Rank Math SEO Plugin Tutorial
Table of Contents
WordPress SEO tutorial for beginners 🚀
Hi, Pascal here from WP Roads! 👋
In this tutorial I'm going to show you how to setup and configure the free version of Rank Math SEO Plugin to skyrocket your WordPress website SEO and get found on Google and other search engines!
In the video at the beginning of this post I'll show you a complete and detailed guide to learn everything you need to know to setup your WordPress websites SEO with Rank Math: you'll be surprised to see how even the free version is generous and powerful!
How to setup Rank Math SEO plugin on WordPress in 10 simple steps:
- Quick technical SEO check: verify to have an SSL certificate and a correct permalink structure.
- Create a Free Rank Math account to enable important SEO features on your WordPress website.
- Configure Rank Math basics through the Setup Wizard & connect Google services!
- Explore all the Rank Math modules and extensions.
- Go though all the Rank Math General Settings and setup correctly your website's SEO fundamentals.
- Rank Math Titles & Meta: configure the way your website content will appear in search results.
- Sitemap settings: verify the XML sitemap and create a custom HTML sitemap.
- Managing 404 Errors and Redirections.
- Optimize your website Home Page with Rank Math.
- Optimize a blog post with Rank Math: set up your Focus Keywords and try to rank #1 on Google!
Down below there is a short written summary of the content of the tutorial, in the video at the top of this post you'll find all the detailed steps you need to follow to configure Rank Math SEO plugin on your WordPress website!
Configuring Rank Math for WordPress SEO Success
Technical SEO Basics
Before diving into Rank Math configuration, there are a few technical SEO elements to check. First, ensure your website has an SSL connection (HTTPS) to provide a secure browsing experience. Next, verify your WordPress permalink structure is set to “Post name” for better readability and SEO. Finally, make sure search engine visibility is enabled in your WordPress settings.
Tip 🤔
choose a good WordPress hosting if you want to be sure to have a good SSL certificate and a fast loading website! I recommend you to check my complete Hostinger tutorial if you need to switch to an affordable and powerful WordPress hosting provider!
Create a Rank Math Account
To use the free Rank Math plugin, you'll need to create a free Rank Math account. You can do this by visiting the Rank Math website and clicking on “My Account” and then on “Register Now.” Once you've created your account, we will connect it to your WordPress site in the next steps.
Install and Set Up Rank Math
After creating your Rank Math account, install the Rank Math plugin from your WordPress dashboard. When you activate the plugin, it will prompt you to connect your free Rank Math account. We're now ready to start!
Rank Math Setup Wizard
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the setup wizard, which will help you configure Rank Math's basic features.
Explore Rank Math Modules
Rank Math offers a range of modules that you can enable or disable based on your needs. Some key modules include the 404 Monitor, Analytics, and Schema Structured Data. Take some time to review the available modules and enable the ones that are relevant to your website.
Configuring Rank Math Settings
General Settings
In the Rank Math general settings, you can configure various options, such as:
- Linking your Google Search Console and Analytics accounts
- Enabling the 404 monitor and redirections
- Setting up your website's local SEO information
- Configuring your robots.txt file
Titles and Meta
The Titles and Meta settings are crucial for optimizing your website's appearance in search engine results. Here, you can:
- Set global meta tags, like the robots meta and open graph settings
- Customize the title and meta description structure for your posts, pages, and custom post types
- Configure how your website and author information is displayed in search results
Sitemaps
Rank Math automatically generates an XML sitemap for your website and submits it to Google Search Console. You can also enable an HTML sitemap to help users navigate your site. In the sitemap settings, you can:
- Include or exclude specific content types from the sitemap
- Set up an HTML sitemap with customizable display options
404 Monitor and Redirections
The 404 Monitor feature helps you identify and address broken links on your website. You can use this information to set up redirections, ensuring visitors are seamlessly directed to the correct pages.
Optimizing Your Homepage
The homepage is a crucial part of your website, so it's important to optimize it for search engines. Using Rank Math's SEO settings, you can:
- Customize the page title, meta description, and focus keywords
- Ensure your homepage content is well-structured and includes relevant keywords
- Optimize any images or videos on the homepage
- Set up social media sharing settings for your homepage
Optimizing a Blog Post
Rank Math provides comprehensive tools for optimizing your blog posts. When creating a new post or editing an existing one, you can:
- Set a focus keyword and optimize the post title, URL, and meta description accordingly
- Incorporate your focus keyword and related keywords throughout the post content
- Optimize any images or videos included in the post
- Enable schema markup and other advanced SEO features
- Monitor your post's performance and make adjustments as needed
Rank Math SEO Tutorial Conclusions
By following these steps and utilizing Rank Math's powerful features, you can effectively optimize your WordPress website for search engines and improve your online visibility. Remember, SEO is an ongoing process, so continue to monitor and refine your strategies as your website and content evolve.
Remember to always prioritize creating high-quality, user-friendly content. SEO should complement, not replace, your focus on providing value to your audience.
If you would like me to cover any other Rank Math or WordPress SEO tutorial or if you just want to share a feedback with me just drop me a line in the comment section below this post! 💬 👇
Rank Math SEO – Frequently Asked Questions
Is Rank Math good for SEO?
Rank Math is one of the best WordPress SEO plugins, it has more than 2 million users and lots of powerful free and premium features.
Is Rank Math better than Yoast?
In terms of free and powerful features: YES. Rank Math offers many premium features for free while Yoast has them only in their PRO version (404 monitor, redirections, internal linking suggestions, social media cards preview, and many more!). In my opinion Rank Math has also a more modern UI and approach to SEO settings.
Is Rank Math SEO plugin FREE?
Yes, Rank Math has a generous free version with hundreds of advanced features to handle your WordPress website SEO. If you need to dive deeper you can also explore Rank Math PRO.
Pascal Claro
YouTuber & WordPress Enthusiast, founder @ WP Roads. Happy husband and father based in Paris. I love to share news, tutorials and reviews about WordPress.