AI is transforming the way we live and work—and it’s having a significant impact on web development as well. But this isn’t replacing developers. It’s actually enhancing our work. AI gives us more time to focus on strategic thinking, custom solutions, and user experience because it allows us to offload repetitive or data-heavy tasks to intelligent systems. Operations like setting image alternative text, which is important for SEO but can take hours to implement manually, can now be completed in a few minutes.
At seoplus+, we assess new tools based on their ability to support our core priorities: SEO, UX, and UI. If an AI tool helps us do those better, we’re eager to bring it into our workflow.
In this article, we’ll explore some of the AI tools we’ve been using with WordPress websites. These tools have worked well for us and can help make your website faster, more effective, and easier to manage.
For SEO
Everyalt: Use AI to add alt text to all your images
Adding alt text to images is crucial for both SEO and accessibility. However, doing it manually, especially on a site with hundreds of photos, can be very time-consuming. Everyalt helps by using AI to automate the process. It offers features like “Bulk Alt Text Generation,” “Single Image Alt Text Generation,” and even automatic alt text generation for newly uploaded images.
Setup considerations
While the initial setup involves several steps and may take a bit of time upfront, the good news is that it’s a one-time process. Once completed, your credentials can be reused across all future projects, eliminating the need to repeat the setup.
Developer notes
- Follow this installation guide to get started.
- You’ll need to create an OpenAI account and generate an OpenAI API key specifically for GPT-4o. You need to pay $5 to get started.
Yoast and Rank Math: SEO page optimization plugins
Optimizing your site for search engines is one of the most important steps to online success. While expert advice and custom strategies are always valuable, the right tools can make your search engine optimization (SEO) tasks easier and support your existing marketing efforts. If you already have a promotion plan, plugins like Yoast SEO and Rank Math SEO can help you stay on track and improve your results.
These tools can help automate and simplify a number of routine search engine optimization (SEO) tasks, including:
- Generating and optimizing meta titles and descriptions
- Analyzing keyword density and readability
- Monitoring on-page SEO scores and providing actionable tips
By integrating these plugins into your toolkit, you can focus more on strategy while letting automation handle the repetitive elements of on-page optimization.
Developer notes
- Both plugins are compatible with most WordPress themes and popular page builders (e.g., Elementor, Gutenberg).
- We prefer Yoast because it’s developed by a company with a long history in the WordPress ecosystem. It has excellent documentation, a large community, and we’ve never experienced issues with this plugin.
- Rank Math provides more built-in options for custom post types and advanced schema configuration.
- Both premium plugins are paid. Yoast is $99 per year, and Rank Math costs $95.88 annually. It’s also worth noting that both often offer regular sales, so you might be able to get them at a lower price.
- Be mindful of potential conflicts when using multiple SEO or performance-related plugins together.
For UX
OpenAI: Custom API calls for AI integration
Many AI platforms, including OpenAI, offer powerful APIs that developers can use to bring smart features into WordPress websites. These APIs can be added to forms, reports, and other parts of a site to automate tasks and improve how users interact with content. When combined with WordPress database and CRON jobs (which are scheduled tasks that run automatically), the possibilities for automation are almost endless.
Practical use case
Connect the API to a form like “Ask Us a Question” or “Contact Us”. This can help identify the most frequently asked questions, highlight trending topics and keywords, and inspire content for FAQ sections or blog articles.
Developer notes
- The PHP code used to call the OpenAI API is similar to other REST API requests. You can explore examples on the OpenAI Examples page; feel free to choose other AI platforms as well.
- As with the Everyalt plugin, you’ll need to generate an OpenAI API key – you may need to pay $5 to get started.
With custom API calls, developers can add AI features exactly where they’re needed, customizing them to fit the specific needs of each project.
For UI
DeepAI: Expectations for AI image generators
AI image generation is becoming a popular tool for web developers. Many platforms are developing solutions, and the competition is intensifying rapidly. However, we don’t currently recommend any specific WordPress plugin for this task.
Why not? Most available plugins lack sufficient downloads, reviews, or a proven track record to determine their reliability over time. For now, it’s best to watch how this space develops and test tools carefully. If you need AI-generated images today, you can try external services like DeepAI. These tools enable you to create images outside of WordPress and then manually add them to your site.
Keep moving forward with AI tools
We’re living in a unique time when AI is becoming an integral part of our daily lives. While not every tool is yet ready to be used everywhere, the ones we shared here have already demonstrated their effectiveness in real-world projects. At seoplus+, our developers are always keeping an eye on the latest AI updates and are excited to see what’s coming next. Something on the horizon we’re tuned into is WordPress adding more built-in AI features, such as tools that can help generate images or write content. In the future, this will make it easier for people to build and manage websites.
