Improving SEO WordPress – Rankmath vs Yoast

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is an important aspect of any website. In order to rank high in search engine results pages (SERPs), you need to optimise your website for SEO. So, Rankmath vs Yoast? Which one comes out on top?

There are many different SEO plugins available for WordPress, but the two most popular that we will compare today are Rank Math vs Yoast SEO.

In this blog post, we will compare Rank Math and Yoast featured, costing, and performance to decide which one is the best for improving your WordPress SEO.

Why SEO is important for business?

There are a number of reasons why Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) is good for business. One of the most apparent is that good search engine optimisation (SEO) can help your website be more visible in search engine results pages (SERPs), resulting in increased visitors and sales.

Better visibility in SERPs can also lead to improved brand awareness and a better overall reputation for your business.

As SEO is all about improving the quality and relevancy of your website’s content, it can also help to improve your customer service and build trust with your target audience.

All of these factors can ultimately lead to more sales and more revenue for your business. SEO is very important for business because it can help you to achieve your business goals.

What does an SEO plugin do in WordPress?

WordPress SEO plugins are a great way to make sure that your website is well-optimised. SEO plugins help to optimise the content in your WordPress site so that it is easily accessible and understandable by search engines like Google.

This means your website becomes more easily indexable and increases the chance of good exposure for your content.

If your website is not SEO friendly or doesn’t follow SEO best practices, the plugin will alert you and provide different ways you can optimise your content in a more SEO-friendly way.

Both Rank Math and Yoast are high-quality SEO plugins that can help improve your websites SEO. But when it comes to Rank Math vs Yoast, which one comes out on top?

Now we know why SEO is important for business and what an SEO plugin does – Let’s dive into our Rank Math vs Yoast SEO Comparison!

Rank math vs Yoast SEO – Free Features

The difference between Rank Math and Yoast SEO is that Yoast makes many of Rank Math’s free features into premium features.

Rank math Free features

• Meta descriptions and titles
• Focus Keyword Analysis
• XML sitemap
• Structured schema/ data
• Google Search Console integration
• Image SEO
• Local SEO
• Internal link suggestions
• Google Analytics
• Breadcrumbs
• Link Counter
• Redirect manager
• Basic Woocommerce SEO
• Schema markup
• WordPress block editor

Yoast SEO Free Features

• Meta Descriptions and SEO titles
• XML Sitemap
• Link counter
• Google Search Console integration
• Breadcrumbs
• Cornerstone Content
• Schema markup

Rank Math vs Yoast Premium Features

Rank Math Premium Features

• Google Trends Integration
• Advanced Woocommerce SEO
• Google News SEO sitemap
• Google Video SEO sitemap
• View your history on Google Adsense
• Advanced Google Analytics
• Track Google Index Status
• Local SEO in multiple locations.

Yoast SEO Premium Features

• Inclusive Language Analysis
• Internal link suggestions
• IndexNow
• Short Links
• Keyword Suggestions
• Local SEO
• News SEO
• Video SEO
• Woocommerce SEO

Rank Math vs Yoast – Key Features Compared

Rank Math vs Yoast SEO- Keywords

Keyword analysis and optimisation is an essential part of SEO. They help search engines identify what your content is about.

Rank Math

• Focus Keywords– Rank Math allows you to choose up to 5 keywords per post. This means that you will be able to track 5 different keywords at one time.

• Keyword Auto Suggest – The Rank Math Keyword Auto Suggest tool will automatically pull keyword suggestions from Google.

• Keyword Comparison and Google Trends Tool – Rank Math offers the Google Trends tool to help you analyse search trends, allowing you to compare your keywords accordingly.

Yoast SEO

• Focus Keywords – Yoast SEO only allows you to choose 1 focus keyword per post when using the free version. If you are using Yoast with the premium version you will be able to select additional related keywords.
• Keyword Auto Suggest – Yoast SEO does not have an auto-suggest SEO tool.

Rank Math vs Yoast SEO – Content

Content analysis and optimisation features are designed to attract traffic to your website and posts. Let’s take a look at what both Rank Math and Yoast SEO have to offer:

Rank Math

Rank Math offers a colour-coded system to allow you to track your content’s SEO.

• Red (Below 50) – If you are presented with a red score, this means that your content is not optimised for your keywords, you have not followed SEO best practices and your content will not do well on the search engine results page.

• Yellow (51-80) – Scoring in the yellow category indicates that your content is getting better but does need improvement.

• Green (80+) – If you are given a score of 80 or over your score will appear green. Scoring in the green category means that your content is well optimised. However, Rank Math does recommend a score as close to 100 as possible for optimal performance.

Now that you understand the Rank Math Colour Coded System let’s look at Rank Math’s 4 different optimisation categories: Basic SEO, Additional, Title Readability, and Content Readability. Rank Math will alert you to any errors your content has and explain how to improve them.

Basic SEO

In this Section there are 6 different optimisations that Rank Math will check for and prompt you to update the areas that need improvement:

• Add focus keyword to the SEO title – Page titles help your website rank on the Search Engine Results Page. This test checks if your primary keyword is in the SEO title.

• Add Focus Keyword to your SEO Meta Description – Creating a good quality meta description can increase click-through rates from search engines. Users will use this description to decide if your content is what they are looking for. Page titles must include the keywords or phrases the searcher enters into the search engine.

• Use Focus Keyword in the URL – Having your focus keyword in your website’s URL is a good ranking factor and is important for those searching for your content.

• Use Focus Keyword at the Beginning of your content – It is important to use your focus keyword at the beginning of your content. This allows search engines to identify what your content is about and assures the user that they have found the content they were looking for.

• Use Focus Keyword in the content – As well as analysing for keywords in your SEO titles, Meta Description, and URL, Rank Math will check if your focus keywords are present in your content.
• Overall Content-Length – This test will focus on your content length. To achieve a score of 100% you will need your content to be 2500 words and above.

Additional

In this section, Rank Math will analyse your content and check that you have:

• Added your focus keyword to your subheadings (H1, H2, H3, etc).
• Added alt text to any images (Image SEO)
• Check that your website URL is in the correct range
• Check for external and internal links
• Check that you have set a focus keyword for your content

Title Readability Analysis

Rank Math will run a readability analysis and ensure that you have used your focus keyword near the beginning of the SEO Title, check if you have evoked emotion in your SEO title, and look for any power words and numbers.

Content Readability analysis

Rank Math’s Content Readability Analysis will prompt you to make a ‘table of contents’ for your page. A table of contents is useful for users who only want to read a specific part of your content that relates to their question, and not the whole post.

The content readability analysis will also check that your paragraphs are not too long and check for the presence of images and videos.

YOAST SEO

Just like Rank Math, the Yoast free SEO plugin provides content analysis and tools to help you optimise your content.

Yoast SEO has a similar system to Rank Math in that you will see the SEO analysis tab with feedback on how to improve your content. There are 2 optimisation categories, SEO and Readability.

SEO

In this section, you will have the opportunity to enter your focus key phrase, your SEO Title, and Meta Description.

When you scroll down you will see the analysis results. Yoast SEO analyses the following:

• Key Phrase Distribution – Yoast will prompt you to distribute your primary keyword evenly throughout your content.
• OutBound Links – Yoast SEO will count how many outbound links you have included in your content.
• Images – Check how many images you have and instruct you to add more if needed.
• Internal links – Check that you have created links to other pages on your website.
• Keyphrase length – Check that your key phrase is the correct length.
• Meta Description Length – Checks your meta description is the correct length
• Text Length – Check that your Text is the correct length.

Readability

The current readability tests in the Yoast SEO plugin are:

• Word Complexity (Only available with Yoast SEO premium)
• Passive Voice
• Consecutive Sentences – Checks sentences are consecutive and concise.
• Subheading Distribution – Ensures subheadings are correctly distributed throughout your content.
• Paragraph Length – Yoast SEO will make you aware if your paragraphs are too long.
• Sentence Length – If your sentences are too long, Yoast will let you know!

It is clear that Rank Math offers a much more extensive and thorough keyword analysis than Yoast SEO.

Rank Math vs Yoast SEO – Integrated Tools

Rank Math

• Google Analytics 4
• Woocommerce
• 404 Monitor
• Google Search Console
• bbPress
• Google Web Stories
• Video Sitemap

Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO has integrated the following SEO tools, however, they are only available with the Yoast SEO premium version:

• Wincher
• SEMRUSH
• Zapier
• Elementor
• ACF
• Algolia
• WordProof
• Jetpack
• Woocommerce

How much does Rank Math cost?

There are 3 tiers to the Rank Math Pricing Plans if you decide you want the premium features:

  Pro Version

According to Rank Math this version is ideal for individuals, bloggers, and beginners and costs $129 (£110.23) per year.

The Pro version includes:

·      Unlimited Websites for personal use

·      Free 15 Content AI Credits

·      Track 500 Keywords

·      Powerful Schema Generator

·      24/7 Support

Business Version

Rank Math suggests this version of Rank Math is for freelancers and business and agency owners and costs $429 (£366.64) per year.

The Business Version includes:

·      Supports 100 client websites

·      Free 125 Content AI Credits

·      Track 10,000 Keywords

·      Powerful Schema Generator

·      24/7 Priority Support

Agency Version

According to Rank Math this version of the plugin is ideal for agency and business owners with high client volume and costs $999 (£853.80) per year.

The Agency Version includes:

·      Support for 500 client websites

·      Free 600 Content AI Credits

·      Track 50,000 Keywords

·      Powerful Schema Generator

·      24/7 Priority Support

Current offers:

Rank Math pro – $59 per year

Rank Math Business – $199 per year

Rank Math Agency – $499 per year

How Much Does Yoast SEO Cost?

Yoast SEO currently offers two types of its premium version:

Yoast SEO Premium Version

Yoast Premium cost £99 per year which only includes one website.

Yoast SEO Premium Extensions

In addition to the above £99 fee, Yoast SEO offers four additional premium extensions:

• Local SEO – an additional £79 per year for a single website
• News SEO – an additional £79 per year for a single website
• Video SEO – an additional £79 per year for a single website
• Woocommerce SEO – an additional £79 per year for a single website

Rank Math vs Yoast – Installation and Set up

How do I install the Rank Math plugin?

Firstly, you will need to log in to your WordPress site.

Once you are on the WordPress dashboard you will find plugins in the toolbar on the left side. Go to Plugins > Add New. Then, type Rank Math SEO into the plugin search bar and click > Install Now.

When you have installed the Rank Math SEO plugin you will need to activate it. You should see that once the install is completed, the ‘Install Now’ button you previously clicked, will have updated to say ‘Activate’; simply click this to activate the plugin and get started.

Once you have activated Rank Math, navigate to the ‘Plugins’ tab in the WordPress sidebar, and scroll down to find ‘Rank Math SEO’, under here you’ll need to click ‘Setup Wizard’ to begin the setup of the plugin.

You will then be redirected to Rank Math Set up Wizard.

How do I set up Rank Math?

Rank Math’s setup wizard helps you choose the right configurations and settings for optimal SEO performance.

Rank Math Setup Wizard

Step 1 – Connect your free Rank Math account

Before you first activate you will be asked if you want to connect your rank math account.

If you do have an account you will need to click on > Connect your account and follow the relevant steps. If you do not have an account you can click on > Skip Now to continue to the next step.

Step 2 – Getting Started

The rank math setup wizard will present you will three different configuration categories to choose from: Easy, Advanced, and Custom mode.

• Easy – When choosing this configuration, Rank Math will put all settings in place for you according to industry best practices.
• Advanced – This setting will allow more control over your SEO settings.
• Custom Mode – Choosing this setting will allow you to customise the settings you want to use.

Once you have chosen the right configuration settings for you click > Start Wizard. We will be choosing Easy Mode.

Step 3 – Your Site

In this step, you will need to choose your website type. There are 7 different options to choose from:

• Personal Blog
• Community Blog/ News site
• Personal Portfolio
• Small Business site
• Webshop
• Other Personal Website
• Other Business Website

After selecting your website type, you will need to add the logo for your site and a social share image. Save and Continue for the next-step.

Step 4 – Analytics

The setup wizard will again ask you to connect your Rank Math account. Creating a rank math free account will provide you with additional benefits and features. This includes:

• The ability to verify your site’s ownership on Google Search Console more easily
• Web page and keyword rank tracking
• Set up Google Analytics without using a third party
• Sitemaps are easily submitted to Google Search Console
• Keyword analysis and suggestions
• Analyse your content with the SEO Analyser to scan your website for errors

If you do not wish to create an account you can click on > Skip Step. If you have created an account > Save and Continue.

STEP 5 – You are all set

Your website is all set!

Here you have the option of enabling automatic updates. We recommend enabling the updates so that when there’s a new release, you will receive this automatically. Once you have done this click on > Return to dashboard.

How do I install the Yoast SEO plugin?

Again, you will need to log in to your WordPress site and go to > Plugins > Add New. Type Yoast SEO into the plugin search bar and click > Install Now and then > Activate.

Unlike Rank Math’s automatic redirection to the setup wizard, you will need to access the configurations from the WordPress toolbar. Click on Yoast SEO > General.

You will then see the Yoast SEO dashboard. Scroll down to the bottom of the page. Here you will find six different tabs. They are labeled:

• Dashboard
• Features
• Integrations
• Webmaster Tools
• Crawl Settings
• Configuration

You will need to go through each of these tabs to configure your SEO settings to your needs.

How to Switch From Yoast SEO to Rank Math?

Transitioning from Yoast SEO to Rank Math is a straightforward process. You can import data from Yoast by using Rank Maths Set up Wizard when you install rank math.

Alternatively, you can always go back to the setup wizard at any time. Follow these easy steps to switch from Yoast SEO to Rank Math:

1. Sign up for a free Rank Math account
2. Deactivate the Yoast SEO plugin
3. Open Rank Math Setup Wizard
4. Connect your Rank Math Account
5. Import data from the Yoast SEO plugin
6. Delete Yoast SEO

Rankmath vs Yoast SEO – Q+A

What is the most popular WordPress SEO plugin?

Yoast SEO is currently the most popular SEO plugin in terms of the quantity of users using the plugin. However, since Rank Math launched back in 2018 it is increasing in popularity.

This could be due to Rank Math’s free version incorporating a variety of different features essential for your SEO needs. However, Yoast SEO only provides many of these features in its Premium version.

Can you use Yoast SEO and Rank Math at the same time?

No, you cannot use Yoast SEO and Rank Math at the time. You will need to switch from one plugin to the other.

Does Rank Math have internal linking suggestions?

Yes! With the Advanced Mode setting, you can enable internal link suggestions.

Which plugin can have multiple focus keywords?

Rank Math can have up to 5 focus keywords at one time. However, Yoast SEO only allows for 1 focus keyword per post.

Can I Connect my Google Search Console Account To Rank Math?

Yes. In order to do this you will need to:

1. Enable Analytics on the Rank Math dashboard

2. Click on Settings

3. Connect to Google Services

Now Google Search Console is activated

Which is cheaper Rank Math or Yoast SEO?

Rank Math! Rank Math’s top tier plan is cheaper than Yoast SEO. Rank Math’s premium plan allows you unlimited websites whilst Yoast does not offer this. Finally, Rank Math offers ALL features in its pricing plans.

However, Yoast SEO charges an additional $79 per year for each additional feature. Local SEO, Woocommerce SEO, Video SEO, and News SEO all cost £79 per EACH when using Yoast SEO.

Rankmath vs Yoast – Which WordPress SEO plugin comes out on top?

So, which plugin should you choose for your website? Yoast SEO is a more established plugin with a large user base, However, Rank Math is a new player in the SEO field, but is quickly gaining popularity because of its many features and its affordable price.

Here at SEO CoPilot, we find Rank Math to be the better SEO plugin compared to Yoast. Rank Maths’s features are more comprehensive, have an easy setup, and most importantly – most features are FREE!

If you’re looking for a plugin that can help you with all your SEO needs, Rank Math is the way to go.