In June 2024, the WordPress community has experienced numerous exciting developments.
Highlights include the acquisition of the LowFruits keyword tool by the AIOSEO plugin and the release of the beta version of WordPress 6.6 by the WordPress core team.
These are just a few of the stories we’ve uncovered this month.
Continue reading for the latest WordPress news in this month’s edition of CanadaCreate Spotlight.
Introducing CanadaCreate Spotlight, a new monthly series where we cover all the latest news from the WordPress ecosystem.
Do you have significant WordPress news to share for next month’s column, such as a new brand acquisition, merger, or major feature release? If so, please reach out to us using our contact form.
All in One SEO for WordPress Acquires LowFruits Keyword Tool
The well-known WordPress SEO plugin All in One SEO for WordPress has acquired LowFruits, a popular tool for keyword research.
Ben Rojas, President of All in One SEO, shared his thoughts on the acquisition in his announcement post:
After recognizing the difficulties in finding keywords that can drive qualified traffic, we dedicated over a year to exploring various methods to enhance keyword research for our users.
After thorough evaluation, it was clear that acquiring LowFruits was the ideal choice to provide a complete, user-friendly solution that meets this demand.
Ben Rojas – President of AIOSEO
LowFruits is a keyword research tool designed to help users discover low-competition keywords that can boost their website rankings and increase traffic.
LowFruits will continue to function independently, preserving its distinct features and capabilities. Users will not necessarily need to utilize All in One SEO for WordPress to take advantage of LowFruits.
Nevertheless, the All in One SEO team believes that integrating both tools will offer their customers a significant edge in search engine rankings.
LowFruits provides two pricing options: a ‘Pay as you go’ plan and a subscription plan priced at $249 per year.
WPCode Introduces a Free Search & Replace Plugin for WordPress
The popular code snippets plugin, WPCode, has launched a free Search & Replace Everything plugin for WordPress.
Our founder, Syed Balkhi, provided additional insights in a blog post available here on CanadaCreate.
Search & Replace Everything is a powerful tool that enables easy searching and replacing of content within WordPress.
Users can now utilize a straightforward interface to search for specific content and define what they want to replace, eliminating the need for complicated SQL queries.
The plugin provides a preview of the items it identifies based on the user’s search criteria, along with a visual representation of how those items will appear after the replacement.
Users have the option to narrow their search to particular database tables. The plugin operates quickly and is optimized for handling database tasks on larger websites. Additionally, it allows users to use the Search & Replace Everything Plugin to swap images in their WordPress media library.
A free version of the plugin is available on WordPress.org, along with a premium plan starting at $29 per year. The paid version unlocks extra features, including access to historical data and the capability to undo changes.
WordPress.com Introduces Studio for Windows
Earlier this year, WordPress.com launched Studio for MacOS, a local development environment for WordPress.
Recently, they expanded their offerings with the launch of Studio for Windows.
Studio serves as a local development environment, simplifying the process of creating and developing WordPress sites directly on your computer (localhost). It is open-source software available on GitHub and can be easily forked.
With Studio, users have the option to log into their WordPress.com account and effortlessly share their sites with clients and team members. Please note that these demo sites are temporary and will be removed after seven days.
Users can export their local site and easily import it into any WordPress hosting plan using tools such as Duplicator.
Dates and Venue for WordCamp Asia and WordCamp Europe Announced for 2025
The WordCamp Asia team has confirmed that the event will occur from February 20 to 22, 2025, at the Philippine International Convention Center in Manila, Philippines.
Following the conclusion of WordCamp Europe 2024, the dates for 2025 have been announced. WordCamp Europe 2025 is scheduled to take place in Basel, Switzerland, from June 5 to 7, 2025.
The dates for WordCamp Europe coincide with the significant Muslim holiday, Eid-ul-Adha, which may affect attendance.
WordCamps are community-focused WordPress events held worldwide, with numerous gatherings in over 65 countries. Major events like WordCamp Asia, WordCamp Europe, and WordCamp U.S. attract WordPress enthusiasts from across the globe.
The WordPress.org Plugin Directory now displays up to 10 million active installations.
Previously, the WordPress.org plugin directory limited the number of active installs for plugins to 5 million. However, several plugins surpassed this limit.
The active install limit has now been increased to 10 million. You can find plugins with the highest install counts in the Popular tab on the WordPress.org Plugins website.
Currently, only four plugins have surpassed 10 million installs: Elementor, Contact Form 7, Yoast SEO, and Classic Editor. Following them are WooCommerce with 7 million installs, Akismet with over 7 million installs, and WPForms with 6 million installs.
All in One SEO Introduces SEOBoost
In exciting news, the team behind All in One SEO for WordPress has launched SEOBoost, a new on-page SEO optimization tool.
This tool streamlines the content creation process, addressing everything from keyword research and content brief creation to content optimization and SEO audits.
Users can begin with topic reports, create content briefs, and optimize their content for better search engine rankings, all from a single dashboard.
The content optimization tool leverages AI-driven analysis to assist you in producing high-ranking content. It examines the top 30 ranking topics related to your keyword and identifies the most frequently used and significant keywords to incorporate into your content.
SEOBoost is now offering a 14-day free trial, with paid plans starting at just $22.50 per month.
The latest updates, WordPress versions 6.5.4 and 6.5.5, have been released.
WordPress version 6.5.4 was launched as a maintenance update, addressing a bug that hindered plugins from redirecting users after activation.
This functionality is essential for WordPress plugins to run onboarding wizards, assisting users in setting up the plugins effectively.
The resolution of this issue was a collaborative effort among teams from Automattic, Awesome Motive, Elementor, StellarWP, and other core contributors.
WordPress version 6.5.5 was a security update that included three important security fixes, making it highly advisable to upgrade your site.
Hostinger Achieves Over 100 Million Euros in Revenue
Hostinger, a leading WordPress hosting provider, has reported impressive financial results for 2023, with total revenue soaring by 57% year-over-year, reaching €110.2 million by year-end.
Hostinger’s CEO, Daugirdas Jankus, shared insights on the company’s outstanding performance:
Every year, we are rapidly advancing towards our ambitious goal of becoming the leading web hosting provider in the world. 2023 was no exception, as we consistently improved our performance. Although we may appear to be a large company in our region, we still have significant growth opportunities in the global market.
The company’s success is attributed to innovative developments that have broadened its customer base. For instance, Hostinger is actively working on AI-powered products designed to enhance the online experience for its users.
WordPress 6.6 Beta Released
The beta version of WordPress 6.6 has been released for testing. This version will include new data views, overrides in synchronized patterns, a more consistent publishing experience, and additional features.
For more information, you can check out an overview of the upcoming features in WordPress 6.6.
In Other News:
- WPForms has introduced Repeater Fields, which allow users to add form fields as needed. This feature is particularly useful for creating booking forms where users may want to include multiple names. With a repeater field, users can simply click on the (+) button to add another name.
- Joost de Valk has launched a new tool called Progress Planner, designed to help website owners stay motivated and continue making progress.
- The Sugar Calendar team has completely redesigned their Event Calendar plugin, enabling you to showcase events on your website, sell tickets, and much more.
- MonsterInsights has introduced the Site Notes Automation Addon, which allows users to automate site notes through Uncanny Automator or a direct API, helping to save essential information effortlessly.
- Bluehost has unveiled an agency partner program that offers discounts, complimentary cloud hosting, priority support, and educational resources.
- Gravatar has launched Profiles as a Service, allowing you to create a detailed online profile page with Gravatar.
That concludes this edition of CanadaCreate Spotlight.
We welcome your feedback on how to enhance and expand this column. Additionally, we invite you to share any newsworthy items you’d like featured in next month’s edition.
Please share your suggestions or leave a comment below regarding what you would like to see in this space.
We will return with more WordPress news next month.
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