The SEO Framework vs Rankmath for SEO/SERP rankings
However, developers love The SEO Framework due to it being lightweight.
Not only that, but we are pretty proud of the fact TSF never had a security problem in 4+ years.
This plugin emphasis on content rather than focus keywords, meta keywords. But most SEO guides and experts recommend keyword research and rank content with focus keyword(s).
Lots of "experts" are selling snake oil. SEO is simple to field to enter and nobody has the exact formula to crack it so there is a lot of speculations... and of course tools to sell.
Currently, there is a race in WordPress SEO tools to include as much nonsense as possible to trick users into feeling they need to pass 200 checks to "rank". And since most of the users have no idea what is actually useful, they pick the plugin that does the most stuff. Funnily enough, with all these arbitrary checks and SEO meters you might end up writing unnatural content... the kind Google does not like.
TSF at its core does everything that you need because we built the plugin following Google's guidelines and that is it. This is what we consider white hat SEO.
Lastly, we do have Focus keywords, but it is in the premium version since we use Google API to get another verbal form (API = we have to pay so that is why it cant be free).
I still think the free version of TSF is good for 80%+ of websites when it comes to SEO. The second you need to do rigorous keyword analysis, content gap analysis, cannibalization, backlinks etc... Then you start needing advanced tools.
Until then, it is mostly about the content to write. We built TSF to make this phase as simple as possible. That is people use us over other plugins, not only speed and security.
I'm biased since I am one of the developers of TSF. Don't trust anyone, we are all trying to sell you something.
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