A relatively new SEO plugin that nevertheless gained the trust of over a million WordPress users in record time: Rank Math grew to surpass its competitors thanks to a wealth of features that are as intelligent as they are powerful. In this article, we explore its free version, comparing it to the PRO and Business plans.
Introduction
It’s striking to see how many industry blogs initially approached Rank Math for a review, only to end up adopting it themselves. In our case, we’ve been testing it for a couple of years now. That’s why we confidently recommend it—and in fact, we include its PRO version for free in our premium Managed WordPress service.
Rank Math was launched in 2018 in India, specifically in New Delhi. However, its core team of 30 people is spread across various locations worldwide. The PRO version came later, debuting at the end of 2020.
SEO
We’re all familiar with the term SEO. We have a general understanding of how search engines work, and we know that leveraging organic traffic requires careful site optimization. Text, images, metadata, loading performance—everything can (and should) be made “SEO-friendly.”
But there’s a catch: we can’t do everything on our own. It can take an enormous amount of time, effort, and, of course, money. And even then, we can’t always be sure we’re heading in the right direction.
That’s where SEO plugins come in—they exist to simplify and even fully handle a site’s search engine optimization.
Today, WordPress offers several popular SEO optimization plugins that provide services, diagnostics, and testing. Among them are the legendary Yoast SEO, SEOpress, and The SEO Framework. However, Rank Math has become one of the most reliable choices on the market.
Why Rank Math?
With so many SEO plugins on the market, why should Rank Math be our top choice? Because it offers the best content optimization experience, with features that stand out from the competition. Let’s take a look:
- Easy Installation: Thanks to its step-by-step guided setup wizard, you’ll be ready to take full advantage of Rank Math in no time.
- User-Friendly Interface: Rank Math’s design has been carefully crafted. Once installed, you’ll notice its clean, well-organized, and intuitive layout. It’s designed to be straightforward, ensuring no one feels lost or overwhelmed. Simply head to General Settings, and you can configure the desired tools in just a few clicks.
- On-Page SEO: After using Rank Math for the past two years, we can confidently say it’s one of the best tools for refining on-page SEO. It covers virtually every SEO strategy, from basic to advanced.
Just open the Rank Math tab while editing a post or page (as shown in the screenshot below) to access the General section. There, you’ll find diagnostics, editable fields, previews, and more.
The button itself provides an instant SEO score for the current content as soon as we enter one or more keywords (yes, we can enter as many as we want). The score ranges from 0 to 100, with anything above 80 considered a strong result. Important note: There’s no need to obsess over hitting a perfect 100. Depending on the content and its purpose, reaching that score might not even be possible. The key takeaway: a score above 80 means your content is well-optimized.
All the SEO Tools You Need
Unlike other well-known SEO plugins that limit users to a specific set of features, Rank Math offers a vast array of tools covering every possible aspect of optimization. Some of the key areas it handles include:
- Meta Data
- Sitemaps (including Google News, Videos, and Trends)
- All types of Redirects
- Schema generation
- SEO Breadcrumbs
- And much more…
We’ll break down these features in a table to differentiate the free functionalities from the premium ones.
Keyword Ranking Tracking
With the PRO version, we can track specific keywords, and Rank Math will show their performance in search engine results. This helps answer an essential question: Is the chosen keyword the best option for ranking our content? If not, we can get creative and explore alternatives. Keyword optimization is the most crucial step when aiming to improve our content’s ranking.
Auto-Configuration & Smart Suggestions
Rank Math doesn’t just analyze our site based on predefined parameters—it also conducts autonomous evaluations. This means the plugin proactively suggests the best optimization strategies, highlighting missed opportunities or critical areas for improvement. Since every website is unique, Rank Math’s automatic configuration saves time while streamlining optimization.
Schema Integration
Schema markup has become increasingly important, especially with the rise of voice search. Proper Schema implementation helps Google and other search engines better understand what our content is about. Rank Math makes this process effortless by diagnosing and incorporating Schema guidelines seamlessly.
Lightweight & Fast
Compared to its competitors, Rank Math is significantly lighter and more efficient. Its code is meticulously optimized, ensuring a fast, smooth experience without slowing down your website.
Comparison with Rank Math PRO
The paid version of Rank Math offers a huge number of advantages over the free version. The comparison table below will provide a clear overview, but here are the key highlights:
- Keyword Rank Tracking: With PRO, we can monitor our keyword rankings and fluctuations over the past twelve consecutive months, providing much deeper insights into keyword performance.
- Integration with Google Trends: Gain direct access to Google Trends data to refine your SEO strategy.
- Local SEO Optimization for Multiple Locations: Essential for businesses targeting different geographical areas.
- Dedicated Sitemap for Google News: Helps increase the chances of getting featured in Google’s news section.
- Video SEO Support: Similar to Google News, PRO allows us to generate dedicated sitemaps for video content, improving visibility in search results.
- Automatic Image Watermarking: PRO can automatically add our logo as a watermark to images shared on social media.
- Over 20 Predefined Schema Types: Enhances search engine communication by implementing structured data effortlessly.
- View Historical Google AdSense Earnings: Gain insights into past revenue performance.
- Enhanced WooCommerce SEO Tools: PRO provides advanced features for optimizing online stores running on WooCommerce.
With these additional tools, Rank Math PRO takes SEO optimization to the next level, providing valuable insights, automation, and precision that the free version simply can’t match.
Rank Math PRO is included for free in our WordPress Maintenance Plan
Rank Math Business
To get straight to the point, the defining advantage of Rank Math Business is that it allows us to install Rank Math PRO on up to 100 websites. This is particularly useful when managing multiple sites, whether for personal use or for clients.
Comparison Table: PRO vs. Business
Conclusions
Rank Math is like a Swiss Army knife for SEO, packed with dozens of tools within a single plugin. If our goal is to enhance our site’s search engine performance, this WordPress plugin provides everything we need—and more.
By integrating features found in other SEO plugins while offering a modular system to activate only what’s necessary, Rank Math stands out as an optimized, lightweight, visually appealing, and user-friendly solution. It also includes a remarkably extensive free version, which is rare in the industry. However, if our website is an eCommerce platform or generates revenue in any way, we highly recommend the PRO version for its advanced SEO diagnostics and professional-grade tools.
Rank Math ensures flawless communication with search engines, making our website speak the same language as ranking algorithms.
The SEO landscape is constantly evolving, and keeping up with these changes is crucial. The dedicated development team behind Rank Math ensures it stays ahead of the curve, making it a reliable and future-proof choice.
If increasing website traffic is a priority, this is a plugin we simply cannot afford to overlook.
Questions, feedback, or personal experiences? Drop a comment below—we read and respond to every message. Best of luck, and thanks for reading!
rank math PRO INCLUDED FOR FREE IN OUR WORDPRESS MAINTENANCE PLAN
We offer assisted and free migration services along with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee
