Rank Math SEO Plugin Review – Best Free SEO Plugin For WordPress

Do you know how SEO is necessary for page ranking? You must have heard about Rank Math SEO Plugin.

In the present times, this plugin rocked in the WordPress optimization industry.

So in this post, we will discuss Rank Math SEO Plugin Review by which you will get complete guide about this plugin.

We will learn about Rank Math SEO Plugin Tutorial, in which we will cover some topics so that a new user easy to understand about this plugin. Here we will see about Rank Math SEO Plugin Set up.

So let’s start,

Whether you are running a WordPress website or personal blog, then you need an SEO specialist, on the strength of this, you can get ranking in google.

If you are looking for such a tool then Rank Math SEO is Perfect for you. because at this time many professional bloggers are using this plugin. with the help of this, you can take your business in top position.

Its special thing is this plugin provides you an awesome collection of features. That too in Free.

By the way, Yoast SEO Plugin is already popular in WordPress, but if we talk about Rank Math SEO Plugin, then the Yoast SEO provides special features in the premium pack but exact same features in Rank math provide Free of cost.

Isn’t it amazing,

So let’s first know about Rank Math Plugin.

What Is The Rank Math SEO Plugin And Who Has Developed This Plugin?

SEO by Rank Math Plugin is the No #1 Free Alternative for Yoast SEO Premium Plugin.

The Rank Math SEO Plugin has been launched by MyThemeShop. MyThemeShop is a well-reputed Theme Development company in the market.

This company has also developed a number of well-rated plugins and themes before which is very popular among users.

Schema, which at one time was one of the fastest WordPress themes and is still developed by MyThemeShop.

I have done the research, it has come to know that after 2018 in Yoast SEO a lot of bugs issues found due to which many people have realized that they cannot trust any particular product.

But Now all these issues are solved in the Rank Math Plugin.

You can use all the features of this plugin in Free. This is the best Yoast SEO Alternative.

How to Setup Rank Math SEO Plugin – Step By Step Process

At this point, we will cover the Rank Math SEO Setup and Configuration in WordPress.

You have to follow the steps carefully because you do not miss a single step.

So let’s follow us,

Download and Install Rank Math Plugin

First of all, you have to click on WordPress Dashboard ➡ Plugins ➡ Add New.

Now the WordPress plugin repository will appear in front of you, here you have to type “Rank Math” in the search box.

Installing Rank Math plugin is simple. Once you find the Rank Math SEO plugin, after that you have to click on Install Now. After the plugin is downloaded, you have to activate it.

If you want to install this plugin manually then you can download this plugin.

If you don’t know the plugin installation process you can refer our step by step tutorial on how to install a WordPress plugin.

Setup and Configure Rank Math Plugin

You have go to the Plugin section and find the Rank Math Plugin. There you have to start the setup process by clicking on the Setup Wizard.

When you click on the setup wizard, you will see the first screen Getting Started.

Here you have to Activate Rank Math Account.

First of all, you have to register an account. For this, you can create your account by clicking on “Free Rank Math Account“. It is absolutely free.

If you create an account from Google or Facebook, the username and password will be received through email.

Once you got your username and password just click on the “Activate Rank Math” button

After that, the screen of Setup Wizard will appear in front of you. Where Rank Math Plugin checks compatibility with your website.

Import Setting from other SEO plugins

The special thing of the Rank math plugin is that you can switch with any other SEO plugins. All data migration process is automatic.

Rank Math Plugin provides quick and simple data migration with other SEO plugins.

To import SEO data of other plugins, you have to select the plugin in the dropdown section.

Here I will import data with Yoast SEO. Because many bloggers use Yoast SEO.

With the help of Rank math, you can easily import data. Just you have to Select Yoast SEO Plugin, after that, a check list of features will show in front of you. Whatever functionality you have to import data, select it, and click on Start Import. It will take some time

Add More Information About Your Website

On this screen, you will see 3 different options where you have to fill the basic information of your website.

1. Select The Type of Your Site: In this section, you have to select the type of your blog. Where you will see the personal blog, community site, news site, or a business site options. Here you can select the type according to you. We’re setting this up for our blog so we will select Personal Blog.
2. Logo For Google: Under this option, choose a logo image and upload a logo for your site you want to show on Google.
3. Default Social Share Image: With the help of this option you can set the default image for social sharing. So once you select the image, simply click on Save & Continue.

Google Search Console Setting

If you want to bring the website to the top in the google search engine, then it is mandatory to set the google search console.

Rank Math SEO Plugin provides easy integration to do the setting with google search console.

Google search console this a free tool, with this help you can analyze the search engine data of your website or blog.

Setting up the google search console is easy. You have to just click on Get Authorization Code. After that, the screen of the Google account will appear in front of you.

If you are a beginner then you first refer to our guide create and set up a search console account.

There you have to create an account and fill the information about your website. After creating the account you will get google authorization code. Whom you Paste this code into authorize box.

After authorizing, your website connects with google search console.

Now your website is eligible to receive the search data in google search console dashboard.

SiteMap

First of all, we will see what is a Sitemap?

A sitemap is an XML file that contains a list of all the pages and posts on your website. Google takes this list to see any of your posts in search. With the help of this list, the search engine becomes easy to find any post or pages on your website.

If we add Site + Map, then you will understand the sitemap easily. The sitemap contains the address of every page, category, tag, video, image, and post.

This means the complete navigation of your website is revealed to the google search engine via sitemap. This is a necessary factor according to Google On-Page SEO ranking.

Here you have to integrate a sitemap with Rank Math SEO. For activation of sitemap just turn it On
Also, if you want to add images to sitemap, then turn it on

Pubilc Post Type: In this section, you should select by default pages and posts. So that Google search and your readers can be easily identified.

SEO Tweaks

In this section, you will set SEO tweaks settings. Which is a very important part according to On-Page SEO.

Here you leave all the default options as it is.

1. Noindex Empty Category and Tag Archives: ON

All the tags and categories in WordPress are made in different pages and index these pages in google by default google.

But if we see from an SEO point of view then it is not right. 

Due to new categories and tags, the duplicate content issue will found in the future. which the ranking may drop.

If you have to prevent empty categories & tag archives from being indexed in google, leave this option ON.

2. Nofollow External Links: ON

When you add images or content to a post, you also add hyperlinks inside the post. In this, we add two types of links Dofollow and Nofollow.

If you add outbound links in the post, then this is your Nofollow link, that link becomes an external link. We recommend that you keep it ON.

3. Open External Links in New Tab / Window: ON

With the help of this option, all external links of internal posts or pages are open on new tabs.

The benefit of this when your visitors click on any external link they redirect to new tab and they do not leave your site and it helps to retain your visitors. We personally recommend you leave this option ON

After that the message will appear on your screen Your Site Is Ready.

This means you have sucessfully configured basic SEO settings with Rank Math Plugin.

Now we have to do some advanced settings in the Rank Math Plugin.

Once you get this option, now you will be able to see Setup Advanced Options simply click on this button.

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Setup Advance Rank Math SEO Settings

Advanced setting in the rank math plugin is very easy. This is not big rocket science.

You just have to understand everything carefully.

1. 404 Monitor

First of all, let me tell you what is the 404 error?

When Google crawlers bot visits any web-page, then they access the other pages by following the links of that page.

But if Google bot finds a page that does not actually exist, then this error of the page is called 404 page means Page Not Found Error.

If you want to monitor all 404 error pages or posts of your website, then turn this option ON.

2. Redirections

If you have a website or blog, then it is necessary to know what is Redirection.

The simple meaning of redirection is to move any URL from one place to another.

There are two types of redirection. 301 Redirect and 302 Redirect

Benefits of redirection: If for any reason your website URL changes, then the Domain Authority and Search Engine Ranking of the website are maintained with the help of Redirection.

If you have to manage the redirection of the website URL, then enable this option, otherwise leave it disabled.

3. Schema markup

Beginner’s bloggers may be difficult to understand this term. So we will explain in an easy way what is schema markup?

Schema is a structured data vocabulary that defines entities, actions, and relationships on the Internet. Now all the search engines like Google, Yandex, Microsoft, Yahoo, etc have all made schema markup together. In simple words, we can also call it an SEO project.

But what is the benefit of schema markup?
With the help of schema markup, Google and other search engines are able to understand our site structure and entities correctly and in return search engines show better user experience results for internet users.

With the help of this option, you can add schema to your site and post. It is in the form of an HTML tag. You have just turn it ON and Select Schema Type for Your Posts & Pages

The default setting of schema markup in the Rank math plugin is sufficient.

Once you are done with these settings, Simply click on Save & Continue.

Now our Basic and Advanced settings are completed.

Now you can just click on Save & Continue, after that, you will be redirected to the Rank Math SEO Plugin Dashboard.

Where we have to do some extra additional settings.

For this, you have to click on Plugins ➡ Rank Math ➡ General Settings.

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General Settings in Rank Math SEO

In this section, we have to do the general settings in Rank Math Plugin. So that you have to get a better result.

Links

1. Strip Category Base – OFF

With the help of this option, you can clean your category URL. For example, if your category URL is www.test.com/category/guide, then with the help of Strip Category Base, your URL will be shown like this www.test.com/guide.

We recommend that it be the default OFF. Which will give better search results in navigation.

2. Redirect Attachments – ON

If you enable this option, you can easily redirect attachments to the post they appear in using Rank Math WordPress plugin.

So, I will recommend you to keep this setting ON.

3. Redirect Orphan Attachments

Orphan media means whatever images or attachments are on our site, they are not associated with any post.

So we have to redirect such orphan images to a specific URL like a homepage.

Here we will recommend adding the homepage URL in this field.

4. Remove Stopwords from Permalinks – OFF

After enabling this option, if you used (a, and, or, him, the, etc.) stop words in the URL of your post, it will remove automatically. So, Leave this option OFF.

5. NoFollow External Links – OFF

If you make outbound links in the posts and pages of the site, then this option automatically adds the rel = “nofollow” attribute.

It’s not a good idea to add the Nofollow attribute to every Outbound Link.

By the way, if you want to add a Nofollow attribute then you can also add manually to external links. So I will recommend you to keep it OFF.

6. NoFollow Image File Links – (Depends Upon You)

If you want to display external images like affiliate banner and sponsorship banner or someone else’s copyright-free images in your posts then the rel = “nofollow” attribute gets added to such external images.

This depends upon you whether you want to turn it ON or not.

7. Open External Links in New Tab / Window – ON

We saw about this option in advanced settings that why it is important. Enabling this option adds the “target = _blank” attribute to the external URL of the post.

If your readers click on the external link, they are redirected to the new tab.

I will recommend you to keep it ON

Images

In this section, you have to do all the settings related to image SEO.

1. Add missing ALT attributes – ON

For images ranking point of view, It is important to have an ALT attribute in your image. Because with this help your images quickly rank in google.

If in case you forgot to add the ALT attribute to the image, with the help of it automatically adds ALT text to your image.

I will strongly recommend you to keep it ON.

2. ALT attribute format – % title%

There are many variables in rank math plugin which help in creating useful formats. With the help of % title%, the text of images contains an ALT text insert.

This means if you forget to add ALT text to the image, then with the help of this plugin, that attribute gets automatically added.

3. Add missing TITLE attributes – ON

If you turn ON or OFF this option, it does not affect SEO. But its advantage is that it increases your CTR.

With this help, your readers can understand that the image is about the subject.

BreadCrumbs

Breadcrumb is like a small Road Map. It navigates your readers and tells you which page of the website you are on and what you are seeing at the moment.

Google makes breadcrumbs a good ranking factor. Because using breadcrumbs, not only visitors, but also Google, Bing, and all other search engines know your website structure.

Benefits of using Breadcrumbs in Blog

• Easy to navigate
• Better look User Interface
• Reader engagement
• Reduce Bounce Rate

Here I show you an example of breadcrumb.

1. Enable breadcrumbs function

You create many pages and posts on your website. If a reader visits any post, they should know the navigation. So you should keep this option ON.

2. Separator character

Select whichever character you like. I recommend you “»“.

3. Show Homepage Link

If you want to show the Homepage in the navigation then enable it.

4. Prefix Breadcrumb

Prefix means if you want to add any text before breadcrumbs then insert text in this filed. Like “Navigation”, “Road Map”

5. Hide Post Title

The post title already appears in the breadcrumb. But if you want to hide it then turn ON.

6. Show Category

Here you have to show child categories in the breadcrumb, then turn ON else keep OFF.

7. Hide Taxonomy Name and Show Blog Page

Just keep it OFF.

Whatever option I did not explain in this, let them remain the default.

Webmaster Tools

When we search for any content in a search engine, the search engine saves this data in its memory by searching or indexing itself through its webmaster tools, webmaster tools index the contents of any website.

If you have to take access to webmaster tools, then you must first verify the site. There are many options for verification here. For verification, you have to paste HTML Tag between <head> & </head>. and do site verification.

These are all popular webmaster tools with the help of these tools you can verify your site.

• Google Search Console
• Bing Webmaster Tools
• Baidu Webmaster Tools
• Yandex Verification tool

Now you can just copy the code and paste it into the respective search console account box in Rank Math Plugin.

Edit robots.txt

Robots.txt is a file with the help of which you can control SEO on root files. This file tells search engine bots which part of the site to crawl and index and which part not crawl.

Note: You can edit this file carefully because If you make any mistake while editing/customizing, the search engine bots will stop crawling and indexing your site and your site will not be visible in the search results.

I have given robots.txt code, you can simply add this code in your snippet. Only you have to replace existing Sitemap URL to your Sitemap URL .


User-agent: *

Disallow: /cgi-bin/
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /comments/feed/
Disallow: /trackback/
Disallow: /index.php
Disallow: /xmlrpc.php

Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php

Sitemap: https://your-sitemap-url.com/

Edit .htaccess

When we install a WordPress site, the .htaccess file is automatically created in the root folder of the WordPress installation. You can edit this file according to your need.

But if you have the right information about it, then only edit this file because this file works like a controller.

Benefits of WordPress .htaccess file

• You can fix error pages and control redirection pages in your site
• You can block visitors based on IP

You can edit this file both method with Plugin and without Plugin.

Here, you can easily edit the .htaccess file with the help of Rank Math Plugin.

After that some tabs are remains (Other, search console, 404 monitors) this tabs not so important according to SEO. You can change these settings according to yourself. Now we move towards the our necessary points.

SEO Titles & Meta

1. Robots Meta

In this tab you can prevent pages, categories or images from being indexed in the search engine. You must keep all boxes unchecked

2. Local SEO

In this tab you have to fill up your personal information. This is important from the view of SEO.

You have to represent your site like if you have a business that you want to show on Google, then select on Business.

1. You have to enter your company name.
2. If you have a personal blog, then you can enter your blog or your own name.
3. To add logo of your company which show in search engine
4. In the last you have to enter the URL of the company website.

3. Social meta

In this tab you have to do settings of social media networks and feeds. Whenever you publish a new post, with the help of this, your post will be automatically published on the social page.

Here you will see many such networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Youtube.

To connect social media in Rank Math Plugin, you have to enter below things in the respective fields

• Social media page and profile URL
• Salt key
• App ID
• Secret key

4. HomePage

If you want to add title and meta description to the homepage of the website, you can do it with the help of this option.

5. Post Formats Archive

In this tab you have to set the format of the post. Means you can set the structure of how you want to show Post format in google.

Leave this option as default

• Format Archive Titles – % term%% sep%% sitename%
• Format Archive Descriptions – % term_description%
• Format Archives Robots Meta – Custom settings.
• Format Archives Advanced Robots Meta – Leave this option default

Now I want to tell you that according to the search engine, we do not have to index the post archives in google. The reason for this is that it can cause issues of duplication posts which can become an obstacle in your ranking.

So we will keep it as no index mark. The Google crawler will not index your archive post in the search engine.

Format Archives Robots Meta

• Tick ​​no index
• Tick ​​no archive

6. Author

If you want to show the name of the author in respective post, which author has written and the name of which post has been written, then enable this option.

It has no effect on the search engine but if your visitor clicks on the post, then they get information about the specific author.

• Author Archives – Enabled
• Author Base – Author
• Author Robots Meta – Custom
  Tick ​​no index
• Author Archive Title – % name%% sep%% sitename%% page%
• Author Archive Description – Add author meta description
• Add SEO Meta Box for Users – Keep it ON

7. Misc pages

In this tab, you have to set search result structure and setting 404 pages.

If you keep this option disabled then it is good for you.

• Date Archives – Disabled
• Search Results Title – Leave Deafult
• 404 Title – Leave Deafult
• Noindex Search Results – ON
• Noindex Paginated Pages – ON
• Noindex Archive Subpages – ON
• Noindex Password Protected Pages – ON

8. Posts

With the help of this tab you can do SEO setting of single post. Because your single post will be ranking in google according to this setting. So do this setting with carefully.

SEO has a backbone in post optimization. Because without SEO your post’s value is 0. But if you optimize it correctly then you can get top ranking.

According to the on-page SEO, your ranking is decide to content structure of single post.

So you have to do this setting.

1. Single Post Title – % title%% sep%% sitename%
2. Single Post Description – % excerpt%
3. Schema Type – Article Schema (Note: you choose according to your website)
4. Headline – % seo_title%
5. Description – % seo_description%
6. Article Type – Blog Post
7. Post Robots Meta – Default
8. Link Suggestions – ON
9. Link Suggestion Titles – Titles
10. Primary Taxonomy – Categories
11. Add SEO Meta Box – ON
12. Bulk Editing – Enabled
13. Custom Fields – Leave The Field Blank.

9. Pages

Just like we saw about the Single Post setting above, similarly in this tab you can set the Single Page.

1. Single Page Title – % title%% sep%% sitename%
2. Single Page Description – % excerpt%
3. Schema Type – Article Schema (Note: you choose according to your website)
4. Headline – % seo_title%
5. Description – % seo_description%
6. Article Type – Article
7. Page Robots Meta – Default
8. Link Suggestions – ON
9. Link Suggestion Titles – Titles
10. Add SEO Meta Box – ON
11. Bulk Editing – Enabled
12. Custom Fields – Leave The Field Blank

10. Attachments

With the help of this tab you can set SEO setting of Media Attachments.

• Single Media Title -% title%% sep%% sitename%
• Single Media Description -% excerpt%
• Schema Type – Default
• Media Robots Meta – Custom
  Tick ​​no index
• Media Advanced Robots meta – Default
• Bulk Editing – Enabled

11. Categories and Tags

keep it default

Sitemap Settings

In this then you have to set the XML Sitemap.

1. General Settings

• Links Per Sitemap – 200
• Images in Sitemap – ON
• Include Featured Images – ON
• Exclude Posts – Leave it blank
• Exclude terms – Leave it blank
• Ping Search Engines – ON

2. Posts

• Include in Sitemap – ON
• Image Custom Fields – Leave it blank

3. Pages

• Include in Sitemap – ON
• Image Custom Fields – Leave it blank

4. Media, Categories, Tags – OFF

Role manager

With the help of this then you can assign specific role to the user. Whatever role you provide to the user, the user will be able to access the same functionalities.

You can grant access to the user according to your need.

Otherwise keep this option default

Other Settings

You can set all the remaining options according to you. Or you can also keep the default.

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Optimizing Your Posts and Pages with Rank Math Plugin

We have studied rank math plugin setting, but with the help of this plugin, how to optimize our blog post?

This question must have come in your mind.

So optimizing single post with the help of rank math plugin is very simple. Just you have to follow some rules and your post will be optimized.

The better the rank math score of the post, Get better the result will show in search result.

You can easily rank the post by following some methodology.

First, let’s talk about the rank math score. This score is between 0 – 100. If your score is below 80, then you need to optimize Post. So try to score between 80 and 100.

Now we talk about how we can increase this Rank Math score

To optimize the single post in the rank math plugin, 4 stages have to be completed. Your score depends on these stages.

If you complete all the steps given above, then you have become successful in optimizing your post.

As you complete the steps, you will see a green tick. If red tick then you have to resolve it so that it is green.

1. Basic SEO

To complete this step, you have to complete basic SEO settings.

2. Additional

To complete this step, you have to complete additional settings.

3. Title Readability

To complete this step, you have to complete Title Readability settings.

4. Content Readability

To complete this step, you have to complete Content Readability settings.

If you have completed all the steps then your Post Optimization process is done.

Now you have to make some settings for ranking in the search engine.

General

In this section, you will see rich snippets where you enter Title, Meta Description, and slug.

But make sure that the focus keyword is used in your rich snippet. Only then your SEO score will increase.

Now you must be feeling that it is important to do Keyword research?

Neil Patel says: Keyword research is the blueprint for your online marketing efforts, driving every decision you make.

With the help of Keyword Research, you can easily get top ranking.

For more details: Keyword Research for SEO – The Ultimate Guide for Beginners (2020)

Advanced

In this section, you can manage meta robots. Such as No Index, No archive, etc. Default ticks the index. By which your post is indexed in google search engine.

Advanced Robots meta to be set as default

Canonical URL: It easy for google to crawl your main page. If you use duplicate pages then you set the canonical URL. So that the error of duplication does not occur.

Breadcrumb Title: If you use breadcrumbs on the website, then you can set a specific post titles.

Social

In this section, you can manage social media. Whenever you publish a post, this post is automatically shared on social media with the help of Rank Math Plugin.

For this, you have to share the post on whatever social media. Just set title, description, and image to be set in that specific social media.

You can also see a live preview of how your post will look after sharing on social media.

This integration was available only for Facebook and Twitter only. So you can share your post with the help of these social media.

Rank Math Pricing and support

Currently rank math is available for free of cost in official WordPress plugin library and the biggest thing is that you can use all its premium features without restrictions.

Although it is still new, but lots of good reviews of this plugin are coming from professional people.

This product was launched by the Mythemeshop company which offers a great-valued product.

You must be thinking that If this plugin is free, will it get support?

Yes, despite being a free plugin, MyThemeShop provides quick support through its community forum. In the same way, their Facebook group is also active, you can get support by joining this group.

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Rank Math vs Yoast SEO Which is Best Free SEO Plugin for WordPress?

This question comes to everyone’s mind and no one wants to compromise in SEO. So here we will tell discuss the functionality of Yoast SEO vs Rank Math Plugin.

Installation Environment

If we talk about installation, then the process of installing and activation of both Plugins is similar. The installation process of Yoast SEO is a bit easy as it requires very few steps to be configured. Other side, Rank Math Plugin also takes less time to install and configure. By just 5 steps process in Rank Math, your configuration is complete.

Winner: Tie

User Interface

Yoast SEO does not offer good interface according to UI. A beginner can be a bit difficult to understand. But Rank Math SEO provides you with a clean dashboard. It has all the functionalities very well organized. You can enable and disable all functionalities in one click.

Winner: Rank Math SEO

Google Search Console

Both Plugins provide you the option of Google search console but with the help of Yoast SEO you cannot see the record of Google search console. In other hand Rank Math Plugin has the ability to track Google search console.

Winner: Rank Math SEO

Redirection, Link Suggestions and 404 Errors

Both Plugins track all your link errors inside your WordPress dashboard but you can access the redirection and link suggestions in Yoast SEO only if you use a premium plan. But with the help of Rank Math Plugin, you can use this feature for free.

Winner: Rank Math SEO

Support System

If we talk about support, only premium users get support in Yoast SEO but in Rank Math you get free support . They have a community forum from which you get quick support.

Winner: Rank Math SEO

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My thoughts on Rank Math SEO Plugin Review 2020

If you are looking for a plugin to optimize your content or features, then Rank Math Plugin is the perfect solution for you.

Beginner’s bloggers use this plugin easily because beginners bloggers do not want to invest in the beginning.

Many people are afraid that Yoast SEO is a very old and popular plugin, so why should we choose Rank Math SEO?

So friends, Yoast SEO offers you both free and premium and to use great features in Yoast SEO, to buy Premium Plugin but in Rank Math you can get access to lots of features in the free version.

For beginners bloggers, Rank Math is a perfect solution.

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Frequently Asked Questions

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Conclusion

I hope you like this post Rank Math SEO Plugin Review – Best Free SEO Plugin For WordPress. Also, you found a good plugin for SEO.

If you have got all the information about this plugin then install and enjoy this plugin. This is the best solution for a beginner blogger.

If you want to make a blog, then you can read this post How To Start A Blog In 2020.

However, if you have any doubt or have any questions, just comment below rather than you can join our BloggingForest Facebook Group or contact us by email. We will definitely try to answer your questions.