AI content & image tools

Hydrogen SEO's AI help for the writing and visual side of SEO comes through two places: Hydrogen AI, the SEO agent, and the ◆ Generate Alt Text buttons in the WordPress Media Library. Through Hydrogen AI you can draft meta titles and descriptions, social titles and descriptions, generate, expand or improve content, and generate featured images. In the Media Library you can write alt text for one image or a selection. All of it shares one philosophy: AI drafts, you decide. This page maps out each tool, where it lives, and how credits work.

All AI tools need a free hydrogenseo.com account (free credits included on signup); every non-AI feature of the plugin works with no account at all. Connecting takes a minute; see connect your account, then connect Hydrogen AI for the agent.

Where Hydrogen AI lives

The Hydrogen AI tab in the SEO Settings sheet, scoped to the post or page you have open. Open the sheet with the toolbar button, the ⋮ menu or ⌘E / Ctrl+E; see the SEO Settings sheet.
Hydrogen SEO → Hydrogen AI in wp-admin, for site-wide work across many posts.

There are no separate AI tool screens and no AI controls beside individual fields; you ask the agent in plain language, and it works through the plugin's registered tools. See meet Hydrogen AI.

AI meta titles and descriptions

Ask the Hydrogen AI tab "suggest an SEO title and meta description for this post" to review drafts first, or "write and save an SEO title and meta description" to have them saved onto the post. The agent reads the post's real title and content and reports the lengths, and the Google SERP preview in the sheet shows how the result will look. For many posts, ask from the dashboard: "write meta descriptions for every post missing one".

Details: AI titles and descriptions and SEO titles and meta descriptions.

The same metadata generation produces Open Graph and X (Twitter) title and description variants, and the live share-card previews in the sheet show exactly how they will render when shared. You can also ask for social copy on its own: "write a shorter, punchier X title for this post". See Open Graph settings, Twitter cards, and social share previews.

AI content generation and rewriting

Through Hydrogen AI, three content abilities:

Generate drafts new content on a topic you give it.
Expand takes a post's existing content and develops it further.
Improve rewrites existing content for a goal you specify, such as clarity or better keyword coverage, while keeping your meaning.

Each produces a draft for your review, and the agent's policy applies to anything it would write to a post; see AI abilities and safety. Treat AI output as a strong first draft: verify facts, keep your voice, and check the post's SEO score once you have saved.

AI featured image generation

Ask Hydrogen AI to "generate a featured image for this post", or describe the image you want. The agent generates the image and can set it as the post's featured image; you see the image before it matters anywhere, and if it's not right, ask again or set your own. This is handy for content that would otherwise ship with no featured image at all, which hurts share cards and archive pages.

AI image alt text

Alt text has its own tools, in the Media Library rather than the agent chat, shown only while the site is connected to Hydrogen AI:

One image: the ◆ Generate Alt Text button above the Alternative Text field in the attachment details panel, in Media → Library (grid), in the media modal of the post editors, and on the attachment edit screen.
Many images: select images in Media → Library and click ◆ Generate Alt Text in the toolbar. It asks you to confirm first.
On upload: Generate Alt Text with AI on Upload under Hydrogen SEO → General → Images, off by default. When on, every image uploaded without alt text gets alt text; PDFs and other files are never sent.
Through the agent: "add alt text to every image in the media library that doesn't have any".

Each image uses 1 credit. Full guide: image alt text.

Credits

Each AI generation consumes credits from your hydrogenseo.com account: a metadata draft, a content generation or rewrite, a generated image, agent work, and 1 credit for each image's alt text. Signup includes free credits; paid plans at /pricing cover heavier use. When credits run out, only AI generation pauses. Your titles, schema, sitemaps, redirects, and every other non-AI feature keep working exactly as before. Full details: credits, plans and billing.

Review before save, always

The design principle across all these tools is worth stating plainly:

AI produces a suggestion or draft, or a change the agent shows you.
You see it, with lengths and previews where relevant.
You accept, edit, or discard it.
What is saved lands in the same ordinary fields you could have filled by hand.

Copy-paste AI workflows lose this accountability; a chatbot in another tab doesn't know your site and can't show you a SERP preview. Keeping generation inside the plugin keeps the human in the loop and the output grounded.

FAQ

Do AI tools work without an account?

No. AI features need a free hydrogenseo.com account. Everything else in the plugin, including titles, schema, sitemaps, robots, redirects and the non-AI Add Missing ALT Attributes fallback, works with no account whatsoever.

What happened to the AI tools screens?

They were removed. Titles, descriptions, content and featured images are handled by Hydrogen AI, and alt text by the Generate Alt Text buttons in the Media Library.

What exactly costs credits?

Each AI generation: title and description drafts, social metadata drafts, content generation or rewriting, featured image generation, alt text (1 credit per image), and agent work. Viewing, editing, and saving cost nothing.

Will AI overwrite my existing titles or content?

Not without you asking. Ask for suggestions and nothing is written; ask the agent to save and it shows the change, with policy controls applied; see AI Abilities and safety. Alt text from the Media Library buttons fills the Alternative Text field, which you can edit afterwards.

What happens to my site when credits hit zero?

Only AI generation pauses. No existing metadata, schema, or content is touched, and every non-AI feature keeps working. Top up or upgrade at /pricing when you're ready.