Confused Between
Are you trying to decide which one is the better SEO Plugin for your website?
So if you try to search for an SEO plugin online for WordPress then you will get suggested Yoast most of the time because it is the biggest name in the WordPress SEO industry
But if Yoast gets the most attraction doesn’t mean it is the best option out there.
There are a lot of better alternatives out there today including RankMath which we are going to be comparing to in this article
In this guide, I will let you know 10 reasons why I shifted from Yoast SEO and why you should consider doing that also
RankMath Vs Yoast SEO – Why Switch
The Ultimate RankMath Vs Yoast SEO Guide
Table of Contents
Disclosure: Please do note that some of the links below are affiliate links. When you purchase hosting using my RankMath affiliate link, they give me a small commission “at no additional cost to you“, I’ll earn a commission. Know that I only recommend products I’ve personally use and trust.
Benefits Of Reading This Blog Post –
- You Will Know Why I Decided To Switch To RankMath
- RankMath Advantages Over Yoast SEO
- A Comparisions Between Both RankMath Vs Yoast
- A Great RankMath Discount (If You Want It Get Pro Version)
Let’s get into the guide itself 🙂
1. Yoast Is Bloated Than RankMath
If you check the Query Monitor plugin or New Relic for the slowest plugin, Yoast SEO will be at the top.
The community asked Yoast to debloat the plugin from unnecessary code but still, the plugin is still bloated and slows the website down.
You can check out this thread on wordpress.org explaining how Yoast slows down your website
I was also using Yoast on this website then I came to know about the RankMath plugin and it an All In One Package and don’t have to pay for simple features which we will talk about in a minute below
2. Yoast Makes You Pay For Redirect Manager
Yoast offered a redirection manager in their premium plan which cost $89 for 1 site
A simple redirection feature which is crucial for blog owners and Yoast forced us to buy the premium version just for that
While RankMath Offers Much better pricing and does not limit sites usage
However many bloggers preferred the second plugin for redirection manager for free but the real issue comes as you install more plugins it gets your site to slow down as these plugins use excessive resources
One more thing is that these free redirection plugins were not well optimized and with WordPress updates for months can have compatibility issues before these free plugins devs push support for new WordPress updates.
So using such free plugins not backed by some dedicated devs might cause serious compatibility issues on your site
It did happen to me as well while I am waiting for updates from these devs for supporting new WordPress versions
While RankMath is supported by devs who are dedicated and fast enough to bring the latest compatibility updates
3. No Automatic Alt Text Adding Feature
This was one of the features I was certainly looking to get added to Yoast and not just me but the community also asked Yoast to add these features but the updates from Yoast were never fast enough
RankMath however implemented this feature in their free version and now I can add alt text to images automatically by setting a few rules
All this is done dynamically so if you want to delete RankMath in the future, then all those alt tags will be removed automatically and you don’t have to remove them one by one
Image SEO was a headache for me to add all alt text manually every time I upload an image, Now RankMath takes care of all this and image SEO can be done automatically by this plugin
4. Yoast Schema Adding Module Is Not Powerful Enough
Yoast has never taken care of Schema seriously, even today they don’t support all the schema types
Yoast has very few schema types options and no custom schema options. If you want to add a schema type that’s not supported by Yoast then you have to use another plugin called the header and footer plugin to insert the custom schema code
While RankMath has inbuilt support for Custom schema and it also checks for potential errors
The support is for just a few schema types in Yoast while RankMath supports almost all the Schema and you can get all this for free in RankMath unlike Yoast
RankMath even supports custom schema, so you can add any type of schema
For Yoast users a few months back you had to use a schema plugin for adding schema types. So many bloggers were using those plugins and they are now stuck with those old schema plugins which do not get enough updates
So that’s why choosing a plugin for your blog must be well thought about how much that plugin is going to be supported by its devs
5. Yoast Has Too Many Ads In It
If the above 4 reasons were not enough Yoast has too many ads in their plugin and its kind of annoying
A few CTA to upgrade to the premium version is acceptable but extensive ads in Yoast made me dislike this plugin the most
But Earlier we had no other choice but now RankMath is a better and much stable alternative than Yoast
Yoast used to show even more ads in past but reduced it in response to community demands but not completely
While using RankMath you only get 1 CTA to upgrade to the premium version which you can hide also
6. Yoast Premium Isn’t Worth It At $89/year For 1 Site
Pricing is also a major factor I hated Yoast but still, I used it because it was the best we could have got at that time
For 1 website You have to pay $89 bucks which is insane while in comparison you can get RankMath premium for just $49 bucks for unlimited websites
Not only Yoast is expensive but they also put limits on usage
All premium features of Yoast are mostly included in the free version of RankMath, so in my opinion, you don’t even need the Pro version if you are just starting out
7. In-Built Analytics Module & Analytics Integration
With RankMath You can get an in-built Analytics module where you can check your website’s performance all integrated into one place.
You can track keywords rankings which third party tools charge at least $100 bucks a month
To fetch data from a search console and read it in a meaningful way is a challenge
While RankMath analytics module organizes all this info in a comparable format so you can decide your priorities which post you should focus on most and which ones are your least priority
RankMath also does help you add your analytics code to your blog so it also reduces one more plugin from your blog.
I used the Site Kit plugin for that earlier but now using the RankMath for adding my analytics code
So RankMath does two main functions, Add analytics Code and Pull Out search console data to a single dashboard to compare which posts are much better performing on SERP
8. Multiple Focus Keywords
For this, you need to get the premium version of Yoast but in RankMath you can get all this for free
You can optimize for multiple focus keywords at the same time in the free version of RankMath
Having 5 focus keywords options for free with RankMath is a better option than paying $89 bucks for 1 website with Yoast
9. Green Lights Are Not Necessory
Green lights don’t always mean higher rankings for your blog
Personally, I don’t even bother optimizing for Yoast and RankMath content analysis
My rule of thumb for a blog post is making it in-depth and wring for the users, not the robots
So don’t bother much about those green lights which some SEO GURUS tell you are really important
Let me tell you a secret THEY ARE NOT 🙂
10. Client Mangement Integrated
This is the feature you might like if you manage clients and do SEO work on a clients website
The actual website owners can give you specific permissions to do specific tasks on your website and not giving the full admin access
This way site owners can keep their blogs safe and give only specific permissions to your SEO agency or freelancer
11. How To Switch To RankMath From Yoast
Before I tell you how to switch to RankMath the question is Should you?
If the above points are not your concern and you still want Yoast, surely you can its a great plugin but my point of view is that you can get so much more at a lot less amount which does not change anything on your website
Here is how to Switch to RankMath SEO Plugin From Yoast
You need to go to RankMath setup wizard and import all your SEO settings from Yoast to RankMath
RankMath team has written a full article and made a video guide on how to do this migration in just a few minutes
You can check out this RankMath Article For In-depth Readings on the same
Here is the article explaining how to migrate from Yoast to RankMath in just 1 minute
Conclusion
So this is all regarding this guide, Let me know in the comment section which plugin you like the most and why
Have you got the RankMath or not, If not why..?
If you need to support this blog and get a discount at the same time consider buying from the below link
However, I recommend you use the Free version at the start and upgrade later if you actually feel the need to do so
If you need any kind of help just let me know in the comment section
Cheers
Shivam