Gutenberg SEO — Block Editor Sidebar Integration
Rank Forge adds an AI SEO sidebar to the block editor. It shows the SEO score, the issues and the schema of the post you are editing. The full set of tools (focus keyword, SEO title and meta description, SERP preview, social fields, Fix buttons and AI tools) is in the Rank Forge box on the same edit screen.
What the Gutenberg sidebar includes
SEO Score
The first panel shows the score of the post out of 100, in a colour that follows the score. The sidebar reads the score of the saved post once, when the editor opens.
Issues
The second panel is titled Issues, followed by the number of issues. It opens by itself when the post has issues, and says “No issues found!” when it has none. Each issue shows its message in a small box with a coloured bar at its left edge that depends on its severity. The panel has no severity badge, no Fix button and no link to the documentation: the Fix buttons are part of the Rank Forge box, not of the sidebar.
No Re-analyze button
The sidebar has no Re-analyze button. It scores the saved post when the editor opens. The score in the Rank Forge box updates as you edit, and a full analysis runs each time you save the post.
Schema Markup
The third panel, Schema Markup, lists the schema types Rank Forge detected for the post as badges. The button below them reads Update Schema when the content has changed since the schema was generated (the panel then warns that the schema may be outdated) and Regenerate Schema otherwise. The button needs the Pro add-on and runs the schema detection, which uses credits when it calls the AI.
What is in the Rank Forge box instead
The sidebar has no focus keyword field, no fields for the SEO title and the meta description, no SERP preview, no social preview and no AI tool buttons. Those tools are in the Rank Forge box below the editor, which has the tabs SEO, Social, Schema and Advanced. The AI tools, including Auto-Link, are in the Advanced tab.
What updates while you edit
The score and the issues in the sidebar do not change while you type. Only the Schema Markup panel notices your edits: when the content differs from the content the schema was generated from, it shows the warning and the button reads Update Schema.
Panels
The sidebar uses the standard panels of the block editor, so each of them can be opened and closed. Rank Forge has no setting that chooses which panels start open: the SEO Score and Schema Markup panels start open, and the Issues panel starts open when the post has issues.
Keyboard shortcuts
The sidebar adds no keyboard shortcuts of its own.
How the analysis reads block content
HTML, not blocks
Rank Forge does not parse Gutenberg blocks. It analyzes the HTML that the editor saves into the post. In the block editor the score in the Rank Forge box (not the one in the sidebar) is recalculated from the current editor content as you edit, so changes show before you save.
What the analysis picks up
- Headings: the post needs at least one H2 to H6 heading, and the focus keyword is looked for in their text.
- Text: the text of the post counts toward the word count.
- Images:
<img>tags count as media, and the focus keyword is looked for in their alt text. - Video: a
<video>tag or an iframe from YouTube, Vimeo, Wistia, Dailymotion or Loom counts as media. - Links: links are sorted into internal and external.
What it does not do
No block type gets special treatment. The analysis does not look at block names, and the SEO score and its issue checks do not treat list, quote, table, code or embed blocks as separate kinds of content. When the post has text of its own, content that a block produces only when the page is rendered, and does not save into the post, is not part of the analysis. Template parts and patterns are not analyzed on their own, and the post types of the site editor (templates, template parts and reusable blocks) are left out.
FAQ schema
FAQPage markup is not taken from FAQ, Details or Accordion blocks. The automatic markup is built from H2 and H3 headings that end with a question mark, each with the text that follows it as the answer, and only when the post has at least two such questions.
Classic editor support
The Rank Forge box with all its tools is the same in the block editor and in the Classic Editor. The AI SEO sidebar exists only in the block editor.
Ready to use the Gutenberg SEO sidebar?
The Gutenberg sidebar is included in every version of Rank Forge, including the free one. AI features require a paid plan.