WordPress is basically a blogging platform that offers robust features for high search engine rankings. With the default WordPress setup, it is very easy to categorize blog posts and pages. However, nowadays SEO has other aspects compared to the traditional focus on metadata. Yoast is the leader in SEO for WordPress, leading the way for many other developers to address these various aspects of WordPress SEO. Following the path of Yoast, Rank Math is an SEO plugin for WordPress sites from Mythemeshop. It has all the features you need to customize and improve your site’s search engine rankings.
Installing and activating the plugin
Go to your WordPress dashboard and select Plugins > Add New. Search for “ranking math” to install and activate the plugin.
Using the installation wizard
If you already have the Yoast / Redirections plugin, then Rank Math will prompt you to migrate your settings.
If you’re installing on a new WordPress site or don’t have the Yoast/Redirection plugin, you’ll see an initial setup wizard without importing settings.
The installation wizard will show the compatibility of the Rank Math plugin with your WordPress installation. Click the “More” button to see if you have any incompatibility issues. The plugin has several steps to configure settings in the installation wizard.
Section of your site
In this section, indicate whether your site is a personal blog or owned by an organization. This will help Google display the Knowledge Graph in search results.
Search Console
Enter the authorization code in Google Search Console and select a profile to connect the plugin to your account. You can now directly view Search Console crawl errors and take action.
Sitemaps
Enable the Sitemaps button to have the plugin automatically generate an XML Sitemap index for your site. You can include or exclude post types, taxonomies, and images in a Sitemap.
Below is how the sitemap index file generated by the Rank Math plugin will look like.
Optimization
You can optimize the SEO settings below in this section.
- Noindex empty tag and category archive
- Links to nofollow image files
- Open external links in a new window
- Band category database
Now you are ready to use the plugin. However, you can click the “Set advanced options” button to view more options.
Additional customization options
Advanced setup has two options:
404 + Redirect – Enable or disable the 404 error and redirect monitoring module.
Miscellaneous – Here you can allow the plugin to add missing alt/title text for images and set default rich snippet settings.
After completing the setup, you will be redirected to the control panel.
Using the Plugin Settings Menu
If you missed something in the setup wizard or want to change the initial settings, use the menu items to customize them to suit your needs. There are also many additional options on the settings page you are interested in:
- Enable or disable author/date archives in the Headings and Meta section.
- Set the default title and description formats using variables.
- Redirect the attachment pages to the URL of the post under General Settings > Links.
- Turn on the breadcrumbs and adjust them in General settings > Breadcrumbs.
- Export the entire setting from the Import or Export section.
Creating posts with Rank Math
Rank Math will add a meta field to the post editor that will show options for content optimization.
- You can add a keyword to post and get an SEO score.
- Check the readability of the content and title.
- Make sure keyword density is sufficient.
- Define the post as the main content (the cornerstone of Yoast SEO).
- Set up redirect meta tags and robots.
- Change the settings for rich web page descriptions.
- Add social options for Facebook and Twitter.
To use all the features, you need to create an account on the Rank Math website.
Help and support
Rank Math offers detailed documentation, Facebook page support, and a demo site. If you want to try before installing on your site, then check out the demo to see the settings in the frontend and backend options.
Rank Math plugin for WordPress SEO
Free
Product Name: Rank Math Plugin
Product Description: Rank Math is a free SEO plugin to optimize WordPress websites and improve search engine rankings on Google.
Bidding: Free
- SEO features
- User interface
- Additional features
- Support and Documentation
Summary
Rank Math is an umbrella plugin covering several features. You can easily try out the plugin on a new site. However, you need to create an account to use certain features of the plugin. The plugin also offers an easy way to import settings from the Yoast and Redirections plugins. If the Yoast SEO plugin is not working on your site for any reason, then you can try Rank Math as an alternative.
pros
- One of the biggest advantages of the Rank Math plugin is that it covers the functionality of multiple plugins. This way you don’t need to install multiple plugins on your site. This will greatly improve speed and usability.
- Easy setup wizard for new websites and easy transfer of settings from Yoast.
Minuses
- The lack of uniqueness gives the feeling of copying and putting the functions of the Yoast and Redirections plugins into a single basket.
- Marketing strategy for promoting through a Facebook group and requesting an account.