rationalwp

Rational SEO provides 100% of the technical SEO requirements for modern sites with 0% of the database bloat, UI clutter, or performance drag.
<h4>Philosophy</h4>
Rational SEO rigorously rejects features that do not directly influence search engines or social crawlers:
<ul>
<li>No Content Scoring – No traffic lights, readability checks, or keyword density counters</li>
<li>No Dashboard – No “SEO Overview” widget or React-powered admin home</li>
<li>No Analytics – No ranking tracking or Google Search Console API integrations</li>
<li>No Frontend Assets – Zero CSS or JS files loaded on the frontend</li>
<li>No 404 Logging – Never writes 404 hits to the database</li>
</ul>
<h4>Features</h4>
Meta Tags
<ul>
<li>Custom title tags with configurable separator</li>
<li>Meta descriptions (manual or auto-generated from excerpt/content)</li>
<li>Robots meta (index/noindex control)</li>
<li>Canonical URLs</li>
<li>Google and Bing verification meta tags</li>
</ul>
Social Media
<ul>
<li>Open Graph tags (og:title, og:description, og:image, og:url, og:type, og:locale, og:site_name)</li>
<li>Twitter Cards (summary or summary_large_image)</li>
<li>Per-post social image override</li>
</ul>
Structured Data
<ul>
<li>JSON-LD schema output using @graph format</li>
<li>Organization or Person schema (configurable)</li>
<li>WebSite schema with publisher linking</li>
<li>WebPage schema</li>
<li>Article schema on posts/pages with author, dates, and images</li>
</ul>
XML Sitemaps
<ul>
<li>Sitemap index at /sitemap.xml</li>
<li>Per-post-type sitemaps with pagination</li>
<li>Transient caching with stale-while-revalidate</li>
<li>Content freshness filtering (exclude old content)</li>
<li>Post type exclusions</li>
</ul>
Editor Integration
<ul>
<li>Meta box on all public post types</li>
<li>Custom SEO title and description fields</li>
<li>Focus keyword field with real-time presence indicators (title, description, first paragraph, URL slug)</li>
<li>Noindex toggle per post</li>
<li>Canonical URL override</li>
<li>Social image override</li>
<li>Taxonomy term SEO fields (title, description, noindex, canonical)</li>
</ul>
Post Type Archives
<ul>
<li>Custom SEO title and description for each post type archive</li>
<li>Configure via Settings > Rational SEO > Archives tab</li>
</ul>
AI Assistant (optional)
<ul>
<li>AI-powered focus keyword suggestions</li>
<li>AI-generated SEO titles and meta descriptions</li>
<li>One-click “Suggest All” for keyword, title, and description together</li>
<li>Uses OpenAI GPT-4o-mini (requires your own API key)</li>
<li>Data sent only when you click — never in the background</li>
</ul>
<h3>External Services</h3>
This plugin connects to the following external services:
<h4>RationalWP Plugin Directory</h4>
This plugin fetches a list of available RationalWP plugins from <a href="https://rationalwp.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">rationalwp.com</a> to display in the WordPress admin menu. Only the menu file version number is sent as a cache-busting query parameter. No user data is transmitted. The response is cached locally for 24 hours.
<ul>
<li>Service URL: <a href="https://rationalwp.com/plugins.json" rel="nofollow ugc">https://rationalwp.com/plugins.json</a></li>
<li>Terms of Service: <a href="https://rationalwp.com/terms/" rel="nofollow ugc">https://rationalwp.com/terms/</a></li>
<li>Privacy Policy: <a href="https://rationalwp.com/privacy/" rel="nofollow ugc">https://rationalwp.com/privacy/</a></li>
</ul>
<h4>OpenAI API (optional)</h4>
This plugin provides optional AI-powered SEO suggestions using the <a href="https://openai.com/" rel="nofollow ugc">OpenAI API</a>. When a site administrator configures an OpenAI API key in Settings > Rational SEO > General, users can click “Suggest” or “Generate” buttons in the post editor to receive AI-generated focus keywords, SEO titles, and meta descriptions.
Data is only sent when a user explicitly clicks an AI suggestion button. The data sent includes the post title and up to 2000 characters of post content (stripped of HTML), along with the user’s own API key for authentication. No data is sent automatically or in the background.
<ul>
<li>Service URL: <a href="https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions" rel="nofollow ugc">https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions</a></li>
<li>Terms of Use: <a href="https://openai.com/policies/terms-of-use/" rel="nofollow ugc">https://openai.com/policies/terms-of-use/</a></li>
<li>Privacy Policy: <a href="https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy/" rel="nofollow ugc">https://openai.com/policies/privacy-policy/</a></li>
</ul>

RationalSEO

Technical SEO essentials with zero bloat. No dashboards, analytics, content scoring, or frontend assets.

ranklite

RankLite focuses on the essentials of on-page SEO. It’s intentionally small, fast, and easy to configure. You get all the core tools—without the kitchen sink:
<ul>
<li>Titles & Meta Descriptions per post/page with live counters</li>
<li>Global defaults with smart fallbacks</li>
<li>Open Graph & Twitter Cards (title, description, image)</li>
<li>Canonical and robots meta (index/noindex, follow/nofollow)</li>
<li>XML Sitemaps (<code>/sitemap.xml</code>) with pretty permalink support and pings to Google & Bing</li>
<li>JSON-LD Schema for Website, Article, Breadcrumbs + FAQ/How-to blocks (basic)</li>
<li>Breadcrumbs output helper</li>
<li>Manual 301 Redirects</li>
<li>Analytics helpers (Google Analytics/GTAG & Google Tag Manager passthrough)</li>
<li>Optional data wipe on uninstall</li>
<li>Multisite-aware and performance-minded</li>
</ul>
No telemetry. No ad pixels. No phone-home calls—everything stays on your site.
<h3>Why RankLite?</h3>
<ul>
<li>Performance first. Lightweight code, minimal queries, no admin nag spam.</li>
<li>No lock-in. Uses standard WordPress fields/meta so you can switch any time.</li>
<li>Clean UI. Sensible defaults and clear controls that won’t overwhelm you.</li>
</ul>
<h3>What’s included in the Free version?</h3>
<ul>
<li>Titles/meta with counters and fallbacks</li>
<li>Canonical, robots</li>
<li>Open Graph & Twitter Cards</li>
<li>Website/Article/Breadcrumbs + FAQ/How-to schema (basic, JSON-LD)</li>
<li>XML sitemaps with Google/Bing pings</li>
<li>Breadcrumbs helper</li>
<li>Manual redirects (301)</li>
<li>Analytics & GTM helpers</li>
<li>Tools page with wipe on uninstall option</li>
</ul>
<h3>Pro add-on</h3>
A separate Pro add-on (not required) can extend RankLite with AI-assisted titles/descriptions/alt-text/articles, advanced schema & sitemaps, a 404 monitor, and auto-redirects. The free plugin is fully functional on its own and does not require Pro.
<h3>Features</h3>
<ul>
<li>Meta box on posts/pages for custom SEO Title & Description</li>
<li>Smart fallback to site title/tagline or post excerpt</li>
<li>Open Graph/Twitter image fallback</li>
<li>Robots (index/noindex, follow/nofollow) per post and global</li>
<li>Sitemaps: index + post types; pretty <code>/sitemap.xml</code> with:
<ul>
<li>Fallback query route for non-pretty permalinks</li>
<li>Automatic pings to Google and Bing when content changes (with safe throttling)</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Schema: Website, Article, Breadcrumbs + FAQ/How-to via blocks (basic) with safe defaults</li>
<li>Breadcrumbs: simple template function/filter to output a trail</li>
<li>Redirects: add simple 301 manual redirects from an admin screen</li>
<li>Analytics: GA4/gtag and GTM helpers (paste ID and go)</li>
<li>Developer-friendly (filters/actions documented below)</li>
<li>Privacy-friendly: no data leaves your site</li>
</ul>
<h3>Privacy</h3>
This plugin does not:
<ul>
<li>Collect personal data</li>
<li>Send usage data to third parties</li>
<li>Set cookies on the front end by itself</li>
</ul>
If you enable Analytics or GTM helpers, you are integrating external services—ensure you have the proper disclosures/consent (e.g., via your cookie banner).
<h3>Performance</h3>
<ul>
<li>Minimal queries and safe caching behavior</li>
<li>No assets loaded on the front end unless necessary</li>
<li>Short timeouts and safe throttling for sitemap pings to Google/Bing</li>
</ul>
<h3>External services</h3>
This plugin can optionally connect to the following external services:
<ol>
<li>Google Search and Bing (sitemap ping)</li>
</ol>
– What it does: When sitemap pinging is enabled, RankLite can notify search engines that your sitemap has been updated. 
– What is sent: The public URL of your sitemap is sent as a query parameter to: 
 – https://www.google.com/ping?sitemap= 
 – https://www.bing.com/ping?sitemap= 
– When: Only when sitemap pinging is enabled in the plugin settings and a sitemap is generated/updated. 
– Terms / Privacy: 
 – Google: https://policies.google.com/privacy / https://policies.google.com/terms 
 – Microsoft (Bing): https://privacy.microsoft.com / https://www.microsoft.com/servicesagreement
<ol>
<li>Google Analytics / Google Tag Manager (optional)</li>
</ol>
– What it does: If you choose to enable Analytics or Tag Manager in RankLite, the plugin outputs the official tracking/snippet code provided by Google. 
– What is sent: Standard analytics/usage data as defined by Google, associated with your own property IDs (e.g. GA4, GTM). No additional data is sent by RankLite beyond what Google’s scripts normally collect. 
– When: Only when you explicitly enable these features and enter your own tracking IDs. 
– Terms / Privacy: 
 – Google Analytics / Tag Manager: https://marketingplatform.google.com/about/analytics/terms/us/ 
 – Google Privacy Policy: https://policies.google.com/privacy
<h3>Developers</h3>
<h3>Filter the final title string</h3>
<pre><code>`php
</code></pre>
/** 
 * Filter the final value RankLite outputs. 
 * 
 * @param string $title Final title string. 
 * @param array $parts Parsed parts (h1, site_name, brand, etc). 
 * @param WP_Post|null $post Current post object (or null). 
 * @param string $type Detected type: ‘news’ | ‘product’ | ‘default’. 
 */ 
add_filter( ‘ranklite_meta_title_final’, function( $title, $parts, $post, $type ) { 
 return $title; 
}, 10, 4 ); 
 `
<h3>Add extra sitemap index entries (e.g. news/video)</h3>
<pre><code>`php
</code></pre>
add_filter( ‘ranklite/sitemaps/index_items’, function( $extra, $opts ) { 
 $extra[] = array( 
 ‘loc’ => home_url( ‘/news-sitemap.xml’ ), 
 ‘lastmod’ => gmdate( ‘c’ ), 
 ); 
 return $extra; 
}, 10, 2 ); 
 `
<h3>Tweak the breadcrumb trail before output</h3>
<pre><code>`php
</code></pre>
add_filter( ‘ranklite_breadcrumb_trail’, function( $trail ) { 
 // $trail is an array of arrays like [ ‘name’ => ‘Blog’, ‘url’ => ‘https://example.com/blog/’ ]. 
 return $trail; 
} ); 
 `
<h3>Programmatic redirect registration</h3>
<pre><code>`php
</code></pre>
do_action( ‘ranklite/register_redirect’, ‘/old-path’, ‘/new-path’, 301 ); 
 `
See inline docs for more hooks and parameters.

RankLite – Fast, Clean SEO

Fast, clean SEO: titles & meta, Open Graph/Twitter Cards, JSON-LD schema, and XML sitemaps with Google/Bing pings. No bloat, no tracking.

RationalSEO vs RankLite – Fast, Clean SEO