Stop paying $99/year for Yoast Premium. CloudScale SEO AI Optimizer replaces Yoast Premium and RankMath Pro with a completely free plugin that uses your own Anthropic Claude or Google Gemini API key. No subscription. No Pro version. No licence keys. No upsells. Everything works out of the box.

The AI generation costs less than $0.10 to run across 100 posts using Claude Haiku. Google Gemini has a free tier sufficient for most personal blogs. You pay the AI provider directly — the plugin charges nothing.

Setup takes 2 minutes: Install paste your free API key (get one at console.anthropic.com or aistudio.google.com) click Generate Missing. Done.

It handles all the technical SEO WordPress leaves out — sitemaps, robots.txt, structured data, OpenGraph, canonical URLs — and adds a full AI toolkit that generates meta descriptions, ALT text, article summaries, FAQ schema, and related article links in bulk. A built-in Site Audit scores your entire SEO setup across 20+ checks and surfaces one-click quick fixes so you can resolve issues without leaving the audit panel.

Core SEO Features

Custom meta title and description per post and page
Canonical URL output on every page
OpenGraph tags (title, description, image, type, locale)
Twitter/X Card tags
JSON-LD structured data: Person schema for author pages, Article/BlogPosting schema for posts, WebSite schema for the homepage, Breadcrumb schema
Configurable site name, locale, Twitter handle, and default OG image
XML sitemap generation (sitemap.xml index + child sitemaps) with configurable post types and taxonomy support
Plain-text sitemap at /sitemap.txt (one URL per line) for AI crawlers and simple scrapers
Custom robots.txt editor with AI bot blocking (GPTBot, CCBot, Claude-Web, anthropic-ai and others)
llms.txt support for AI crawler guidance
noindex controls for search results, 404 pages, attachment pages, author archives, and tag archives
UTM parameter stripping in canonical URLs

AI Auto Pipeline

Automatically runs all AI operations in a separate background process the moment a post is published — no WP-Cron dependency
Steps run per publish: meta description, SEO score, focus keyword, ALT text for all post images, AI-suggested internal links, AI summary box, and Related Articles
Re-run on update toggle: re-triggers the full pipeline whenever a published post is saved
Gutenberg-safe internal link injection using block-level parsing; classic editor fallback via str_replace
Minimum 50-word content guard prevents meaningless output on stub or test posts
HMAC-authenticated async request (120-second TTL) keeps the pipeline secure
“Re-run AI Automation” button in the post metabox with live log output
Auto Pipeline settings live in a dedicated card at the top of the AI Tools tab

AI Meta Writer

Choose your AI provider: Anthropic Claude or Google Gemini
Model selector: Automatic (always resolves to the current recommended model), Claude 3.5/3.7 Sonnet, Claude Haiku, Gemini 2.0 Flash, Gemini 1.5 Pro, or a Custom model string
Generate meta descriptions for individual posts or in bulk across your entire site
Fix existing descriptions that are too short or too long
Fix titles that are outside the optimal 50 to 60 character range
Inline edit button on each post row — opens a textarea to manually enter or correct a description without leaving the panel
Configurable character range (min/max) injected into the prompt automatically
Automatic retry if the AI returns a description outside your target range
Rate limit handling with automatic backoff on HTTP 429 responses
Fully editable system prompt with reset to default
Sortable post table: sort by title, date, SEO score, description length, title length, or ALT status
Live progress log with timestamps during bulk runs
Stop button for interrupting bulk runs
Scheduled batch generation via WP Cron with per-day scheduling
Test Key button to verify your API key before running

AI SEO Scoring

AI rates each post from 0 to 100 with a one-sentence strengths or weaknesses note
Calculate SEO Scores button runs a bulk scoring pass across all posts
Generate Missing automatically scores any post that lacks a score after descriptions are written
Per post score badges shown in the AI Tools post table and dashboard widget
Scores stored in post meta (_cs_seo_score, _cs_seo_notes) and survive plugin deactivation

Title Optimiser

New 🎯 Title Optimiser tab — AI scans all published posts and suggests SEO-optimised replacement titles
Before/after SEO score (0–100) for every suggestion so you can see the improvement at a glance
Identifies primary and secondary keywords the article is actually about
One-click Apply per post: updates title and URL slug, automatically creates a 301 redirect from the old URL
“Apply All Suggested” bulk action with confirmation — applies and redirects all in one shot
Sort posts by date or by most-commented to prioritise which titles to fix first
Suggestions stored in post meta — safe to pause, review, and apply selectively

AI Summary Box

AI-generated article summary box automatically prepended to post content
Three fields generated per post: What it is, Why it matters, Key takeaway
Summaries now written SEO-first: primary keyword front-loaded, secondary keywords woven in, optimised for search intent rather than conversational reading
Bulk generation panel with progress tracking, stop button, and paginated post list
Force regenerate option to overwrite all existing summaries
Summary fields written to Article JSON-LD schema: description, abstract, and disambiguatingDescription
Collapsible display with modern card styling including gradient header and drop shadow
Toggle to show or hide the summary box globally without deleting generated content

ALT Text Generator

Audit all images across your posts for missing ALT text
Generate ALT text using AI with article context for better relevance
Configurable article excerpt length sent to the AI (100 to 2000 characters)
Bulk generation with progress tracking
Show All toggle to display images that already have ALT text

Automatically injects contextually related post links at the top and bottom of every post
AI-scored candidate pool built across the full post library; top and bottom counts configurable (2 to 5 top, 3 to 10 bottom)
Separate top and bottom toggles — enable or disable each block independently
Generate Missing button runs the scoring pipeline for unprocessed posts
Refresh Stale button re-runs previously completed posts when content has changed
Sync Counts button trims or fills all posts to match updated count settings without full regeneration
Post Status table shows per-post pipeline state (pending, complete, failed) with filter tabs
All injection is block-safe and works with both Gutenberg and classic editor posts
Related Articles links are also generated automatically via the Auto Pipeline on publish

Performance Features

Font display optimization with font-display: swap to eliminate Flash of Invisible Text (FOIT)
Font metric overrides (size-adjust, ascent-override, descent-override) to reduce Cumulative Layout Shift (CLS)
Defer font CSS loading using media=”print” swap technique
Auto-download CDN fonts (Google Fonts) to local server for faster loading and GDPR compliance
Font CSS file scanner with terminal-style console output
Auto-Fix All with backup and undo capability
Defer render-blocking JavaScript with configurable exclusions
HTML, CSS, and JS minification (5 to 15 percent page size reduction)
HTTPS mixed content scanner and one-click fixer across posts, pages, metadata, options, and comments

SEO Health Dashboard

Dashboard widget shows five health pillars: Posts (meta coverage), SEO (score coverage), Images (ALT coverage), Links (related articles coverage), Summaries (AI summary coverage)
Colour-coded pills: green >= 90%, amber >= 60%, red < 60%
Refresh link rebuilds the health cache on demand; cache auto-rebuilds after any bulk AI run completes
“Posts need AI auto run” and “pipeline jobs queued” counters keep you informed of pending work

Dashboard Integration

WordPress dashboard widget with SEO health overview and per-pillar coverage pills
Post editor metabox with custom title, description, OG image, and inline AI generation
Gutenberg sidebar panel (CloudScale Meta Boxes) with custom title, description, OG image, AI summary fields, and one-click generation without leaving the editor
Per-post status badges showing description length, title length, SEO score, and ALT status
Tab state persists across page reloads — the settings page returns to your last active tab

Category Fixer

Scans all published posts and suggests improved category assignments using AI
Uses Claude to analyse post title, slug, tags, and AI summary box against your full category list
Proposes up to four categories per post — only from categories that already exist in WordPress
Never assigns Uncategorized
Colour-coded review table: green for additions, red for removals, grey for kept categories
Per post Apply and Skip buttons, plus bulk Apply All Changed
Filter bar: All, Changed, Unchanged, Low Confidence, Missing
Reload button re-analyses all posts with fresh AI calls
Per row re-analyse button for individual posts
AI analysis badge shows confidence score
No categories are changed until you explicitly click Apply

Category Health and Drift Detection

Category Health tab shows post counts per category with a pass/fail coverage indicator
Category Drift Detection uses AI to identify categories that have drifted from their original focus or become catch-all buckets
Drift analysis returns a verdict (drifting or catch-all) with a confidence score and AI reasoning for each flagged category
Results sorted by verdict type then confidence so the most actionable items appear first
Elapsed time counter and Stop button during long analysis runs

Readability Analyser

Pure-PHP readability scoring — no AI call required
Scores 0–100 with Easy / Moderate / Hard label based on sentence length, heading density, and passive-voice rate
Colour-coded badge in the post metabox with sub-metrics (average words per sentence, words per heading, passive voice percentage)
Sortable Readability column in the Meta Writer post list
Scores automatically recalculate on post save and after every Auto Pipeline run

Broken Link Checker

Scans all published posts and pages for outbound links with HTTP errors (4xx, 5xx) or connection failures
Server-side HEAD request per URL for accurate status — no browser-side fetch limitations
Deduplicates URLs across posts so each external URL is checked only once
Results table shows post title, anchor text, URL, and HTTP status with colour-coded labels
SSRF-safe: link-local, loopback, and private IP ranges are blocked server-side

Image SEO Audit

Scans the entire Media Library and flags images with SEO issues
Detects missing ALT text, camera-default filenames (IMG_001, DSC_0045, screenshot2, etc.), and oversized files (> 500 KB)
Results sorted by issue count with thumbnail previews and direct edit links
Summary counters for each issue type

What This Plugin Does Not Do

No third-party SEO data, keyword research databases, or rank tracking
No paid tiers, no upsells, no tracking

External Services

This plugin connects to external AI APIs to generate meta descriptions and ALT text. Connections are made when you use the AI Meta Writer or ALT Text Generator buttons in WP Admin, and optionally on a scheduled basis via WP Cron.

Anthropic Claude API

Service: Anthropic PBC
Website: https://anthropic.com
Endpoint: https://api.anthropic.com/v1/messages
Data sent: Post title and post content (up to 6,000 characters), plus your configured system prompt
When data is sent: Only when you click Generate, Fix, or the Generate with Claude button in the post editor, when the scheduled batch runs for posts without a meta description, or automatically on post publish/update when Auto Pipeline is enabled in AI Tools settings.
API key: You must supply your own Anthropic API key. The key is stored in your WordPress database and is never transmitted anywhere except directly to api.anthropic.com.

Anthropic Privacy Policy: https://www.anthropic.com/privacy
Anthropic Terms of Service: https://www.anthropic.com/terms
Anthropic API documentation: https://docs.anthropic.com

Google Gemini API

Service: Google LLC
Website: https://ai.google.dev
Endpoint: https://generativelanguage.googleapis.com/v1beta/models/
Data sent: Post title and post content (up to 6,000 characters), plus your configured system prompt
When data is sent: Only when you click Generate, Fix, or the scheduled batch runs, when Gemini is selected as your AI provider, or automatically on post publish/update when Auto Pipeline is enabled in AI Tools settings.
API key: You must supply your own Google AI API key. The key is stored in your WordPress database and is never transmitted anywhere except directly to Google.

Google Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
Google Terms of Service: https://policies.google.com/terms
Gemini API documentation: https://ai.google.dev/docs

Google Fonts CDN

Service: Google LLC
Websites: https://fonts.googleapis.com, https://fonts.gstatic.com
When contacted: Only when you use the Font Display Optimizer’s “Download Fonts” feature in WP Admin (Performance tab). This feature downloads Google Fonts files to your server so they can be served locally.
Data sent: The URL of the Google Font stylesheet registered on your site. No personal data or post content is transmitted.
Purpose: To copy font files from Google’s CDN to your own server, eliminating the external Google Fonts request from your frontend pages (improves GDPR compliance and Core Web Vitals).

Google Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
Google Terms of Service: https://policies.google.com/terms

Broken Link Checker (server-side URL probing)

What it does: When you use the Broken Link Checker in WP Admin, the plugin extracts all outbound hyperlinks from your published posts and pages, then sends an HTTP HEAD request from your server to each unique URL to check its status.
Data sent: Only the URL itself is fetched — no post content, no user data. Standard HTTP headers (User-Agent identifying your site) are sent with each request.
When it fires: Only when you open the Broken Link Checker tab and start a scan. No automatic or scheduled scanning.
Note: sslverify is disabled for these requests so that sites with expired or self-signed certificates can be checked. Requests to loopback, link-local, and private IP ranges are blocked.

There is no separate terms of service for outbound HTTP HEAD requests — your server is simply fetching publicly reachable URLs listed in your own content.

CloudScale SEO AI Optimizer