Rank Math: Best Yoast SEO Alternative

Do you know Rank Math? This is a free SEO plugin that offers a lot of useful features. And therefore it is a real alternative to Yoast. You can find the most important features and a short comparison of the two plugins in my post.

Rank Math has been praised by many bloggers as the insider tip for some time now.

This makes me rather skeptical. But at the same time also curious.

So I have replaced the SEO plugin first on a rather unimportant website with the established Yoast.

And the rather unknown newcomer immediately impressed me! Not only the functionality, but also the handling and the overall appearance convinced me instantly.

Since my experiences with Rankmath were absolutely positive, I replaced Yoast on all my websites with the new plugin.

About Rank Math SEO

Although the SEO tool has only been around since 2018, it already has a lot of fans. And every day there are more. Why? Quite simply: It offers many more features than the common SEO plugins and is also free.

The self-proclaimed “Swiss Army Knife for WordPress SEO” can be downloaded here for free and can also be found in the WP Plugin Directory. Currently it has over 1 million active installs and a 5 star rating.

Rank Math Pro

In the meantime, a paid version of Rank Math has been introduced. Of course, this version contains all the features of the free version and offers many more additional features. The differences between the two versions can be found in this comparison table.

Here are the highlights:

• Keyword Rank Tracker
• Content AI
• Erweiterter Schema Generator
• Schema Import
• Sitemaps für Google News
• Video Sitemap
• Image SEO
• Local SEO
• Cookieless Google Analytics Tracking

All Features

The prices for Rank Math are slightly lower than for Yoast SEO.
The Pro license is $59 per year and can be used for an unlimited amount of websites. The Business version can also be used for customer projects and costs $199 per year.

View Pricing

Nevertheless, Rank Math and all its features remain free of charge.

Our free version will remain free for life.

[…]Premium version will be for the advanced users.

Rankmath

Rank Math Demo

You would like to have a look at the tool without obligation? So can try the Rank Math demo installation. Here you can see and test all features.

Rank Math Live Demo

Rank Math Top Features

Besides the usual basic settings, Rankmath offers many additional and practical features. Exactly these are not included in most other providers. And if they are, then you have to buy a premium version.

Here are the most important features and a short comparison to Yoast.

Reduce Plugins

A big advantage of RankMath: Some plugins become superfluous.
Because this plugin already contains features that are otherwise covered by extra tools.

Here are some examples:

• Redirect Plugin
• Nofollow Plugin for Links
• Schema Plugin
• XML Sitemaps
• Breadcrumb Plugin

Schema Markup – Rich Snippets

Using structured data for your content has many advantages. Rich snippets make it easier for search engines to understand your content better & faster. And maybe your snippet will stand out more in search results and improve your ranking.

I have already tested various Rich Snippets plugins. But now I don’t need them any more. Because RankMath already offers the most important markups.

Currently you can use the following rich snippets:

• Article
• Book
• Course
• Events
• Jobs
• Music
• Product
• Recipe
• Restaurant
• Video
• Person
• Service
• Software
• FAQ Schema
• HowTo Schema

FAQ-Schema

Since a short time the FAQ schema is available. You can easily use it via a Gutenberg block.

Google Autosuggest

This feature is also offered by SEOPress Pro (Paid).

Multiple Focus Keywords

You want to optimize your posts for multiple keywords? No problem! Because with this SEO Tool you can enter up to 5 focus keywords.

With Yoast, this is only possible in the Premium version.

Redirect Manager

Broken links happen on every website. But to prevent the user from getting an error message, you should redirect the links.

Of course, there are a lot of plugins for this as well. However, Rank Math already includes a redirect manager. And also a 404 monitor.

So you can do without another tool!

The redirect tool is not only easy to use. It even offers the possibility to set a 410 redirect. This means to mark a URL as deleted (gone). This is something that very few plugins offer.

Yoast Premium also includes a redirect tool.

Link Suggestions

Yoast also offers this. However, again only in the Pro version.

Google Search Console

Do you want to view the data from Google Search Console directly in WordPress? Then you can quickly set this up with RankMath.

In addition to an overview, a search analysis and the submitted site map are also displayed.

Elementor Integration

Do you work with a page builder? Then you can reach all SEO settings of RankMath directly in the DIVI builder or also in Elementor. In the meantime, Yoast has also improved this point.

Content Analysis

The content analysis in Rank Math works similarly to most SEO plugins.

While Yoast works with a traffic light system, Rank Math assigns a score. So you see how well your blog post is optimized based on points.

The criteria for evaluating the content are very similar. And of course, both tools make sure that you apply the most important basics. For example, length of the text, keyword density, structuring, image description, meta description, etc.

With Yoast, however, the Flesh Reading Index is displayed; not with Rankmath. Also, the proven SEO tool points out the use of link words.

Rank Math, on the other hand, is more about power words and numbers in the SEO title.

As with all SEO tools, remember that they are only recommendations. Make the most of them and think about your readers when blogging.

Content AI

With version 1.0.76.1 Rank Math has one more feature to offer: Content AI*.

Thus, the tool provides you with concrete suggestions directly when writing posts, such as:

• Optimal text length
• How many links should be included
• Number of headlines
• Related keywords
• Suitable questions
• Possible links

The free version includes 5 credits, so you can try it out. More credits are then included in the pro version.

Performance

How does the plugin affect the loading time? I could actually see a difference when I switched from Yoast to RankMath.

Here are the results:

Tool	Timing (Pingdom)
Rank Math	544ms
Yoast SEO	583ms

Also in the wordpress backend, my pages are now loaded a little faster.
Maybe it’s also because I was able to remove some plugins. Thanks to Rank Math I could save 2 plugins: Redirect and Schema.

SEO Analysis

In a short SEO analysis the SEO Tool checks the current status of your website. At a glance, you can see where and how you can still optimize individual points.

The following main issues are reviewed:

• SEO Basics
• Advanced SEO
• Performance
• Security
• Social SEO

Of course, this report does not replace a professional SEO check. But it provides a good first overview of the basics.

A SEO report is not offered by Yoast.

Import setting from other SEO tools

If you already use an SEO plugin, you can easily transfer the settings to Rank Math.

The plugin supports automatic import for many WordPress SEO plugins. E.g. Yoast or All in One SEO.

I had only good experiences with the SEO import functionality. For several websites everything worked without any problems.

Nevertheless, you should of course make a backup before. To be on the safe side, you can also use the Yoast Exporter. With it you can save all settings as a text file and import them again.

Feature Roadmap (Changelog)

How is the development of the plugin progressing? The developers of Rank Math provide transparent information here. In the current changelog you can read which features were implemented at what time.

And you can also submit ideas and ask for help in the support area at any time. Overall, the developers always have an open ear for the wishes and questions of the users.

Tip: Customize Power Words & Scoring

Rank Math offers you many possibilities to customize the SEO scoring system via filter hooks. For example, you can use small code snippets to define your own Power Words or remove scoring criteria.

Here are a few examples:

Define your own Power Words:

add_filter( 'rank_math/metabox/power_words', function( $words ){
	$new_words = [
		'free',
		'awesome',
		'top',
	];
	return array_merge( $words, $new_words );
});

Remove Content AI test:

/**
 * Filter to disable Content AI test.
 */
add_filter('rank_math/researches/tests', function ($tests, $type) {
	unset($tests['hasContentAI']);
	return $tests;
}, 10, 2);

The best way to do this is to add the code to your own file, which you name rank-math.php. Upload this file via FTP to your child theme folder.

Rank Math vs. Yoast

Meanwhile, more and more WordPress users are switching from Yoast to Rankmath. Because the previous market leader offers significantly less in a direct comparison.

Here is a brief comparison of the main differences.

	Rank Math	Yoast
Schema Markup	✔	✖ (Pro)
Google Autosuggest	✔	✖
Search Console	✔	✖
Internal Link Suggestion	✔	✖ (Pro)
Redirect Manager	✔	✖ (Pro)
404 Monitor	✔	✖
Local SEO	✔	✖ (Pro)
Nofollow external Links / Images	✔	✖
Multiple Focus Keywords	✔	✖ (Pro)
FAQ Schema	✔	✔
HowTo Schema	✔	✔
SEO Analysis	✔	✖
Social Previews	✔	✖ (Pro)

On the RM website you can find a detailed comparison of both plugins.

Is the switch worth it?

Whether a switch is worth it for you depends entirely on your needs and expectations.

If you expect Rank Math to automatically push your website to rank 1 in Google, I have to disappoint you. Because Rank Math is just a tool. But a tool with many possibilities. So if you need and want to use the many features, I can absolutely recommend it to you!

If you are happy with the current SEO plugin, you can continue to use it.

My experience with Rank Math

For me, Yoast is still a very good and solid plugin. I worked with it for many years and was satisfied with it. But only satisfied.

For quite some time I was thinking about switching to SEOPress. But then I discovered Rank Math. And so far I am more than satisfied with it. Because here I can save several plugins and get additional features simply supplied.

So I really like the link suggestions, Rich Snippets or Google Suggest. Very useful! And also the Elementor integration is a real time saver.

So far, I can really only report positive things about this plugin! For me it is the best free alternative to Yoast. And also the Pro version is very interesting, especially because of features like rank tracking and advanced schema integration.