Why I’m Sticking with Rank Math for SEO (And Dropping Yoast Premium)

Why I’m Sticking with Rank Math for SEO (And Dropping Yoast Premium)

I’ve written about this before, but with so many new and starter members joining WA, now seems like a good time to revisit the topic. It might save you some time and help you on your journey too. If you're just starting out with SEO, you might be feeling as lost as I was in the beginning.

When I first started trying to figure out SEO optimization, I had no idea what it really meant or how it affected my content for search engines. It felt like technical jargon with no clear entry point. Like many, I tested different SEO tools, including:

AIOSEO (which was the default inside WA at the time)

Yoast (which I initially thought was great)

Rank Math (recommended to me by RichardGB, but I got to it a bit late)

At first, AIOSEO was okay, but because I knew close to zero about SEO, I found it difficult to follow. As I learned more, I upgraded to Yoast Pro, thinking it was my best option. Then, Richard suggested Rank Math, and I quickly realized that it offered way more—without requiring a paid upgrade.

What I Learned from Using These SEO Tools

✔ AIOSEO – Decent, but a bit clunky and not very beginner-friendly.

✔ Yoast Premium – Very good, but the paid version didn’t justify the cost, especially compared to Rank Math.

✔ Rank Math – More intuitive, packed with features, and free for everything I needed.

If you do consider upgrading to Rank Math Pro, it offers a lot more advanced features for experienced users, but so far, I haven’t needed it.

How Rank Math Taught Me SEO (Better Than Yoast Did)

What really made a difference was Rank Math’s approach to optimization. Instead of just relying on Yoast’s "traffic light" system (which tells you SEO is "good" or "bad" or “medium”), Rank Math uses a numbered score that actually teaches you the key aspects of SEO along the way.

And here’s a fact: You don’t need a perfect 100% score. But just aiming for a better score in Rank Math helped me learn the important SEO factors that could change the score, naturally—and it was actually fun (at least for me!).

Why I’m Dropping Yoast Premium for now at least.

Even though Yoast has been around longer, Rank Math has won me over because:

It offers a better free version—Yoast locks too much behind its paywall.

It provides clearer SEO guidance without constantly upselling.

It integrates AI & schema features in a way that’s easy to use.

For new members looking for an SEO tool that is free, effective, and actually helps you learn, Rank Math is the way to go. And if you're not sure about the settings, AI can help you with that too.

If you're still unsure about SEO tools, I’d highly recommend giving Rank Math a try. You can always switch back if you decide it’s not for you—but from my experience, I doubt you’ll need to.

What’s your experience with SEO tools so far? You must have tried AIOSEO or at least seen it, have you tried Yoast, or Rank Math yet?

Rob