How to Set Up Rank Math SEO Plugin: A Complete Guide

Last updated Jan 13, 2021

How to Set Up Rank Math SEO Plugin: A Complete Guide

Even if you have not been in the SEO world for a long time, we are sure that you have already come across more than one WordPress plugin that can help you with different positioning aspects. We want to introduce you to Rank Math SEO , a plugin ready to rise to the top of the SEO plugins for WordPress. And what happens then with Yoast SEO, the plugin recommended by practically all users? Next, we will compare both plugins and tell you why you should consider trying Rank Math SEO on your page . It won't take long to realize that Rank Math SEO is the best SEO plugin for your Website positioning.

Advantages of Rank Math SEO over Yoast SEO

We are not going to walk around with little girls, so we started this article by telling you the aspects in which Rank Math SEO surpasses Yoast SEO. Thus, you will understand from the first moment why we are so sure that Rank Math can unseat the one who has been a great favourite until now.

Interface

Even though both plugins have practical and easy-to-use interfaces, Rank Math SEO's is more intuitive and has a more striking and visually attractive aesthetic that improves the user experience. Useful functionality and careful aesthetics are the perfect combinations to achieve a friendly interface.

Keyword integration

As you may already know, Yoast SEO allows you to choose a keyword to target the content of a post. Well, Rank Math SEO will enable you to choose up to five keywords for each post. If you only have one, the plugin will suggest other related keywords, both long-tail and straightforward_,_ so that you can continue to improve your text, making it more search engine friendly.

Integration with Google Search Console

Both plugins have this function, but the advantage of Rank Math SEO over Yoast SEO is that it allows you to consult the Google Search Console data from the WordPress dashboard, while with Yoast SEO, you have to go directly to the page. It may seem like a trivial advantage, but we assure you that it is much more comfortable working from a single page.

Automatic nofollow tag assignment

If you are well versed in some HTML, you will know that it is no mystery to manually place the "no follow" tag on outgoing links to not convey authority to them. If you do not have that knowledge or want to make your life easier, Rank Math SEO allows you to assign this tag automatically, as we will explain below. Yoast SEO does not have any similar option, so the advantage of Rank Math SEO in this regard is more than evident.

Content analysis

One of the most valued functions of Yoast SEO is that it analyzes the content as it is written, giving recommendations and indicating the degree of readability and SEO optimization. Rank Math SEO has improved it by providing a much more exact numerical score from 1 to 100 and concrete tips to improve the text.

SEO audit

Rank Math SEO has its tool to do a quick audit of your Website. Indeed, it will not provide you with the same information as a specialized tool, but it is handy to take a look and know how things are going in terms of your Website's positioning. Yoast SEO has no such option. In addition to these advantages, Rank Math SEO has other functions such as integration with WooCommerce that are available for free, while with Yoast SEO, they can only be used in the paid version.

How to use Rank Math SEO to optimize SEO texts?

In addition to information, data and primary settings, what interests you are that your texts position themselves in search engines in the fastest and most stable way possible and, in that, Rank Math SEO can help you more than imagine. Rank Math allows you to set default values ​​for the meta tags of your Website's contents, but, as usual, you will want to customize them in some specific posts and pages. For this, the plugin provides you with a tab in which you can configure it to your liking. In that section, you also have a preview of how it would look in Google search results so that you can rectify both the title and the description until the display is complete. Finally, Rank Math SEO analyzes the post based on the number of words, readability, links. With this data, it gives you a score from 1 to 10 with which you will know the level of optimization of your text and what it is. that you must modify so that it can position more quickly.

Optimize rich snippets with Rank Math SEO plugin

One of the most exciting features of Rank Math SEO is the possibility it offers to optimize rich snippets since it has custom formats depending on the type of content you are writing for your Website. In general, rich snippets are very popular in everything related to cooking recipes, but there is a whole spectrum of post types that can benefit them, such as events, courses, book or product reviews, etc. You have to know how to identify and exploit them correctly so that Google knows exactly what you are writing about. A rich snippet is a snippet of rich text that provides additional information to Google about the type of content in question to display it in search results more practically and visually. Of course, rich snippets make the content climb positions in Google search results. They present the post's information much more clearly and facilitate a specific response to the user's search intention. Rich snippets are configured using the Schema.org format, which reads Rank Math SEO so you can easily apply it to your content. You have to activate the Rank Math SEO module called Rich Snippets and configure the data according to the type of content you are writing from the post itself, by scrolling down and clicking on the Rich Snippet tab. In the first section, you will find a drop-down menu to choose what type of content you are writing and what rich snippets it should carry. If it does not fit and none of the options, you can leave it in the article. Some of the options you will find are Books, Course, Event, Job Posting, Music, Product, Recipe, Video, Restaurant or Review. Depending on the one you choose, you will find the appropriate options for you to fill in with the corresponding information that will then be displayed in Google search results.

Rank Math SEO setup tutorial

We hope we have given you long teeth with some of the most outstanding Rank Math SEO features because now we will show you how to configure the Rank Math SEO plugin in 2020 so that you can exploit its possibilities to the fullest. Of course, remember that each project, each Website, has its peculiarities, so always carry out those actions that fit with what you want from your page. We also tell you that this plugin adapts very well to different web types, so surely, you do not need to make significant changes thanks to this versatility.

Registration and initial setup

The first thing you should do, either before or after installing Rank Math SEO on your WordPress, is to create an account at MyThemeShop, the creators of this plugin. It is completely free and will allow you to access all its functionalities. Once you have accessed the plugin on your desktop, a configuration wizard will start to guide you. You can exit it at any time and return by clicking on the Rank Math SEO menu, then Dashboard, and then the Setup Wizard. The first action you can do is import your data and settings from other plugins, including Yoast SEO, so if it's the one you've been using so far, don't worry because you can keep everything. But you can not only import the configuration of other SEO plugins but also those focused on configuring redirects, saving you a lot of initial time and effort. Also, you can select what data you want to import and what data not. Next, you will have to fill in the necessary information about your Website, add the logo and a default image that will appear when sharing on social networks.

Integration with Google Search Console

Rank Math SEO would not be a good SEO plugin if it did not have Google Search Console integration. To do this, you have to access your account and link it with the plugin by following the screen's instructions.

Configure the sitemap

We now turn to one of the most important aspects of SEO: to have a good sitemap. From this section, you can activate or deactivate it and choose all the options that interest you in indexing: images, posts, categories, tags, products and pages.

SEO Tweaks: tweaking SEO

Below we find five configurations related to the links on our Website, so you should take your time in this section because, as you know, links are one of the SEO aspects that you have to take care of the most.

  • Noindex Empty Category and Tax Archives. Activate this option so that Google does not index empty categories or tags.
  • Nofollow Image File Links. We recommend that you activate it so that search engines do not follow the image files' links.
  • Nofollow External Links. By starting this option, you avoid transmitting authority to the external links that you place in your content.
  • Open External Links in New Tab / Window. With this feature, the external links will open in a new window or tab. With this, you ensure that the user does not leave your Website, thus increasing the time of permanence, a positive factor in Google's eyes.
  • Strip Category Base. Check this box to remove the word/category / from your category URLs. In this way, the links are much friendlier for both search engines and users.

Advanced Options

So far, you have carried out the basic configuration of Rank Math SEO, but there are still more features that we can configure. One of them is the activation of the detection of 404 errors and redirects. In the Miscellaneous section, you can modify the ALT attributes of the images, an essential detail to Google's position, which is often not considered. Rank Math SEO allows you to formulate an automatic text for all the images on your Website. ALT attributes show text if problems are loading the image on the web In this section, you can also configure the rich snippets, as we have indicated above, and the type of content your Website will have: articles, blog posts or news articles.

Conclusion on Rank Math SEO and SEO plugins

As you can see, Rank Math SEO is coming on a strong footing and is capable of unseating practically any SEO plugin that currently exists, including premium ones. We encourage you to try it, if not in your project, on a test website so that you will be surprised by the capabilities it has. Its configuration assistant makes the first minutes in front of the plugin very simple and can have your Website ready for the search engines. Without a doubt, Rank Math SEO is one of the outstanding contributions to SEO for WordPress in recent times, and for that reason, we do not hesitate to recommend it. If you already know Rank Math SEO, we encourage you to share your experience in the comments. 🙂

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