Looking for an awesome WordPress table of contents plugin to help make your longer articles clear and easy to read?
Adding a table of contents to a longer article is really great way to delight your visitors and keep them on your site for longer, reading your content. Not only does it help readers navigate your post and easily understand how it’s laid out, but it also helps search engines figure out everything that’s included in your content.
So, let’s take a look at the best table of contents plugins for WordPress.
How a Table of Contents Plugin Helps SEO
Before we dive into our list, let’s take a quick look at how adding a table of contents to your content can help boost your SEO.
When Google and other search engine bots crawl your content, they go in a specific order. They look at the most important bits of content first, including your title, meta title and description, article headings, and links.
By using a table of contents plugin, you’re providing not only keyword-rich headings to help Google understand your content, but also links to those headings that could be used at the bottom of your search result:
So, using a table of contents plugin for your longer articles can improve your SEO and help boost your rankings.
Our Favorite WordPress Table of Contents Plugins
Now that you know how a table of contents plugin can improve your SEO, let’s dive into our list of the best table of contents plugins for WordPress!
1. All in One SEO (AIOSEO)
All in One SEO (AIOSEO) is the best SEO plugin for WordPress, and one of its great features is a table of contents block.
With the All in One SEO plugin installed on your site, you’ll be able to optimize every page and post, easily create a sitemap, set up important schema, and much more.
The AIOSEO Table of Contents block stands out from the rest because not only does it automatically generate a list of your post’s headings in an outline format, but it also lets you edit them! So, if you’d like your headings to be shorter, for instance, in your table of contents, you can easily edit them. It also lets you re-order headings and change their anchors.
Here are a few of the features you’ll get with AIOSEO:
- Customizable table of contents block
- Optimized FAQ block
- Smart schema markup
- TruSEO score for each page and post
- Sitemap generator
- And more!
Pricing: You can get the table of contents block for free, then upgrade when you need more features!
2. Easy Table of Contents
Easy Table of Contents is a free WordPress plugin for creating a table of contents. It’s easy to use and simple to learn, which makes it a good choice if you don’t need many bells and whistles or extra features.
One cool feature of this plugin is that you can customize your colors however you’d like. Change the border, background, and link color.
A few other Easy Table of Contents features are:
- The plugin will automatically create your table of contents based on your content’s headings
- This isn’t just a Gutenberg block – it also works in the classic editor
- Multiple bullet formats to choose from
- Choose which headings are used to generate the table
- Includes a widget that can be placed in the sidebar
Pricing: Easy Table of Contents is free.
Get started with Easy Table of Contents now!
3. LuckyWP Table of Contents
LuckyWP Table of Contents is another free table of contents plugin for WordPress. Like most of the others on our list, it’s very basic and easy to use, but does have a few more features than the most basic TOC plugins.
This plugin creates SEO friendly table of content blocks that are customizable and work on pages, posts, and custom post types.
A few other LuckyWP Table of Contents features are:
- Automatic table of contents creation
- Insert with a shortcode, Gutenberg block, or widget
- Works with the classic editor
- Skip headings by level or text
- Customizable appearance: width, float, title font size and weight, items font size, colors
- Creates hash URLs
Pricing: LuckyWP Table of Contents is free.
Get started with LuckWP Table of Contents now!
4. Heroic Table of Contents
Heroic Table of Contents is another free WordPress table of contents plugin. This plugin has the ability to hide and rename headings without altering your content below, which can sometimes come in handy.
A few other Heroic Table of Contents features are:
- Gutenberg block
- 4 built-in styles
- The table can be expanded or collapsed by your readers
- Choose which headings to display
- Choose bulleted, numbered, or plain lists
- Mobile friendly
Pricing: Heroic Table of Contents is free.
Get started with Heroic Table of Contents now!
5. SimpleTOC
SimpleTOC is another free table of contents plugin for WordPress. This one is a Gutenberg block and is really basic. If you just want to insert a table of contents without configuring it at all, this plugin might be for you.
A few other SimpleTOC features are:
- Zero configuration – just add the block to your page or post
- Inherits the style of your theme
- Choose between an ordered list and bullet points
- No JavaScript or CSS added
- Minimal HTML output
Pricing: SimpleTOC is free.
Get started with SimpleTOC now!
6. Ultimate Blocks
Ultimate Blocks is a free plugin that includes a whole list of Gutenberg blocks in addition to a table of contents. If you’re looking for some of the other blocks this plugin includes, it might be a nice one to pick for the table of contents.
Besides the table of contents block, Ultimate Blocks also includes tabbed content, star ratings, social sharing, testimonials, click to tweet, countdown, progress bar, and more.
A few features of the Ultimate Blocks table of contents block are:
- Choose which headings you want to include
- The list can be split into two or three columns
- Choose from bulleted, numbered or plain
Pricing: Ultimate Blocks is free.
Get started with Ultimate Blocks now!
The Best Table of Contents Plugin for WordPress: Our Pick
Our choice for the best table of contents plugin for WordPress is All in One SEO. It has so many added benefits beyond just the table of contents block!
Or, if it’s just the table of contents you need without SEO help, LuckyWP Table of Contents is well loved by its users and can make a great table of contents.
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