.1
Languages
via translate.wordpress.orgTranslated into 10 languages, 6 at 90% or more
AI assistants
How it's measured →Whether ChatGPT and Claude name this plugin when asked the category question, and whether the readme gives them something to quote.
Share of voice
How often each assistant names SiteSEO when asked about these topics, where it comes in the answer, and how that compares with its wp.org search position. Latest run 25 Oct 2026.
- Assistants
- ChatGPT, Claude
- Topics tracked
- SEO, XML sitemap
Readme readiness
6 of 8 pass · checked 26 Oct 2026Can an assistant quote this readme? Eight deterministic checks over the wp.org listing, no model involved.
- ! Says what it does Short description names no action; say what the plugin does for the site.
- ✓ Has a FAQ 4 questions in the FAQ.
- ✓ FAQ asks real questions 4 of 4 read like questions a user would type.
- ! Names who it is for Never says who the plugin is for or what they use it for.
- ✓ Names what it works with Mentions WooCommerce, Elementor, Google Search Console, Facebook and 1 more.
- ✓ Headings and lists 10 headings and 5 lists.
- ✓ Enough to quote 5,344 characters of description.
- ✓ Tags match the text All 4 tags appear in the text.
Growth timeline
Install-tier crossings we have observed, and how long each tier took to outgrow
- 2026-10-20 500K+ → 400K+ down after 299 days in tier
- 2025-12-25 400K+ → 500K+ up after 145 days in tier
- 2025-08-02 300K+ → 400K+ up after 84 days in tier
- 2025-05-10 200K+ → 300K+ up after 43 days in tier
- 2025-03-28 10K+ → 200K+ up after 368 days in tier
- 2024-03-25 9K+ → 10K+ up after 2 days in tier
- 2024-03-23 8K+ → 9K+ up after 2 days in tier
- 2024-03-21 7K+ → 8K+ up after 3 days in tier
Competes with
The plugins that solve the same job, ranked by shared tags then reach, closest match first. The letter on the right is each plugin's health grade (A best, F worst).
-
SmartCrawl SEO checker, analyzer & optimizer 10K+ installs · 4.7★ · 4 shared tags A -
Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI 10M+ installs · 4.8★ · 3 shared tags A -
Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings 4M+ installs · 4.8★ · 3 shared tags A -
All in One SEO – AI SEO Plugin to Boost SEO Rankings & Traffic (Schema, Local SEO, Sitemap & SEO Insights) 2M+ installs · 4.7★ · 3 shared tags A -
SureRank SEO – Meta Tags, Social Preview, XML Sitemap, Schema & Open Graph 300K+ installs · 4.6★ · 3 shared tags A -
SEOPress – AI SEO Plugin & On-site SEO 300K+ installs · 4.8★ · 3 shared tags A
Embed this report card
Drop a live Pulse card for SiteSEO – SEO Simplified into a readme, a review or a deck. It updates itself.
<iframe src="https://plugins.wpmayor.com/embed/siteseo" width="480" height="300" style="border:0" loading="lazy" title="SiteSEO – SEO Simplified — Plugin Pulse"></iframe> SiteSEO – SEO Simplified: 400K+ active installs, 4.0★ (8 reviews). Plugin Pulse (WP Mayor), as of 2026-11-01. https://plugins.wpmayor.com/plugin/siteseo
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