The landscape of search engine optimization (SEO) is continually evolving, and keeping up with these changes requires advanced tools.
In the world of WordPress SEO plugins, two contenders stand out: Rank Math and Yoast SEO. Both of these tools promise to optimize your website for search engines, but which one is better?
In this article, we will analyze and compare these two popular SEO plugins, helping you to make the best choice for your website.
Rank Math vs Yoast SEO — Introductions
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO has been a dominant player in the WordPress SEO world since its introduction in 2010. It has helped millions of websites worldwide to rank higher in search engines.
Its features encompass the full spectrum of SEO tasks, from providing easy readability and content analysis to technical SEO tasks like XML sitemaps and Schema.org integration.
Yoast SEO is known for its user-friendly interface and in-depth content analysis, providing beginners and experts alike with the tools they need for effective on-page optimization.
Rank Math
Rank Math is a relatively newer plugin, launched in 2018 by MyThemeShop. Despite its recent entry into the SEO world, it has quickly gained popularity due to its advanced features and simplified user interface.
Rank Math provides a suite of optimization features, including rich snippets, redirections, XML sitemaps, 404 monitoring, and even integration with Google Search Console. It’s touted as the “swiss army knife of SEO tools,” providing a complete SEO solution within a single plugin.
Rank Math vs Yoast SEO — Introductions
Rank Math
Rank Math’s feature set is impressive and extensive. It offers 15+ types of rich snippets, Google Search Console integration, LSI keyword tool integration, internal linking suggestions, 404 monitor, and redirections among others.
One of the standout features is the ability to optimize a single post for up to five keywords, a feature typically reserved for premium SEO plugins.
Furthermore, Rank Math provides advanced SEO analysis based on 30 known factors and offers local SEO options, WooCommerce SEO support, and a user-friendly 404 monitor.
Its modular approach allows users to enable or disable various features according to their needs, helping keep their site’s performance optimized.
Below you can find a full breakdown of Rank Math’s most popular features and functions:
Easy to Follow Setup Wizard
Rank Math simplifies the setup process with an intuitive configuration wizard. It takes you through the critical steps of SEO configuration, setting up your website’s SEO, social profiles, webmaster profiles, and other SEO settings.
Google Search Console Integration
The plugin integrates directly with Google Search Console, providing insights such as indexation status, sitemap status, and keyword rankings directly from your WordPress dashboard.
Optimization for Unlimited Keywords
Unlike many SEO plugins that limit the number of focus keywords, Rank Math allows you to optimize your post for an unlimited number of keywords.
Advanced SEO Analysis and Score
Rank Math runs 30 detailed SEO tests to provide an SEO score for your content. This score can help you understand how well your content is optimized and what improvements are needed.
Schema Markup (Rich Snippets)
The plugin supports 15 types of rich snippets including Articles, Recipes, Events, Products, and more. Rich snippets can help improve your visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs) and increase click-through rates (CTR).
LSI Keyword Tool Integration
Rank Math integrates with an LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keyword tool to help you find and use the best related keywords. This aids in writing more contextually relevant content.
404 Monitor
This feature tracks when visitors encounter 404 errors on your site. Knowing where users are encountering these errors can help you fix broken links or set up redirects to improve the user experience.
Redirections
Rank Math has a built-in redirection module that lets you set up various types of redirects (301, 302, 307, 410, 451) on your site. This feature is vital for managing changed URLs and avoiding 404 errors.
Internal Linking Suggestions
The plugin offers suggestions for internal linking based on your content. Internal linking is crucial for SEO, as it helps search engines understand the context and relationship between different posts on your site.
Local SEO and Knowledge Graph
Rank Math helps optimize your website for local SEO, improving your visibility in local search results. It also assists in maintaining your site’s presence in the Knowledge Graph, providing essential business information directly in search results.
XML Sitemap
The plugin automatically generates an XML sitemap, helping search engines better index your website. It also gives you the ability to include/exclude specific types of content from the sitemap.
Advanced WooCommerce SEO
Rank Math extends its SEO capabilities to WooCommerce stores, providing options for optimizing product pages, categories, and brands.
Breadcrumbs
This feature enables you to add SEO-friendly breadcrumbs to your website, helping users and search engines understand and navigate your site’s hierarchy.
SEO Optimized AMP
Rank Math is compatible with the AMP for WordPress plugin, letting you generate SEO-friendly AMP pages.
Role Manager
This tool lets you manage user access to specific plugin features. It’s beneficial for multi-author websites or if you want your clients to have restricted access.
Modular Framework
Rank Math has a modular approach, meaning you can enable or disable various SEO features as you need. This flexibility keeps your site’s backend clean and lightweight.
Multisite Compatibility
Rank Math is compatible with WordPress Multisite setups. You can control the SEO settings of all your sites from a single WordPress installation.
Content AI
This is a premium feature in Rank Math that uses artificial intelligence to give you suggestions on how to improve your content’s SEO and readability.
Rank Math’s feature set is ever-expanding, and each feature is designed with the end goal of making your website SEO friendly and improving your search engine rankings.
Whether you’re an SEO novice or an expert, Rank Math is an efficient tool to enhance your website’s SEO performance.
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO, while not offering as extensive a list as Rank Math, does provide robust and reliable features that cater to most users’ SEO needs.
It offers keyword and readability analysis, full control over breadcrumbs, and the ability to set canonical URLs to avoid duplicate content. The free version allows optimizing a single post for one focus keyword.
In the premium version, Yoast SEO expands its offering with features like internal linking suggestions, content insights, redirect manager, and the ability to optimize for synonyms and related keywords.
Additionally, the premium version supports local SEO, news SEO, and video SEO.
SEO and Readability Analysis
Yoast SEO provides detailed analysis of your content based on the focus keyword. It checks your keyword usage, meta descriptions, URL structure, and other SEO aspects. It also performs readability checks to ensure your content is easy to read and understand.
Focus Keyword Optimization
You can set a focus keyword for every page or post, and Yoast will give you specific recommendations to optimize for that keyword. In the premium version, you can set multiple focus keywords and synonyms.
SEO Titles and Meta Descriptions
Yoast allows you to set custom SEO titles and meta descriptions for your posts, pages, and taxonomies. You can also utilize variables for more dynamic titles and descriptions.
Schema.org Integration
Yoast SEO includes a Schema implementation, helping search engines understand your content and enhancing your presence in the search results with rich snippets.
XML Sitemaps
Yoast SEO automatically generates an XML sitemap for your site, making it easier for search engines to crawl and index your content.
Breadcrumbs Control
The plugin lets you add SEO-friendly breadcrumbs to your website. Breadcrumbs help users navigate your website and give search engines another tool to understand your site structure.
Canonical URLs:
Yoast SEO adds canonical URLs to your pages and posts to prevent duplicate content issues. This is essential for SEO as search engines can penalize sites with duplicate content.
Webmaster Tools Verification:
Yoast SEO simplifies the process of verifying your site with various webmaster tools like Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, Baidu Webmaster Tools, and Yandex Webmaster Tools.
Cornerstone Content and Internal Linking
Yoast SEO allows you to mark your most important articles as cornerstone content, and it provides suggestions for internal links based on your cornerstone content and focus keywords.
Redirect Manager (Premium)
The redirect manager is a premium feature that helps you manage 301 redirects from within your WordPress dashboard. It’s particularly useful when you delete pages, change URLs, or make other significant structural changes to your site.
Content Insights (Premium)
The premium version includes a feature that shows you the 5 words or phrases you use the most on your page, giving you a sense of whether you’re writing contextually relevant content.
Internal Linking Suggestions (Premium):
In the premium version, Yoast SEO offers suggestions for internal links based on the content of your post. Internal linking can significantly improve your site’s SEO by showing search engines the relationship between different content pieces.
Local SEO (Addon)
Yoast offers a separate Local SEO addon that helps you optimize your website for local searches. This is crucial for businesses that serve customers in a specific geographic area.
News SEO and Video SEO (Addon)
These are separate addons that help you optimize your site for Google News and video searches, respectively.
Multisite Compatibility
Yoast SEO is also compatible with WordPress Multisite setups. You can control the SEO settings of all your sites from a single WordPress installation.
Rank Math vs Yoast SEO — Setup Process
Rank Math
One of Rank Math’s selling points is its easy setup process. It offers a configuration wizard that guides users through a step-by-step process to set up basic SEO for their site.
This setup includes Google Search Console integration, SEO tweaks, and optional plugin recommendations. Advanced users also have the option to bypass the wizard and manually adjust the settings as needed.
Installation
Go to your WordPress dashboard, navigate to the “Plugins” section and click on “Add New”.
In the search bar, type “Rank Math”, then press enter. Find the Rank Math plugin and click on the “Install Now” button. After the plugin has been installed, click on the “Activate” button.
Setup Wizard
Once you activate the plugin, Rank Math will launch a setup wizard to guide you through the initial configuration. The first page will give you three options: Easy, Advanced, and Custom Mode. For this tutorial, we’ll choose the “Advanced Mode”.
Your Site
The next screen will ask for details about your site. Fill in the appropriate information:
Are you a local business, a person, or none of the above?
If you’re a local business, it will ask for additional details like your business name, address, and contact info.
If you’re a person, it will ask for your name and logo.
You can also choose whether your site is under construction or already live.
Google Services
This section allows you to connect your website with Google Search Console and Google Analytics. If you don’t have these set up, you can skip this step and do it later.
Sitemaps
Here, Rank Math will ask if you want to enable the Sitemap feature, which you generally should. You can also customize the sitemap settings like including images, public post types, and taxonomies.
SEO Tweaks
This section allows you to make several SEO adjustments like noindex empty categories and tags, nofollow external links, and showing SEO score in admin columns. Make your choices as per your requirements.
Role Manager
Rank Math allows you to control access to its settings based on user roles. You can set up this feature as per your needs.
404 & Redirections
This page will ask if you want to monitor 404 errors and manage redirections. Enable these options as they are crucial for your website’s health and user experience.
Schema Markup
You can enable Schema Markup (Rich Snippets) on this page. It’s highly recommended as it helps search engines understand your content better and can boost your visibility on search results pages.
Click “Finish Setup & Exit Wizard” to complete the setup process.
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO also offers a configuration wizard for its setup.
The process involves setting up SEO for different parts of your website, including homepage, posts, pages, and categories.
The wizard is simple and easy to follow, and Yoast provides a lot of tooltips and explanations along the way.
While the setup process for Yoast is intuitive, it doesn’t include a search console setup in the initial configuration wizard.
Installation
From your WordPress dashboard, navigate to “Plugins”, then click on “Add New”.
In the search bar, type “Yoast SEO”, and press enter.
You’ll see the Yoast SEO plugin appear; click on “Install Now”.
After the plugin has been installed, click “Activate”.
Configuration Wizard
Once you’ve activated the plugin, a new “SEO” option will appear in your WordPress dashboard’s sidebar. Clicking on it will take you to Yoast SEO’s dashboard, where you can start the configuration wizard.
Environment
The wizard will first ask you about the environment of your website. Is your site ready to be indexed by search engines, or is it a development or staging site?
Site Type
Next, you’ll be asked about the type of site you’re running (e.g., blog, online shop, news channel, small business site, corporation, portfolio, or something else).
Organization or Person
You’ll then need to specify whether the site represents a person or an organization. If it’s an organization, you’ll be asked to provide the organization’s name and logo.
Search Engine Visibility
Here, you can choose which types of content (posts, pages, media, etc.) you want search engines to index.
Multiple Authors
If your site has multiple authors, you’ll need to indicate this. Yoast uses this information to avoid showing duplicate content, which can negatively impact SEO.
Google Search Console
Connecting your site to Google Search Console can help you track how Google is indexing your site. If you don’t have an account, you can set one up.
Title Settings
Here, you can set the title separator symbol. This is the symbol used to separate different parts of the title tag (for example, “Page Title | Site Name”).
You’ve completed the setup! Yoast will now start analyzing your content and providing feedback.
Rank Math vs Yoast SEO — User Interface
Rank Math
Rank Math provides a sleek, modern user interface that is both intuitive and user-friendly. It organizes its features into easy-to-navigate modules, making it easy to find the options you’re looking for.
The plugin also integrates smoothly with the WordPress interface, providing optimization suggestions and options directly within the post editor.
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO also provides a clean user interface, though it’s not as polished as Rank Math’s. It’s straightforward and easy to navigate, with well-organized tabs and settings.
Within the post editor, Yoast SEO provides a meta box below the post content where you can manage the SEO and readability of the post.
Rank Math vs Yoast SEO — Keyword Analysis
Rank Math
Focus Keywords
You can set up to 5 focus keywords per post in the free version of Rank Math, and an unlimited number in the premium version. These are the keywords you want your content to rank for. Once you add a keyword, Rank Math will analyze your content for how effectively it’s optimized for that keyword.
Keyword Suggestions
When you start typing a keyword, Rank Math will provide you with keyword suggestions based on popularity. This feature is available in the premium version of Rank Math.
SEO Analysis Based on Focus Keyword
For each focus keyword, Rank Math will assess multiple factors like keyword density, keyword placement (in title, headings, URL, content, and meta description), keyword in alt attributes of images, and keyword decoration (bold, italic, underline). It’ll provide real-time feedback and a numerical score to indicate how well the content is optimized.
Readability Analysis
Apart from the keyword-centric SEO, Rank Math also conducts readability analysis. It checks content length, sentence length, paragraph length, presence of subheadings, use of passive voice, and more.
Schema Markup for Focus Keyword
Rank Math also takes your focus keyword into account while generating Schema markup for your content.
Competitor Analysis
In Rank Math Pro, you can perform a competitor analysis to see how your content stacks up against the top 10 results for your focus keyword.
SEMrush Integration
Rank Math has a direct integration with SEMrush, a popular SEO tool. This integration, available in Rank Math Pro, allows you to research keywords, get suggestions, and track your keyword ranking.
Additional Tests
Rank Math continually adds new tests based on algorithm updates and industry best practices.
Yoast SEO
Focus Keyphrase
In Yoast SEO, you can set a focus keyphrase for each post or page. This is the primary keyword that you want your content to rank for. Yoast will then analyze your content based on this keyphrase.
SEO Analysis Based on Focus Keyphrase
Yoast SEO evaluates your content based on various factors including the presence of the keyphrase in the SEO title, slug, meta description, and the text itself. It also checks for keyphrase density, keyphrase in subheadings, and keyphrase in image alt attributes, providing you with real-time feedback on these SEO aspects.
Readability Analysis
Apart from keyword-specific SEO analysis, Yoast also conducts readability analysis. It evaluates your use of transition words, sentence and paragraph length, passive voice usage, and more to ensure your content is easy to read.
Synonyms and Related Keyphrases (Premium)
In the premium version of Yoast SEO, you can set synonyms and related keyphrases. The plugin will take these into account when analyzing your content, offering a more comprehensive SEO evaluation.
Insights (Premium)
The premium version provides insights into your content, showing you the words and phrases you’ve used the most. This helps you check whether your content aligns with your focus keyphrase and intended topic.
SEO Suggestions
Yoast provides real-time feedback on your content’s SEO with a traffic light system: green for good, orange for improvements, and red for problems. This helps you optimize your content as you write it.
Schema Implementation
Yoast uses your focus keyphrase to help with the Schema implementation, aiding search engines in understanding your content.
Rank Math vs Yoast SEO — Pricing
Rank Math
Rank Math offers both a free version and premium versions with more advanced features. Here’s a detailed breakdown of Rank Math’s pricing:
Free Version
The free version of Rank Math offers a lot of value and features for no cost at all. Some of the features include:
- Optimization for up to 5 keywords
- Google Search Console integration
- Basic schema markup/rich snippets
- 404 monitor
- Redirections
- Internal linking suggestions
- Basic SEO analysis based on 30 known factors
Pro Version ($59/year)
The Pro version adds more advanced features and is suitable for small businesses and bloggers:
- All the features in the free version
- Optimization for up to 500 keywords
- Advanced schema generator with 13+ types
- SEO performance email reports
- Keyword rank tracking for up to 500 keywords
- Google Trends integration
- Advanced SEO analysis based on 70+ factors
- Support for client management (ideal for agencies)
Business Version ($199/year):
The Business version is designed for larger businesses and agencies with more advanced needs:
- All the features in the free and Pro versions
- Track keyword rankings for up to 10,000 keywords
- SEO for WooCommerce
- Priority support
Each premium plan includes support and updates for a year, and there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee if you’re not satisfied with the premium version.
Yoast SEO
Yoast SEO, much like Rank Math, offers both a free and premium version of its plugin. Each comes with its own set of features. Here’s a breakdown of Yoast SEO’s pricing:
Free Version
The free version of Yoast SEO includes a variety of features that provide the essentials for effective SEO:
- SEO analysis
- Readability analysis
- Canonical URLs
- Title and meta description templating
- Google Search Console integration
Premium Version ($89/year for one site)
The premium version comes with additional advanced features that provide more comprehensive SEO tools:
- All the features in the free version
- Advanced SEO support
- Preview of your page
- Advanced options for redirects.
- Internal linking suggestions
- Content insights
- No advertisements
Yoast SEO also offers additional plugins for “Local SEO”, “Video SEO”, “News SEO”, and “WooCommerce SEO” which are all priced at $69/year for one site.
Rank Math vs Yoast — FAQ
From a sheer feature-count perspective, Rank Math comes out on top. It includes advanced SEO features like multiple focus keywords, LSI keyword integration, and rich snippets even in its free version, which are typically premium features in other plugins.
As of 2023, Yoast SEO still holds the lead in terms of popularity, primarily due to its longstanding reputation and robust, reliable performance. However, Rank Math has been gaining ground quickly due to its expansive feature set and user-friendly interface.
Both plugins have high ratings in the WordPress repository. As of this writing, Rank Math holds an edge with a near-perfect rating, compared to Yoast SEO’s slightly lower score. User reviews commonly praise Rank Math for its extensive features and ease of use.
Yes, Rank Math is a safe and reliable SEO plugin for WordPress. It’s developed by a reputable company (MyThemeShop) known for its high-quality themes and plugins.
The answer to this question largely depends on your specific needs. Rank Math provides a broader range of features, even in its free version, and allows greater flexibility in terms of configuration and optimization.
However, Yoast SEO offers robust, reliable functionality and has a longstanding reputation in the SEO community. For many users, it’s more a question of preference than a clear-cut answer of which is objectively better.
Summary
Rank Math and Yoast SEO are both powerful SEO plugins for WordPress, each offering an impressive set of features to help optimize your website for search engines.
While they share many similar basic features, their advanced offerings, user interface, setup process, and pricing structures differentiate them.
Features:
Rank Math excels with its generous feature-set in the free version, including advanced schema markup, 404 monitor, redirections, internal linking suggestions, and optimization for up to 5 keywords.
Yoast SEO’s free version also offers robust features but lacks some advanced ones found in Rank Math. However, in the premium versions, both plugins have competitive advanced features such as additional keyword optimization, insights, and support.
Setup Process:
Rank Math has a straightforward setup process, thanks to its setup wizard which guides you through the essential steps and configurations, offering a user-friendly experience. Yoast SEO also provides a setup wizard but has fewer customizability options in the initial setup compared to Rank Math.
User Interface:
Rank Math has a modern, intuitive, and user-friendly interface that offers easier navigation. Yoast SEO, while user-friendly, has a more traditional and simpler interface. User interface preference can be subjective and depends on individual users.
Keyword Analysis:
Both Rank Math and Yoast SEO offer comprehensive keyword analysis features. Rank Math allows for optimization of up to 5 keywords in the free version (and up to 500 in the pro version), while Yoast SEO allows for one in the free version, and more in the premium version.
Pricing:
Both plugins offer free versions that cover most basic SEO needs. Rank Math’s Pro version is slightly cheaper than Yoast SEO’s premium version and offers more features, making it a more cost-effective solution for small businesses and bloggers. Yoast SEO’s premium version, on the other hand, is more expensive but comes with the reliability and support of a well-established brand.
Safety:
Both plugins are safe to use, with regular updates and active developer support. They adhere to WordPress’s coding standards and guidelines, ensuring the plugins’ security and compatibility with other plugins and themes.
In conclusion, the choice between Rank Math and Yoast SEO largely depends on your specific needs, budget, and personal preference.
If you want a cost-effective, feature-rich SEO tool with a modern interface, Rank Math is an excellent choice. However, if you prefer a tried-and-tested, robust, and reliable SEO tool from a well-established company, Yoast SEO would be the go-to choice.
Regardless of which plugin you choose, both will significantly help improve your WordPress site’s SEO.