The Settings page is where you configure how Rank Forge behaves across your entire site. Most settings only need to be configured once during initial setup, but understanding what each section controls helps you fine-tune the plugin as your site grows. A setting you change here is a site-wide default. An SEO title or meta description set on a single post is used instead of the default for that post. Search visibility works the other way: a post type unchecked under Show in search results is noindex for all its posts, and a post cannot turn that off.
Accessing Settings
Go to Rank Forge → Settings in the WordPress sidebar menu.
The Settings Layout
Settings use a vertical-sidebar layout (a bit like Yoast): a navigation column on the left, the actual controls on the right. There are five tabs grouped by what you’re trying to do, not by feature lists:
| Tab | What lives here |
|---|---|
| General | AI connection status. Analysis on save and schema output are always on and have no setting. The AI actions (meta generation, internal links) are in the post’s Rank Forge box and appear when the Pro add-on is running. |
| Search Appearance | Title templates per post type, XML sitemap settings, Robots.txt editor, per-archive noindex |
| Social | Site-wide default Open Graph image (fallback when posts have neither a per-post Social Media Image nor a featured image) |
| Automation | Bulk Analysis for site scoring; PRO-only Auto Internal Links on publish |
| Integrations | PRO-only Google Search Console: the connection status, the active site property, Change property and Disconnect Google |
All five tabs live in the same form. You can jump between them freely — fields you edit on one tab are kept until you click Save Settings at the bottom, which saves everything at once. A small orange dot on a tab label means you have unsaved edits somewhere on that tab. If you close the page with unsaved edits, your browser will warn you.
Tab state persists. Your active tab is remembered in localStorage and reflected in the URL hash (#sf-tab-search), so you can bookmark “jump straight to Search Appearance” or share a link to the exact tab a colleague should review. On a phone the sidebar collapses into a select dropdown.
Complete Settings Reference
| Section | What You Configure | Key Options | Default |
|---|---|---|---|
| General | Core plugin behavior | Nothing to switch on: analysis on save and schema output are always on. The AI actions (meta generation, internal links) are buttons in the post’s Rank Forge box when the Pro add-on is running | Always on |
| Search Appearance | How your site appears in Google | Which post type archives to noindex, plus “Noindex paginated pages”. There is no switch for date or author archives | Nothing is hidden until you tick it |
| Title Templates (card on the Search Appearance tab) | Default title and description patterns | Templates with variables like {{title}} and {{siteName}} for each post type | {{title}} {{separator}} {{siteName}} |
| XML Sitemap (card on the Search Appearance tab) | XML sitemap configuration | Maximum URLs per sitemap file; the post types in the sitemap follow the Show in search results toggle of the Title Templates card | All public post types; 1,000 URLs |
| Robots.txt | Search engine crawler rules | Custom robots.txt directives; sitemap URL auto-appended | Standard WordPress defaults |
| Google Search Console (PRO) | Search performance data | Site property selection (Change property); Disconnect Google | Not connected |
| Default Social Image (Social tab) | Social sharing fallback image | Upload an image used when posts have no featured image | None |
| Auto Internal Links on Publish (PRO, Automation tab) | Automatic link insertion | Enable/disable; max links per post (1 to 10) | Disabled; 3 links |
| Migration (its own screen: Rank Forge > Migration) | Import from other SEO plugins | Import from Yoast SEO, Rank Math, All in One SEO and SEOPress with the Start Migration button. There is no export of your SEO data or settings | N/A |
Step-by-Step: Recommended Configuration for Most Sites
- General tab:
– If you have PRO: use the AI buttons in the post’s Rank Forge box.
- Search Appearance tab:
– Tick “Noindex paginated pages” to keep page 2 and onward of archives out of Google
– Hide thin tags one by one under Posts > Tags (there is no switch for date or author archives)
- Search Appearance tab, Title Templates card:
{{title}} {{separator}} {{siteName}}
– Pages: {{title}} {{separator}} {{siteName}}
– Products (if applicable): Buy {{title}} {{separator}} {{siteName}}
- Search Appearance tab, XML Sitemap card:
– Show in search results (Title Templates card): leave it on for the post types you want in Google and turn it off for internal-only custom post types
- Social tab, Default Social Image:
- Click Save Settings at the bottom of the page.
How Settings Interact with Post-Level Overrides
Settings are site-wide defaults. For the SEO title and the meta description, the value set on a post overrides them:
| Setting Level | Example | Priority |
|---|---|---|
| Post-level (set on individual post) | Custom SEO title on a specific blog post | Highest |
| Template (set in Title Templates) | Template for all blog posts | Middle |
| Plugin default | Raw post title with no formatting | Lowest |
This means you can use settings and templates as a safety net for the majority of your pages, while still customizing individual high-priority pages.
Saving and Applying Changes
After making changes, click Save Settings at the bottom of the page. Most settings take effect immediately. Sitemap changes may take a few minutes to propagate. Search engine responses to settings changes (like noindex directives) take days to weeks.
> Good to know: Settings changes apply site-wide. For example, if you tick “Hide <type> archive from search” for a post type, the single posts of that type keep their own setting. The Show in search results box of a post type is different: unchecked, it makes every post of that type noindex and removes the type from the sitemap.
> Tip: After initial setup, you should rarely need to revisit the Settings page. The exceptions are: adding a GSC connection, changing templates when your site structure evolves, or adjusting archive indexing as your content library grows.
Common Mistakes
- Changing settings and expecting immediate results in Google. Google takes days to weeks to reflect changes. Be patient.
- Enabling all settings without understanding them. Read what each setting does before toggling it on. The defaults are sensible for most sites.
- Forgetting to set up Title Templates. Templates are one of the highest-value settings — they ensure every page on your site has a properly formatted title, even if you never manually write one.
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