Rank Math is aiming to be the best WordPress SEO plugin available. Is it? Let’s find out.
You probably know that search engines like Google are one of the best sources of traffic for your WordPress website. But when it comes to WordPress search engine optimization (SEO), it can be difficult to know where to start.
There are so many different details that go into boosting your site’s rankings. You have SEO titles and meta descriptions, focus keyword analysis, Schema markup, XML sitemaps, and tons of other “fun” details to consider if you want to maximize your efforts.
To make everything a lot more manageable, you might want to use a WordPress SEO plugin. And when it comes to SEO plugins, Rank Math is one of the fastest-growing plugins in the space. That’s why we’re going to take a detailed look at this plugin in our Rank Math review.
Don’t get us wrong – Yoast SEO is still the most popular WordPress SEO plugin by a large margin. However, Rank Math has rapidly cemented itself as a leader in the space and built a large community, thanks in large part to a dizzying array of features.
The free version of Rank Math just flat out offers more features than pretty much any free SEO plugin that you’ll find – and that includes the more popular Yoast SEO. What’s more, the premium version has some unique tricks up its sleeve such as SEO rank tracking and AI content analysis.
In our Rank Math review, we’ll help you decide if this plugin is the right option to grow your site’s SEO.
What Does Rank Math Do?
Rank Math is a full-service WordPress SEO plugin. That means it does, well, pretty much everything needed to optimize your site to rank in Google and other search engines.
Listing every single feature in Rank Math is difficult because there are just so many features available to you. Again, that’s one of the biggest things that makes Rank Math unique versus some of the other SEO plugins on the market.
Rather than us trying to do that, we recommend you read Rank Math’s lengthy “Features” page if you’re interested in all of the gory details, as it explains every single feature in detail.
The basic thing to understand is pretty much this:
If there’s a feature that has anything to do with optimizing your WordPress site to rank in search engines, Rank Math probably offers it.
It can help you with technical details such as SEO titles, meta descriptions, and Schema markup. It can also help you analyze your content to see how readable it is and how optimized it is for one or more focus keywords.
Plus, there are other tools that go even further such as a redirect manager, 404 monitor, link counter, and more.
Who Should Use Rank Math?
No matter what your WordPress site is about, focusing on SEO is important if you want to grow your audience and connect with people in Google.
That means pretty much every single WordPress user can benefit from an SEO plugin like Rank Math. It doesn’t necessarily have to be Rank Math, but you do want some type of SEO solution if you’re serious about growing your site.
If you’re on the WordPress.com plugin-enabled plans, you do already have the key tools that you need to enhance your site’s SEO. You can set SEO titles and meta descriptions, generate XML sitemaps, and more.
But Rank Math still goes a little further than those tools in terms of the features that it gives you. It can also go beyond just implementing technical details and also help you analyze your content, which can be helpful if you’re still getting your feet wet with SEO.
How to Use Rank Math to Optimize Your Site
To give you an idea of what it’s like to use Rank Math, let’s go over how you can use some of Rank Math’s key features.
Overall, Rank Math has a very well-designed interface, which is one of the perks of using the plugin. Even if you’re not a very technical person, you shouldn’t have many issues using any of the basic features in Rank Math.
Additionally, Rank Math can adapt its interface and features based on your knowledge level.
If you’re a total beginner, you can just stick to the basic features to keep things simple. But if you’re an experienced SEO who likes to tinker, you can access advanced features to help you get your hands dirty.
Let’s go through it…
Running the Rank Math Setup Wizard
When you first open the Rank Math settings area after installing the plugin (more on that below), it will automatically launch a setup wizard to help you configure some important basics for your site.
On the first page of the setup wizard, you’ll be prompted to connect your site to Rank Math by creating a free Rank Math account. This step can be a little misleading because it does kind of seem like you must create a Rank Math account to use the plugin.
That’s not accurate – you do not need to create and connect an account to use most of the plugin’s features. However, you will need to connect an account to use a few specific features, such as Rank Math’s sitewide SEO analysis tool. You can learn more about the features that require an account on this page.
You’ll then be able to choose your preferred setup mode, which is another nice thing about Rank Math. If you’re new to SEO, you can choose the Easy mode, which creates a very simple experience. However, if you want more control over the nitty-gritty details of your site’s SEO, you can go with Advanced mode:
Next, you can add some basic sitewide Schema markup, including a special site logo for Google:
On the next screen, you’ll again be prompted to connect your free Rank Math account if you haven’t done so already. As we mentioned earlier, this is not required to use the plugin in general, but it is required to use some specific features in the plugin:
Next, you can configure how you want to structure your XML sitemaps. WordPress can create XML sitemaps by itself now, but Rank Math gives you a little more control:
On the last tab, you can make some more nitty-gritty SEO tweaks, such as whether to automatically nofollow external links. When in doubt, just leave these as the defaults:
And that’s it! Rank Math has more advanced settings if you want them. But for now, you’re ready to jump into optimizing your site’s content.
Optimizing Individual Pieces of Content
On a day-to-day basis, you’ll probably interact with Rank Math mostly when you’re optimizing individual pieces of content.
Rank Math integrates seamlessly into the WordPress editor so that you can access all of the settings from the sidebar.
To open the Rank Math sidebar, you just need to click the Rank Math icon on the toolbar. This icon will also show your content’s optimization score – more on that in a second:
Setting SEO Titles and Descriptions, Plus Social Media Information
To add your SEO title, meta description, and social media information, you can click the Edit Snippet button.
This will open a popup where you can edit details and see a live preview of what your snippet will look like in Google’s search results on desktop or mobile:
If you go to the Social tab, you can also configure your content’s social share information and see live previews for both Facebook and Twitter:
Optimizing Content for Focus Keywords
To help you optimize your content, Rank Math lets you enter one or more “focus keywords”, which are the keywords that you’re hoping to rank for in Google. Then, Rank Math will analyze your content and provide suggestions to improve both SEO and readability.
One nice thing about Rank Math is that it lets you optimize for multiple keywords even in the free version, which is something a lot of SEO plugins charge for.
You can add your keyword suggestions in the box. Then, you’ll see a list of suggestions below. You’ll also see your overall Rank Math score change based on how optimized your content is for the selected keyword:
To see suggestions for a different keyword, you can just click on that keyword in the Focus Keyword box.
Rank Math also recently added a Content AI feature that can provide even more suggestions based on AI analysis, though you need the premium version to access this.
Setting Up Schema Markup (Structured Data)
Schema markup, also known as structured data, helps you provide search engines like Google with additional context about your content.
In part, this extra context can help you get those eye-catching Rich Results in Google, such as the star ratings that appear next to some search results in Google.
From the Schema tab of the Rank Math sidebar, you can assign various types of schema templates to each piece of content. With the Pro version of the plugin, you can even create your own custom schema templates or assign multiple templates to a single piece of content:
Once you choose a schema template, you’ll be able to supply the schema information. For example, if you choose the Recipe schema type, you can add information for preparation time and cooking time:
Enabling Additional Modules for More Features
While Rank Math includes a ton of features, it uses a modular approach, which means that you can pick and choose exactly which features you want to enable on your site.
To enable or disable specific modules, you can go to Rank Math → Dashboard in your WP Admin. Here, you’ll see a list of all the available modules. To turn them on or off, you just need to use the toggle.
Note – if you choose Easy mode in the setup wizard, you won’t see all of the modules. You can change between modes by using the option in the top-right corner:
If you enable a module, you’ll usually get some new settings that apply to that module. For example, if you enable the Redirections module, you’ll get a new area at Rank Math → Redirections where you can set up custom redirects:
Rank Math Pricing
Rank Math comes in both a free version and a Pro version that adds more features.
One of the standout details of Rank Math is that its free version is incredibly generous with its features. In fact, Rank Math’s free version already includes a lot of features that you’d need to pay for in other SEO plugins, such as the ability to optimize for multiple focus keywords.
For this reason, most WordPress users will be totally fine with the free version.
When in doubt, you can always start with the free version and upgrade in the future if you decide that you need more functionality.
Rank Math Free vs Pro
So – what are some of the reasons why you might want to upgrade from Rank Math free to Pro?
Well, the first would be if you need to go beyond general SEO and implement some specific types of SEO. For example, the Pro version adds support for the following specific use cases:
- Multiple location local SEO – the free version can do local SEO for a single physical location, but you’ll need Rank Math Pro if you want to optimize one site for multiple physical locations.
- Google News – if you want to rank in Google News, the Pro version can help you create a Google News sitemap.
- eCommerce SEO – if you’ve created a store with WooCommerce or Easy Digital Downloads, the Pro version adds advanced eCommerce SEO support.
- Video SEO – the Pro version lets you create a dedicated video sitemap, which is great if you create videos and want to rank them in Google.
Beyond those specific use cases, Rank Math Pro also adds some new features that can be useful for all sites:
- Keyword rank tracking – track the ranking positions for your keywords. Rank Math uses Google Search Console to track positions – it’s just presenting the data in a useful way and tracking it historically. Heavy-duty SEOs will probably still prefer a dedicated rank tracking service.
- AI content suggestions – the Pro version offers more advanced content analysis suggestions to optimize each piece of content.
- Google Analytics integration – see data inside your WP Admin and filter based on SEO information.
- Schema generator – get a more advanced schema/structured data generator. It lets you create your own schema templates or generate custom schema.
- Google Trends integration – see data from Google Trends for your focus keywords without leaving your WP Admin.
Overall, if you fit in one of those specific use cases or those unique features are attractive to you, you’ll want to upgrade to Rank Math Pro. Otherwise, you should be totally fine with the free version of Rank Math.
Rank Math Pro Pricing
If you do need Rank Math Pro, plans start at $59 and range up to $499:
Rank Math Review: Pros and Cons
As we finish out our Rank Math review, let’s summarize some of the main pros and cons of using Rank Math on your WordPress site.
Pros:
- So many features! Rank Math just generally gives you so many features to optimize your site’s rankings. More than most other SEO plugins.
- The free version is unmatched in terms of functionality. Tying with the point above, you’ll struggle to find another free SEO plugin that gives you the functionality that you get with Rank Math’s free version.
- Unique features. One more feature-related pro! In addition to having lots of features in general, Rank Math also has some unique features that you just won’t find in most other SEO plugins, such as SEO rank tracking and AI content suggestions.
- Excellent interface. Rank Math’s interface is well-designed, integrates tightly into the editor, and makes it easy to perform key actions.
- Interface adaptability. Being able to switch the interface between easy mode and advanced mode is helpful for beginners.
Cons:
- …so many features. Yes, this was also a “pro”, but this can be a double-edged sword. If you’re the type of person who just wants a really simple, streamlined tool for basic SEO details, you might actually find all of the features that Rank Math offers to be a con. Rank Math’s modular approach does let you disable features that you don’t want (and you can also leave it in easy mode), but people who want a really lightweight tool might prefer a plugin such as The SEO Framework or just sticking with WordPress.com’s built-in SEO tools on the Business and plugin-enabled plans.
- Occasional bugs. Because Rank Math packs in so many features and has a very fast development cycle, you’re a little more likely to encounter minor bugs in smaller features from time to time. More established plugins with more mature feature sets generally have slower development and can be a bit more stable (though this means you get access to fewer features).
- Aggressive marketing. Expect to be asked to leave a review and upgrade to the premium version. If you create a Rank Math account to unlock those additional features, you’ll also receive a lot of marketing emails (though you can opt out of these if you find them annoying, of course).
How to Install Rank Math on WordPress.com
If you want to install Rank Math on your WordPress.com site, you’ll need to be on the plugin-enabled plans so that you’re able to install custom plugins.
If you’re not already on one of those plans, you can follow these instructions to upgrade your WordPress.com plan with just a few clicks.
Once you’ve got that squared away, open your WP Admin and go to the Plugins tab, which will bring up our marketplace of plugins.
If you want to use the free version of Rank Math, you can find it by searching for “Rank Math” and clicking on the Rank Math SEO result:
This will open a new screen with more details about Rank Math. To install it, click the Install button:
WordPress.com will now install and activate the plugin for you. After a short wait, you’ll get a new Rank Math tab in your WP Admin where you can manage the plugin’s settings.
If you want to install Rank Math Pro, you’ll need to purchase the Pro version from the Rank Math website and download the zip file that Rank Math provides. You can then upload the zip file from the plugin installation area in your WP Admin.
For a more detailed look, we have a full guide on how to install plugins on WordPress.com.
Optimize Your Site for Search Engines Today
Since its launch in 2018, Rank Math has quickly grown to become one of the most popular WordPress SEO plugins. That’s for a good reason – it has an excellent interface and it’s absolutely packed with SEO features, even in the free version.
Rank Math is certainly not the only quality WordPress SEO plugin. But when it comes to the number of features that you get in the free version, it’s unmatched at the time that we’re writing our Rank Math review.
Of course, having an SEO plugin won’t get your site ranking by itself – you’ll also need to implement solid SEO strategies. To help you do that, we have a number of relevant posts you can read:
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