Rank Math is a WordPress SEO Plugin developed by MyThemeShop. If you’re blogging for a while, you might already know about MyThemeShop as it’s a popular platform for premium WordPress themes and plugins.
RankMath plugin quickly generated a lot of buzz around the blogosphere because of its incredible features.
Yes, Yoast SEO plugin is still the #1 most downloaded SEO plugin in the history of WordPress but RankMath is quickly generating a lot of positive buzz and raving reviews from users.
Specs
Free Trial: Yes
Free Version: No
Starting from: $59.00
Pricing Model: Flat Rate
Pros
- "The support is very responsive and they are continuously adding great features. Their regular improvements and additional tools makes this SEO tool a must."
- "Best Quality Optimization Plugin for Your Website."
- "I think that Rank Math is a great tool for professionals who are looking to get a better understanding of the SEO market."
- "Rank Math SEO plugin is an excellent tool for any website that needs to increase its rankings. It is a powerful and affordable option for any website."
Cons
- "I don't like this installing tutorial at start."
- "In this example, an automated redirect option that forwards missing pages to a page with similar slugs. I've ssen this working on other 404 tracking plugins."
Rank Math Review: Is It the Swiss Army Knife of WordPress SEO?
Rank Math SEO Plugin Features List
RankMath offers you a plethora of features including;
1 Click Import from Yoast SEO plugin
1 Click Import from All in One SEO plugin
Offers XML sitemaps
Offers redirection of all sorts
Offers rich snippets
LSI keyword tool is integrated (which helps you find LSI keywords to better optimize your blog posts)
Automated image SEO (which helps you automatically optimize your images that don’t have ALT tags already)
Offers you rank tracking of your keywords
Bulk Edit Titles & Descriptions
Blog post preview on Google
You can optimize up to 5 keywords
Choose Pillar Posts & Pages (which helps you with better rankings and SILO structure)
Offers you internal linking suggestions
You can nofollow all external image links
You can nofollow all external links (you can also open external links in new tabs)
Gives you access to .htaccess Editor
Gives you access to robots.txt Editor
Offers you 404 monitor (to identify and fix your 404 pages in real time)
Top Benefits of Using RankMath WordPress SEO Plugin
So what makes Rank Math a powerful SEO plugin? Why almost every blogger is migrating to RankMath SEO plugin? Here are some of the BIGGEST reasons (read benefits).
It does On-site SEO analysis on-the-fly
One of the unique features of Rank Math is that it offers you SEO analysis of your website.
Once the plugin is installed, just click on the SEO Analysis tab under Rank Math settings to start the process.
This plugin will automatically start analysing your website once you click on the “Start Site-Wide Analysis” button. Once the analysis is done, it shows an SEO score (which is out of 100).
Here’s how it looks like;
As you can see above, it shows you three tests including the number of passed tests, warnings and failed tests. You should mostly bother about fixing “Failed Tests” as they can badly impact your search rankings.
In fact, Rank Math will analyze your website and your website’s content using 70+ different tests to help you optimize your site perfectly.
Performing frequent site audits such as SEO analysis of your site helps you find and fix your website issues so you can improve your overall search rankings.
Optimize up to 5 keywords
One of the major reasons most bloggers are migrating from Yoast to Rank Math is that RankMath lets you optimize your posts for upto 5 keywords.
With Yoast, you can optimize only for one keyword (with their premium version, you can optimize for multiple keywords though).
Gone are the days when you can optimize your blog posts for just one keyword. You need to target multiple keywords to optimize your content properly. Here’s where this feature comes into handy.
In fact, you can optimize for unlimited keywords by using the following filter.
As you can see above, just replace the number 10 with any number to easily increase or decrease the number of maximum focus keywords that can be added into a single post.
Track your keyword positions in the search results
RankMath’s integration with Google Search Console (GSC) is simply amazing. Once you connect your GSC account with RankMath, you can discover almost everything from your plugin dashboard.
In fact, you will discover a ton of information including;
All the keywords that your site is ranking for
Total number of clicks your site is getting for each of those keywords
Average CTR (Click-through-rate)
The position of your website for those keywords in the search results
Here’s how it looks like;
That means, you can easily keep an eye on your current keyword positions. There’s another awesome feature called “Keyword Tracker” will be coming soon which helps you track your website’s rankings for the keywords you choose.
No 3rd party plugin is needed for Rich Snippets
Schema Markup which is also known as Rich Snippets is one of the best ways to help your website stand out from your competitors.
When the schema markup is implemented (there are several types of schema), here’s how it looks like;
Fortunately, you don’t have to install or depend on any other plugin or tool for implementing schema markup on your site if you’re using RankMath plugin. Why? Because it offers you Schema Markup where you can add 14 different types of Schema.
You can easily optimize content for rich snippets and local SEO to make search engines understand your content better. It doesn’t matter whether you’re running a blog, a WooCommerce store or a review website, you can use RankMath plugin to easily implement Schema Markup (aka Rich Snippets).
Redirection manager
Most SEO plugins including the free version of Yoast SEO plugin don’t offer redirection out of the box. But it’s not the same case with RankMath as it offers you an advanced redirection manager.
You can pick several redirection types including;
301 permanent move
302 temporary move
307 temporary redirects
410 content deleted
451 content unavailable etc
Apart from the redirection manager, you can also edit the two most important files on your site which are;
.htaccess Editor (you can easily edit and modify your .htaccess file right from your WP dashboard and Rank Math automatically backs up your .htaccess file before saving any changes to avoid accidental issues)
robots.txt Editor (you can easily create and update your robots.txt file right from your WordPress dashboard)
Social media integration
We all know SEO is powerful but if you’re looking for quicker ways to boost your traffic, social media can come in handy. To get the most out of social media, you need to create appealing and unique images, title tags etc.
Luckily, RankMath offers social media integration in Social Tab that you can find in Rank Math’s Meta Box.
Here’s how it looks like;
As you can see above, RankMath is currently offering social previews for two of the most popular social networks which are Facebook and Twitter.
You can easily use these two platforms Open Graph feature to add unique titles, description and images of your posts while sharing on FB and Twitter.
Offers you LSI keyword suggestions
Did you know that you can get automatic LSI keyword suggestions around your focus keyword when you’re using RankMath?
As you can see, RankMath starts suggesting relevant LSI keywords automatically so you can optimize your content for better rankings (without keyword stuffing).
Whether you know it or not, using LSI keywords (Latent Semantic Keywords) can help you with better search traffic. In fact, you can rank for multiple keywords from one page (if you use LSI keywords).
So if you’re looking to boost your organic traffic with LSI keywords, you don’t need any extra tool as RankMath helps you with that. You just need to connect your Rank Math account to get unlimited keyword suggestions from Google.
Offers a modular framework
Unlike most other SEO plugins (including Yoast SEO), RankMath offers a modular framework. That means, you can use only what you need and disable the rest of the modules you don’t need.
As you can see above, there are a ton of modules offered by RankMath. You can decide which module to use and which one to keep aside. That means you have complete control of your website and you can disable or enable modules whenever you want.
Yoast SEO vs RankMath SEO: What’s the Difference?
Before we discuss the differences between Yoast SEO and Rank Math, have a look at the following illustration.
As you can see above, RankMath uses less coding, fewer PHP requests (hence it offers more speed than Yoast SEO).
So if you’re looking for a lightweight plugin to install on your WordPress sites, using RankMath over Yoast is a no brainer.
Apart from speed, the major difference lies in their features. What Yoast SEO offers in its premium version is what you get for free in RankMath. Isn’t it amazing?
Here are some of the notable features of both Yoast SEO and RankMath SEO plugins.
Yoast SEO vs. Rank Math Keyword Optimization: You can optimize for only one focus keyword using Yoast but its premium version allows you to optimize for multiple keywords. With RankMath, you can optimize for up to 5 keywords.
Winner? RankMath
Yoast SEO vs. Rank Math Content Analysis: Yoast SEO content analysis tells you if the optimization of your posts is Good or Bad, that’s all! But RankMath gives you an SEO score out of 100. Anything above 80 is actually a good score!
Winner? RankMath
So the overall winner? It’s clearly RankMath for now.
Rank Math Pro: Why Go PRO? Rank Math Free vs Pro Benefits
Quick note: If you would like to take the Rank Math PRO for a spin, you can test how it works on their demo website for free.
Rank Math also has a premium version called Rank Math Pro which costs you $59 per year and it comes with a HUGE list of incredible features that help you boost your WordPress site’s SEO.
Let’s discuss some of the major reasons to use Rank Math Pro over the free version.
Integrated Google Analytics
Rank Math Pro gives you access to an in-built powerful Google Analytics so you don’t have to leave your WordPress dashboard to analyze your search traffic.
Here’s how the integrated analytics looks like;
As you can see above, Rank Math Pro shows you a list of all the posts with a good score, fair score, and poor score.
It will also show you a list of posts along with the title, SEO score, schema, links, and traffic so you can improve their SEO scores anytime you want.
Track up to 1000 keywords
With the PRO plan, you can track 500 keywords (1,000 during launch offer), and the Business plan allows you to track 10,000 keywords (20,000 during the launch offer).
If you want to track more keywords, you can email them at support@rankmath.com, and they will create a custom plan for you based on your website needs.
Here’s how the Rank Tracker looks like;
We recently started using their pro version so there’s not enough data to fetch. You can also add more keywords and the rank tracker will show you;
We all know Google started showing more “rich snippets” (or schema) in the search results. So it became essential to add schema into your posts, job postings, reviews, recipes, local business entries, and so on.
Fortunately, Rank Math Pro offers an integrated schema out of the box so you don’t have to install any external plugins to integrate schema markup within your site.
Here are some of the types of schema markups it supports.
Article Schema
Book Schema
Course Schema
Event Schema
Job Posting Schema
Local Business Schema
Music Schema
Person Schema
Product Schema
Recipe Schema
Restaurant Schema
Review Schema
Service Schema
Software/App Schema
Video Schema
FAQ Schema
HowTo Schema
Here’s how it looks like;
As you can see above, you can select your preferred schema type such as article, FAQ, Course, and so on.
Image SEO
Did you know that Rank Math lets you automatically add ALT and title tags to your images? Yes, if you’re looking for image SEO optimization, this plugin is extremely useful for you.
In case if you already have a ton of blog posts that have images without any alt tags, by using this plugin, you can automatically add them.
As you can see above, just turn on the image SEO from the plugin settings and it automatically adds alt attributes for images without alt tags. Similarly, you can turn on the missing title attributions functionality to add titles for all images that don’t have any title attribute.
To enable the settings, you need to go to Rank Math > General Settings and you’ll be able to see the Images functionality where you can make changes.
Here’s how it looks like;
As you can see above, once you enable the option, you can add ALT attributes for images without alt attributes automatically.
The image attributes are dynamically applied when the content is displayed, and the stored content is not changed. Similarly, you can also add missing Title and Caption attributes for images.
404 Monitor
We all know how difficult it is to find and track 404 links on your website. The good thing about using Rank Math Pro is that it gives you access to a simple and effective 404 monitor that finds all the 404 links on your site.
404 monitor from Rank Math Pro helps you fix your 404 error pages quickly.
Side note: A 404 error occurs when you try to visit a page that doesn’t exist. 404 errors are bad for your website’s SEO as they can create a bad experience for the website users.
404 monitor basically offers two modes.
The simple mode only captures 404 errors
The advanced mode captures everything including the error page, referring page including the user agent
By regularly keeping an eye on RankMath’s 404 monitor, you can not only fix those 404 errors but provide a better experience to your website visitors.
Here’s how the 404 Monitor looks like;
As you can see above, Rank Math’s 404 Monitor keeps a log of all your 404 links and you’ll also have the ability to export them or take bulk actions to get rid of 404 links.
Not only that, but you can also use their Redirection Manager to easily redirect all those 404 links in just a few clicks.
What about the pricing?
Rank Math Pro comes in two pricing packages which are listed below.
1. Pro: If you’re a blogger or solopreneur, this plan is perfect for you which costs you just $59 per year and you can install their Pro versional on unlimited personal sites (not on client websites).
Unlimited personal websites
Track 1,000 Keywords
Powerful Schema Generator
24/7 Support
Google Data Fetch Frequency is 3 days
2. Business: If you want to use the Rank Math Pro version even on your client websites, this option is for you which costs you $199 per year and you will get support for up to 200 client websites.
Side note: Rank Math Pro offers a 30-day refund policy. So if you’re don’t like their premium version features, you can email them at support@rankmath.com and they will refund your entire amount without asking any questions.
Rank Math Settings
Quick note: We’re not going into in-depth details on Rank Math settings as their official blog already has an excellent tutorial on setting up Rank Math SEO plugin. So we’ll talk about the basic (yet essential) things that you need to do after installing the plugin.
If you’re already using an optimization plugin like Yoast SEO, you can import all your SEO settings to RankMath. That means, you don’t have to manually do all the optimization part for your individual blog posts or pages.
The good thing is, Rank Math will automatically detect which SEO plugin you’re currently using and helps you easily decide which settings you can import.
For instance, if you’re already using Yoast SEO, here’s how the import section looks like;
As you can see above, you can import everything from;
Settings
Term meta
Post meta
Redirections
Author meta
Once it’s done, you need to implement a couple of things which include;
Selecting your site (personal blog, ecommerce store etc)
Connect your site with Google search console
Sitemaps
All the above-mentioned steps are easy if you’ve already used Yoast SEO or any other SEO optimization plugin on WordPress sites.
Here are a few simple optimization settings that you can implement on RankMath for better rankings.
Noindex Empty Category and Tag Archives
Nofollow Image File Links
Nofollow External Links (you can enable it if you don’t want to pass any link juice to external sites)
Open External Links New Tab/Window (this option is what we recommend and we’re following the same method for a long time at Bloggers Passion)
Strip Category Base (enable it)
Once the above things are done, click the “Save and Continue” button to finish the process.
Here’s how it looks like;
That’s it, you’re done.
At post level, here’s how the Rank Math SEO settings look like;
As you can see above, there are multiple things you’ll notice including;
Your blog post preview (where you can add or edit your title including meta description)
Focus keywords (you can target multiple focus keywords for a single post)
Basic SEO suggestions (it suggests you where to insert keywords for better optimization)
Optimization score (it also gives you a score so you can easily find out how well your page is optimized for your focus keywords)
You can also add unique previews for social media. Using it, you can easily customize your title, description and images while sharing on Facebook and Twitter.
FAQs About Rank Math SEO Plugin
Here are some of the most interesting and frequently asked questions around the #1 optimization plugin i.e RankMath.
Do I have to remove other WordPress SEO plugins if I install Rank Math?
Yes, you should. If you’re already using other WordPress SEO plugins like Yoast, AIO etc, it’s always preferred to deactivate those plugins. In fact, you can easily import your existing data from Yoast or AIO plugins with just one click.
What’s the difference between Rank Math free vs Rank Math Pro?
Rank Math free version is great if you want to optimize your blog posts for specific keywords. But if you want additional features such as rank tracking, image SEO, 404 monitor, advanced redirection modules etc – you should go for their Pro version which costs you just $59 per year.
What’s the difference between Rank Math Pro Vs Rank Math Business?
Rank Math Pro lets you use an unlimited number of personal websites whereas, with Rank Math Business plan, you can install it even on your client websites. You will also get support for up to 200 client websites with Rank Math Business.
To put it simply, Rank Math Pro is for bloggers who’re running multiple sites and Rank Math Business is a great choice for agencies and developers.
Can I try Rank Math for free?
Yes, Rank Math offers a free version which is enough for most beginners who are looking to optimize their posts. But if you want advanced features such as keyword rank tracking, their premium plans are great for you.
RankMath vs Yoast SEO: Which is better?
Rank Math is better as it offers almost every feature that you need with on-page SEO. Rank Math Pro version has even more incredible features such as 404 monitor, advanced Analytics etc that you don’t find in the Yoast premium version. Be it free or paid, Rank Math clearly outranks Yoast plugin.
Is it easy to migrate to Rank Math from other plugins?
Yes, it’s extremely easy. Once you install Rank Math plugin, it will automatically detect the SEO plugin you’re using and helps you easily import all your SEO settings with the click of a button from several SEO plugins.
What if I need any help with Rank Math plugin?
If you ever need any help with Rank Math plugin, you can go through the following links.
→ Detailed documentation of Rank Math where you can find a ton of in-depth articles on using Rank Math (from installation to setup, fixing issues etc)
→ Knowledge Base Articles (where you can find helpful tutorials around the plugin)
→ Rank Math Forum (a useful forum where you can ask questions about anything related to the plugin)
→ Facebook group (it’s a responsive FB group where you can ask SEO queries or plugin related stuff)
Final Thoughts on Rank Math SEO Review
Whether you are a newbie blogger or an SEO expert, Rank Math can definitely help you with better optimization.
So far we tried a lot of optimization plugins on BloggersPassion but Rank Math is by far the BEST SEO plugin for WordPress users.
So which SEO plugin are you currently using? Do you have any more questions about the RankMath plugin? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
