# Simple SEO
**The SEO basics for WordPress, kept small and fast.**
[](https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-seo/)
[](https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-seo/advanced/)
[](https://github.com/bonny/WordPress-Simple-SEO/actions/workflows/tests.yml)
[](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html)
Three fields on every post and page: an **SEO title**, a **meta description** and **Discourage search engines**. Leave one empty and WordPress does what it always did. No scores, and no upsell banners all over your admin.
A few things just happen:
- 🔗 **Link previews** with the right title, description and image.
- 🗺️ **A cleaner sitemap:** pages you keep out of search are left out.
- ✍️ **Both editors,** plus an SEO column and the fields in **Quick Edit**.
- 📜 **Changes logged** using [Simple History](https://simple-history.com/).
**Not included, on purpose:** readability scores, green lights, `llms.txt`, a dashboard full of notices and "Go Pro" banners, an "optimized by" comment in your HTML, and extra database queries. No plugin makes a page rank; good content does.
## Screenshots
<p align="center">
<img src=".wordpress-org/screenshot-1.png" width="720" alt="The Simple SEO panel in the block editor sidebar, with an SEO title, a meta description, a share image and the discourage search engines checkbox.">
</p>
<details>
<summary><strong>More screenshots</strong></summary>
<br>
<table>
<tr>
<td width="50%" valign="top"><strong>The SEO column and Quick Edit in the Pages list</strong><br><img src=".wordpress-org/screenshot-2.png" width="100%" alt="The Pages list with an SEO column, and Quick Edit open with the SEO fields."></td>
<td width="50%" valign="top"><strong>The same column for posts</strong><br><img src=".wordpress-org/screenshot-3.png" width="100%" alt="The Posts list with the SEO column."></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="50%" valign="top"><strong>The Classic Editor box</strong><br><img src=".wordpress-org/screenshot-4.png" width="100%" alt="The Simple SEO box below the Classic Editor."></td>
<td width="50%" valign="top"><strong>A default share image, in Settings → General</strong><br><img src=".wordpress-org/screenshot-5.png" width="100%" alt="The Simple SEO section in Settings, General, with a default share image."></td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td width="50%" valign="top"><strong>Changes logged in Simple History</strong><br><img src=".wordpress-org/screenshot-6.png" width="100%" alt="A Simple History entry showing the old and new SEO title and meta description."></td>
<td width="50%"></td>
</tr>
</table>
</details>
## Install
Search for **Simple SEO** in Plugins → Add New Plugin, or get it from [wordpress.org/plugins/simple-seo](https://wordpress.org/plugins/simple-seo/). Needs WordPress 6.6 and PHP 7.4.
## For developers and automation
The fields are plain post meta, so scripts, WP-CLI and AI tools can read and write them like any other post data: `_simple_seo_title`, `_simple_seo_description`, `_simple_seo_noindex` and `_simple_seo_share_image`.
### Using the REST API
Log in with an [application password](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/11/05/application-passwords-integration-guide/) (Users → Profile → Application Passwords). The fields show up with `?context=edit`:
```bash
# Read
curl -u "editor:xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx" \
"https://example.com/wp-json/wp/v2/pages/123?context=edit&_fields=meta"
# Write
curl -u "editor:xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx" -X POST \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"meta":{"_simple_seo_description":"Small batch coffee, roasted in Stockholm."}}' \
"https://example.com/wp-json/wp/v2/pages/123"
```
### Using WP-CLI
```bash
wp post meta get 123 _simple_seo_title
wp post meta update 123 _simple_seo_title "About us: small batch coffee from Stockholm"
```
### Good to know
- **Leave out the site name.** WordPress adds " – Site name" after the SEO title, except on the front page, where the SEO title is the whole title.
- **Empty means not used.** Saving an empty title or description deletes the key, and WordPress falls back to the post title. Link previews fall back to the excerpt, then the start of the post.
- **Noindex** is a boolean: `true`/`false` over REST, `1` to set it with WP-CLI (`0` or `false` means off).
- **Titles from before 1.0** live in `_simple_seo_custom_page_title_value` and are still used. REST shows them as `_simple_seo_title`, `wp post meta get` doesn't. Writing `_simple_seo_title` replaces them.
- **A post's share image** is `_simple_seo_share_image`, an attachment ID. Link previews use it instead of the featured image. It must be an image; `0` or anything else removes it.
- **The default share image** is the option `simple_seo_share_image`, stored as the whole image so the front end needs no queries. Set it in Settings → General, or write every field:
```bash
wp option update simple_seo_share_image '{"id":123,"url":"https://example.com/share.png","width":1200,"height":630,"alt":""}' --format=json
```
- **With another SEO plugin active** (Yoast SEO, Rank Math and friends) the fields are kept but not used.
### Filters
Everything Simple SEO outputs goes through a filter first: [`docs/hooks.md`](docs/hooks.md).
## About
Simple SEO arrived on WordPress.org in August 2010, seven weeks before Yoast SEO ([history](docs/seo-plugin-history.md)), slept from 2012 to 2026, and is awake again.
Made by [Pär Thernström](https://eskapism.se/): one developer, no big company or investors behind it. Also [Simple History](https://simple-history.com/) and [CMS Tree Page View](https://wordpress.org/plugins/cms-tree-page-view/). [A donation](https://eskapism.se/sida/donate/) keeps it going. GPLv2.