Installation & Setup Wizard

Install the Plugin

SEO Rank Genius works on any WordPress 5.8+ site running PHP 7.4 or higher. You can install it from the WordPress plugin directory or upload it manually.

Option A: Install from WordPress

1. In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New.
2. Search for “SEO Rank Genius” in the search bar.
3. Click Install Now, then Activate.
4. The setup wizard launches automatically on first activation.

Option B: Upload Manually

1. Download the .zip file from seorankgenius.com or your purchase receipt.
2. Go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
3. Choose the zip file and click Install Now.
4. Click Activate — the wizard starts immediately.

Wizard Overview

The setup wizard appears automatically after activation. It walks you through 7 quick steps to configure your site with sensible defaults. The entire process takes under 60 seconds.

If you accidentally close it, you can always re-run it from:

Step 1: Welcome

The welcome screen greets you and outlines what the wizard will configure. Just click Get Started to begin.

Step 2: Choose Your Site Type

Select the type that best describes your website. This sets intelligent defaults for schema markup, title templates, and which modules are enabled.

Available site types and their default schema:

• Blog / Magazine — sets Article schema, disables breadcrumbs
• Business / Corporate — sets Organization schema, enables all modules
• E-commerce (WooCommerce) — sets Product schema, enables breadcrumbs
• Local Business — sets LocalBusiness schema, enables breadcrumbs
• Portfolio / Agency — sets WebSite schema, disables auto-linking
• News / Media — sets NewsArticle schema
• Other — sets WebSite schema with safe defaults

Step 3: Connect Google Search Console

Connecting GSC unlocks keyword tracking, index status monitoring, sitemap submission, and performance data inside the plugin. This step is optional but strongly recommended.

Clicking the button opens Google’s OAuth screen in a new tab. After granting access, the wizard shows a green checkmark confirming the connection.

Step 4: Title Separator

Choose the character that appears between your page title and site name in search engine results. This is a visual preference — it doesn’t affect rankings.

The live preview updates as you click each separator. The default em dash (—) is the most common choice and works well for all site types.

Step 5: Enable Features

Toggle the core features on or off. The wizard pre-enables modules based on your site type from Step 2, but you can adjust them here.

Here’s what each module does:

• Meta Tags & Templates — generates SEO titles, meta descriptions, and Open Graph tags for every page
• Schema Generation — outputs JSON-LD structured data so search engines understand your content
• Auto-Linking — automatically inserts internal links based on your keyword rules
• Link Guardian — continuously monitors your links and alerts you to broken ones
• XML Sitemap — generates and submits an XML sitemap to search engines
• Breadcrumbs — adds navigation breadcrumbs with BreadcrumbList schema
• Email Notifications — sends weekly SEO reports and broken link alerts to your inbox

Step 6: Import & Migrate

If you’re switching from another SEO plugin (Yoast, Rank Math, All in One SEO, SEOPress, etc.), this step detects your existing data and lets you import it with one click.

The import tool supports migration from:

• Yoast SEO — titles, descriptions, keywords, schema settings, redirects
• Rank Math — full field mapping including advanced schema
• All in One SEO — meta data, sitemaps, social settings
• SEOPress — titles, descriptions, social metadata

Step 7: You’re All Set!

The final screen confirms your configuration is saved. From here you can jump straight to the Dashboard or open Settings for further tweaking.

After Setup: Your First 5 Minutes

Once the wizard finishes, here’s the recommended sequence to get the most out of SEO Rank Genius right away:

1. Run a Full Site Scan — On the Dashboard, click the Full Site Scan button. This analyzes all your posts, pages, and links to populate your reports and KPI tiles.
2. Review the Dashboard — Check your Health Score, orphan pages count, broken links, and opportunity suggestions.
3. Set up Auto-Link Rules — Go to Tools & Analytics → Auto-Link Rules and create your first keyword-to-URL mapping.
4. Check Indexing Settings — Visit Indexing & Sitemaps → Overview to review your XML sitemap, meta tags, and search appearance defaults.
5. Open a Post — Edit any post to see the SEO Metabox in action: link overview, SEO score, keywords, and schema.

Troubleshooting

The wizard doesn’t appear after activation

The wizard only shows for users with the Administrator role. Navigate to SEO Rank Genius → Dashboard and look for the “Run Setup Wizard” link.

I accidentally skipped the wizard

Go to SEO Rank Genius → Dashboard and click Run Setup Wizard to restart it. Your existing settings will be shown as defaults.

“PHP version too low” error

SEO Rank Genius requires PHP 7.4 or higher. Check your PHP version in Tools → Site Health → Info → Server. Contact your hosting provider to upgrade if needed.

Google Search Console won’t connect

Make sure you’re signing into the Google account that owns the Search Console property for your site. The property URL must match your WordPress site URL exactly.

Conflict with another SEO plugin

Running two SEO plugins simultaneously can cause duplicate meta tags and schema. Complete the import in Step 6 first, verify your data, then deactivate the old plugin.

Continue Learning

Now that your plugin is installed and configured, explore these guides next: