Rank Math SEO Plugin Review + Best Settings for WordPress SEO

Rank Math SEO plugin created the buzz in the WordPress community.

There is a special reason behind it.

After 2018’s Yoast SEO bug issue, many people have realized that they can’t rely on a particular product and need a better and reliable alternative to this plugin.

Although the Yoast team has officially apologized for its mistake & suggested the solution, millions of bloggers & webmasters lost trust in the Yoast SEO plugin.

Some of them might have uninstalled this plugin and may never add to their sites. However, the rest of the people had no choice because there wasn’t a better alternative to the Yoast SEO plugin.

It’s not the case anymore.

Rank Math SEO plugin has arrived and it’s going to change the WordPress SEO forever. With the Rank Math, even the non-techies can perform a ton of SEO activities to rank their website on the top of the Google search.

But before comparing these WordPress SEO plugins and exploring the Rank Math plugin in detail, I must answer one question – Why do you need an SEO plugin for WordPress?

Why Do You Need an SEO Plugin for WordPress?

Although WordPress is one of the most popular and SEO-friendly CMS (Content Management System) developed by following the best coding practices, a ton of websites in your niche are competing against yours to get on the top of the SERP.

You need to optimize the content and overall website structure so that you can rank on the first page of the search engines.

For non-techies, it’s quite challenging to improve their SEO without using a WordPress SEO plugin. Even the seasoned webmasters may feel it a tedious job to performs all SEO activities only by looking at the source code.

Just tell me, why should you choose the harder ways to search engine optimization, when an easiest one is available.

Yes!

I’m talking about WordPress SEO plugins. They can literally do anything right from optimizing your contents for better search visibility to the advanced SEO tasks like adding schema microdata and monitoring 404 error, etc.

Rank Math is one of the most powerful WordPress SEO plugin I have found in my online journey.

It comes with a ton of useful features to manage your contents and optimize your website, including in-built content analysis, managing keywords, redirection manager, and much more.

Let’s take a look at some of its great features that make Rank Math the best WordPress SEO plugin out of the box.

Rank Math SEO Plugin Features

Every blogger or webmaster using WordPress wants a perfect SEO tool which can handle all optimization part so he/she can spend more time on other productive work.

Right?

If you are searching for the same, then you’ve landed on the right page.

Rank Math plugin is the perfect solution for most of the on-page activities, including technical optimization.

I’m sure that after looking at all features, you can’t resist yourself to get a copy of this plugin for your site.

1. Lightweight and Speed-Optimized

Rank Math plugin is the most powerful, still a very lightweight (2.47 MB zipped).

Plugin developers have reworked the Rank Math framework to make it faster than ever before.

Why does it matter?

Yes! It matters a lot.

Being a lightweight, the website with Rank Math SEO plugin loads quicker than the same site using Yoast SEO.

Refer the following screenshots to get a better idea of what I’m talking about.

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2. Modular Design

Not every website needs all features coded in a particular plugin. However, only a few plugins have the option to switch the unwanted features.

MyThemeShop developers know it very well, and that’s why Rank Math plugin comes with a modular design. You can activate only the features you want to enable.

Just use the toggle button to activate or deactivate the particular module and click on the Save Modules at the bottom.

3. Beginner-Friendly User Interface

Whether you are currently using Yoast SEO, All-In-One SEO pack, or any other SEO plugins, there is a learning curve for non-techies, especially in technical optimization.

However, MyThemeShop has successfully introduced many technical SEO features like 404 Monitoring, Open-graph, Rich snippets, where you would need to hire a developer.

For example,

You can select the Rich Snippet type directly below the current post itself that you’re editing and add schema microdata under Rich Snippets tab.

It’ll help Google, as well as other search engines, better understand your content so that you can potentially rank higher in the SERP.

Plus, Google may display additional information like the review count, pricing, etc. in the search results, which can increase the organic CTR.

With Rank Math, this entire process becomes completely beginner-friendly, and anyone can do it without asking for help from others.

4. In-Depth Content SEO Analysis

Yoast SEO was the absolute winner in Content SEO analysis before the arrival of Rank Math Plugin.

Yoast’s SEO analysis tells all Good Results, Improvements, and the Errors which you need to fix asap.

Rank Math plugin uses a similar engine which finds your SEO and Readability score in real-time.

Here is how Rank Math SEO Analysis works.

➤ Basic SEO

It checks whether your focus keyword is present in the SEO title, description, URL, and content. The inclusion of the focused keyword in such places greatly help boost your site ranking in the SERP.

➤ Additional SEO Checks

You’ll find a big list of the on-page SEO activities need to be completed. Rank Math does the additional SEO checks, including the keyword density, image alt attribute, basic link analysis, etc.

Plus, it tells how you could optimize your content better just by managing your focused keywords.

➤ Title Readability

You might have heard about 80-20 rule of headlines, if not you can read this article.

Rank Math SEO plugin finds your title score by checking it against a few points including its overall title length, sentence voice & sentiment, and if the title contains a number or magnet word which may grab the attention of the searcher.

➤ Content Readability

The content readability significantly increases the user experience and make them stay longer on your page.

Rank Math plugin scans the entire copy and tells the overall content length, copy score by Flesch Reading Ease test, the percentage of transition words or phrases, etc.

Use of Subheadings (H2, H3…H6), formatting tags (Strong, Bold, Italic), and the shorter sentences are a great way to improve the content readability.

Rank Math Plugin considers such every minor detail so that you can present a better and more readable copy in front of your audience.

5. Advanced SEO Settings

You might be using different plugins for Redirection, Sitemap creation & submission, and Setting custom values for Robots Meta tags.

However, you just need to activate the particular module in the Rank Math SEO plugin to enable these functionalities to your website.

6. Setting Up Rich Snippet

I have already explained the importance of Rich Snippet.

But, what does rich snippet mean?

Refer the following snaps to get a better idea.

– A regular search snippet for the Mixed fruitcake in the Google Organic Search Results.

It displays Title in Blue, URL in Green, and description in Black color.

Rich Snippets for the Mixed fruitcake in the Google organic search results with additional information, including the image, ratings, estimated cooking time, and calorie value, etc.

They look much better than regular search snippet, and people will instantly get more information in the SERP itself.

Plus, rich snippets have a higher click-through rate (CTR). Google understands that people prefer your web page that ultimately results in a positive change in your site’s organic ranking.

Previously, it was quite challenging to integrate this structured data into a web page. But, Rank Math plugin has made this feature accessible to every webmaster even he/she does not have much technical knowledge.

One just needs to pick a preferred Rich Snippet Type and add the required values in the respective fields/boxes.

7. Manage Social Sharing Preview

Facebook and Twitter are a couple of the most popular social media networks which may drive a ton of real traffic if appropriately leveraged.

However, when your web page URL gets shared on FB or Twitter, the Featured image, SEO title & description will be displayed as default.

If you need a custom thumbnail image, title, and description to be shared on social media platforms, you can set it too.

Plus, you can make some changes by looking at the Facebook/Twitter Preview below each post.

I’m sure that you’ve impressed with what Rank Math SEO plugin is offering.

Now, I am going to explain how to install & setup set up this plugin to your website.

How to Install Rank Math Plugin

Currently, Rank Math SEO plugin is not available in the WordPress plugin repository and will be launched soon.

Installing the Rank Math plugin is simple.

You need to download it to the local storage and upload it to your WordPress site. 

For more details, you can refer to our step-by-step tutorial on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Upon successful activation, Rank Math will be added to your WordPress admin menu bar where you can customize it as per your requirement.

How to Setup a Rank Math WordPress SEO Plugin

Rank Math opens a setup wizard once you activated it where you can add default settings.

Here is a step-by-step tutorial to setup Rank Math plugin.

1. Import SEO Settings

Before running Setup Wizard, Rank Math plugin checks whether your site is compatible to run this plugin.

If everything is okay, then you can start an SEO wizard.

Most of the bloggers & webmasters use Yoast SEO or All-In-One SEO Pack.

Are you switching from those plugins to Rank Math?

You can easily import all settings and metadata from these plugins by clicking on the checkboxes.

2. Add More Information About Your Website

In step 2, you can add more information about your website, including the name, business type, Site logo, and Opengraph thumbnail, etc.

For small local businesses who want to rank in the local snack pack, adding these details will help a lot. FYI, Rank Math features more than 60 business types (Categories) to choose from.

3. Integrate Seach Console

Integrating the Search Console with Rank Math plugin may give some amazing insights about your website, including the crawl errors, keyword performance stats, and other important information directly in the WP dashboard.

It will help you create your SEO strategies to get a better position in the organic search results.

To use this feature, you must list and verify your website to the Google Search Console.

4. Configure Sitemaps

Since Google has revoked access to its Submit URLs to Google, adding a sitemap to your search console is a great way to get your content crawled & indexed.

In this step, you can choose to submit a sitemap, including the preferred settings.

5. SEO Tweaks & Redirection

Link structure, Redirection & webmaster verification are a few things you can manage in this step.

6. Setup Completed

Once setup gets completed, close the wizard and try to explore more features of Rank Math WordPress plugin.

Important

You can skip the initial setup wizard and open it whenever you want just by following this path: WP Admin >> Rank Math (Menu bar) >>Dashboard >> Setup Wizard.

However, setting up the plugin immediately after installation is always great.

Exploring Rank Math WordPress Plugin Settings

Rank Math offers multiple SEO modules in a single plugin. That’s why you need to explore its setting in details.

Once you install and activate the Rank Math SEO plugin, you will notice a dedicated menu appearing on the WordPress Admin Bar.

By clicking on that, you can switch between different options available in the plugin.

1. Dashboard

It’s Rank Math Welcome screen where you will see primary options to switch Modules on/off, the Setup Wizard and Import/Export Settings.

Plus, there is an about section telling the basic info about Rank Math WordPress plugin. You’ll also find a couple more tabs for System Info and Help so you can ask for Customer Support anytime if you face any issue.

2. General Settings

This is the section of Rank Math SEO plugin settings you MUST look closely.

It offers plenty of settings you could have never imagined before in any WordPress SEO plugin.

Don’t waste your time.

Let’s see what Rank Math SEO plugin do for you.

Links

The links are essential elements of SEO. This particular tab has different options to control the website links and URLs.

You can manage advanced redirections by using dedicated Redirection Manager in the Rank Math.

➤ Strip Category Base

Here you can strip category base from the URLs to get clean category archive. Enabling this option results in converting successpixel.com/category/web-design/ to successpixel.com/web-design/

➤ Redirect Attachments

Do you remember the Yoast SEO issue by which the organic ranking of millions of websites went down?

But what had actually happened?

Yoast SEO plugin was indexing the attachment URLs instead of redirecting them to the post itself. That resulted in the Thin Content Penalty, and the organic ranking for those sites decreased significantly.

However, you can easily redirect attachments to the post they appear in using Rank Math WordPress plugin.

➤ Redirect Orphan Media

Have orphan media on your site without a parent post?

Just redirect them to a specific URL related to the particular URL or the homepage. You can also choose the Redirection status code (301 Permanent/302 Temporary) for your attachments.

➤ Remove Stopwords from Permalinks

The stopwords do not add any SEO value and make URLs a bit longer. If you want to remove them from your permalinks, there is an option to do so.

It will only affect the auto-generated URLs for your new posts and won’t make any changes to your existing URLs/Custom URLs.

➤ Nofollow External Links

Enabling this option applies the rel=”nofollow” attribute automatically to all external links appearing in the posts and pages.

However, this attribute is dynamically applied to contents displayed without affecting the stored contents.

This option is beneficial for e-commerce stores, affiliate & review website that mostly talk about the third-party products and the auto-blogs.

➤ Nofollow Image Links

If you are using external images to display sponsored ads or affiliate banner or directly using someone else’s copyright free images to your blog/website, you can set rel=”nofollow” attribute to those links using this option.

➤ Open External Links in New Tab/Window

Opening external links in a new tab/window (adding target=”_blank” attribute) lowers the bounce rate. You can switch it on for regular blogs or news websites.

In case, you need more conversions; then you can set it off to create an uninterrupted buyer’s journey.

Images

Missings alt text is a common error found in the site audit of most of the website. However, settings up alt text/SEO-friendly titles for hundreds of images manually is a time-consuming task.

With Rank Math SEO plugin, you can add missing alt text/title for the featured images and other media files within a few clicks.

Isn’t it amazing?

Breadcrumbs

Breadcrumb is a type of secondary navigation showing the user location in a website or application. You can easily enable this function using the Breadcrumbs tab under General Settings.

However, some WordPress themes need to add a small snippet of PHP code to their functions.php file. I have compiled a short tutorial on How to Enable Breadcrumbs with Rank Math WordPress SEO Plugin if you want to know more.

Webmaster Tools

To get full benefits from the specific webmaster tools, you need to verify your domain by adding a small snippet of code to the header section of your site.

You can do that by editing header.php to enter the verification code between <head> and </head> (head tag).

However, Rank Math WordPress plugin will let you add the HTML code or ID directly through the plugin itself.

Currently, it supports the verification of 8 major search engines & third-party webmaster tools, including Google, Bing, Alexa, Pinterest, etc.

Edit robots.txt

The robots.txt is a small file in the WordPress root directory that contains instructions for the search engine bots which part of the site to crawl.

You can directly edit the robots.txt file using Rank Math plugin.

But, if the actual file exists in the WordPress root directory, then you need to edit it from there. Otherwise, you can delete that file and use Rank Math SEO plugin to edit it.

Edit .htaccess

Hypertext Access a.k.a. .htaccess is a configuration file used by Apache-based web servers to control the directory & the subdirectories it lives in.

This file is primarily used to control permalinks and redirections, create a custom error page.

Plus, it will help in managing more advanced functions such as image hotlink prevention or content password protection, etc.

Editing the .htaccess file is a little complicated and may break your entire site for a small mistake. With Rank Math SEO plugin, you can do it from your WordPress dashboard itself.

404 Monitor

404 Monitor of Rank Math WordPress plugin lets you track the URLs where search engine bots as well as visitors, get 404 not found error.

You can also set to ignore all query parameters when logging 404 errors.

Redirections

This option is helpful to set custom 301c(Permanent Move), 302 (Temporary Move), and 307 (Temporary Redirect) redirections.

Enabling Debug Redirections displays an interstitial debug page for site administrators before each redirection.

Search Console

I have already discussed how to integrate your website with Google search console through Rank Math plugin Setup Wizard.

In case, you have skipped that, then you can manage your website authorization from this option and control the cache limit too.

You may add your email address to receive the weekly updates directly into your mailbox.

Others

Here you can set RSS feed either before or after contents.

2. Titles & Meta

This menu contains global settings for all the posts, pages, and taxonomies of your site.

3. Sitemap Settings

A sitemap is a hierarchical list of web pages designed to help search engine bots as well as human visitors easily navigate the site.

This menu contains different tabs for XML sitemap settings.

You can add the preferred post types and taxonomies to include in the sitemap.

Plus, you can decide a maximum number of items per page (default 1000), whether you want to include the images or featured image, etc.

4. 404 Monitor

Lots of 404 not found errors create a poor user experience which may indirectly hurt your SEO in the long term. That’s why monitoring all 404 errors and removing/redirecting these URLs to relevant pages or homepage is very important.

Rank Math 404 monitor scans your website for all Not Found errors and create a log where you can manage them. I love this feature because it not only detects the 404 errors but also lets us redirect these pages to a custom destination URL in one-click.

5. Redirections

This option allows for managing all redirections. It helps minimize the 404 errors and redirect all old/deleted contents to the fresh & updated ones.

6. Search Console

Google Search Console (previously known as Google Webmasters Tools) is a free service that helps you in managing different SEO related tasks.

However, many people don’t know how to use it effectively and prefer using paid tools.

Integrating the Search Console with Rank Math WordPress plugin will let you control a few critical activities from the WordPress admin dashboard itself.

Overview

This tab will give you an overview of how your website is performing in the organic search results. It’ll show you different SEO metrics, including total clicks, total impressions, average CTR, an average position, as well as total pages and keywords appearing in the Google search.

Yes!

You can see the graphical representation for the selected time frame.

Search Analytics

This option will give detailed information about the keywords and pages appearing in Google’s organic search results.

Plus, you can see different SEO metrics related to them and the changes in positions.

Once you’ve installed the Rank Math plugin, you won’t need a paid subscription for keyword rank tracking.

Important: For professional use and to give reports to the clients, SEO agencies and freelancers may purchase premium tools if they need.

Sitemaps

If you have created and submitted your website XML sitemap to the Google Search Console, then you can review it under this tab.

This option will also tell the errors and warnings if any.

Crawl Errors

Search console gives crawling errors due to various reasons like the page not found. These errors can be seen under Crawl Errors tab.

For additional convenience, MTS has created the separate sections for Desktop as well as Mobile crawl errors.

Keyword Tracker

KW tracker is an upcoming feature of Rank Math SEO plugin which will help you track the organic position of every keyword on your site.

Still, you need a reason to use Rank Math on your website?

7. SEO Analysis

You might have used different free as well as premium SEO audit tools for analyzing the various aspects of your website from the SEO perspective.

Don’t you like if you can get an SEO audit of your site in a few clicks without using the third-party services?

Just open WP-Admin >> Rank Math >> SEO Analysis and you’ll get all the details related to your website’s SEO health.

8. Import & Export

Setting up the Rank Math plugin requires a lot of time if you decide to use all its features. However, you can export and import these settings to use on other websites you manage.

While exporting, it will create a .json file which you can download to your local storage and upload the site where you want to import the pre-configured settings.

9. Help & Support

This option offers you the help in setting up the Rank Math WordPress plugin and the access the KB (knowledge base) articles.

Rank Math Pricing and Support

Luckily, I got exclusive access to Rank Math SEO plugin before it’s official launch.

Currently, it’s available in the official WordPress plugin library, and you can install it from your WordPress dashboard itself.

MyThemeShop is a premium theme club offering great-valued products, and the Rank Math SEO plugin is one of them.

Although this plugin comes with a ton of premium features, it will be free forever.

MyThemeShop provides quick support through its community forum, and you can expect similar or better support in the future too.

MyThemeShop has also created a Facebook group for Rank Math SEO plugin to offer quick support and updates regarding the new features.

It’s one of the best Facebook groups for WordPress lovers. You can join it here.

Rank Math released a premium version of its SEO plugin. The pricing starts at $59+taxes.

If you need advanced SEO features, you can purchase Rank Math Pro by visiting this page.

Verdict

Rank Math SEO plugin seems the best alternative to the Yoast SEO plugin.

MyThemeShop offers many premium features in the free version of Rank Math. In addition to that, you can expect super-fast support and regular updates for this plugin.

In my opinion, no other WordPress SEO plugin can beat Rank Math at this moment.

MyThemeShop has done a great job by introducing such a useful tool to the WordPress community.

Do you have any queries regarding the Rank Math plugin, you can ask me in the comment box below.

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