How to Migrate from Yoast SEO to Rank Math SEO plugin

Recently I had to convert a bunch of WordPress sites over from using Yoast SEO to Rank Math SEO, so I thought I’d explain in this post the migration process I went through, if you were considering swapping over to the Rank Math SEO plugin.

Both the Yoast SEO and Rank Math SEO plugins would have to be the most popular WordPress SEO plugins on the market. I’ve become quite familiar with them over the years, and they provide a great starting point when you’re trying to improve the SEO of pages on your site.

I’m no SEO expert, but I personally used Yoast SEO on my site for years but one day thought I’d try Rank Math SEO… and here we are, a couple years later still using it! But enough from me, let’s get into it!

Backup the site

First of all, it’s always a smart idea to backup your site before doing something quite significant like swapping SEO plugins, so make sure you have access to your web hosting and use its backup feature.

All managed WordPress hosting providers should have a backup facility, but if yours doesn’t, use a plugin like UpdraftPlus to backup your site first. And be sure to have access to your web hosting before going any further, just in case there’s an issue and you need to restore the backup.

Install Rank Math SEO plugin

1. Login to your site, via the left sidebar, go into the “Plugins → Add New Plugin” page.
2. In the “Search Plugins” field, type in “rank math seo“.
3. When the “Rank Math SEO – AI SEO Tools to Dominate SEO Rankings” plugin appears, click the “Install Now” button and wait.
4. When the “Installing…” button changes, click the “Activate” button.

5. Once installed, via the left sidebar, go into the “Rank Math SEO” page.

Migrate settings of Yoast SEO to Rank Math SEO

1. On the “Connect FREE Account” page that appears, click the “Skip Now” button.

NOTE: Creating a free Rank Math SEO account is optional, but this is something the site owner could do in the future if they wanted, as it unlocks and enables extra features for them.

2. On the “Getting Started” screen:
   • Select the “Advanced” option, and click the “Start Wizard” button.
3. On the “Import > Import SEO Settings” screen:
   • In the “Input Data Form:” field, tick the “Yoast SEO” checkbox (which should be checked by default).
   • Click the “Start Import” button and wait.
   • Once the import process has finished successfully, click the “Continue” button.
4. On the “Your Site > Your Website: ‘Site Name’” screen:
   • In the “‘Site Name’ is a…” drop down field, the default “Personal Blog” option is selected which is fine in most cases.
   • In the “Logo for Google” field, click the “Add or Upload File” button, and upload/browse and select the appropriate logo image (if applicable, otherwise ignore this step).
   • Click the “Save and Continue” button.
5. On the “Analytics > Connect Google™ Services” screen, click the “Skip Step” button.

NOTE: If you have a Google account, you can choose to connect it (Google Search Console) with a free Rank Math SEO account that you’d need connected to the site also. Once connected, it unlocks and enables extra features.

6. On the “Sitemaps > Sitemap” screen, all toggles/checkboxes should be enabled except for the “Public Taxonomies” checkbox option, then click the “Save and Continue” button.

7. On the “Optimization > SEO Tweaks” screen:
   • Toggle OFF the “Open External Links in New Tab/Window” field.
   • Click the “Save and Continue” button.
8. On the “Ready > Your site is ready!” screen, click the “Return to dashboard” button.

Tidy up and Remove Yoast SEO plugin

1. Via the left sidebar, go into the “Tools → Enhancements” page, and go into the “Admin Interface” tab:
   • Expand the “Disable Dashboard Widgets” field/section, tick the “Rank Math Overview” checkbox.
   • Click the blue “Save Changes” button towards the top or bottom of the screen.
2. Via the left sidebar, go into the “Plugins → Installed Plugins” page.
3. On the “Plugins” page:
   • Within the table list of plugins, look for the “Yoast SEO” plugin row, and click the “Delete” link.
   • In the “Are you sure you want to delete Yoast SEO and its data?” popup, click the “OK” button.

Final words

Thanks to the built-in “Setup Wizard” of the Rank Math SEO plugin, most of the migration process from Yoast SEO to Rank Math SEO gets done for you, which is nice. If however you get stuck with any of this or have any questions, feel free to contact me or leave a comment below.