=== The SEO Framework ===
Contributors: Cybr
Donate link: https://github.com/sponsors/sybrew
Tags: seo, xml sitemap, google search, open graph, schema.org, twitter card, performance
Requires at least: 5.1.0
Tested up to: 5.6
Requires PHP: 5.6.0
Stable tag: 4.1.3
License: GPLv3
License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-3.0.html

Purely professional, feature-complete, and the ad-free WordPress SEO plugin. Secure, fast, automated, and white-hat SEO. Do less; get better results.

== Description ==

**The only feature-complete SEO plugin that follows the white-hat guidelines and rules imposed by WordPress and search engines.**

Start using proven methods to optimize your website for SEO. Clean, dedicated, extensible, unrestricted, ad-free, and no strings attached.

To top it off, this is the fastest full-featured SEO plugin, and it blends right into your WordPress website, without leaving you in the dark.

It's easy to get started. Activate this plugin, and your site's instantly protected against prominent SEO attacks. The SEO Framework will also prefill all critical meta tags for you. A real time-saver. Ingenious.

[Migrate](https://theseoframework.com/?p=511) | [Setup](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2428) | [Improve](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2663) | [Extensions](https://theseoframework.com/extensions/) | [API](https://theseoframework.com/?p=82) | [Support](https://theseoframework.com/?p=3478) | [Privacy](https://theseoframework.com/?p=1701#pluginprivacyinformation)

= We poured over 18 000 hours into this plugin. Here are the results: =

* **It is brilliant.**
The SEO Framework is an [expert system](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Expert_system) for SEO. It is the only solution that can intelligently generate critical SEO meta tags in any language by reading your WordPress environment. This automation saves you a considerable amount of time that could be used to write more content or focus on other tasks. It also removes the need for advanced SEO knowledge.

* **It comes preconfigured.**
With The SEO Framework, we provide an excellent starting point for your website by rationally optimizing all your pages. Naturally, you can also tweak it however you like. If you're not an SEO expert, learn what you may wish to optimize in our [Setup guide](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2428).

* **It helps you optimize your metadata.**
We made the only SEO plugin that follows Google's webmaster guidelines to the letter. It took years of research and tweaking to translate this well inside your WordPress interface. Finally, you can freely optimize your pages without having to worry about making critical mistakes.

* **It creates a beautiful overview.**
On your post overview pages, you'll find color-coded guidelines. They suggest you how to improve your pages as you hover over them with your mouse. For example, when your titles are unbranded or when WordPress blocks indexing. Instinctively, touch-and keyboard navigation is also supported.

* **It includes exceptional support.**
We don't outsource our support. We're here for you. Feel free to drop by [our support forums](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/autodescription/) at any time to ask a question. More than 1400 inquiries have been answered personally, typically within 48 hours in the past five years.

* **It leaves no room for errors.**
We focus on the quality of features you need over the quantity on features you don't. This trait makes this plugin unique, faster, more accurate, nearly bug-free, and more sustainable. The added benefit is that your site is unlikely to get penalized by search engines. We won't steer you into writing unnatural content or allow you to trick search engines.

* **It remains genuine and pure.**
We built The SEO Framework for small to large corporations and enterprises. The interface is entirely accessible and seamlessly integrates within your dashboard. Therefore, interacting with this plugin feels natural. It might feel dull, but your WordPress dashboard shouldn't be a billboard for our branding. We won't ever change this.

* **It improves search presence.**
The SEO Framework ranks your website distinctively by enabling breadcrumbs for Google Search, and by automatically generating titles and descriptions according to Google's guidelines. It also notifies Google, Bing, and all connected search networks automatically of your website's changes with its built-in sitemap.

* **It makes social sharing easy.**
The SEO Framework automatically supports and allows you to further tailor the Open Graph, Facebook, and Twitter Cards protocols. It helps your posts stand out when they're shared on various social networks, including Pinterest, Discord, and Whatsapp.

* **It feels more than accessible.**
We handpicked our color scheme so that people with any medically recognized color-vision deficiency can distinguish the guidelines set by search engines. We also implemented full keyboard-navigation and screen-reader support.

* **It protects you from mistakes.**
The SEO Framework steers you from making significant and common SEO mistakes. It leaves little room for you to mess up because the plugin already does everything SEO for you. For example, it automatically prevents duplicated content mistakes by enforcing strict canonical rules.

* **It follows best-practices and beyond.**
The biggest problems with WordPress plugins are security and compatibility. As part-time security researchers, we focus on making this plugin impenetrable. The SEO Framework also uses WordPress's API whenever possible, making this plugin integrate neatly with every other plugin written with that in mind.

* **It has developers at heart.**
We encourage other developers to enhance and add functionality to this plugin. We've done so ourselves, already, with our [extensions](https://theseoframework.com/extensions/). Check out [our API](https://theseoframework.com/?p=82), and feel free to [contribute](https://tsf.fyi/contributing)!

* **It respects your privacy.**
The SEO Framework sends us no information and does not create cookies. Learn more from our strictly adhered-to [privacy policy](https://theseoframework.com/?p=1701#pluginprivacyinformation).

= Getting started =

* Used another plugin? Easily [migrate your SEO data](https://theseoframework.com/?p=511).
* Need a helping hand getting started? Read our [quick setup guide](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2428).
* Want to improve your pages? Learn how to [optimize your metadata](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2663).

= Do more with extensions =

For additional functionality, check out our free companion plugin [Extension Manager](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2760). It provides numerous free and paid extensions, such as:

* [Focus](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2305) guides you through the process of writing targeted content that ranks with **focus keywords and synonyms**.
* [Articles](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2303) **enhances your published posts** by automatically adding important Structured Data.
* [Honeypot](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2300) **catches comment spammers** through four lightweight yet powerful ways.
* [Cord](https://theseoframework.com/?p=3404) helps you connect your website to **Google Analytics and Facebook Pixel**.
* [Local](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2306) lets you set up **important local business information** for search engines to consume.
* [AMP](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2304) **binds The SEO Framework to the AMP plugin** for AMP supported articles and pages.
* [Monitor](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2302) **keeps track of your website's SEO** optimizations and statistics.
* [Incognito](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2301) **hides all development-comments** from The SEO Framework.
* [Origin](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2299) **redirects attachment-page visitors** back to the parent post.
* [Title Fix](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2298) makes sure your **title output is as configured**. Even if your theme is doing it wrong.

Visit our [extensions overview page](https://theseoframework.com/extensions/) for more information.

= Unbranded, free and for the professionals =

The SEO Framework is a uniquely white label plugin that blends seamlessly into your WordPress dashboard. This means that we don't even put the name "The SEO Framework" anywhere within your WordPress interface. No ads, no nags. Nobody has to know about the tools you've used to create your website. Note that we output standardized development-comments distinguishing the plugin output in source code. You can remove these with our free [Incognito extension](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2301).

= Behind the screens =

The SEO Framework works on many things without notifying you, because the best software is fast, nimble, responsive, and should save you precious time. Here are a few things it does behind the screens.

* It prevents canonical errors for categories, pages, subdomains, and WordPress Multisite domain mapping.
* It stops SEO attacks that are caused by pagination exploits in WordPress by telling the search engine to look at the existing last page instead.
* It discourages 404 pages and empty categories from being indexed, even when they don't send a 404 response.
* It automatically notifies Google and the Bing network on website updates when sitemaps are enabled.
* It discourages search engines from indexing feeds and the sitemap. This doesn't mean they won't use them; only, they won't show them in their search results.
* It directs search engines from the comment pages back to the post storing those comments.

= Compatibility =

**The SEO Framework supports:**

* PHP 5.6 and higher.
* WordPress 5.1 and higher.
* Internationalization through WordPress.org.
* Unicode (UTF-8) character recognition and rendering, including Emoji and CJKV (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Vietnamese).
* Right to Left (RTL) languages (Arabic, Hebrew, Farsi, et al.), through its interface and metatag generation.
* Complete color-vision deficiency accessibility thanks to a carefully picked color scheme.
* Full keyboard navigation, so that you can inspect tooltips quickly without ever having to reach for your mouse.
* Full screen-reader accessibility via field anchors, ARIA labels, and title attributes.
* WordPress Multisite setups, this plugin is in fact built upon one.
* Detection and output of robots.txt and sitemap.xml files.
* Full integration with WordPress Core sitemaps.
* Output of structured data via Schema.org JSON-LD scripts.
* Altering oEmbed for improved sharing on Discord.
* Detection of various other SEO tools to help you switch graciously.
* Translation plugins like WPML, Polylang, WPGlobus, and MultilingualPress.
* E-commerce plugins, like WooCommerce and Easy Digital Downloads.
* Editing posts and terms via WordPress's native bulk-and-quick-edit interfaces.

= Copyright legislation notice =

In a few words: The SEO Framework allows search engines to do what they've been doing for the past 20 years via its preconfigured copyright settings.

When you activate The SEO Framework on any site, you automatically grant rights to content aggregators, among Google, Bing, and Yandex, to obtain and use information from the site, including written work, images, audio, and video. You can control these rights via the robots-meta settings brought by this plugin. Your rights and the effectiveness of these settings are subject to your website's region and language, and the physical or virtual origin of the platform and their potential users through which your website's information is obtained and shared. It is up to the aggregator to honor your rights and the requests brought via The SEO Framework.

If you wish to learn more, please refer to the [EU commission on copyright](https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/modernisation-eu-copyright-rules). These rulings may propagate its effects through regions outside the EU.

== Installation ==

= This plugin requires: =

* PHP 5.6 or higher.
* WordPress 5.1 or higher.
* Any modern browser for administration.

= Installation instructions: =

1. Install **The SEO Framework** either via your WordPress dashboard using plugin search or by uploading the files to your server.
1. Either network-activate this plugin or activate it on a single site.
1. That's it! The plugin now optimizes your website for SEO. It also protects your website against SEO attacks.

= This plugin auto-configures its global settings =

However, it would be best if you read up on our [plugin setup guide](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2428) to get the most out of The SEO Framework.

= This plugin auto-configures SEO meta settings =

However, you may want to read up on our [page improvement guide](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2663) to learn how you can optimize your pages.

= Get more SEO power =

Optionally, also install our free [Extension Manager](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2760) plugin for additional SEO solutions.

== Screenshots ==

1. The SEO Framework shows you how your site is performing, at a glance. These are what we call the SEO Bar.
2. Hover over, tap on, or focus any SEO Bar item and it will tell you what's asserted from your environment.
3. The SEO meta box is displayed on all pages. It's everything you need. Here you can see the pixel counters.
4. These SEO settings are shown on the term edit screen. It seamlessly blends into your WordPress interface.
5. The SEO settings page of The SEO Framework. Every setting is explained thoroughly. You're in full control.

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= Is The SEO Framework free? =

Absolutely! It will stay free as well, without ads, tracking, bloat, or nags!
This plugin is slim yet all-inclusive. It's 100% freeware, not crippleware.

= Is there a premium version? =

No. We treat this plugin as a premium plugin already.

However, we do offer many free and paid extensions that help support this free plugin. We provide these via our free [Extension Manager plugin](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2760).

= Why is there no analytics, tracking, or 404 monitoring? =

SEO experts that use advanced tools such as Ahrefs, SEMrush, Screaming Frog, and Google Analytics prefer using The SEO Framework because it doesn't try to do their job haphazardly.

To correctly analyze your website, it must be done from the outside. If we load these features on your site, bad robots will cause thousands of false positives that fill your database with useless information that doesn't apply to search engines. We refrain from this because it won't ever help you anyway.

= I have a feature request, a question, or found a bug. =

Please visit [the support forums](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/autodescription) and kindly tell us about it.

We'll try to get back to you within a week. Typically, we reply within three days.

= I am a developer; how can I help? =

Any input is much appreciated, and everything will be considered.
Please visit the [GitHub project page](https://github.com/sybrew/the-seo-framework) to submit issues or even pull requests.

Learn more [about contributing](https://tsf.fyi/contributing).

= What do the colors tell me? =

We use different colors to convey messages. Red is an error that you must resolve. Yellow is a non-critical warning that you may want to address. Green is good. Blue is informational and situational. Gray is undefined or unprocessable.

= The sitemap doesn't contain categories, images, et al. =

Not having every single page listed is not an issue. Search engines love crawling WordPress because its structure is consistent and well known.

If a visitor can't find a page, then why would a search engine? Don't rely on your sitemap, but on your content and website's usability.

Check out our [Extension Manager](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2760). It brings extensions, like [Articles](https://theseoframework.com/?p=2303), that fill in the gaps via modern and more robust means.

= The sitemap contains unwanted links. =

The SEO Framework takes all publicly queryable posts, pages, and CPT and puts them in the sitemap.

If you don't want a page in the sitemap, consider enabling the `noindex` option for it. This option will also remove the page from search engine result pages.

If the link shouldn't be in the sitemap because it's meant for structural reasons, then inform the plugin or theme author that created them.
You should tell the author to check out the "`public` and `rewrite` post type arguments." The plugin or theme author should know what that means.

In the meantime, you can disable SEO for the unwanted entries via the "General SEO Settings" under "Exclusions."

= Why aren't focus keywords included? =

[Google warns](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/66358) about the keyword stuffing approach implemented by some other SEO plugins. It forces users to write unnatural content, and it can have adverse effects on your site's ranking.

Modern search engines use AI to understand the context of your articles. This means that as long as you write relevant content, you shouldn't have to worry about keywords.

However, we implemented the same API Google uses to help you find appropriate synonyms and inflections for your keywords. This functionality is part of our premium suite of extensions.

= What do the application/ld+json scripts do? =

The JSON-LD scripts are search engine helpers that tell search engines how to connect and index the site. We do this via the Schema.org standard.

They can tell the search engine if your site contains an internal search engine, which social sites you're connected to, and what page structure you're using. This is also referred to as **structured data**.

= I don't see the breadcrumbs! =

The SEO Framework does not provide the display of breadcrumbs. This is theme-territory. This plugin only annotates them for search engines via a JSON-LD script.

If you wish to display breadcrumbs, then your theme should provide this. Alternatively, there are [other plugins](https://wordpress.org/plugins/search/breadcrumbs/) that help you do this.

== Changelog ==

= 4.1.3 =

Before heading into 2021, we wanted to [set free four bugs](https://theseoframework.com/?p=3660#detailed).

Pro tip: If you can no longer switch TSF's settings tabs, try hitting 'CMD+SHIFT+R' (Mac) or 'CTRL+SHIFT+R' (Windows); these keyboard shortcuts will force-fetch the latest scripts from your server.

= 4.1.2 =

In this minor update, we ensured compatibility with PHP 8 and WP 5.6. TSF now also fully integrates with WordPress Core Sitemaps, which you can configure via the SEO settings. If you decide to keep using TSF's optimized sitemap, you can now enjoy prerendering, DoS protection, and full Polylang integration. Lastly, you'll find various accessibility improvements, and we fixed [about a dozen bugs](https://theseoframework.com/?p=3650#detailed).

We included a single-line self-destructing notification about our [Cyber Monday sale](https://theseoframework.com/?p=3527). We hope you'll opt to support our continuous efforts. But we're also kindly asking you to understand we must promote our premium extensions to make TSF possible. We are apprehensive about any embedded advertising and self-promotion in the plugin, so we must rely on notifications until a better system is available in WordPress.

= 4.1.1 =

In this major-minor update, we improved browser performance by up to 99% (not a typo) by exchanging over 300 jQuery calls for vanilla JS ones. We also added two new options for oEmbed, freed a dozen bugs that got stuck in the UI and generators, and [improved accessibility](https://theseoframework.com/?p=3623#detailed).

= 4.1.0 - Grace =

*Happiness can be found, even in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light. - [J.K. Rowling & Steve Kloves](https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/harry-potter-and-prisoner-azkaban)*

**Release highlights**

* This update brings you up to 96% faster browser interaction, up to 30% faster browser rendering times, and up to 26% faster server response times.
* You can now use quick-edit to adjust meta titles and descriptions of all your posts and terms.
* New custom taxonomy settings are added, so you can quickly deindex custom taxonomies, or exclude SEO for them entirely.
* Well-known page builders that aren't built upon shortcodes, like Elementor, Beaver Builder, and Siteorigin's, now support meta description generation.
* The description generator is now far more intelligent--it can now recognize contractions, and other complex punctuations and marks (¡¿Que?! Y'all'dn't've!? 「やった！」).
* WordPress 5.5 support is now integrated deeply. To get there, we had to implement new query listeners, browser observers, and persistent notices.

**Graciously graceful**

This update's name is Grace, and for a good reason: the plugin listens to your inputs respectfully and does everything as you incline, as you would expect.

The SEO Framework's response-and rendering times have substantially been reduced; everything's much smoother and swifter since 5 years ago--back when it had fewer than 1 000 users.

At first glance, you probably won't notice anything new after updating to 4.1. But, when you look closer, among 350 QOL changes, you'll find improvements such as:

* Tapping a tooltip no longer accidentally activates related inputs.
* Only necessary REST-requests are made for primary-term support.
* Browser animations execute more naturally, like removing a notification.
* Switching a settings-tab can no longer cause staggered tab-content.
* The description generator now detects deeply nested HTML, improving the accuracy of intent.

You'll also find many obscure new features, such as:

* A new accessible SEO Bar color has been added: Gray. It exclaims there was nothing to process.
* Fancy a custom sitemap stylesheet logo? Now you can upload one.
* You can now remove branding from social meta titles.
* Persistent notices may now show up, gracefully (more on this below).

You can find more than 340 other noteworthy changes in the [detailed log](https://theseoframework.com/?p=3598#detailed).

**Persistent notices**

TSF now stores some notices in your database, so they can be shown to you later, and sometimes even more than once. We call these "persistent notices".

Persistent notices are awfully annoying. We know that. However, since plugin auto-updates are part of WordPress 5.5, we can no longer expect you to invoke an update manually.

These notices are used when we expect them to go unnoticed otherwise--they are conditional, and may only show up when **all** of these conditions are met:

* You have sufficient administrative capabilities or a matching user ID. For example, you must be able to install plugins.
* You are (or aren't) on a specific administrative page. For example, we won't show some notices on the block-editor.
* The time limit hasn't expired. For example, the update-notice won't show up after 7 days from updating.
* The view count hasn't been reached, regardless of who has seen it. For example, we only show some notices 3 times.
* You haven't dismissed it. There's an X-button at the top-right.

If you find a notice reappearing indefinitely, you might have a stubborn caching plugin enabled. So, clear your site's cache.

**Core Sitemaps support**

WordPress 5.5 brings new sitemaps. We added support for them, but we didn't integrate with them. To explain briefly:

* Support: When you enable TSF's sitemap, Core Sitemaps are disabled. When you disable TSF's sitemap, Core Sitemaps will become accessible again.
* Integrate: Core Sitemaps does not listen to the indexing state enforced by TSF. This will cause issues with search engines.

Regardless, we don't believe the Core Sitemaps are beneficial for most WordPress sites. We stubbornly kept our sitemap simple; it's easier for us to maintain and faster search engines to process. Search engines crawl your pages more quickly using TSF's sitemap, no matter your website's size.

Nevertheless, TSF will integrate with Core Sitemaps in a future update. Since we had fewer than two months to anticipate their integration, we couldn't make this happen now.

**Environment upgrade notes**

WordPress 4.9 and 5.0 are no longer supported. Here's why:

* [Almost 75% of all WordPress sites](https://wordpress.org/about/stats/) are using version 5.1 or later.
* Newer versions of WordPress are faster, more reliable, and easier to work with; for both you and us.
* Supporting past versions takes time away that's better used implementing new features.

**Support the development**

We hope you'll love this update as much as we do. Please consider supporting us by giving [an awesome review](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/autodescription/reviews/#new-topic-0), [get a license](https://theseoframework.com/pricing/), or convince your friends and colleagues that TSF is amazing!

**Detailed log**

Fast and steady [wins the race](https://theseoframework.com/?p=3598#detailed).

= Full changelog =

* **The full changelog can be found [here](http://theseoframework.com/?cat=2).**

== Upgrade Notice ==

= 4.1.0 =
The v4.1.0 update brings a major upgrade. Make a backup of your database before updating. WordPress v5.1 (or higher) is now required. Downgrading to v4.0.7 is possible without side effects.

= 4.0.0 =
The v4.0.0 update brings a major upgrade. Make a backup of your database before updating. WordPress v4.9 (or higher) and PHP v5.6 (or higher) are now required. If you use the Extension Manager, update it to v2.1.0 (or higher) before updating this plugin. Downgrading to v3.2.4 is possible, however with the caveat that the homepage title may flip its output order back.

= 3.1.1 =
This is a major upgrade. Make a backup of your database before upgrading. WordPress v4.6 (or greater) and PHP v5.4 (or greater) are now required. If you use the Extension Manager, update it to v1.5.2 (or greater) before upgrading this plugin. Downgrading to v3.0.6 possible.

= 3.0.0 =
A major update. Make a backup of your database before upgrading.

== Other Notes ==