Settings backup & SEO migration

Import, Export & Migration

Back up your SEO Rank Genius configuration, clone settings between sites, and migrate titles, redirects, schema, and more from Yoast, Rank Math, SEOPress, or All in One SEO.

10 min read All plans Settings → Import & Export

Before you start

The Import & Export tab is your control center for two different jobs:

SEO Rank Genius settings — export or restore your plugin configuration as a JSON file (great for staging → production clones).
Third-party SEO migration — scan for data left behind by another SEO plugin and import it into SEO Rank Genius fields.

Available on all plans Import, export, backups, and third-party migration are included on free and paid installs. You need an administrator account with manage_options capability.

You can reach this screen from:

SEO Rank Genius → Settings → Import & Export
The Setup Wizard (Step 6) — click Open Import & Export Tool when legacy SEO data is detected

Keep the old plugin active during migration Leave Yoast, Rank Math, SEOPress, or AIOSEO installed and active while you scan and import. The scanner reads their database records directly. Deactivate only after you’ve verified titles, redirects, and key meta on a few sample posts.

Open Import & Export

From your WordPress dashboard:

SEO Rank Genius → Settings → Import & Export

The tab is organized into four stacked sections:

Export SEO Rank Genius SettingsDownload selected configuration groups as JSON.

Import SEO Rank Genius SettingsUpload a previously exported JSON file to restore settings.

BackupsAutomatic snapshots before imports, plus manual backups you can restore.

Import from Other SEO PluginsScan, choose fields, and migrate legacy SEO data in batches.

Export settings

Use this when you want a portable copy of your SEO Rank Genius configuration — for backups, staging sites, or moving between environments.

Select settings to export

Under Export SEO Rank Genius Settings, every group is checked by default. Uncheck anything you don’t want in the file (for example, GSC connection details if cloning to a different domain).

Click Export

Your browser downloads a JSON file. A green Export downloaded. status message confirms success.

Exportable groups

The checkbox list covers the full plugin configuration, including:

General & modulesGeneral Settings, Meta & Feature Toggles

Search appearanceTitle Templates, Description Templates, Robots Defaults

Social & identitySocial & Open Graph Defaults, Knowledge Graph / Site Identity

Technical SEOSchema Settings, Crawl Intelligence, Link Behavior

Redirects & monitoringRedirections, 404 Error Log, Activity Log

IntegrationsGSC Connection, Indexing & Sitemap Pings, LLMs.txt settings

Linking & statsAuto-Link Rules, Backlinks / Referring Domains, Statistics history

OtherNotification Settings, Anchor Intent Override Log

Cloning to another site Export from production, import on staging, then spot-check title templates, redirects, and schema defaults before going live. Consider excluding GSC connection groups when the target site uses a different Search Console property.

Import settings

Restore a JSON file previously exported from SEO Rank Genius (this site or another).

Upload your JSON file

In Import SEO Rank Genius Settings, drag a .json file onto the drop zone or click to browse. Maximum file size is 5 MB. Only JSON files are accepted.

Click Import Settings

The button activates once a valid file is selected. SEO Rank Genius creates an automatic backup before applying the import, then merges the uploaded option groups into your current configuration.

Auto-backup on import Every settings import triggers an automatic backup first. If something looks wrong afterward, restore the pre-import snapshot from the Backups section below.

Backups

The Backups section stores snapshots of your SEO Rank Genius settings (and related data like redirects and auto-link rules).

Automatic — created before each settings import and before third-party plugin imports
Manual — click Create Backup any time before risky changes
Retention — up to 5 backups are kept; older ones roll off automatically

Each backup row shows the timestamp, reason (for example “Auto-backup before import” or “Manual backup”), and counts for option keys, redirects, and auto-link rules included.

Use Restore to roll back to a snapshot, or Delete to remove one you no longer need. Restore shows a confirmation alert with the result.

Migrate from other SEO plugins

This is the section you use when switching from Yoast SEO, Rank Math, SEOPress, or All in One SEO. It lives at the bottom of the Import & Export tab.

Scan for Plugins

Click Scan for Plugins. SEO Rank Genius scans the database for importable data from supported SEO plugins — even if a plugin is inactive but still installed (Data Only badge).

Expand a plugin card

Each detected plugin shows how many data types and total records were found. Click Show All Options to reveal categorized checkboxes with per-field record counts.

Choose fields and options

Uncheck anything you don’t want to migrate
Use Select All / Deselect All for quick toggling
Leave Skip fields that already have data in SEO Rank Genius checked on first run — this prevents overwriting meta you’ve already set in SEO Rank Genius

Click Import Selected

The orange Import Selected (N) button starts migration. A progress bar appears with post counts. Large sites process post meta in batches of 100 posts — keep the tab open until the summary appears.

Review the summary

When finished, a green Import complete! panel shows posts processed, fields imported, skipped items, and a per-field breakdown. Redirects, global settings, and term meta counts appear when those categories were selected.

Supported sources for post-level SEO migration:

Yoast SEOTitles, descriptions, focus keywords, canonical, robots, OG/Twitter, term meta, Premium redirects

Rank MathFull post & term meta, redirections table, global settings snapshot

SEOPressPost meta, social fields, per-post redirects, term meta, global settings

All in One SEOPost meta plus AIOSEO v4 table data, redirects table, term meta

Safe first import Run migration with Skip fields that already have data enabled. Spot-check 5–10 posts and a category archive, then run again with skip disabled only if you intentionally want to overwrite specific fields.

During import you can click Cancel on the progress bar to stop batch processing. Data imported before cancellation is kept; the summary may show a partial result.

What gets imported

When you expand a plugin card, fields are grouped into four categories:

Post Meta (per-post SEO data)

Migrated into active SEO Rank Genius post fields. Includes SEO titles, meta descriptions, focus keywords, canonical URLs, robots directives, Open Graph and Twitter Card fields, schema type/markup, primary category, breadcrumb titles, cornerstone/pillar flags, and per-post redirect rules where the source plugin stored them.

Term Meta (category & tag SEO)

Category and tag SEO titles, descriptions, focus keywords, canonical URLs, robots settings, and social fields are copied into SEO Rank Genius term meta keys.

Database Tables

Table-backed data such as redirections (Rank Math, AIOSEO), redirect cache, analytics tables, 404 logs, and AIOSEO post table rows. Redirect rules import into SEO Rank Genius Redirections when supported for that source.

Global Plugin Settings

Source plugin options (title templates, social defaults, sitemap settings, etc.) are stored as imported snapshots for reference. They do not automatically remap every Yoast/Rank Math setting into SEO Rank Genius UI fields — review Search Appearance and module toggles manually after migration, or use JSON export/import to clone an already-configured SEO Rank Genius site.

Separate from Auto-Link CSV tools Auto-Link Rules also have their own CSV import/export under the Auto-Link Rules admin area. That workflow is independent of this Settings tab.

After migration

Once import completes, work through this checklist before deactivating your old SEO plugin:

Spot-check posts — open several posts in the editor and confirm SEO title, description, and robots values under the SEO Rank Genius panel.
Check archives — view a category page and confirm term meta migrated correctly.
Test redirects — visit a few known redirect URLs (especially if you imported redirections from Rank Math, Yoast Premium, or AIOSEO).
Review Search Appearance — under Settings, confirm title/description templates and Knowledge Graph details match your site.
Run a site scan — use SEO Advisor to catch any gaps. See our SEO Advisor guide.
Deactivate the old plugin — only after you’re satisfied. Keep a backup JSON export of SEO Rank Genius settings as insurance.

Setup Wizard shortcut If you skipped migration during setup, return anytime via Settings → Import & Export — the workflow is identical to Setup Wizard Step 6.

Troubleshooting

Scan finds no plugins

The scanner looks for database records, not just installed plugins. If you already deleted all meta from the old plugin, there may be nothing left to import. Confirm post meta still exists in the database or reactivate the legacy plugin temporarily.

“No data found” after selecting a plugin

Usually means the selected field types have zero records, or the source plugin uses a format not present on your site (for example, AIOSEO v3 meta without the v4 table). Try scanning again with the legacy plugin active.

Import stuck or slow

Large sites may take several minutes while post meta processes in 100-post batches. Keep the browser tab open and don’t navigate away. If it fails mid-run, check the partial summary — completed batches are saved. Restore from Backups if needed.

Fields were skipped

With Skip fields that already have data in SEO Rank Genius enabled, any post that already has SEO Rank Genius meta for a field is left unchanged. Uncheck skip only when you intentionally want to overwrite.

Settings import fails or file rejected

Confirm the file is valid JSON exported from SEO Rank Genius, ends in .json, and is under 5 MB. Corrupted or hand-edited files may fail validation.

Redirects didn’t migrate

Redirect table import is supported from Rank Math and AIOSEO redirection tables, and Yoast SEO Premium’s redirect option. Free Yoast redirect meta on individual posts imports when you select post redirect fields. Verify the corresponding checkbox was selected before import.

Global settings look unchanged

Third-party global settings are stored as imported reference snapshots — they don’t auto-apply every template and toggle. Configure SEO Rank Genius Search Appearance manually, or import a JSON export from a site already tuned the way you want.

Need to undo everything

Go to Backups, find the auto-backup created immediately before your import, and click Restore. You can also re-import a JSON export you saved earlier.

Get SEO Rank Genius ← Setup Wizard guide