Overview
RationalSEO is a technical SEO plugin for WordPress that handles meta tags, Open Graph, structured data, and XML sitemaps — with zero frontend bloat. It loads no CSS or JavaScript on the frontend. All output is server-rendered HTML.
The plugin rigorously rejects features that do not directly influence search engines or social crawlers: no content scoring, no dashboards, no analytics, no 404 logging.
Installation
- Upload the
rationalseofolder to/wp-content/plugins/, or install via the WordPress plugin installer. - Activate the plugin through the Plugins menu in WordPress.
- Navigate to Settings → RationalWP → SEO to configure your settings.
On activation, the plugin begins outputting meta tags, Open Graph, structured data, and sitemaps using sensible defaults. No additional configuration is required for most sites.
Requirements
- WordPress 5.0 or higher
- PHP 7.4 or higher
How It Works
RationalSEO hooks into wp_head early (priority 1) and outputs all SEO tags in a single block. It removes default WordPress title tag support and replaces it with its own title generation logic.
Settings are stored in a single database option (rationalseo_settings). Per-post SEO data is stored as post meta with the _rationalseo_ prefix. All settings are preserved if you deactivate the plugin and only deleted on full uninstall.
Settings Tabs
The settings page is organized into five tabs:
- General — Site identity (name, logo, type), title separator, webmaster verification codes, and AI assistant configuration.
- Archives — Custom SEO titles and meta descriptions for post type archive pages.
- Social — Default social sharing image and Twitter Card type.
- Sitemaps — Enable/disable sitemaps, content freshness filtering, and post type exclusions.
- Import — One-click migration from Yoast, Rank Math, AIOSEO, and SEOPress.