Rank Math: The Best Yoast SEO Alterntive in 2024
Rank Math: The Best Yoast SEO Alternative in 2024
But is Rank Math really as good as its reputation suggests?
In this article we will get to the bottom of the question and put the plugin through its paces.
- 1. What is Rank Math?
- 2. Top Features
- 3. Disadvantages of Rank Math
- 4. Is the Pro version worth it?
- 5. Install Rank Math
- 6.FAQs
1. What is Rank Math?
Rank Math is a WordPress SEO plugin released in 2018 and developed by MyThemeShop.
The developers refer to Rank Math as the "Swiss army knife of WordPress SEO" because it combines numerous functions in one solution and thus makes many other plugins unnecessary. These include an XML sitemap, the SEO analysis of a post, schema markups and much more.
Particularly helpful, especially for bloggers, is the fact that you can use the plugin to edit the meta description and page title of a post without having to edit the code.
Due to its really large range of functions, the plugin has been enjoying increasing popularity for many months and is replacing the previous top dog Yoast SEO on more and more pages, which in its free version does not offer the lavish functions by a long shot like Rank Math.
Is Rank Math rightly considered the best alternative to Yoast SEO? And is the plugin actually performing better than Yoast?
We clarify these questions and many more in a detailed Rank Math Review.
By the way: In addition to a free version (which can be downloaded directly from the WordPress plugin library), there is also Rank Math Premium, which further expands the range of functions, for example with a rank tracker or other schema markups.
But more on that later.
Advantages
- For free
- Very large range of functions
- Replaces numerous plugins (e.g. redirect, meta-editing, etc.)
- Clear SEO analysis of a post
- Very good loading time
- Clean backend (beginner-friendly)
- Premium version with professional features
- Elementor integration
- Can be linked to the Google Search Console
- Very good rank tracker
Disadvantages
- Content AI of little use
- Occasionally causes conflicts with other plugins
Prices
Rank Math is basically a free plugin, but its range of functions can be expanded with a premium plan.
In the following chapters we will clarify which functions these are in detail and whether Rank Math Pro can be worthwhile for you. First, let's take a quick look at the pricing model.
A total of 3 packages are available:
- Pro: $59.00/year (15 Content AI credits, 500 keywords in tracker)
- Business: $199.00/year (125 Content AI credits, 10,000 keywords in tracker)
- Agency: $499.00/year (600 Content AI credits, 50,000 keywords in tracker)
Incidentally, all tariffs also come with 24/7 premium support and an extended scheme generator.
2. Top Features
Title and meta settings
An optimized META Title and META Description is an important tool to stand out in the SERPs.
Without a plugin, both would have to be adapted directly in the HTML code, which is likely to be difficult, especially for inexperienced users.
How good that Rank Math does this work for you. Simply edit the title and description directly in the backend of a post.
And it gets even better: In addition to an individual description and an individual title per post, you can define a basic procedure for all posts in the Rank Math settings. This is done relatively easily using placeholders that Rank Math then automatically replaces (e.g. article title and website name).
If you have defined a main keyword, the title and description are also examined with regard to keyword optimization.
SEO score
For each post, Rank Math provides an SEO score that shows you at a glance how well your post has been optimized for a keyword you have defined. You can achieve a maximum of 100 points, although we have not yet been able to achieve this result with almost any contribution.
Among other things, the following are examined:
- META data
- URL
- text length
- keyword density
- Media Optimization (Alt-Tag, etc.)
In addition to a very precise and detailed analysis of the current status, you will be shown further optimization opportunities.
Social Media Preview
To ensure that your posts really shine on social media, Rank Math also optimizes their social media preview.
The same applies here: You either define a scheme for all posts using placeholders or you create an individual social media preview for each post. Here you can not only adjust the title and description, but also the preview image that is displayed.
And it gets even better: You even have the option of creating a different preview for Facebook than, for example, for Pinterest. This allows you to specifically define images and texts that perform best in the respective network.
Robot's meta
Not every page belongs in the Google index and should be displayed in the SERPs. These include the imprint or the data protection declaration.
With the passage “noindex” you can specifically block pages and posts for the crawlers of the search engines. Rank Math also has global setting options here. You can generally mark category and keyword pages or the like with “noindex” and don’t have to do this manually.
You can also mark links directly in the Gutenberg editor with the attributes sponsored, new window or nofollow, saving you the detour via HTML. Global settings are also possible here.
Verification with Webmaster Tools
Google Webmaster Tools (today Search Console) are one of the most important tools for bloggers to improve and optimize their own site.
The Search Console shows you exactly what the number of hits on your subpages looks like, which keywords are used to find them and what position a keyword achieves on average.
With the help of Rank Math you can save yourself the detour to this data and get insights directly in the WordPress backend.
In addition, in the Pro version you can directly select keywords that should be monitored using the Rank Tracker.
But more on that in a moment.
XML Sitemap
An XML sitemap is an important tool to give Google and Co. a better overview of your site. All posts, pages and media on your website are recorded here and conveniently made available to the search engine crawlers.
This compressed display has the advantage that the SERP coverage of your website is significantly improved, since all sub-pages can be found by search engines without any gaps.
So that you don't have to create such an XML sitemap yourself, Rank Math generates it automatically when you install the plugin and makes it available under the link "site.com/sitemap.xml".
As soon as new posts are published, Rank Math automatically adds them to the existing sitemap and contacts search engines about the changes (ping), so you don't have to do anything here.
You report the link to the sitemap to Google via the Search Console.
By the way: In the Pro version, Rank Math not only provides an XML sitemap for posts, pages and images, but also for videos and news.
404 monitor
You have certainly experienced it in the past that you wanted to call up a URL, but the page you were looking for could not be found.
In such a case, your browser displays a so-called 404 error and an associated message such as “Page not found”.
Such a message is bad in two ways:
- The visitor will probably leave your page and not return because the desired content was not found.
- Search engines evaluate such 404 errors very negatively, so that the rankings of your website could deteriorate
Rank Math offers you a 404 monitor that saves these errors and compiles them in a clear manner so that you can identify 404 errors early on and fix them quickly.
This way you can immediately see if a sub-page has been accidentally deleted or if there are broken internal links on your website and you can set up appropriate redirects - directly in Rank Math itself (more on that in a moment).
Breadcrumbs
Breadcrumbs (breadcrumbs) serve as orientation for your visitors and ensure that they can quickly find their way around even with a complex site architecture.
But not only for visitors, but also for search engines, these breadcrumbs are worth their weight in gold, as crawlers can find and index your content faster.
We also use breadcrumbs like this on Blogmojo.
To add breadcrumbs to your site, you can either enter the link paths manually (which can take a lot of time) or you can use a plugin like Rank Math, which already includes this function and provides you with a placeholder for breadcrumbs.
Redirects
If you want to delete an already published post or change the URL, redirecting the old URL is mandatory to avoid sending visitors to a dead page (and generating a 404 error).
Rank Math offers a simple and fast solution to this problem and has a redirect manager already integrated. In combination with the already mentioned 404 monitor, you can reliably prevent broken links on your site.
As you are used to from Rank Math, the Redirect Manager has a simple structure and is really easy to use for both beginners and professionals.
In addition to a classic 302 redirect, you can even define 410 redirects (for deleted pages) via Rank Math.
Here, too, you save yourself another plugin!
Google Web Stories
Rank Math, in conjunction with the official Google Web Stories Plugin, helps you to get Web Stories successfully and correctly into the SERPs.
Within an independent Web Stories module in the Rank Math backend, you specify all important META data such as title or description as well as article type, schema type or the thumbnail for Facebook.
Your story is then created and published via a Gutenberg block and the Google plugin.
Link Counter
Links, whether external or internal, are an important part of a successful website.
Rank Math adds a link counter to the post and page overview that shows you at a glance how many of the above links your post has. This great overview results in several advantages for you:
- You can instantly see if a post has few internal links and add more to improve site architecture.
- You can identify popular posts in your own site architecture
- You can use subpages with a high page authority very specifically to pass on the link juice to other pages
Tip: Internal links are sometimes incorrectly calculated. You can correct this quickly and easily via Rank Math > Status & Tools > Database Tools by clicking on "Delete internal links". For this, however, the "Advanced Mode" must be activated.
Content AI (Pro)
With Content AI, unique to Rank Math Pro, the plugin helps you improve the quality of your posts by providing concrete suggestions based on analysis of previous text:
- How long a text should be
- Specific suggestions about the number of links included
- Number of headings and structure
- Keywords and relevant phrases and words
- Potential questions arising from the post topic
The Content AI is remunerated via an account with credits that are only credited when booking a premium tariff.
Image SEO (Pro)
Gaining SEO benefits from image optimization is still underestimated by many bloggers.
So that Google can understand your images correctly and assign them to the right search queries, you should never neglect things like a descriptive file name or ALT attributes.
In view of this, Rank Math Pro offers comprehensive image SEO settings and automatically adds forgotten optimizations.
This means: Rank Math automatically adds missing data for each sub-area, from ALT attributes to META data and image descriptions, based on predefined placeholders.
And the great thing is: You can even optimize files that have already been published. Even a search and replace function is available to correct incorrect ALT attributes, for example.
Rank Tracker (Pro)
With the rank tracker, you can keep track of the placement of your posts or keywords and see immediately which items are performing particularly well. Possible Google penalties or algorithm updates that have a negative / positive impact on your rankings are also immediately visible.
Although such rank trackers are also included in many SEO tools such as Ahrefs, KWFinder or SEMRush, they have to be maintained manually (and are often very expensive).
In Rank Math you can add keywords to be monitored thanks to the Search Console integration with a simple mouse click and display them clearly in the WordPress backend.
In addition, the cheap Pro tariff already includes 500 tracking slots, which should be sufficient for most private blogs.
Advanced Schema Generator (Pro)
Classic schemes such as "How to" or "FAQ" are already integrated in the free Rank Math version. Of course, rich snippets for articles, events or recipes are also included here.
Rank Math Premium adds to this already very long list with a schema generator that allows you to add multiple markups to a post.
This function is even additionally implemented in the Page Builder Elementor.
News Sitemap (Pro)
Any website can qualify for Google News. Yours too.
In order to be included here, some requirements according to strict Google guidelines must be met. This includes a special sitemap type that only contains published posts for 2 days and then automatically removes them. In addition, it may contain a maximum of 1,000 entries.
Rank Math Pro provides you with exactly this sitemap.
After the news sitemap has been activated in the backend, you can find it at url.com/news-sitemap.xml.
In addition, a button is added in the WordPress backend of a post under the Rank Math settings (Advanced) with which you can specifically control whether a post should be included in the news index or not.
Video Sitemap (Pro)
If you have included videos on your site, your own video sitemap is essential so that Google can recognize your content and display it within the search results.
The sitemap is activated in the Rank Math backend as soon as you have purchased the Pro version.
This can be found below url.com/video-sitemap.xml.
Tip: Rank Math allows you to hide this sitemap from "normal" visitors and only show bots.
WooCommerce Support (Pro)
Rank Math calls itself “the most advanced SEO for WooCommerce”. We can emphasize that.
In addition to very classic functions such as the ability to define titles and descriptions for your products, there is also your own product schema, which immediately ensures that your items are displayed correctly within the SERPs and also added to Google Shopping.
Rank Math also provides you with a wealth of advanced setting options to configure your shop's SEO very individually according to your ideas.
3. Disadvantages of Rank Math
We admittedly had a hard time looking for the disadvantages of Rank Math. And while we're citing a few points here, it's "whining at a high level" because it's hard to blame one of the most comprehensive free SEO plugins.
Probably the biggest disadvantage is that the content AI is not very good. Tools like Surfer SEO or Frase cut a much better figure (but are also much more expensive).
4. Is the Pro version worth it?
The Rank Math Premium version has been available since July 2021, which it says combines plugins worth a total of $1675 in one solution (which is a bit of an exaggeration).
We have already introduced you to some of the most important Pro functions in the previous chapter, so that you can judge for yourself whether the Pro version could be worthwhile for you and your website.
To give you a little reminder, we would answer the question asked at the beginning as follows:
If you don't already use a Rank Tracker, Rank Math Pro offers a simple and very user-friendly method to keep a good overview of your own positioning in the SERPs. So the $59 per year can be a good investment.
Rank Math Pro is almost a must if you run a WooCommerce online shop or want to get your site featured in Google News. Here we would definitely recommend the Pro version.
5. Install Rank Math
Rank Math is downloaded and activated in the classic way through the WordPress plugin database. Afterwards, a user-friendly setup wizard awaits you, which will give you a very good helping hand even with complex sub-areas.
In this chapter, we will show you how quickly and easily you can install and set up Rank Math.
5.1 Create profile
Before you can start the actual installation of Rank Math, you first need a free account, which you can create directly on the Rank Math website.
5.2 Download and activate the plugin
As already mentioned, Rank Math is listed in the WordPress plugin library and can be downloaded easily and quickly here.
Tip: Be sure to create a backup before installing.
5.3 Getting Started
After the plugin has been activated, the setup wizard will start automatically, prompting you to enter your membership data.
Your WordPress installation will then be checked. Here it is checked for different requirement criteria that Rank Math requires:
- PHP version
- WordPress version
- PHP DOM Extension
- PHP SimpleXML Extension
- PHP GD or Imagick Extension
- Etc.
Typically, no issues or conflicts are identified here, so you can move on to the next step.
5.4 Import
Rank Math is able to adopt settings from other plugins.
This means: The setup wizard automatically recognizes which plugins can be integrated into Rank Math. This mainly applies to SEO plugins such as Yoast SEO or redirects.
Even if we have not had any negative experiences with the import function so far, we still recommend that you create a backup and export with your previous SEO plugin.
5.5 Website Information
In the fourth step, Rank Math asks you for some data about your website.
First of all, this includes the type of your website (blog, portfolio, shop, etc.), the type of business and the name of your company and the associated logo.
Please do not refrain from making these entries, as the logo or your company name can be listed accordingly in the Google SERPs.
5.6 Linking to Search Console
Now it is time to synchronize the Google Search Console with your website or your Rank Math account. This works via an authorization code that you can generate directly in the setup wizard.
You then have to log in with a Google account to be linked and enter the code you just received there. Now the page should appear in the drop down menu within the setup wizard for you to select.
Complete.
5.7 XML Sitemap
Creating the sitemap correctly is one of the most important steps in the setup process and should not be skipped.
You can actually accept the standard configuration here.
Make sure that both the sitemap itself and the images sitemap are enabled and the checkbox is ticked for all post types (this section may vary per site, for example if you have added a portfolio to the site).
Also, categories should not be included.
5.8 Submit sitemap to Google
After the initial setup, you should not waste any time and enter the XML sitemap you just created in the Google Search Console. This helps Google to index your site faster and more completely.
By the way: All settings that you make during the initial setup are not set in stone and can be adjusted at any time in the Rank Math settings.
6.FAQs
Here I have compiled the answers to the most frequently asked questions about Rank Math :
What are the best alternatives to Rank Math?
Next to Rank Math, Yoast SEO is still one of the best SEO plugins for WordPress.
All in One SEO is also very popular, but in our opinion it cannot compete with either Rank Math or Yoast SEO.
Does Rank Math negatively affect my load time?
Every plugin you add to your site has an impact on your loading time. However, the influence of Rank Math is so small that it is not relevant in tools such as Google Pagespeed Insights or GTMetrix.
So the answer is: No, Rank Math does not negatively affect your loading time.
Can I try Rank Math Pro for free?
Yes, you are granted a statutory right of return of 14 days for every online purchase. Rank Math even extends this guarantee to a full 30 days so that you can intensively test Rank Math Pro.
Can Rank Math be used with WordPress.com?
Yes, the plugin is in the WordPress.com plugin collection. However, you need a special tariff to be able to use plugins.
Does Rank Math Pro work with Google Analytics 4?
Since Google Analytics 4 is still in a beta phase, it is not currently supported by Rank Math.
Which SEO plugins data can I import into Rank Math?
Yoast SEO, SEO Press and All in One SEO Pack are supported here. The import itself can either be carried out directly in the installation wizard or later in the backend.
What page builders and WordPress editors is Rank Math compatible with?
Rank Math has native support for the following page builders and editors:
- Classic editor
- Gutenberg Editor
- elementor
- divi
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