Comparing Rank Math VS. Yoast can feel intimidating, but we’ve broken down each plugin’s features and declared one of these plugins, the best of the two options. Overall, the winner in this category is: Rank Math.
There are more than a few SEO plugins that can help to optimize your website for search engines. Two of the most popular SEO plugin options on the market today are Rank Math and Yoast.
Rank Math and Yoast both offer similar services. There are, however, some considerable differences in the features that they offer.
You might also like to read: Is Yoast Premium Worth It?
AN OVERVIEW
Before we get to the nitty-gritty, let us take a quick look at Rank Math and Yoast!
Both Rank Math and Yoast offer basic SEO features that include
- Auto-canonical URLs
- SEO warnings
- Custom post type support
- Title and description bulk edit feature
- Google post previews
- Overall content analysis
- Single page SEO
- Title, meta description, focus keyword
- Google crawl error fixes
- Robots meta control
- Primary category option
- Setting pillar posts and pages
- Suggestions for internal linking
- XML sitemap feature
- Attachment redirect to parent post or page
- Article, How To, and FAQ schema support
- Social media optimization
RANK MATH
Rank Math is a WordPress SEO plugin that is simple to set up using the setup wizard, and once installed, this plugin has a clean, user-friendly interface.
Features that Rank Math offers that Yoast does not include:
- Pre-selected optimal settings
- Google search console integration
- SEO analysis score
- Keyword ranking tracker
- Automated image SEO
- A module-based system
- Automated metadata generation
- Integration of the LSI keyword tool
- Compatibility check
- Google keyword suggestions
- Advanced SEO Analysis tool
- Instant indexing service
- Title capitalization
- Over 70 detailed SEO checkpoints
- Smart and auto post redirects
- Simple 404 monitor
- Extended support for Google schema markup types (including book, course, event, job posting, local business, music, person, product, restaurant, recipe, review, service, app, and video.)
- Optimization for up to 5 keywords
- Notification of failed SEO tests
- Debugging for redirections
- Over 70 SEO checkpoints
- Advanced redirection manager (301,301, 307, 410, and 451)
- Incorporation of 193 local business type schemas
- Support for Regex
- Role manager
- Add overlay icons on social media images.
YOAST
Yoast is a WordPress SEO plugin that is simple to set up through the wizard installation guide. Yoast is a popular plugin that is user-friendly and offers two-tiers of features. The Yoast interface is not as smooth as Rank Math, but it is still quite user-friendly.
Features that Yoast offers that Rank Math does not include:
POPULARITY
Yoast tends to be the better-known SEO option when comparing Yoast and Rank Math, but this is likely because it has been available for much longer than Rank Math.
To date, there are over five million active installations of the Yoast SEO plugin.
Over the past year, Rank Math has gained in popularity, and while it does not yet have a reputation of the caliber of Yoast, it may soon.
To date, there are over six hundred thousand active installations of the Rank Math SEO plugin.
FEATURES
INITIAL SETUP
Both Rank Math and Yoast are simple to set up and work in a “plug and play” fashion.
Once Rank Math is installed and activated, it guides you through a five-step installation wizard and your initial setup pages.
Once Yoast is installed and activated, it takes you through an eight-step installation wizard, but their guide includes video tutorials to make the customization options easier.
USER INTERFACE
We want the user interface of a plugin to have a clean panel that is intuitive to use. This panel should lay out settings and information clearly and link to any necessary pages.
A good user interface will also incorporate notes beside each feature to explain what each one does.
Rank Math has a very clean interface with simple toggle switches for features and with each one thoroughly explained.
Yoast has a moderately clean interface, but they pack a lot of settings into a small space and offer limited (if any) direction on what each one does.
This slightly more complicated layout makes Yoast a much more difficult tool for novice SEO plugin users to implement.
ASSIGNING KEYWORDS
The free version of Yoast limits you to using one optimization keyword for your content, where the premium version allows you to use multiple keywords for a post or page.
Once you have selected your keyword in Yoast, the plugin will track your keyword optimization by monitoring readability and SEO criteria.
If you opt for a premium Yoast membership, you will also see multilingual options when assigning keywords.
Using Rank Math, you can assign and analyze five keywords per post or page. (If you are stuck for additional keywords, this plugin will suggest keywords as you type into the keyword text box.)
Once you have selected your keywords, Rank Math will track your keyword optimization in the same way that Yoast does by looking at readability and SEO criteria.
OVERALL PERFORMANCE
When comparing the overall performance of Yoast and Rank Math, we must look at two different features.
Firstly, if you are talking about performance in terms of the number of features offered by the plugin, Rank Math wins without a doubt.
It is also worth mentioning that Rank Math is based on newer SEO criteria as a newer product.
Secondly, if you are talking about performance in terms of speed, once again, Rank Math takes the cake.
In fact, not only does Rank Math make your website three times faster than Yoast, but it also uses fewer resources, so it is less of a drain on your server.
You might also like to read: How to Use Yoast SEO
INTEGRATION OF OTHER TOOLS
Specifically thinking of Google search console, Rank Math makes integrating the console easy through their built-in integration tool.
Google search console is compatible with Yoast, but with no built-in integration tool, the process is a little less organized.
PRICING
Rank Math offers a free plugin for users, but you also have the option of upgrading your account to access more features.
The Rank Math membership must be upgraded to a Pro option for $59.99 per year or a business membership for $199 per year to access premium features.
The Pro membership supports unlimited personal websites, 500 keywords, and features the schema generator.
The Business membership offers support for client websites, tracks 10,000 keywords, and features the schema generator.
YOAST offers a free version of their plugin and a premium paid version of their plugin. The premium membership costs $189 (a one-time fee for one site) and includes support for one year.
UPDATE FREQUENCY
How frequently your SEO plugin gets updated is important for two reasons. Firstly, it affects how well your site loads and how quickly it loads. Secondly, plugins that go without updates leave loopholes and backdoors that allow hackers to access your site.
Rank Math performs very regular updates of their plugin (although this could be because they are a newer product and are still experiencing growing pains.)
Yoast updates much less frequently than Rank Math, but they do stay on top of updates when there are major algorithm changes.
COMPATIBILITY
Both Rank Math and Yoast can throw out compatibility errors (or stop working when active with an incompatible plugin).
Most SEO plugin users will be familiar with this type of thing happening by now, but since Rank Math is a newer plugin, it does seem to have more compatibility issues and small bugs that need working on.
Despite Rank Math experiencing more bugs, it is important to note that their support team is quick to remedy reported issues and develop fixes when necessary.
CUSTOMER SERVICE
When it comes to customer service, Rank Math goes all the way and a little bit further. It could be said that this is because they have far fewer users than Yoast at this time.
Rank Math customer service is exceptionally fast to respond to tickets, and better yet, they respond quickly to responses.
Usually, customer support teams online are lax in following up, but Rank Math keeps their eye on updates and replies quickly to resolve issues.
Unfortunately, Yoast does not have the same reputation when it comes to customer service. Users of their plugin often have unanswered questions and when they do receive answers, follow up is lax.
Perhaps most disappointing, Yoast extends no more courtesy in customer service to their premium members.
This has become a bone of contention for a lot of users of the plugin and sent more than a few users into the arms of Rank Math.
Should customer service quality stop you from using a plugin that functions well? Honestly, it is all up to personal preference.
However, being unable to get timely answers to problems does interrupt workflow and sometimes cause bigger complications (like entire websites being non-functional.)
IS RANK MATH OR YOAST BEST FOR YOU?
Choosing the best SEO plugin for you depends heavily on what your needs are – for example, are you the owner of an agency that needs to support client websites, or are you a hobby blogger with a limited budget who is looking for more traffic and better SEO linking?
LOOKING FOR THE BEST SEO PLUGIN?
Of these two SEO plugins, the most comprehensive is Rank Math. Often referred to as the Swiss Army Knife of SEO tools, Rank Math does not limit itself to SEO.
It also incorporates other WordPress features that usually require a separate plugin (like link redirecting.)
Considering the best performance, Rank Math once again overshadows Yoast.
If you were to compare an identical website optimized using each of these two plugins, the Rank Math website would almost always come out on top in terms of page speed, load time, page size, and overall SEO score.
Rank Math also offers a better pricing structure on their plugin. Although the one-time fee per site license that Yoast uses may sound appealing, their license limits you to a single website and one year of support.
Unlike Yoast’s limited options, Rank Math gives users an unlimited number of site licenses for an annual fee.
Membership also includes 24/7 support for as long as you have a valid membership.
LOOKING FOR A BASIC FREE SEO PLUGIN?
If you are looking for the most coverage from your SEO tool, ongoing support and updates, and a license that is usable for multiple sites, Rank Math is the way to go!
If, however, you are looking for a free SEO plugin option to help to guide your SEO efforts, would Rank Math still come out on top?
YES!
Rank Math offers a wider range of features from their free plugin than Yoast.
LOOKING FOR THE BIGGEST BANG FOR YOUR BUCK?
Comparing Rank Math and Yoast in terms of which one gives you the biggest “bang for your buck”, Rank Math comes out on top.
With many more features than Yoast, Rank Math is more comprehensive, and it integrates more features that give you better control over your website.
While Yoast offers solid features and does not charge an exorbitant fee for their plugin, you simply get more value from Rank Math.
LOOKING FOR THE BEST SEO PLUGIN FOR A BEGINNER?
If you are unfamiliar with SEO and are just dipping your toes into the water, we recommend sticking with Rank Math.
Not only does Rank Math offer more features, but they centralize the control of those features in a clean and easy to use interface.
Additionally, Rank Math gives more elaborate descriptions for each user interface option, making them easier to use for a novice.
Yoast tries its best to be user-friendly, but they just missed the mark. Their user interface can seem cluttered at times, and descriptions of features are more difficult for new users to understand.
THE WINNER!
So, it looks like we have a winner! Since Rank Math has taken the first position in every category compared to Yoast, it is a no-brainer that Rank Math is the preferred SEO plugin.
With that said, would we discourage you from trying Yoast for yourself?
No. It is a reliable plugin with a slight learning curve, but it does what it is supposed to and is reliably updated when it needs to be. It just lacks that extra “oomph” that Rank Math brings to the table.
