How to Set Up All in One SEO for WordPress
Configure AIOSEO from scratch, or switch to it from Yoast without losing your settings. The screens that matter, the ones to skip, and honest advice on the paid tier.
All in One SEO is the oldest WordPress SEO plugin still in active development. It does the same core job as Yoast — meta tags, sitemaps, schema, indexing rules — with a calmer interface and fewer prompts telling you what to fix.
This guide sets it up properly in about twenty minutes, and covers switching from Yoast without losing what you have already written.
One plugin only
Before anything else: never run two SEO plugins at once. Both write the same meta tags, so the page ends up with duplicates, which is worse than having none at all.
If Yoast is installed, follow the migration section below before you delete it.
Switching from Yoast without losing your work
AIOSEO can import everything — titles, descriptions, focus keyphrases, noindex settings and redirects.
- Back up the database first. Non-negotiable; this writes to every post.
- Install and activate All in One SEO, but do not delete Yoast yet
- Go to All in One SEO → Tools → Import / Export
- Choose Yoast SEO and select everything: post meta, settings, redirects
- Run the import and wait for it to finish
- Check five or six posts and confirm the titles and descriptions carried over
- Only then deactivate and delete Yoast
Deactivating is not enough — leftover plugins sometimes keep writing output. Delete it properly.
Then open your homepage, view source, and search for og:title. If it appears twice, something is still running.
Step 1: The setup wizard
Plugins → Add New, search All in One SEO, install and activate. A wizard starts automatically.
Site category
Blog, business, news site, and so on. This only picks sensible defaults — it is not a ranking decision, so do not agonise over it.
Site information
Enter your site name and choose Organization or Person, matching what the site actually is. This feeds the schema markup search engines read.
Upload a logo, at least 112×112 and square.
Features
The wizard offers optional modules. Switch on only what you need:
- Optimized Search Appearance — yes
- Sitemaps — yes
- Analytics — only if you are not already using another analytics setup
- Image SEO, Local SEO, Video Sitemap — skip unless you specifically need them. Each adds code to every page load.
Step 2: Search Appearance
All in One SEO → Search Appearance. This is where the real configuration lives.
Global settings
Set the separator character used between your title and site name. Cosmetic, but keep it consistent.
Content Types
For Posts and Pages, keep them indexed and check the title format:
#post_title #separator_sa #site_titleMedia — check this one
Under Media, make sure attachment pages redirect to the parent post.
WordPress creates a separate page for every uploaded image, with no content on it. Indexed, they bury your real pages under hundreds of empty ones. This single setting prevents it, and it is the one most people never look at.
Taxonomies
- Categories — indexed. They work as landing pages.
- Tags — noindex, unless you genuinely use them as topic hubs.
Archives
- Author archives — disable if you are the only author; they duplicate the blog page.
- Date archives — disable.
- Search results pages — noindex. Always.
Step 3: Sitemap
AIOSEO generates one at yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml. Open it and confirm it loads.
Submit it once in Google Search Console under Sitemaps. After that it updates itself.
A 404 usually means the rewrite rules are stale: Settings → Permalinks → Save fixes it. If it continues, another plugin is also producing a sitemap.
Step 4: Connect Search Console
All in One SEO → General Settings → Webmaster Tools. Paste the verification code from Google.
Verifying by DNS record instead is worth considering — that survives changing plugin or theme later, and the meta tag method does not.
Step 5: Writing a page with AIOSEO
Every post gets an AIOSEO panel underneath the editor.
| Field | Guidance |
|---|---|
| Post Title | 50–60 characters, important words first |
| Meta Description | 150–160 characters. Not a ranking factor, but it decides clicks |
| Focus Keyphrase | One per page |
| Schema | Article for posts, FAQ if the page has one |
AIOSEO gives a score out of 100. Treat it exactly as you should treat Yoast's traffic light: a surface checklist, not a ranking score. Google never sees it.
Take seriously: keyphrase in the title, in the URL, in the first paragraph, images with alt text, and internal links present. Ignore: keyword density, and the instruction to put the phrase in every subheading. Both produce repetitive writing that now works against you.
The schema editor — where AIOSEO is genuinely strong
This is the clearest advantage over the free Yoast build. AIOSEO lets you set the schema type per page without touching code:
- Article or BlogPosting for posts
- FAQPage for anything with a question and answer section
- HowTo for step-by-step guides
- Product, Recipe, Course and others
Schema does not raise rankings directly. What it does is win rich results, and give AI answer engines a clean, unambiguous version of your page — which makes you far easier to cite. See how to increase your website ranking for that in full.
Free or Pro?
The free version covers everything above: titles, descriptions, sitemaps, schema, robots rules, Search Console.
Pro adds a redirect manager with 404 tracking, local business schema, WooCommerce SEO, link assistant and multiple keyphrases.
The redirect manager with 404 logging is the one worth paying for, and only once your site is large enough that URLs actually change. Free redirect plugins do the same job. Start free.
Common problems
Duplicate meta tags in the page source
Two SEO plugins are active, or your theme has built-in SEO options. View source, search og:title, and if it appears twice, find the second source.
The sitemap returns 404
Settings → Permalinks → Save. If it persists, another plugin is generating a competing sitemap.
The import from Yoast did not bring everything
Run it again — it is safe to repeat. Anything still missing was usually stored by a Yoast add-on rather than the core plugin, and has to be re-entered.
My pages suddenly show as noindex
Check three places: the per-post AIOSEO Advanced tab, the Search Appearance content type settings, and Settings → Reading in WordPress itself.
The site got slower after installing it
Usually the optional modules. Turn off Image SEO, Local SEO and Video Sitemap unless you actively use them.
AIOSEO or Yoast?
| All in One SEO | Yoast | |
|---|---|---|
| Interface | Calmer, fewer prompts | More guidance, more nudging |
| Schema control (free) | Stronger | Basic |
| Tutorials available | Fewer | The most of any plugin |
| Import from the other | Yes | Yes |
Honestly, the difference is small. Both write the same tags and build the same sitemaps. A site that ranks with one would rank the same with the other.
Choose AIOSEO if you want per-page schema control without paying, or if Yoast's constant suggestions distract you. Choose Yoast if you want the largest pool of tutorials to search when you get stuck.
What matters far more than the choice is the work in how to increase your website ranking. No plugin does that part.
Where to go next
- How to increase your website ranking
- Yoast SEO setup — the alternative
- Speed up WordPress
