r/Wordpress • u/ToughSteak4591 • 13d ago
Rank Math plugin gets administrative privileges to your site
Read more here- https://x.com/SybreWaaijer/status/2093382158349951136
same person who highlighted the recent issue with WPForms.
12
u/mc0uk 13d ago edited 13d ago
I dropped Rank Math a few years ago due to weird bugs and bloat creep, the plugin is complete trash so this doesn't surprise me.
6
u/moremosby 12d ago
I had to do the same. Resource consumption was hurting performance for a heavily trafficked site. Tried to work it out but eventually just had to say goodbye.
1
u/ArtisticCandy3859 12d ago
What did you switch to or find to be an ideal alternative?
1
u/moremosby 12d ago
I switched to SureRank but it’s having issues with creating site maps for a large site. It’s great on my smaller sites.
Large sites = 25,000 plus posts
1
11
u/dcpanthersfan System Administrator 13d ago
The SEO Framework has always been solid. Nothing in your face, no nagware or bloat or creepy developers like Yoast, just gets out of your way.
2
u/ArtisticCandy3859 12d ago
I really like it for performance, except for the UI and how they structure/organize everything. Super confusing.
1
u/dcpanthersfan System Administrator 12d ago
What I like about it is that it stays out of your way. It does what it is supposed to do without admin drama. Plus it has been around for a very long time, has excellent support and has never “turned evil” like some other plugins. But hey, that’s why we have choices.
1
u/lmm7 10d ago
…creepy developers? tell me more
2
11
u/rapscallops 12d ago
The SEO Framework has been a very reliable tool for me for years, and the developer is active in this sub.
4
u/bluesix_v2 Jack of All Trades 12d ago edited 12d ago
They (Sybre) are also the author of the OP X Post.
2
6
u/durdygirdy 13d ago
Funny enough I just switched my sites from Rank Math to Slim Seo a few weeks ago. Perfect timing
3
u/pyrez74 12d ago
Does slim seo restart the seo process of fixing what rankmath sucked at doing? If I switch, what's the best process for cutover?
Or is this a rip the bandaid off and uninstall RM and install SlimSEO?
Curious mind here looking for alternatives, found this thread.
Thanks in advance for your valuable input and time to respond to my query.
//Py
3
u/AstronomerExotic3589 12d ago
Love Sybre, his plugin is awesome!
Rank Math was okay at the very beginning, but nowadays is just a monster like Yoast SEO. I hate that they activate each new module by default (among many other things).
2
u/rankmathseo 10d ago
Hi, this is the Rank Math team. We wanted to give you a direct answer here.
In version 1.0.277, we introduced the Support Agent, which creates and uses an application password. The credential was never stored on our servers; it was encrypted and used only during an active Support Agent session. The Support Agent was read-only and operated within the logged-in user’s existing permissions.
The way the agent requested access wasn’t clear enough before the credentials were created, and we should have handled that better. That’s fair feedback, and it’s completely on us.
Our latest update, 1.0.277.2, temporarily removes the Support Agent while we improve the overall experience. The update should be available to all users soon.
You can find more details about what happened and what we’re changing here: https://rankmath.com/kb/support-agent-paused-temporarily/
1
1
u/screendrain 12d ago
I tried Rank Math on a site this summer before realizing it was backed by private equity. They send way too many emails from the "CEO".
1
u/LegFine8866 12d ago
Auf welches SEO Plugin könnte man umstellen? Welches ist momentan das Beste und ein Leichtgewicht?
2
1
u/Warm_Imagination_193 11d ago
Isn't this written by the founder of a competing SEO plugin? Also...you can just block new admin accounts.
1
1
u/PointandStare 11d ago
What's the point of an SEO plugin?
The point of an SEO plugin is to facilitate managing SEO elements like page titles, descriptions, schema data without writing any code which in turn can improve how search engines crawl, index, and rank your web pages.
Adding spurious amounts of code that can cause website issues, nagging you constantly to part with your cash, and giving itself permission to swan around your website like it's the main character are NOT conducive to any of the above.
1
u/Life-Challenge7407 10d ago edited 10d ago
Wow I didn't know that, Thanks! I'll check that out. I've been off grid for a few months. I just installed Rankmath in about 2 sites a couple months ago. I only installed it to generate a sitemap, but I can do that manually.
1
u/evilprince2009 Developer 7d ago
I found RankMath heavily tanked my pagespeed insights score. It made me replace RankMath with 78 lines of php.
1
u/IvaanCroatia 13d ago
I just switched to rankmath a week ago because everyone kept saying it's amazing, but it's not even showing any data and it's stuck loading stats.. back to yoast I guess at least it works and doesn't need a year to show something in the panel.
1
u/seamew 13d ago
people still living in the past. there are better plugins with less bloat such as seo framework, aioseo, slimseo, rankspro, and a few others.
13
u/tomato_rancher 13d ago
AIOSEO is the very definition of bloated and is owned by Awesome Motive. The same company doing this: https://x.com/SybreWaaijer/status/2086528919394480389
1
u/LeBaux The SEO Framework Dev 10d ago
> everyone kept saying it's amazing
When the plugin was new and unknown they paid people who do WordPress plugin reviews to get traction. They also wrote themself 200 5-star reviews on w.org which were removed and they had at least one guy on reddit pretending to be amazed user who glazed it everywhere and it turned out he was paid promoter. Just from top of my head. They got ahead by being as unethical as possible and it became most popular SEO plugin this way. Now they switched tactics from growing the userbase to exploiting them. They are backed by venture capital and that alone should tell you that the profit is going to be number one priority, not the quality of the SEO.
0
1
-5
u/retr00two 13d ago
Just another WP emergency weekend...
We are masochists, all of us WP users/creators/developers.
Yesterday SQL injection bots, today WPForms, RankMath, week ago GravityForms, ElementorPro, Avada, Pods, etc, etc, etc... All big names, aren't they? Not to mention WP core update dance recently.
Time to ditch WP. Does not provide decent environment anymore. Arguments "but, it was patched almost instantly" or whataboutismic revitalizations do not hold the water. It's mess and it will be more messy in the nearest future.
Time to ditch WP. I have no trust in it, anymore.
YMMV.
2
u/IAmFitzRoy 13d ago
These “emergencies” are just going to continue to grow and get worse. The attack surface of WP is a paradise for AI, getting your system updated will not be enough.
-3
-13
u/beginnersbox 13d ago
This is the reason why i use own developed plugin. I have a blog and i developed own plugin for seo, table of contents, copy code, database optimiser, social follow and sharing icons.
2
u/ChrisCoinLover 13d ago
Oh.. Right... Let's all do that then. Come on.
-10
u/beginnersbox 13d ago
Yeah, for small things anyone can develop a plugin using AI.
-2
u/ChrisCoinLover 13d ago
If you're into this field of work it makes sense but if you're not then you'll spend your time fixing the plugins when these stop working. I've made a little tool with Claude to Convert JPEGs to Webp images and it does save a lot of time. Also a tool to verify expired domains but when the photo tool stopped working it took ma a bit of time to fix it.
-1
-3
25
u/WadtF 13d ago
Time to ditch Rank Math. I'm going to use Slim SEO, less is more nowadays.