Do SEO Plugins Really Help Your WordPress Website Get Indexed? Complete Guide for Beginners

By Omajemite Don On Dec 11, 2025

What Is Indexing and How Does It Work?

Indexing is the process where Google adds your web pages to its searchable database. Before your page appears on Google Search, three steps must happen:

Discovery – Google finds your page through links, sitemaps, or manual submission.
Crawling – Googlebot scans your content to understand what is on the page.
Indexing – Google stores your page in its database and ranks it.

Without indexing, your content remains invisible on Google.

Do SEO Plugins Help with Indexing?

Yes—but not in the way most people think.

SEO plugins such as:

Yoast SEO
Rank Math
All-in-One SEO (AIOSEO)
SEOPress

do not directly index your website. They cannot force Google to index your page.

Instead, SEO plugins create the technical environment that allows Google to discover and understand your pages more effectively.

Below are the actual functions of SEO plugins regarding indexing.

What SEO Plugins Really Do

1. Generate XML Sitemaps

Sitemaps list all important URLs on your website.
An SEO plugin helps you by:

Automatically generating a sitemap
Updating the sitemap whenever you publish new content
Submitting the sitemap URL in a format Google understands

This increases the chances of Google discovering new pages quickly.

2. Optimize Metadata

SEO plugins help you create:

Title tags
Meta descriptions
Open Graph tags (for social sharing)

These do not cause indexing, but they help Google understand your page’s content, improving ranking once indexed.

3. Improved Search Appearance

SEO plugins allow you to customize how your pages appear in Google Search.

For example:

Optimized meta titles
Structured data
Rich snippets
Featured snippet eligibility

This improves click-through rate (CTR), which influences ranking.

4. Improve Crawlability

Crawlability determines how easily Googlebot can scan your website.
SEO plugins help with:

Robots.txt configuration
Index/noindex tags
Canonical URLs
Sitemap inclusion/exclusion

This prevents errors such as:

Pages blocked from Googlebot
Duplicate content issues
Wrong pages appearing in search

5. Fix Technical SEO Issues

SEO plugins highlight issues such as:

Missing alt text
Broken internal links
Poor title structure
Redirect errors

These issues do not block indexing entirely but reduce the chances of Google maintaining a consistent crawl schedule.

6. Robots.txt Management

SEO plugins allow you to create or edit your site’s robots.txt file.

This file tells Google:

Which pages to crawl
Which pages to ignore

It prevents accidental blocking of important pages. Many beginners mistakenly block their entire website without realizing it. SEO plugins help avoid such errors.

7. On-Page SEO Analysis, Content Optimization, Readability and Keyword Optimization

Many plugins offer on-page SEO analysis, including:

Keyword density
Heading structure
Internal linking suggestions
Content readability

Keyword placement checks
Readability analysis
Internal linking suggestions
SERP preview tools
Schema setup for rich snippets

These improvements help your pages rank better once they are indexed.

8. Site-Wide SEO Settings in One Place

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Instead of editing code manually, SEO plugins let you manage:

Social sharing previews
Title formats
Category and tag indexing
Author archive settings
Pagination SEO
Breadcrumb navigation

This creates a clean, search-friendly structure.

What SEO Plugins Do NOT Do

It is important to be clear on the limitations.

SEO plugins do not:

Force Google to index your pages
Guarantee Google ranking
Fix poor hosting and slow servers or server errors
Replace high-quality content
Build backlinks for you
Eliminate the need for backlinks
Bypass Google algorithms

Google has its own timeline and criteria for crawling and indexing websites.

Do You Need an SEO Plugin for Your Website to Be Indexed?

No.
Your website can be indexed without any SEO plugin installed.

If SEO Plugins Don’t Index Your Site, What Does?

Google indexes your website based on:

1. Website Authority

New websites or those with weak backlinks get crawled slowly.

2. Server Speed and Hosting Quality

Slow hosting or frequent downtime reduces crawl frequency.
Ejes Gist News learns that many Nigerian websites hosted on overcrowded shared servers experience indexing delays for this reason.

3. Internal and External Links

Google follows links to discover new pages.
If your pages have no links, they may not be discovered.

4. Absence of Technical Errors

Common issues that block indexing include:

Blocked robots.txt
Noindex tags
Redirect loops
Duplicate pages
Slow loading pages

5. Content Quality

Thin, low-value, or duplicate content often gets ignored.

Common Reasons Your Website Is Not Indexed

Here are the most frequent causes identified by webmasters:

Sitemap not submitted to Google Search Console
Website or pages accidentally set to “noindex”
Hosting environment too slow for Googlebot
Pages lack internal links
Poor website architecture
Newly created domain with zero authority
Plugin conflicts altering sitemap visibility
Excessive ads or pop-ups
Spam-like content signals

Any of these can delay or block indexing completely.

How to Ensure Your Website Gets Indexed Quickly

1. Submit Your Sitemap to Google Search Console

This is the first and most important step:

https://yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml

2. Use “Inspect URL” to Request Indexing

Inside Search Console, submit your URL manually.

3. Improve Internal Linking

Link older posts to new posts to help Google discover them.

4. Build High-Quality Backlinks

Even one authoritative link can trigger Google to re-crawl your site.

5. Improve Website Speed

Use:

Lightweight themes
Good hosting
Caching plugins
Image compression

6. Fix Technical Errors

Run an SEO audit to identify:

404 errors
Redirect issues
Duplicate pages
Noindex tags

7. Publish Value-Driven, Original Content

Google prioritizes content that provides clear answers and solves user problems.

Do You Need an SEO Plugin for Indexing?

The straightforward answer is:

Your website can still be indexed without an SEO plugin.

However:

It will be harder
You will make more technical mistakes
You may block Google unintentionally
You’ll miss critical on-page optimizations
You’ll lack structured metadata
You may slow down your indexing process

SEO plugins serve as a technical assistant, not a replacement for Google’s indexing process.

Final Takeaway

SEO plugins are essential tools for optimizing your website, improving structure, and ensuring Google can understand your content. While they do not directly force Google to index your website, they create the ideal conditions that make indexing easier, faster, and more consistent.

For your website, using a reliable SEO plugin—paired with strong hosting, clean internal linking, and high-quality content—will significantly enhance indexing performance and overall search visibility. You may also want to read The Biggest SEO Mistakes Nigerian Bloggers Make — 11 Powerful Things You Must Fix Today