Can I do SEO with just the WordPress personal plan or do I need to upgrade?

I want my site to show up on Google and Bing for certain keywords. I know some HTML and watched a few YouTube tutorials, so I understand meta tags help.

But every guide I find shows people editing PHP files or HTML directly, and with my $4/month WordPress personal plan, I can’t find these options.

Is there a way to optimize my site for search without upgrading to the business plan?

Your best move is to stop using WordPress.com and go with self-hosted WordPress. Then you’ll have full control over SEO settings.

WordPress.com has built-in SEO tools you can check out:

https://wordpress.com/support/seo/

That said, if you want full control over SEO, you’ll need to either:

  1. Upgrade to the business plan so you can install plugins like Yoast or RankMath.
  2. Switch to self-hosted WordPress with a provider like SiteGround, Bluehost, or Namecheap.

The lower-tier WordPress.com plans are fine for simple blogs, but they don’t give you access to custom SEO settings, plugins, or themes. If you’re serious about SEO, you’ll probably outgrow the personal plan quickly.

You might want to check out this guide:

The difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org

And here’s a video explaining it:

WordPress.org vs WordPress.com

If you want to add SEO plugins, you’ll need at least the business plan. The personal plan doesn’t allow plugin installations.

Malik said:
If you want to add SEO plugins, you’ll need at least the business plan. The personal plan doesn’t allow plugin installations.

Yeah, if you want an SEO plugin, RankMath is a solid alternative to Yoast.

The easiest way to remove limitations is to switch to self-hosted WordPress. WordPress.com locks a lot of features behind their paid plans, but with your own hosting, you’ll have full control for less money.

If you could install plugins, I’d suggest SEO Framework:

https://wordpress.org/plugins/autodescription/

But on the personal plan, you won’t be able to add any plugins.

@Quill
Right, no plugins or themes on the personal plan. You need the business plan or higher to install plugins.

We manage SEO for clients and use RankMath, hosting on Cloudways for better performance.

If budget is an issue, check out LowEndBox for affordable shared hosting ($1-2/month).

Once you have self-hosted WordPress, you can install SEO plugins like Yoast, set up Google Search Console, and optimize your meta tags.

If you really want to boost SEO, create high-quality content, improve user retention, and get backlinks from relevant websites.

If you want full SEO control, move off WordPress.com. Get your own hosting, install WordPress, and you’ll have zero restrictions. Most web hosts offer a simple WordPress setup, and from there, you can install any SEO plugin you want.