That’s right, I said it. After a decade + of working with one of the oldest and most popular SEO tools, Team ‘Peg has jumped on the Rank Math bandwagon. This transition, though still in the works, may be one of our most revolutionary changes since the discovery of Divi. 

For years and years, Yoast has been the Kleenex of SEO tools. Nearly every website I’ve ever touched, even before joining Roundpeg, has had the plugin installed. Yoast taught me SEO basics back when I began my transition from graphics to websites. It wasn’t until I was doing some general research on fresh search engine optimization tactics that I realized Yoast had any sort of competition.

Enter: Rank Math.

Reason #1: More for Less

First and foremost, let’s talk about pricing. Yoast currently offers a free level and a premium subscription with a base cost at $89 USD per site annually. If you’re looking to maximize the SEO value of a site featuring a WooCommerce shop, news articles, or videos, additional plugins (with their own annual fees) are required. Bundles are offered to save you a little bit of cash, but as I said before, Rank Math offers all these features in one single plugin for free.

It’s true, Rank Math’s plugin offers everything that Yoast Premium has (and then some) at the low, low price of $0. That’s right folks, RankMath is TOTALLY FREE! I noticed a pro-level teased when setting up RankMath on roundpeg.biz, but no additional information has been released as of July 2020.

Not Just Money

If the price point isn’t enough to sway you, then let’s compare plugin weights. It makes sense that websites with fewer, lighter plugins generally run much faster than their bogged down counterparts.

Yoast’s base plugin is a whopping 96k, and as I mentioned earlier, you need additional plugins for some features. That weight can easily add up. Rank Math’s single plugin, however, is fairly lightweight adding only 32k to your site. That’s ⅓ the size of Yoast.

So what do those numbers mean? Rank Math is young, fresh, and built for speed. This plugin has entered the SEO realm with a clean slate and isn’t bogged down with years of code being written and rewritten. Debugging must be a dream in comparison to Yoast.

Reason #2: Setting up Rank Math is a Snap

Chances are you’ve put a lot of time and money into cultivating your website’s SEO using Yoast and would rather die than give that up. I hear you and so do the geniuses behind Rank Math. That’s why they’ve made transferring all the data from Yoast (or other SEO optimization tools) the very first step of setup.

If some things aren’t set up to your liking, you have the option to pick and choose what gets transferred over to Rank Math. It’s only a matter of a couple clicks.

Rank Math can grab data from more than just Yoast. All-In-One SEO, Redirection, and Structured Content are also compatible. There are more being added to the list, too.

Once you have everything imported, it’s really a matter of reading carefully. Rank Math does a great job taking you through one step at a time and providing information along the way. We used the advanced route that took a bit longer, but basic set up should only take a few minutes.

Reason #3: Submitting Info to Google is Even Easier

“Schema markup” and “Rich Snippets” have been buzz words in the SEO world this year and for good reason. A little extra set up on the back of your site results in your content displaying dynamically on Google and other search engines. This is especially important if you have rich content like recipes, maps, or videos.

How it Works

Rank Math lets you set default schema markups for pages, posts, and projects. You also have the ability to customize specific pages on the backend, without the use of an additional plugin. With Rank Math, all things SEO can be found in one convenient spot.

What does that mean for our clients?

For now, nothing is changing for our existing clients as a whole. Yoast is still a very powerful tool that delivers results. Plus, we have additional plugins installed that fill in many of the gaps between it and Rank Math. We have only recently made the switch on our own websites and a few other select sites. It’s going to take a little more time before we have enough data to prove switching everyone over is a necessity.

And for everyone else?

If you are already using and loving the free level of Yoast, I’m not going to pressure you to make the switch just yet. But if you’re the type that has their finger on the pulse and want to take SEO optimization of your site to a new level, then I HIGHLY recommend giving Rank Math a go. As a free plugin with easy set up and import features, you really don’t have anything to lose. 

If you’re still trying to get a handle on the digital realm, or maybe just don’t have the time to dedicate to SEO, give us a call. The Roundpeg team loves a great challenge and would love to help you grow.