=== VectraSEO – Answer Engine Optimization, AI Content & SEO Audit ===
Contributors: cigan1
Tags: seo, ai content, answer engine optimization, site audit, autoblogging
Requires at least: 6.0
Tested up to: 6.9
Requires PHP: 7.4
Stable tag: 0.1.1
License: GPLv2 or later
License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html

Connect WordPress to VectraSEO: AI content generation, Answer Engine Optimization for ChatGPT and Perplexity, and a 39-rule SEO site audit.

== Description ==

The VectraSEO plugin connects your WordPress site to the hosted [VectraSEO](https://vectraseo.com/) platform — an SEO operations service built for the era of AI search. Where traditional SEO tools only optimize for Google's blue links, VectraSEO is designed so your content can be found, ranked, and cited by Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and other answer engines.

The plugin itself is a lightweight, privacy-respecting connector. It adds a settings page that exposes the connection details VectraSEO needs to publish, update, or monitor content over the standard WordPress REST API and Application Passwords. **No tracking scripts are injected. No public-facing badges are added. No data leaves your site automatically.** You stay in control: VectraSEO only performs the publishing and monitoring actions you configure inside your VectraSEO project.

= What VectraSEO does for your WordPress site =

VectraSEO is a single platform that covers the whole content workflow — from research and writing to publishing and continuous site health monitoring.

**AI content generation that doesn't read like AI content.** Enter a target keyword or topic and VectraSEO generates a fully structured, SEO-ready blog post with proper headings, internal links, external citations, images, FAQs, and schema markup. Every article is optimized both for traditional SEO and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO), so the same piece can rank on Google and earn citations inside ChatGPT and Perplexity answers.

**Answer Engine Optimization built in.** VectraSEO ships with dedicated AEO rules: schema-rich content blocks, direct-answer paragraphs, clean entity references, FAQ extraction, llms.txt support, and AI-crawler-friendly structure. If you have been hearing about "AEO" or "GEO" (Generative Engine Optimization) and wondering how to do it without a dozen extra plugins — this is built into every article and every audit.

**A real 39-rule SEO site audit.** VectraSEO monitors your WordPress site across 39 SEO and AEO rules covering crawlability, metadata, canonicals, robots.txt, sitemap health, internal and external link integrity, broken-link probing, hreflang correctness, image optimization, Core Web Vitals signals, content quality, structured data validation, and accessibility. Every URL on your sitemap (up to 200 per scan) is checked on a daily or weekly schedule. New critical issues trigger email alerts.

**Autoblogging that respects your brand.** Set a content schedule (daily, weekly, or custom), connect competitor sites for content-gap analysis, and let VectraSEO research the topics your audience is actually searching for. Generated posts can be published as drafts for review or scheduled live — your choice. There is no forced "publish 50 posts a day" autoblog mode and no duplicate-content spam.

**Content gap analysis from your real competitors.** Add competitor URLs to your VectraSEO project and the platform analyzes the topics they rank for that you do not. Every gap is a topic suggestion with search intent, difficulty estimate, and a one-click "generate article" action.

**Sitemap, schema, and technical SEO done right.** VectraSEO generates and maintains an XML sitemap, validates JSON-LD schema markup, checks canonical tag correctness, monitors internal-link health, and probes outbound links for 404s and redirects. These are exactly the technical SEO checks that AI answer engines use to decide which sites to trust.

= What the plugin actually does on your site =

This plugin is intentionally minimal — it is a connector, not a heavyweight bundle:

* **Adds an admin settings page** at *Settings → VectraSEO* with the connection details VectraSEO needs (site URL, posts endpoint, status endpoint).
* **Exposes a local status endpoint** at `/wp-json/vectraseo/v1/status` so VectraSEO can verify the connection. The endpoint returns non-sensitive plugin/REST availability metadata and can be disabled from the settings page.
* **Checks WordPress Application Passwords availability** so you know if your environment supports the secure authentication method VectraSEO requires.
* **Adds a Settings shortcut** on the Plugins screen for quick access.
* **No public-facing badges, credits, or injected frontend links.** The plugin does not change how your site looks to visitors.
* **No automatic outbound data transfer.** The plugin does not call VectraSEO from your site. Publishing, monitoring, and AI generation are initiated from your VectraSEO project — using the standard WordPress REST API and your Application Password.

= Why VectraSEO instead of a traditional SEO plugin =

Traditional SEO plugins (Yoast, Rank Math, AIOSEO) help you optimize one page at a time inside the WordPress editor. They are excellent at what they do — and VectraSEO works alongside them, not against them.

VectraSEO is different in three ways:

1. **It generates and publishes content for you**, not just checks a finished post.
2. **It optimizes for AI answer engines** (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Claude, Gemini), not just classic Google search. AEO is the fastest-growing SEO sub-discipline of 2026 and most plugins still ignore it.
3. **It continuously monitors your whole site** for 39 SEO and AEO rules with email alerts when something breaks — not just the page you happen to be editing.

= Privacy and data handling =

* The plugin does not make automatic outbound network requests from your WordPress site.
* The status endpoint can be disabled from *Settings → VectraSEO*.
* When you connect your site inside VectraSEO, the platform uses your WordPress REST API and the Application Password you generate to publish, update, or delete posts you configure. You can revoke the Application Password at any time from your WordPress profile.
* The plugin does not load any third-party JavaScript or CSS on the public-facing site.

= External service =

This plugin is designed to be used with the hosted VectraSEO service at https://vectraseo.com/.

When you choose to connect your site inside the VectraSEO application, VectraSEO may use the WordPress REST API and the Application Password that you create in WordPress to publish, update, or delete posts according to your VectraSEO project settings. This plugin itself does not send data to VectraSEO automatically.

* Service terms: https://vectraseo.com/terms
* Privacy policy: https://vectraseo.com/privacy

== Installation ==

1. Upload the `vectraseo` folder to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory, or install the plugin from the WordPress plugin directory.
2. Activate the plugin through the **Plugins** screen in WordPress.
3. Open **Settings → VectraSEO**.
4. Create a WordPress Application Password from your WordPress profile (the settings page links to the right screen).
5. In VectraSEO, set the CMS type to WordPress and enter your site URL, WordPress username, and the Application Password.
6. Run a test publish from VectraSEO before enabling scheduled publishing.

== Frequently Asked Questions ==

= What is Answer Engine Optimization (AEO)? =

Answer Engine Optimization is the practice of structuring your content so AI answer engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews, Claude, Gemini — can find it, understand it, and cite it. Traditional SEO targets the blue links on a Google results page. AEO targets the AI-generated answer that increasingly sits above those links. VectraSEO optimizes for both at the same time.

= Does this plugin send my data to VectraSEO automatically? =

No. The plugin does not make automatic outbound requests. It provides local setup information and a local status endpoint that can be disabled. Publishing and monitoring actions are always initiated from your VectraSEO project.

= Do I need a VectraSEO account? =

Yes. The plugin is a connector for the hosted VectraSEO service. You can start with the free Site Health Monitor plan at [vectraseo.com](https://vectraseo.com/) — no credit card required.

= Does VectraSEO need my WordPress password? =

No. VectraSEO uses a WordPress Application Password, which is a separate, revocable credential generated from your WordPress profile. Your main WordPress password is never shared. You can revoke the Application Password at any time and the connection will stop working immediately.

= Will this conflict with Yoast, Rank Math, or AIOSEO? =

No. VectraSEO is designed to work alongside existing SEO plugins, not replace them. The articles VectraSEO publishes include the metadata fields those plugins expect, so your meta titles, meta descriptions, and focus keywords carry through correctly.

= Does it work with WordPress Multisite? =

Yes. Activate the plugin per site and connect each site as a separate project inside VectraSEO. Each site has its own Application Password and audit schedule.

= Does VectraSEO support multilingual sites? =

Yes. VectraSEO supports content generation, AEO optimization, and hreflang validation in over 100 languages. Multilingual configuration is handled inside the VectraSEO project, not in the plugin.

= Can I disable the status endpoint? =

Yes. Open **Settings → VectraSEO** and uncheck the "Enable the public VectraSEO status endpoint" option. When disabled, the endpoint returns only a minimal "enabled: false" response.

= How does VectraSEO compare to Arvow, Frase, or Surfer SEO? =

VectraSEO covers AI content generation, autoblogging, content gap analysis, technical SEO audit, broken-link monitoring, schema validation, and AEO optimization in one platform — with a free tier and transparent pricing. Detailed feature comparisons are at [vectraseo.com/vs](https://vectraseo.com/vs).

= Is the source open? =

The plugin's source is published under GPLv2-or-later. You can browse the code or follow the development log from the WordPress.org plugin page.

== Screenshots ==

1. The Settings → VectraSEO admin page in WordPress: site URL, WordPress posts endpoint, VectraSEO status endpoint, and Application Passwords availability check.
2. The VectraSEO dashboard health score showing the 39-rule SEO and AEO audit results for a connected WordPress site.
3. Answer Engine Optimization rules detail: schema markup, direct-answer blocks, llms.txt, and AI-crawler-friendly content structure.
4. Content gap analysis showing topics competitors rank for that you do not, with one-click article generation.
5. Autoblog scheduler — daily, weekly, or custom cadence with optional draft-only mode for human review.

== Changelog ==

= 0.1.1 =

* Improved plugin description, FAQ, and discoverability metadata.
* Clarified privacy and data-handling sections.
* No functional changes to the plugin itself.

= 0.1.0 =

* Initial connector release.

== Upgrade Notice ==

= 0.1.1 =

Documentation update. Safe to upgrade — no functional changes to the plugin.

= 0.1.0 =

Initial connector release.
