Classic SEO v0.4.0 is now available which has experimental support for Google Search Console integration. I’d welcome feedback on this.
Download from https://github.com/ClassicPress-research/classicpress-seo/releases/download/v0.4.0/classicpress-seo.zip or wait for GitHub Updater.
Do you have screenshots of what this does in relation to SEO? I’ve been using Yoast, but my updates run out soon for that, and since they’re “devoted” to WP now, I’m not wanting to renew. Thanks!
Good to know. I am giving my site some love and installed it. And I was very happy with it. This addition makes me even happier. Going to test it tomorrow!
This doesn’t affect SEO directly but what it does do is to show you information from Search Console within the Classic SEO plugin that you can then use to help improve content. It currently has three tabs:
Overview
The overview tab will eventually show charts too but this feature isn’t yet available. Hopefully will be in v0.4.1.
Keywords
Sitemaps
(Screenshots from my test site.)
Just to clarify, you do need a Google Search Console account for this, but that’s no big deal.
On a personal level, if you’re not yet ready to use Classic SEO on a live site and your Yoast subscription is coming to an end, you might want to consider moving to Rank Math temporarily. A lot of people around here seem to like it and that’s why RM was chosen as the foundation for Classic SEO. You can import Yoast settings into RM and you can also import RM settings into Classic SEO.
Thanks Elisabetta. Feedback is always welcome.
I followed your recommendation and pulled down Rank Math SEO for my main production site; totally dug it because it DID allow me to import all the SEO stuff from my original posts & pages… when your CLASSIC SEO plugin is fully tested & ready for production, will it have all the same features as Rank Math? I definitely want to move to it when it’s completed if that’s the case, because I want ALL plugins that were made specifically for CP
It won’t have all features from RM but it will have most. Here’s a quick comparison:
| Included | Not included |
|---|---|
| 404 Monitor | Setup Wizard |
| Support for ACF | Support for AMP |
| Link Counter | Support for bbPress |
| Local SEO / Knowledge Graph | Support for BuddyPress |
| Redirections | Webmaster tools |
| Rich Snippets | SEO Analysis |
| XML Sitemap | Ability to edit .htaccess |
| WooCommerce | Ability to edit robots.txt |
| Social meta: Facebook, Twitter, Google Places, LinkedIn, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest | Social meta: Yelp, FourSquare, Flickr, Reddit, SoundCloud, Tumblr and Myspace |
| Imports for Rank Math and Yoast | Imports for AIl ln One SEO, AIO Rich Snippets, SEOPress, WP Schema Pro, Redirection |
| Role Manager | |
| Search Console | |
| Support for Classic Commerce to be added |
In terms of functionality, the current release of Classic SEO (0.4.2) is likely to be very similar to the first proper release.
I don’t plan on making any significant changes in the foreseeable future.
Hope this helps.
I tried to install the most current version, but it (now) says I need to be at PHP 7 or higher… is that correct?
Yes, that’s correct. That has, in theory at least, been the case since the first release although @simone found a bug in version 0.3.2 which meant that the plugin may still have run on older PHP versions. This was fixed in v0.3.3.
Can I ask what version of PHP you’re using? If you’re on PHP 5.x, then you really need to contact your hosting company and ask them to update to PHP 7.2 or higher.
Versions of PHP below 7.1 are now end of life and are no longer supported which means they won’t get any further bug or security fixes.
Let me know what your hosting company says.
I’m currently running 5.6, so you’re right, it’s time to update. When I tried to do the switch to 7.0 on my test site, though, it gave me a whole bunch of “line” errors… I had 5.6 hard-coded in my .htaccess file, so i changed it, but I’m still getting those errors. Hmmm
There are a few significant differences between 5.6 and 7.x so errors of some kind are quite possible. Having said that, you shouldn’t be getting errors from CP (or WP) or any up to date theme or plugin.
The errors from .htaccess were probably caused by a line such as this:
AddHandler application/x-httpd-php56 .php .php5 .php4 .php3
If you’re using something like cPanel, then it should automatically change this line when you update PHP. If not, then manually changing php56 to php72 (assuming you update to 7.2) should fix it.
If you want to let me know what the specific errors were, then I could delve a bit deeper.
Actually, I did (finally) manage to get the PHP version updated (with a little help from my son)… BUT, when I added Classic SEO, then used IMPORT from Rank Math, the KEYWORDS were all missing? Any suggestions for why that might be happening? I’ve left Classic SEO in place, but deactivated, so I could revert to RANK MATH for now.
Not off hand unfortunately. I just tried it on one of my test sites and it worked as expected so I’ll need to look into this a bit more and do some further testing.
I’ll report back when I have more details.
Glad you got your PHP sorted.
Just so you know, I wound up having to use PHP 7.2; I had already tried 7.0 and 7.3, but it was 7.2 that was the charm. Thanks for your dedication in helping me with this!
No problem. Most of my sites are running on 7.2 but I’ve recently moved some to 7.3 without any issues. I’ll be trying 7.4 shortly.
I went ahead and converted back over to Classic SEO; I had to redo the keywords, but it’s well worth it in the end-run… I like the interface… hope you continue this plugin; it will be an excellent replacement for Yoast!!!
Thanks very much Dick. I certainly aim to continue to develop it.
I’ve only just been able to get around to looking at the import problem you’ve been having and you’ll be pleased to know (maybe 
) that I’ve found the reason why imports may fail in certain circumstances. I’ll be working on a fix and hope to get that released tomorrow.
Sorry you had to redo your keywords.
It’s all good… I only had gone through three pages of 39 for keywords in Rank Math…
Sounds like fun
If you’ve previously been using Yoast, then the keywords should have imported into Rank Math…which would have save you a bit of hassle.
As for Classic SEO, I’ve been working on a fix for the import bug which I’m testing at the moment. All being well, it should be released tomorrow.
