The placement of wireless mesh routers is a significant matter in enhancing the performance of a wireless mesh network. Therefore, it is essential that the mesh routers are optimally placed to guarantee strong connectivity and coverage for ensuring the best network accessibility. The importance of this issue has motivated the researchers to pursue more investigation on optimizing the networks' performance. Various optimization algorithms have been developed in the literature to identify the trade-offs between network connectivity and client coverage. This work is aimed at implementing a novel application of Harris Hawk's Optimization (HHO) algorithm to optimally place mesh routers in a wireless mesh network so as to improve connectivity and coverage. The HHO seeks optimal routers placement that leads to maximizing the connection between routers and increasing the number of covered clients. In this study, three network configurations are used with sizes of 40, 60, and 100 mesh routers. The simulation results are statistically analyzed and compared to other population-based algorithms such as Sine Cosine Algorithm (SCA), Gray Wolf's Optimization (GWO), and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO). Moreover, the performance of HHO is compared with the state-of-the-art to validate the effectiveness of the proposed approach. The simulation findings and statistical analysis confirm that the HHO outperforms the other algorithms in terms of network coverage and connectivity. The outcomes demonstrate that HHO can be considered an efficacious means to enhance the performance of wireless mesh networks (WMNs). © 2013 IEEE.