Rank Math vs Yoast SEO: Which Plugin Is Best For You?

In the internet world, there’s competition in every keyword and every niche. Ranking well in search engines is crucial for keeping your WordPress website alive. This is where SEO plugins come in, offering a powerful toolkit to optimize your content and climb those search engine rankings.

SEO plugins are designed to enhance Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts. They offer a range of features to analyze your content, suggest improvements, and optimize your website’s technical SEO for better search engine visibility.

Did you know the right SEO plugin can boost your website traffic by 20%?

While doing SEO manually is possible, plugins automate many tasks, saving you time and effort. They also provide valuable guidance and insights you might miss on your own. This is especially helpful for beginners unfamiliar with SEO’s intricacies.

In WordPress SEO plugins, two of the most popular options are Rank Math and Yoast SEO to rank your WordPress website. This post will let you compare Rank Math vs Yoast SEO so that you can pick the perfect fit for your SEO needs!

Rank Math, a newer player in the market, has quickly gained popularity for its comprehensive set of tools and user-friendly interface. Rank Math was founded in 2020, by a group of three founders Suraj Vibhute, Bhanu Ahluwalia, and Nimit Kashyap.

Rank Math stands out for its advanced features such as schema markup integration, keyword optimization suggestions, and detailed content analysis. These features can help you fine-tune your content for better search engine visibility and user engagement.

All in One SEO might be the second most downloaded SEO plugin, but Rank Math stands out as the second most popular SEO plugin with its impressive user ratings. Even though more people have reviewed Rank Math, it still boasts a higher average rating. This strong user approval makes Rank Math a compelling choice for WordPress users seeking a top-rated SEO plugin to optimize their website.

Yoast SEO, founded in 2010 by Joost de Valk, quickly gained popularity for its user-friendliness and focus on on-page SEO. Yoast’s rise to dominance can be attributed to several key factors. First and foremost, it prioritized user-friendliness. Yoast made SEO, a complex topic for many, accessible to everyone, regardless of technical expertise.

Yoast SEO is known for its user-friendly interface, XML sitemap generation, and readability analysis tools. It provides actionable insights and recommendations to help you optimize your content and meta tags for improved search engine performance.

The above-mentioned features and its long history within the WordPress community all combined to solidify its position as the king of SEO plugins on the WordPress repository.

The user interface of Rank Math is well-organized, user-friendly, and packed with features that cater to both beginners and advanced users. The Rank Math dashboard presents a clean and intuitive layout, making it easy to navigate.

In the post editor, Rank Math has a dedicated section in the right sidebar.

Rank Math shows the post’s SEO details(SEO score out of 100, focus keywords, schema, and the number of internal or external links), SEO title, and SEO description.

Yoast offers a classic, user-friendly interface. It’s clean and organized, focusing on core SEO functionalities without overwhelming users. This makes it a great choice for those who prioritize simplicity and getting straight to the SEO optimization task. The menu of Yoast SEO is a bit difficult to navigate.

In the post editor, Yoast SEO adds a dedicated section below the content editing area, and also in the right sidebar.

Yoast SEO section in the editor on the bottom

Yoast SEO section in editor in right sidebar

The All Posts section shows your post’s SEO score(green, yellow, or red light), Readability score(green, yellow, or red light), SEO title, SEO description, Focus keyphrase, and the number of external links.

Think of keywords as search terms people use to find information online. Now, imagine a powerful keyword that best represents the core topic of your webpage. This is your focus keyword. By optimizing your content around this primary keyword, you signal to search engines that your page is the most relevant result for those specific user searches.

Rank Math free version allows you to add up to 5 focus keywords per post. In comparison, you can add unlimited keywords in the premium version. As you type your focus keyword, Rank Math will suggest similar keywords. If you need keyword analysis for focus keywords, you require a premium upgrade.

keyword suggestions in rank math free version

5 focus keywords in rank math free version

keyword analysis in rank math free version

The free version of this plugin allows you to add only 1 focus keyword per post. In the Yoast SEO premium, you can add 4 related keyphrases with 1 focus keyphrase per post. However, you can integrate Yoast with a free Semrush account to get keyword analysis for a maximum of 10 daily keywords.

Focus keyword/keyphrase in Yoast SEO

Keyphrase analysis in Yoast seo free version

IndexNow (Instant indexing) is a ping protocol that tells the search engines that this post/page is updated or published and needs to be seen by search engines. Imagine publishing a great blog post, but search engines take ages to find it. Instant indexing tries to fix this. It lets you submit your content directly to search engines, potentially speeding up the process of getting your website seen.

Note: Major search engines like Bing and Yandex support the IndexNow protocol. Google doesn’t integrate directly, but using it with others might still notify Google indirectly.

This plugin helps you inform search engines like Bing, using the Instant Indexing API, about your posts’ status. You can let them know if your posts are newly published or updated so that they can be indexed faster. You can do it for each post individually in All Posts or, submit your post’s URLs in Rank Math SEO>Instant Indexing tab.

Instant indexing in All Posts from the WP menu

Instant indexing tab in rank math

The free version of Yoast SEO does not include IndexNow support. You’ll need to upgrade to the premium version to access this feature.

404 Monitor keeps an eye out for unexpected guests who land on non-existent pages (404 errors). This information helps website owners in two key ways. First, it allows them to fix broken links, preventing visitors from encountering frustrating “page not found” messages and ensuring a smooth browsing experience. Second, search engines consider the number of 404 errors when ranking websites. A high number can hurt your ranking, so the 404 monitor helps identify and fix these issues, potentially boosting your website’s visibility in search results. You can learn more about the 404 monitor here.

Activate the 404 Monitor module from Rank Math SEO>Dashboard>Modules tab. Next, open the 404 Monitor tab from Rank Math SEO>404 Monitor, and see the URLs of the pages your visitors tried to open and fix them. You can fix them easily by Redirecting that URL to an existing post. For example, if a user searches “wpedify.com/serverless-wp” but my post URL is “wpedify.com/guide/serverless-wordpress-hosting” then it will show the user a 404 error. I will check in 404 Monitor and redirect that URL to my original post.

Enable 404 monitor module in Rank Math

404 error causing URL

Redirecting error causing URL to original post

Yoast SEO doesn’t have a 404 monitor. It doesn’t give any information about pages on which your users get 404 errors.

Rank Math offers many AI features for free. Simply activate the Content AI module from Rank Math SEO>Dashboard>Modules. If you can’t access Ai after enabling this module. Go to General Settings>Content AI and refresh credits in the last row.

Activate Content AI

Refreshing Content AI free credits

They give you 750 credits each month for free, but you can purchase a paid subscription for this add-on to get more credits if needed. AI feature included in the free version:

• Meta Title & Description Suggestions: It uses AI to generate compelling titles and descriptions based on your focus keyword, saving you time and effort. Click on the Rank Math tab on the right hand of your post editor, and select “Edit Snippet”. It will not deduct any credit from 750.
• Content AI: The Content AI lets you generate content directly. It is located on the right hand of your editor. You provide instructions, tone, target keyword, and desired length. The AI creates content based on your input, offering a springboard for your writing.
• Command Center: It uses AI to improve your existing content right within your WordPress editor. You can Run as Command, Write more(extend content with relevant text based on your style), Improve(create another para with more improved readability, and sentence structure), Summarize(AI-powered key point summaries), Write analogy(explain concepts creatively), and Fix grammar.

Note: 1 credit will be used from 750 on each word created by Content AI or using Command in WordPress editor.

• Image Alt Text: Whenever you add an image to the media library, you will see an option “Generate Alt” below the box of Alt Text. This button will generate accurate Alt Text for your image. Generating Alt from AI will cost you 50 credits for each image.

Using AI for generating meta title and description of post

Using Content AI to generate content for post

Using AI commands for existing content

Generate Alt text for images by AI

AI features are not available in the free version. Yoast SEO only has AI-powered title and description generators for posts and pages, which are exclusive to Yoast SEO Premium. However, you don’t need to pay for any additional add-ons or subscriptions, as these features are included in the premium version.

Rank Math includes content optimization features, but it lacks the detailed readability analysis that Yoast SEO provides. It suggests what to add to your content to make it more reader-friendly but it doesn’t pinpoint specific issues.

Yoast SEO provides detailed readability analysis for your content. It identifies issues such as long sentences and paragraphs, overuse of passive voice, subheading distribution, consecutive sentences (to ensure variety), and transition words (to make your content smoother). The premium version also identifies difficult vocabulary to make your content easier to read.

Setting up your SEO plugin correctly is crucial for optimizing your website’s performance on search engines. Below, we provide a detailed guide to the setup process for both plugins to help you decide which one fits your needs.

Rank Math is a powerful SEO plugin known for its extensive features and user-friendly interface. It offers a comprehensive setup wizard that guides users through the initial configuration with ease. Let’s start the setup process(setup wizard):

After activating the Rank Math plugin, you’ll be redirected to its setup wizard. If you don’t get redirected, you can start it by going to Rank Math SEO>Dashboard and selecting Setup Wizard in tabs.

The first screen will let you choose between Easy mode and Advanced mode. Easy mode is for users who prefer a simple and quick setup with default settings. While Advanced mode is for users who want more control and customization over their SEO settings. We’ll select Advanced mode.

In the next step, You have to give some details about your site.

For site analytics, you have to connect to the Rank Math account. You can also connect this plugin with the Google search console by connecting your Rank Math account.

Now, choose which content types to include in your sitemap.

The setup wizard then guides you through various SEO tweaks. You can decide whether to Noindex Empty Category and Tag Archives, nofollow all external links, and set external links to open in a new tab.

On clicking Save and Continue, your setup process will be completed. You can now do some additional settings if you have selected Advanced mode. These include enabling the role manager to control who has access to Rank Math settings, turning on the 404 monitor to track broken links, and enabling schema markup to improve search engine visibility.

Yoast SEO is a well-established plugin praised for its simplicity and effectiveness. Its configuration wizard ensures that even beginners can optimize their websites efficiently.

After activation, you will be redirected to a welcome screen containing a button “Start first-time configuration!” Click on this button to start the setup wizard of Yoast SEO. If it doesn’t appear, go to Yoast SEO > General > First-time configuration to manually launch it.

The first step is “SEO DATA OPTIMIZATION”. This step lets Yoast SEO analyze your site structure like Google. Yoast SEO checks for common technical SEO problems that can hinder your website’s ranking in search results. By gathering this information, Yoast SEO can provide valuable insights and suggestions for optimizing your website’s technical SEO and content structure for better search engine visibility. You can proceed with other configuration steps while Yoast SEO analyzes your website in the background.

Next, you will specify your “site representation”. This step informs search engines about the nature of your website. Choose whether your site represents an organization or a person. Provide the organization or person’s name and set a logo for your website.

The next step is to enter URLs for your social media profiles (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) under the “Social Profiles” section. This helps search engines understand your site’s social presence.

The next step is “Personal Preferences”. This step allows you to contribute anonymously to Yoast SEO’s development. Here you can join their newsletter by giving your email address and also you can share data about your plugin usage to help Yoast improve future versions.

Finally, review your settings and click “Finish Configuration” to complete the setup process. You can then access additional Yoast SEO settings from the dashboard as needed to further optimize your site.

Rank Math offers 3 premium plans. The starting plan is “PRO” which is perfect for individual or personal sites. You can use the premium version on unlimited sites that you own only. You will get free support from professionals on each site. Promotional price is $6.99/month(billed $83.88 first year). The original price is $7.99/month (billed $95.88 from second year).

The “BUSINESS” plan is suitable for businesses with multiple sites or freelancers who work for multiple clients. You can use it on 100 sites that you don’t own. You will get priority support from professionals on each site. which means that your issue will be resolved before everyone else. Its promotional price is $20.99/month(billed $251.88 first year) and renewal at $24.99/month(billed $299.88 from the second year).

The most expensive “AGENCY” plan is for freelance agencies managing the SEO of large websites. It gives the license to use on 500 websites of your clients. You will also get priority support in this plan. Promotional price is $49.99/month(billed $599.88 first year). While from second year it will be $59.99/month(billed $719.88 annually).

Note: All prices are exclusive of taxes. These prices may change from time to time. It’s better to check on their official website.

Yoast SEO offers two premium plans: Yoast SEO Premium and the Yoast SEO Premium Subscription.

Yoast SEO Premium gives you all premium features like having multiple focus keywords, a redirection manager, AI-optimized titles and descriptions, 24/7 support, and social media appearance. This plan is for $99/year and you get 1 site license for $99. However, discounts are available if you purchase licenses for multiple sites. The best part is that you will get full access to the Yoast SEO Academy. This academy offers all the courses you need to transform your site’s SEO strategy and achieve top rankings. Additionally, you will receive support from SEO experts to help optimize your site.

Yoast SEO Premium Subscription is for those who need a more comprehensive solution. This all-in-one package includes all the features of Yoast SEO Premium, as well as additional plugins like Yoast Local SEO for optimizing local searches and Google Maps, Yoast Video SEO to ensure your video content is easily found in search results, Yoast News SEO to get your site included in Google News(creating a news sitemap automatically), and Yoast WooCommerce SEO to enhance your WooCommerce store’s visibility. This Bundle is available at $229 per year for 1 site.

Note: All prices are exclusive of taxes. These prices may change from time to time. It’s better to check on their official website.

Remember: Both plugins have free versions on the WordPress repository. It’s better to first try free versions to explore their features.

Rank Math and Yoast SEO are both excellent SEO plugins with unique advantages. Rank Math offers a comprehensive free version with advanced features, making it ideal for budget-conscious users. Yoast SEO, with its established reputation and extensive resources, is a solid choice for those seeking a tried-and-true solution.

Both Rank Math and Yoast SEO are powerful tools with their strengths. Your choice will depend on your specific needs and budget. Try both plugins to see which one aligns best with your SEO strategy.

Ready to boost your website’s SEO? Try both Rank Math and Yoast SEO to see which one works best for you. Share your experiences in the comments below and join the discussion!

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