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ThinkRank AI SEO – AI SEO Plugin for WordPress: Schema, XML Sitemaps, Meta Tags, Search Console & Local SEO / 1.32.0
ThinkRank AI SEO – AI SEO Plugin for WordPress: Schema, XML Sitemaps, Meta Tags, Search Console & Local SEO v1.32.0
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1 === ThinkRank – AI SEO Plugin: Keywords, Metadata, Schema, llms.txt, MCP & Search Console ===
2 Contributors: wpdevteam, thinkrank, re_enter_rupok, rafinkhan, rudlinkon, mdnahidhasan
3 Tags: seo, ai seo, focus keyword, schema, llms.txt
4 Requires at least: 6.0
5 Tested up to: 7.0
6 Requires PHP: 7.4
7 Stable tag: 1.32.0
8 License: GPLv2 or later
9 License URI: https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
10
11 AI SEO plugin with metadata, focus keywords, schema, XML sitemaps, llms.txt, MCP and Search Console insights.
12
13 == Description ==
14
15 **[ThinkRank](https://thinkrank.ai/) is an AI SEO plugin for WordPress built for the new agentic SEO workflow.** Optimize WordPress SEO with AI-generated meta titles and meta descriptions, real-time content analysis, keyword optimization, schema markup, XML sitemaps, robots meta, canonical URLs, Open Graph social previews, Google Search Console insights, GA4 analytics, llms.txt — and a built-in **MCP server** that lets Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and other compatible AI assistants help manage SEO directly from your site.
16
17 ThinkRank is not just another SEO plugin. It is an **agentic AI SEO platform for WordPress** — built for the way SEO work is moving: from manual checklists to AI-assisted action. Instead of switching between dashboards, browser tabs, SEO checklists, and AI chat windows, you can ask your AI assistant to help configure and improve your SEO in plain language.
18
19 It works where you already build: **Gutenberg, Elementor, Divi, Oxygen/Breakdance, and the Classic Editor** — and on multilingual sites running **WPML, Polylang or TranslatePress**.
20
21 = Watch: Ranking in AI Search =
22
23 SEO creator Tin Rovic breaks down how to get your brand surfaced by AI search engines and LLMs:
24
25 https://youtu.be/TEzfS2dAMC8
26
27 = Agentic AI SEO with MCP for Claude, ChatGPT and Cursor =
28
29 ThinkRank ships a self-contained **Model Context Protocol (MCP) server** built right into the plugin — no companion plugin, no external libraries, no terminal. It turns your AI assistant into an **SEO operator, not just an SEO copywriter**.
30
31 * **Connect Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor** or any MCP-compatible AI assistant to your WordPress site.
32 * **Ask for SEO in plain language:**
33 * "Write an SEO title and meta description for this post."
34 * "Which posts are missing SEO metadata?"
35 * "Add FAQ schema to this page."
36 * "Generate an llms.txt file for my website."
37 * "Review this page and suggest on-page SEO improvements."
38 * "Check Search Console opportunities for pages with high impressions and low CTR."
39 * **35+ SEO tools** exposed to your assistant — metadata, schema, site identity, sitemaps, robots.txt & robots meta, image SEO, social meta, instant indexing, llms.txt, SEO scores, insights and opportunities.
40 * **Connection health check** — a "Test connection" button makes a real call and tells you exactly which step failed: HTTPS, authentication, permissions, or ability discovery.
41 * **Safe imports** — connected assistants can preview an SEO import as a dry run before anything is written.
42
43 = Easy Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and MCP Client Setup =
44
45 * **One-click Claude connection** via a guided OAuth 2.1 flow with PKCE — no API key to copy, no config file.
46 * **Application Password fallback** for ChatGPT, Cursor, and other MCP-compatible clients, with ready-made configuration details.
47 * **No companion plugin required** and **no terminal setup**.
48 * **Admin-controlled and off by default** — enable it under ThinkRank → MCP whenever you're ready.
49 * **Revocable in one click** — delete the connected Application Password and access is removed immediately.
50
51 = AI SEO Metadata Generator for Titles and Meta Descriptions =
52
53 * Generate SEO title suggestions for posts, pages, products, and custom post types.
54 * AI meta descriptions written for search snippets and click-through rate.
55 * Live SERP preview before you publish.
56 * Apply suggestions with one click — no copy-pasting.
57 * Fully editable fields with manual override.
58
59 = SEO Content Analysis, Focus Keywords and Keyword Optimization =
60
61 * Real-time content analysis with a 13-factor SEO score.
62 * Focus keyword tracking and usage (up to 5 keywords per post) with cannibalization warnings.
63 * Actionable recommendations for title, meta description, headings, links, readability, and structure.
64 * One-click "Apply" for AI-suggested fixes — not just generic advice.
65 * **"Explain with AI"** on any suggestion — a short, post-specific explanation of why it matters and how to fix it.
66 * **Bulk SEO Optimization** — review and fix titles, descriptions, and keywords across many posts from one screen.
67
68 = Site SEO Analyzer — a Whole-Site Audit With No Google Connection =
69
70 * A crawl-free, whole-site SEO audit with a **0–100 score and letter grade**.
71 * Checks across **Basic SEO, Advanced SEO, Content, Performance & Technical, and Security**.
72 * Per-category results with "how to fix" guidance, plus deep links straight to the relevant setting.
73 * Runs without connecting Google — useful on staging, new sites, and client audits.
74
75 = Schema Markup and Structured Data for Rich Snippets =
76
77 Output valid JSON-LD structured data so search engines can show rich results:
78
79 * Organization, Website, Article, FAQ, HowTo, VideoObject, Review, Local Business, and Breadcrumb schema.
80 * Out-of-the-box schema on posts, pages, CPTs, archives, and the homepage.
81 * **Import Schema From Any Website** to clone a competitor's structured data as a starting point.
82 * Deployment validation to catch structured-data errors before they reach Search Console.
83
84 = SEO Blocks: FAQ, HowTo and Table of Contents =
85
86 * **FAQ block** — inline Q&A rendered as an accordion that works with **no JavaScript**, and outputs FAQPage structured data automatically.
87 * **HowTo block** — step-by-step instructions with per-step images and total time, with automatic HowTo schema.
88 * **Table of Contents block** — builds its list live from your headings, adds anchor links that work without JavaScript, and emits SiteNavigationElement schema.
89 * **Elementor widgets** for all three, so Elementor-built pages get the same content patterns and structured data as Gutenberg.
90
91 = Works With Every Page Builder =
92
93 Page builders store their content outside `post_content`, which is why SEO plugins often report a 1,500-word page as empty. ThinkRank reads each builder's own stored content, so scoring, bulk optimization, the post-list SEO column, cron reports, and AI assistants all see the real words on the page.
94
95 * **Gutenberg / Block Editor** — a pinned "Configure SEO" launcher in the editor header with a live SEO score badge.
96 * **Elementor** — edit ThinkRank SEO fields without leaving the Elementor editor.
97 * **Divi** — a ThinkRank button in the Divi Visual Builder page bar opens the full SEO panel over the canvas.
98 * **Oxygen / Breakdance** — a floating launcher inside the builder opens the same SEO panel, with content read straight from the builder's node tree.
99 * **Classic Editor** — the full ThinkRank metabox with a bottom drawer and live SEO pattern previews.
100
101 = Multilingual SEO for WPML, Polylang and TranslatePress =
102
103 * **SEO fields in the WPML Translation Editor** — SEO title, meta description, social titles/descriptions, and focus keyword are exposed as translatable strings, so translators no longer need to open every language by hand.
104 * **Correct `og:locale` and `og:locale:alternate`** — each translated page advertises its own language and links to its alternates for social crawlers.
105 * **hreflang without duplicates** — ThinkRank emits hreflang tags **only** when WPML or Polylang isn't already printing them, so you never end up with two competing sets.
106 * **Language-aware XML sitemaps** — the sitemap covers every language, instead of only the one that was active when it was generated.
107 * **Sensible per-field behaviour** — copy for indexing intent and imagery, translate for copy, and never copy an explicit canonical onto a translation (which would point it back at the source language).
108 * Detected automatically, and completely inactive on monolingual sites.
109
110 = XML Sitemap Generator and Indexing Tools =
111
112 * Multiple sitemap modes: Basic, Complete, E-commerce, and Segmented.
113 * Real sitemap index with paginated child sitemaps, automatic splitting of oversized sitemaps, and per-post-type controls.
114 * Memory-efficient generation that stays fast on large sites.
115 * AI-optimized robots.txt with automatic sitemap discovery.
116 * **Instant Indexing** — submit new and updated URLs straight to search engines (IndexNow) for faster indexing, in the background via WP-Cron.
117
118 = llms.txt Generator for LLM SEO, GEO and AI Search Visibility =
119
120 * Generate and maintain an llms.txt file for your WordPress site.
121 * Built for **LLM SEO**, **generative engine optimization (GEO)**, and AI search readiness.
122 * Machine-readable summaries so AI assistants and AI search engines can discover and cite your content.
123
124 = Google Search Console, GA4 and SEO Insights =
125
126 * Google Search Console: clicks, impressions, queries, and keyword opportunities inside WordPress.
127 * **Website Insights dashboard widget** — your last 30 days of Search Console traffic, top queries, and headline metrics right on the WordPress dashboard.
128 * Google Analytics 4: traffic and organic performance.
129 * PageSpeed Insights and Core Web Vitals monitoring.
130 * AI-powered, natural-language explanations, trends, and scheduled email SEO reports.
131
132 = On-Page & Technical SEO: Robots Meta, Canonical URLs, Robots.txt, Breadcrumbs =
133
134 * Canonical URL controls to manage duplicate-content signals.
135 * Robots meta settings (noindex, nofollow) per post and globally.
136 * Robots.txt management with sitemap linking, kept in sync with the live file.
137 * Schema-enabled breadcrumb navigation, with context-aware titles and an optional border.
138 * Site identity and title-format management, including Tag and Archive title formats with context-aware variable buttons.
139
140 = Open Graph and Social Meta =
141
142 * Open Graph metadata, social titles, and descriptions.
143 * Twitter/X card support.
144 * Facebook, LinkedIn, and Pinterest previews with real-time editing.
145 * Social profile fields validated before they're published as verification tags.
146
147 = AI Content Brief Generator =
148
149 * Generate a full content brief — outline, headings, entities, and content gaps — from a target keyword.
150 * Competitor analysis so you can see what's already ranking.
151 * Generate a **complete article draft**, not just an outline, in a tabbed layout.
152 * Save briefs and export them in multiple formats.
153
154 = Image SEO, Local SEO & WooCommerce =
155
156 * **Image SEO** — automated alt text written to the Media Library record itself, so it works everywhere (not just in rendered content). Bulk-fill every image missing alt text, auto-fill new uploads, and optionally overwrite existing alt text.
157 * **Local SEO** — business information, opening hours, location data, Local Business schema, and a local sitemap.
158 * **WooCommerce** — product metadata and E-commerce sitemap support (advanced product SEO is available in ThinkRank Pro).
159
160 = Role Manager: Team and Client Access Control =
161
162 * Control which roles can access Essential SEO, AI Tools, and Settings areas.
163 * A role × capability matrix, so editors, authors, contributors, and custom roles get exactly the SEO access you intend.
164 * Access rules are enforced on the REST API too, not just hidden in the menu.
165
166 = Migrate from Rank Math, Yoast SEO, AIOSEO or SEOPress =
167
168 A guided Setup Wizard detects your current SEO plugin and imports your metadata, schema settings, sitemap settings, image SEO data, templates, and related SEO settings from **Rank Math SEO, Yoast SEO, All in One SEO (AIOSEO), and SEOPress** — then deactivates the old plugin once its data is safely migrated.
169
170 The importers go well past basic post meta: title formats per page type, Knowledge Graph and organization identity, author archive settings, role permissions, IndexNow keys and submission history, per-post sitemap exclusions, breadcrumb settings, social defaults, News/Video sitemap post types, and local business details all carry over where the source plugin has them.
171
172 If you're looking for a **Rank Math alternative, Yoast SEO alternative, AIOSEO alternative, or SEOPress alternative** with stronger AI SEO and MCP-based agentic workflows, ThinkRank is built for that transition.
173
174 = Bring Your Own AI Provider Key =
175
176 ThinkRank works with **OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, and compatible custom endpoints** — you bring your own key, so you keep direct control over model selection, cost, and privacy.
177
178 * **No AI key needed for:** metadata fields, schema controls, XML sitemaps, robots meta, canonical URLs, breadcrumbs, Open Graph, Search Console/GA4 connections, the Site SEO Analyzer, multilingual output, page-builder integrations, and most dashboard controls.
179 * **AI key required for:** AI metadata generation, content briefs, AI insights, "Explain with AI", and the generative MCP tools.
180
181 = ThinkRank Pro =
182
183 Upgrade to **ThinkRank Pro** for advanced, agentic-ready SEO automation:
184
185 * **Redirect Manager & 404 Monitor** — create and manage redirects (301/302/307/308/410/451) and log 404s with one-click "create redirect from 404".
186 * **AI Internal Linking** — relevance-ranked internal-link suggestions with one-click insertion, in bulk by post type.
187 * **Broken Link Checker** — scan content, verify links, and fix, unlink, or dismiss broken URLs.
188 * **Rank Tracker** — track keyword positions over time with daily Search Console snapshots and per-keyword history charts.
189 * **Custom Schema & Display Conditions** — add any JSON-LD schema type and control exactly where it outputs, with live validation.
190 * **Advanced WooCommerce SEO** — product identifiers (GTIN/MPN/ISBN), variation offers, and product Open Graph.
191 * **Multi-location Local SEO** — a locations table, per-location LocalBusiness schema, and the `[thinkrank_locations]` shortcode.
192 * **Publisher Sitemaps** — News and Video sitemaps — plus additional focus keywords.
193 * **Advanced Analytics** — GA4 users overview, traffic channels, top content, and URL index status inside WordPress.
194 * Pro features are exposed to connected AI assistants through the MCP server too.
195
196 = Perfect For =
197
198 * WordPress site owners who want AI-powered SEO
199 * Bloggers and publishers producing content at scale
200 * SEO professionals and agencies managing client sites
201 * WooCommerce stores and local businesses
202 * Elementor, Divi, and Oxygen/Breakdance site builders
203 * Multilingual sites running WPML or Polylang
204 * Content teams, developers, and AI power users
205 * Any site preparing for AI search, LLM SEO, and GEO
206
207 = Why Choose ThinkRank? =
208
209 * An AI SEO plugin with real on-page and technical SEO — not just an AI writer
210 * A built-in MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and compatible clients
211 * AI-generated meta titles and descriptions with SERP preview
212 * SEO content analysis and keyword optimization with one-click fixes
213 * A whole-site SEO Analyzer that needs no Google connection
214 * Accurate scoring on Elementor, Divi, and Oxygen/Breakdance pages
215 * WPML and Polylang support with correct hreflang and per-language sitemaps
216 * Schema markup and structured data for rich snippets, plus FAQ/HowTo/TOC blocks
217 * XML sitemap generator, robots.txt, instant indexing, and llms.txt
218 * Search Console and GA4 insights inside WordPress
219 * Role Manager for team and client access control
220 * One-click migration from Rank Math, Yoast, AIOSEO, and SEOPress
221
222 == Installation ==
223
224 **Minimum Requirements**
225 * WordPress 6.0 or higher
226 * PHP 7.4 or higher
227 * An OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, or OpenRouter API key (for AI-powered features)
228
229 **Automatic Installation**
230 1. Go to Plugins → Add New in your WordPress admin.
231 2. Search for "ThinkRank".
232 3. Click "Install Now", then "Activate".
233 4. Run the ThinkRank Setup Wizard.
234
235 **Setup Workflow**
236 1. Open the ThinkRank Setup Wizard.
237 2. Import existing SEO data from Rank Math, Yoast SEO, AIOSEO, or SEOPress if needed.
238 3. Choose your AI provider and enter your API key for AI features.
239 4. Configure metadata, schema, XML sitemaps, robots meta, canonical URLs, social meta, Search Console, GA4, and llms.txt.
240 5. (Optional) Enable the MCP server under ThinkRank → MCP and connect Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor.
241
242 **Connect the MCP Server**
243 * *Claude:* enable the MCP server, copy your site's MCP URL, add it in Claude, and approve the connection through the guided OAuth 2.1 flow — no manual API key required.
244 * *ChatGPT, Cursor & other MCP clients:* use the Application Password fallback and the ready-made configuration details ThinkRank provides.
245
246 **Getting API Keys**
247 * OpenAI: https://platform.openai.com/api-keys
248 * Anthropic Claude: https://console.anthropic.com/
249 * Google Gemini: https://ai.google.dev/gemini-api/docs/api-key
250 * OpenRouter: https://openrouter.ai/
251
252 == Frequently Asked Questions ==
253
254 = What is ThinkRank? =
255
256 ThinkRank is an AI SEO plugin for WordPress that helps manage metadata, on-page SEO, technical SEO, schema markup, XML sitemaps, robots meta, canonical URLs, Open Graph social meta, Google Search Console insights, GA4 analytics, llms.txt, and AI-powered SEO recommendations. It also includes a built-in MCP server so AI assistants like Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor can help run SEO tasks in plain language.
257
258 = What is the ThinkRank MCP server? =
259
260 The ThinkRank MCP server is a built-in Model Context Protocol server that lets compatible AI assistants connect to your WordPress site and work with ThinkRank's SEO tools. After authorization, your AI assistant can help generate metadata, review SEO opportunities, work with schema, manage llms.txt, inspect SEO scores, and guide optimization workflows — without constant dashboard switching.
261
262 = How do I connect ThinkRank to Claude? =
263
264 Enable the MCP server in ThinkRank, copy your site's MCP URL, add it to Claude, and approve the connection through the guided authorization flow. ThinkRank uses an OAuth 2.1 flow with PKCE protection, so you don't need to manually copy API keys into Claude for the standard connection.
265
266 = Does ThinkRank work with ChatGPT, Cursor and other MCP clients? =
267
268 Yes. ThinkRank is designed for MCP-compatible clients. Claude has a guided one-click-style setup, and ChatGPT, Cursor, and other compatible tools can connect using the Application Password fallback and ready-made configuration details provided by ThinkRank.
269
270 = Is the MCP connection secure? =
271
272 Yes. The MCP server is off by default, admin-controlled, and designed for authorized users only. Connections are tied to WordPress authorization and Application Passwords. If you delete the connected Application Password, access is revoked immediately.
273
274 = Does ThinkRank work with Elementor, Divi and Oxygen? =
275
276 Yes. ThinkRank adds a native SEO panel inside the Elementor editor, the Divi Visual Builder, and the Oxygen/Breakdance builder, alongside the Gutenberg launcher and the Classic Editor metabox. Just as importantly, ThinkRank reads the content those builders store outside `post_content`, so SEO scoring, bulk optimization, the post-list SEO column, and AI assistants analyze the real page content instead of reporting a builder page as empty.
277
278 = Does ThinkRank support WPML, Polylang and TranslatePress? =
279
280 Yes. ThinkRank detects WPML and Polylang automatically. SEO fields appear in the WPML Translation Editor, each translated page advertises its own `og:locale` and links to its alternates, XML sitemaps cover every language, and hreflang tags are only added when your multilingual plugin isn't already printing them — so you don't end up with two competing sets. On monolingual sites the integration stays completely inactive.
281
282 = What is the Site SEO Analyzer? =
283
284 The Site SEO Analyzer is a crawl-free, whole-site audit that gives your site a 0–100 score and a letter grade without requiring a Google connection. It runs checks across Basic SEO, Advanced SEO, Content, Performance & Technical, and Security, and shows per-category results with "how to fix" guidance that deep-links to the relevant setting.
285
286 = Can I control which team members access ThinkRank? =
287
288 Yes. The Role Manager lets you decide which roles can access Essential SEO, AI Tools, and Settings, using a role × capability matrix. The rules are enforced on ThinkRank's REST API as well as in the admin menu, so access is genuinely restricted rather than just hidden.
289
290 = Do I need an AI API key to use ThinkRank? =
291
292 You don't need an AI key for every core SEO feature. Metadata fields, schema controls, XML sitemaps, robots meta, canonical URLs, breadcrumbs, Open Graph, the Site SEO Analyzer, multilingual output, page-builder integrations, and Search Console/GA4 connections work without AI generation. AI-powered features — AI metadata generation, content briefs, AI insights, and generative MCP tools — require your own OpenAI, Claude, Gemini, OpenRouter, or compatible provider key.
293
294 = Which AI providers and models does ThinkRank support? =
295
296 ThinkRank supports OpenAI, Anthropic Claude, Google Gemini, OpenRouter, and compatible custom endpoints. Model availability depends on your provider account and configured API key.
297
298 = Does ThinkRank generate SEO titles and meta descriptions? =
299
300 Yes. ThinkRank can generate SEO titles and meta descriptions with AI and lets you edit them before publishing, across posts, pages, products, and supported custom post types.
301
302 = Does ThinkRank include SEO content analysis and focus keywords? =
303
304 Yes. ThinkRank includes real-time SEO content analysis and focus keyword optimization so you can see how well your content targets important search terms and improve title, description, headings, structure, and keyword usage before publishing.
305
306 = Does ThinkRank generate schema markup? =
307
308 Yes. ThinkRank generates JSON-LD schema markup and structured data for Organization, Website, Article, FAQ, HowTo, VideoObject, Review, Local Business, and Breadcrumb schema, and includes Gutenberg blocks for FAQ, HowTo, and Table of Contents that output FAQPage, HowTo, and SiteNavigationElement structured data. Schema markup helps search engines understand your content and can support rich snippets.
309
310 = Does ThinkRank create XML sitemaps? =
311
312 Yes. ThinkRank includes an XML sitemap generator with Basic, Complete, E-commerce, and Segmented modes, plus a real sitemap index with paginated child sitemaps, controls for post types, and sitemap discovery through robots.txt.
313
314 = What is llms.txt and why does ThinkRank support it? =
315
316 llms.txt is an emerging file format that helps AI systems, AI search engines, and large language models discover and understand important website content. ThinkRank can generate and maintain llms.txt for WordPress, helping prepare your content for LLM SEO, generative engine optimization (GEO), and AI search visibility.
317
318 = Does ThinkRank work with Google Search Console and GA4? =
319
320 Yes. ThinkRank connects with Google Search Console to show clicks, impressions, queries, and keyword opportunities inside WordPress — including a dashboard widget with your last 30 days of traffic — and supports GA4 for traffic and organic-performance insights.
321
322 = Does ThinkRank support Open Graph, canonical URLs and noindex? =
323
324 Yes. ThinkRank includes Open Graph and social meta controls for Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and X/Twitter, plus canonical URL controls and robots meta settings such as noindex and nofollow.
325
326 = Is ThinkRank a Yoast, Rank Math, AIOSEO or SEOPress alternative? =
327
328 Yes. ThinkRank can be used as a Rank Math or Yoast SEO alternative for sites that want core SEO — metadata, schema, XML sitemaps, robots meta, canonical URLs, Search Console and GA4 insights, and llms.txt — plus AI-powered generation and an MCP server for Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor. The Setup Wizard imports your existing Rank Math, Yoast, AIOSEO, or SEOPress data.
329
330 = Can I migrate from AIOSEO or SEOPress? =
331
332 Yes. ThinkRank's Setup Wizard imports supported SEO data from All in One SEO (AIOSEO) and SEOPress, along with Rank Math and Yoast SEO — including title formats, Knowledge Graph details, role permissions, author archive settings, IndexNow keys, breadcrumb settings, and social defaults.
333
334 = Does ThinkRank include a redirect manager, 404 monitor, or internal linking? =
335
336 Redirect management, 404 monitoring, the broken link checker, and AI internal linking are available in ThinkRank Pro. The free plugin shows these sections with an option to upgrade.
337
338 = Does ThinkRank help with WooCommerce and Local SEO? =
339
340 Yes. The free plugin supports product metadata, an E-commerce sitemap mode, Local Business schema, business information, and a local sitemap. Advanced WooCommerce product SEO and multi-location Local SEO are available in ThinkRank Pro.
341
342 = Will ThinkRank conflict with my current SEO plugin? =
343
344 For best results, use only one primary SEO plugin at a time — running two can create duplicate meta tags, duplicate schema, conflicting robots meta, and sitemap confusion. ThinkRank's migration workflow imports supported data and can deactivate the previous SEO plugin when migration is complete.
345
346 = Is ThinkRank free? =
347
348 Yes, ThinkRank is a free WordPress SEO plugin with bring-your-own-key AI features — your AI provider usage is billed by the provider you choose, giving you direct control over model, cost, and privacy. ThinkRank Pro adds advanced automation such as the redirect manager, 404 monitor, internal linking, and rank tracker.
349
350 == Screenshots ==
351
352 1. Agentic AI SEO — connect Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor to your WordPress SEO with the built-in MCP server.
353 2. Your AI assistant generating and updating WordPress SEO metadata in plain language via ThinkRank's MCP tools.
354 3. AI Metadata Generator — SEO title and meta description with a live SERP preview.
355 4. SEO content analysis dashboard — 13-factor score, focus keyword, and one-click apply suggestions.
356 5. Schema Manager — choose Article, FAQ, Local Business, or Review schema with validation.
357 6. XML Sitemap generator — Basic, Complete, E-commerce, and Segmented modes with post-type controls.
358 7. llms.txt generator for LLM SEO and AI search visibility.
359 8. Google Search Console & GA4 insights with Core Web Vitals inside WordPress.
360 9. AI Content Brief Generator with competitor analysis and content gaps.
361
362 == Changelog ==
363
364 = 1.32.0 =
365 Release Date: 2026-08-18
366
367 - New: All of ThinkRank's structured data is now published as one linked graph instead of several separate scripts. A page that had, say, an Article, a breadcrumb trail and an FAQ used to emit three unconnected blocks — search engines now receive one graph in which those entities reference each other, and duplicate or competing entries are merged away
368 - New: FAQ content is collected from anywhere on the page — the FAQ block, the Elementor FAQ widget and any FAQ you deployed for the post — and published as a single FAQPage instead of several competing ones with different questions
369 - New: The Instant Indexing Submit URLs screen tells you what will actually be sent before you send it. Line numbers down the side, and each URL checked as you type: URLs pointing at another site, lines that are not URLs and duplicates are all called out, with a counter against the 100-URL limit. Clean up tidies the list, Clear empties it, Cmd/Ctrl+Enter submits, and the success message says how many URLs went
370 - New: The submission history screen was rebuilt — an empty state instead of a blank table, readable response codes with an explanation of what each one means, and Refresh now really re-reads the log, so URLs you just submitted show up immediately
371 - New: Every feature on/off switch now saves itself. Flipping a switch is the save — there is no separate Save button to remember, the switch rolls back and tells you if the save fails, and a short message confirms the new state. The Save button stays where you are filling in a form
372 - New: Screens show a placeholder shaped like the content while their data loads, instead of the word "Loading" or a blank panel
373 - New: Role Manager can grant or withhold AI Insights and Manage Roles separately, like every other ThinkRank area
374 - Changed: Connecting ChatGPT and other AI assistants now works on hosts that answer /.well-known/ addresses themselves before WordPress ever sees the request — reported on SiteGround, where the connection failed with "does not implement OAuth". ThinkRank now advertises an address that reaches WordPress on every host, and publishes the discovery files directly where a host insists on serving them itself
375 - Fixed: The first few sentences of a password-protected post were published as its meta description, and in its Facebook and X preview text — visible to anyone requesting the page and to every crawler and link preview, while the page itself still showed the password form. Questions from an FAQ block on a protected post could be published the same way
376 - Fixed: AI content briefs were displayed without sanitizing them. Brief text comes back from an AI provider and can include content pulled from competitor pages you supplied, so it is not trusted input; it is now cleaned before it is stored and before it is shown
377 - Fixed: A user given access to only the Social Media or Schema section could read the SEO details of posts they cannot edit — including other authors' drafts and pending posts — by changing the post number in the request
378 - Fixed: A user given access to only the Settings section could write post-specific social and SEO settings onto another author's post, changing what its public page shares. The same request also overwrote your site-wide defaults
379 - Fixed: Saving settings reported a server error even though the settings had been saved, on 8 of the 11 settings groups. People re-entered settings that were never lost, and a genuine failure looked identical to the permanent one. A successful save also came back empty, leaving the form blank
380 - Fixed: A published llms.txt file could display accented and non-Latin characters as mojibake ("Aktivitäten" as "Aktivitäten") because the file was served without saying which character set it used. The bytes were always correct — only the declaration was missing
381 - Fixed: On block themes, a page with an FAQ block published its questions twice — once inside ThinkRank's graph and once in a second block beside it
382 - Fixed: A Codex connection on the MCP screen showed a plain letter instead of the OpenAI mark
383 - Fixed: The two Schema screens showed their title three times over before any content, and the Global SEO, Crawling and Author Archives screens had the wrong icon or a missing divider
384
385 = 1.31.0 =
386 Release Date: 2026-08-16
387
388 - New: Submission Coverage for Instant Indexing — compares every published URL against the last successful IndexNow submission and tells you what is stale, what failed and what was never announced, then closes the gaps on its own once a day. There is a Reconcile Now button for when you do not want to wait
389 - New: A noindex you set on a category, tag or custom taxonomy archive is finally applied. The setting saved and read back correctly before, but the archive still carried your site-wide default — and the archive is now dropped from the XML sitemap too, so the sitemap cannot advertise a page that asks not to be indexed
390 - New: The Robots.txt screen shows what crawlers actually receive right now, and warns you when a robots.txt file sitting in your site's folder is being served by the web server instead of the content you saved
391 - Changed: ThinkRank now runs on PHP 7.4 and higher, instead of requiring PHP 8.0
392 - Changed: WordPress's own sitemap is switched off while ThinkRank's is enabled, so your site stops publishing two competing sitemaps and pointing search engines at both
393 - Changed: Core Web Vitals now reports Interaction to Next Paint, the metric Google replaced First Input Delay with
394 - Fixed: /sitemap.xml led search engines to a dead page on sites using a sitemap index — the one sitemap URL crawlers guess. It now goes to the sitemap you actually publish, and while your sitemap has not been generated yet WordPress's own sitemap is left in place rather than leaving that URL answering nothing
395 - Fixed: Cleaning up sitemaps deleted any file in your site's folder with "sitemap" in its name — including WordPress's own and other plugins' — and then left your site with no sitemap and nothing scheduled to rebuild it. It now removes only ThinkRank's files and queues the rebuild
396 - Fixed: Turning off a content type stopped its sitemap from being updated but left the old file serving and listed in the index. Sitemaps you no longer publish are now removed
397 - Fixed: Regenerating the sitemap from anywhere other than the settings screen could republish one flat sitemap over your sitemap index, or republish files that had lost their styling and their image entries
398 - Fixed: When a Core Web Vitals check fails, ThinkRank now tells you why — your site could not be reached, no Google connection, or the daily quota is used up — instead of reporting a server error for all three. Pressing refresh after a failure also really re-measures now, and a site set up with only a PageSpeed API key works without a Google account
399 - Fixed: The historical performance charts drew an empty card for a metric with no measurements, most visibly for the new INP metric on sites with older data
400 - Fixed: Open Graph told Facebook and LinkedIn your site was in US English no matter what language it was actually in
401 - Fixed: Pages built with Elementor and similar builders contributed no links, images or headings to SEO analysis, so scores and recommendations were based on text alone
402 - Fixed: SEO Insights failed with a server error on sites that had connected PageSpeed
403 - Fixed: With some caching or optimization plugins, ThinkRank's screens and the Dashboard widget could stay stuck on "Loading" forever
404 - Fixed: The AI usage overview reported empty fields on a site that had not used any AI features yet
405
406 = 1.30.0 =
407 Release Date: 2026-08-13
408
409 - New: AI alt text for images — ThinkRank can now look at the picture and describe it, instead of only rewriting the filename. Choose it under Image SEO; the filename template stays the default because AI costs you money per image, and AI runs are capped at 10 images per click
410 - New: One-click fixes in the Site SEO Audit. Where an issue is safely fixable — search visibility, XML sitemap, structured data, missing image alt text — a button applies it and the audit is re-scored on the spot. Fixes with consequences warn you before you click, and things that are your call (your titles, your permalinks, your server) are deliberately left alone with an explanation
411 - New: A warning when WordPress is set to discourage search engines from indexing your site, so the setting that quietly undoes all your SEO cannot sit there unnoticed
412 - Fixed: Opening the editor could hammer your site with repeated SEO requests until pages took 30-40 seconds to load, or failed outright. The panel now makes one request at a time, and only keeps checking while ThinkRank is actually writing metadata in the background
413 - Fixed: SEO data imported from another plugin did not appear in an editor that was already open until you reloaded the page
414 - Fixed: Saved content briefs could not be listed, exported or deleted on sites with no AI key configured — the screen failed with a server error, even though none of those actions need AI
415 - Fixed: On some hosts ThinkRank's settings tables were never created, so every save in Site Identity, Sitemap, Social and Schema silently failed and the setup wizard dead-ended after a migration. The tables now fit the stricter index limit on those servers, and existing sites are migrated
416 - Fixed: A settings save that fails now records why in the error log, instead of leaving you with "Failed to update settings" and nothing to act on
417 - Fixed: The one-click sitemap and schema fixes reported success while saving nothing, and the audit's sitemap check could never fail no matter what your settings said
418 - Fixed: Author archives printed two meta descriptions, ended their title in a stray space, ignored your chosen title separator, and would not let you clear the title or description templates — a cleared field came back on the next load
419 - Fixed: The alt-text coverage panel could claim "6 of 5 images have alt text" by counting trashed images on one side only, and the bulk alt fill could spin forever on sites with private images, turning one click into thousands of requests
420 - Fixed: The Alt text source setting accepted any value, so an unrecognised value silently fell back to the template and the AI batch limit stopped applying
421 - Fixed: Saving Schema settings could white-screen the site on WordPress 6.0, after the settings had already been written
422 - Fixed: Email reports — the Save button disappeared when you toggled the feature off, so turning it off never stuck; changing the frequency did not move the next send; a failed send still consumed the whole reporting period; the report described three different date ranges at once; "Next report" showed the wrong time outside UTC; pages and keywords that lost all their clicks were dropped from the Top Losing sections; and a report with no sections could be configured and sent empty
423 - Fixed: Deleting ThinkRank with "Delete all data on uninstall" enabled while ThinkRank Pro was active silently reinstalled the free plugin and recreated all of its data
424 - Fixed: Data Management could not be saved on sites without an AI API key
425 - Fixed: An author or contributor granted Schema Manager access could deploy structured data onto other people's posts
426 - Fixed: Alt text beginning with an accented character was corrupted
427 - Changed: AI Visibility data is now removed when you delete the plugin with data deletion enabled, and old probe transcripts are aged out after 90 days instead of accumulating forever
428 - Changed: The Integrations tab no longer displays or re-saves settings it has no control over, and a partial save now leaves untouched settings exactly as they were
429
430 = 1.29.0 =
431 Release Date: 2026-08-11
432
433 - New: Show/hide your API key while typing it, and a Replace control so a saved key can be swapped without clearing it first. Saved keys are now only ever sent back to your browser masked, never in full
434 - New: A social card on the dashboard with the ThinkRank community and channels in one place
435 - Fixed: Content briefs that came back as "Unable to parse AI response", or saved a brief full of raw API output. When the AI refuses, is cut off at its token limit, or answers in an unexpected shape, ThinkRank now tells you what happened instead of saving the failure as a brief
436 - Fixed: Short, Medium and Long content briefs all asked the AI for the same output budget, so a Long brief could be truncated while a Short one paid for room it never used. Each length now requests a budget that fits it
437 - Fixed: Briefs on GPT-5 models ran at maximum reasoning effort by default — the slowest and most expensive setting, with much of the budget spent on hidden reasoning before any text was written
438 - Fixed: A request that ran past the time ThinkRank allows was retried twice more, each attempt near-certain to time out again — multiplying the wait while the abandoned requests kept running, and billing, on your AI provider. A timed-out request now fails once, straight away, instead of being retried
439 - Fixed: "X days ago" counts on sites outside UTC were off by the site's time offset
440 - Fixed: Saving settings could send your API key back to the browser in the clear, and re-saving a form that displayed a masked key could overwrite the real key with the mask
441 - Fixed: Importing SEO data from another plugin read serialized values from that plugin's tables in a way that could be abused to create PHP objects on your site; those values are now parsed without ever instantiating an object
442 - Fixed: Fetching a schema or competitor URL could be pointed at private, internal or cloud-metadata addresses, including addresses disguised as IPv6. All outbound fetches now share one check, applied again on every redirect hop
443 - Fixed: Dismissing a ThinkRank admin notice, importing or resetting the whole configuration, and adding database indexes no longer accept requests from users without the capability for them
444 - Changed: Brand Visibility is temporarily hidden while it is reworked. Nothing is deleted — recorded runs, history and settings are kept, and the feature returns in a later release
445
446 = 1.28.0 =
447 Release Date: 2026-08-10
448
449 - New: AI Insights — see how much of your traffic comes from AI assistants and AI crawlers, first-party. AI platforms strip referrers so Google Analytics files those visits under "Direct"; ThinkRank reads them as they arrive. Daily totals only — no IPs, no cookies, no per-visit tracking
450 - New: Brand Visibility measures whether AI assistants mention your brand — asking each question several times for a real mention rate instead of a one-shot yes/no, ranking you against named competitors as share of voice, and scoring everything into a 0–100 Visibility Index
451 - New: Brand Visibility uses its own API key and model per AI platform, so measuring visibility never means switching the provider that writes your metadata. Adds Perplexity, which searches the web live — the closest thing to what a person actually sees
452 - New: Auto AI writes a missing SEO title or description when you publish, in the background, so publishing never waits on an AI call. It fills empty fields only and never overwrites what you wrote
453 - New: Quick Edit SEO on the posts list — edit the SEO title, meta description and focus keywords straight from the posts table, without opening the post. Cleared fields fall back to your Global SEO patterns
454 - New: Traffic Recovery tab on the AI Tools screen, which finds published pages losing search traffic and writes a refresh brief for each
455 - New: A Migration screen for moving SEO data in from another plugin, with a re-scan control that re-detects what is installed
456 - New: Social platform verification is now one tab per network, with per-card saving and masked verification codes
457 - Fixed: The AI Traffic and Brand Visibility tables were never created, so AI traffic went unrecorded and every brand check spent a paid AI call without saving any history
458 - Fixed: Brand Visibility failed to start on upgraded sites with "Could not start the analysis run". A missing table is now detected and repaired on load, instead of going unnoticed until a deactivate/reactivate
459 - Fixed: Brand checks reported "not mentioned" for questions that could not plausibly omit your brand — the AI never actually returned an answer, and the blank was saved as a clean negative. A probe with no answer now fails visibly and is never stored
460 - Fixed: A Brand Visibility run could sit at 0% forever, and progress never advanced while it was running
461 - Fixed: A site that configured Brand Visibility on Pro and then lapsed to free kept running the larger Pro batch on the user's own paid API keys
462 - Fixed: The SEO Overview column showed "Not Analyzed" forever on sites that never ran an analysis, even right after editing a post's SEO title and description
463 - Fixed: Saving in the editor could wipe an SEO title or description that Auto AI, bulk optimization or an import had just written, and the editor kept showing the old empty value until a manual reload
464 - Fixed: Google Analytics, Search Console and PageSpeed were reported as "not configured" on sites connected through Google sign-in, and a site with a perfectly working GA4 tag was told its tracking was unverified
465 - Fixed: Reconnecting a different Google account kept showing the previous account's Search Console properties for up to 30 minutes, and domain properties could not be found by searching
466 - Fixed: The ThinkRank data stream picker in Pro went blank on every reload
467 - Fixed: ThinkRank's styles leaked into the WordPress admin and page builders
468
469 = 1.27.0 =
470 Release Date: 2026-08-06
471
472 - New: Connected Apps page for MCP — see every AI app connected to your site, when it last used the connection, and disconnect any of them in one click
473 - New: AI now writes in your site's language. Titles, descriptions and content briefs came back in English on non-English sites; they now follow the post's language, or the site language, and can be overridden with a filter
474 - New: Instant Indexing checks that your IndexNow key file is actually reachable and tells you what is wrong before you submit a single URL
475 - New: The MCP connection test detects hosts that block AI clients by User-Agent — the "couldn't register with the sign-in service" failure that no other check could see
476 - Fixed: MCP could connect successfully and offer no tools at all, with nothing reporting a problem — the most common cause was another plugin's copy of the Abilities API loading first
477 - Fixed: A connector still using an old token could lock itself out of your site permanently by retrying. The lockout window no longer extends on every retry, and the plugin now shows when clients are locked out
478 - Fixed: ChatGPT rejected some sites with "MCP server does not implement OAuth" — the sign-in handshake itself was tripping the rate limiter
479 - Fixed: Every IndexNow submission returned 403 on hosts with a read-only web root, because the key file could never be written. The key is now served directly by WordPress, and the error message names the file and what to check
480 - Fixed: Importing from Rank Math (and Yoast, AIOSEO, SEOPress) could fail outright on a single unexpected setting value
481 - Fixed: The "ThinkRank SEO" metabox was hidden by a leftover style rule — Classic Editor users never saw it, and the block editor's panel toggle appeared to do nothing
482 - Fixed: Missing borders in the SEO drawer inside the Divi Visual Builder
483 - Improved: The plugin package now installs as an upgrade rather than a second copy, and ships the WPML config file that earlier packages left out
484
485 = 1.26.0 =
486 Release Date: 2026-08-04
487
488 - New: Search Console's Property field is now searchable — type to filter instead of scrolling a long site list
489 - New: TranslatePress support — translated URLs now advertise their own language to social networks instead of the site's default
490 - Improved: SEO scoring now uses the title and description your site actually outputs, so posts that inherit the Global or Bulk pattern are no longer scored as if they had no title or description
491 - Improved: Suggestions that only offer guidance now read "How to fix" instead of "Apply", so a button never promises an edit it will not make
492 - Fixed: Saving from the ThinkRank panel silently did nothing on posts with no other edits — SEO fields were never written and no error was shown
493 - Fixed: The SEO score kept showing the old value for several minutes after changing the title or description, then appeared to update on its own
494 - Fixed: The "ThinkRank SEO" metabox rendered empty — it now shows the current score with a way into the panel
495 - Fixed: Schema edits could be lost when navigating away right after editing
496 - Fixed: A focus keyword typed but not yet added was lost when saving, and the typed text lingered in the box after it was added
497 - Fixed: Sites in a formal locale (such as German formal) emitted an invalid hreflang language code that search engines discard
498
499 = 1.25.0 =
500 Release Date: 2026-08-03
501
502 - New: Redesigned AI Metadata Generator — generated title and description now come with a live Google preview, character-length indicators, one-click copy, and a result card that carries the metadata straight to the next step
503 - New: Press Enter to add a keyword in the Content Brief generator instead of reaching for the mouse
504 - Improved: Refreshed styling across the Content Brief generator, top navigation and form controls
505 - Fixed: Signing in with Google failed on sites using Plain permalinks — the callback now completes on any permalink setting
506 - Fixed: The dashboard could still show the old connection state right after finishing Google sign-in
507 - Fixed: WordPress hover fly-out submenus were mispositioned and lost their pointer arrow on ThinkRank's full-page screens
508 - Fixed: Posts and pages without their own social image now correctly inherit the site-wide default in every context
509 - Fixed: Social meta tags and image schema no longer output zero width and height for images WordPress has no dimensions for
510 - Fixed: Several crashes on unusual or malformed data — sitemap generation, custom schema validation, saving settings, Local SEO business hours, importing from another SEO plugin, and unexpected responses from AI or Google APIs
511
512 = 1.24.0 =
513 Release Date: 2026-08-02
514
515 - New: Website Insights dashboard widget — see your last 30 days of Google Search Console traffic, top queries and headline metrics right on the WordPress dashboard
516 - New: ThinkRank now works inside the Oxygen/Breakdance and Divi visual builders — a launcher button in the builder's top bar opens the full ThinkRank panel without leaving the canvas
517 - New: Content briefs can now generate a complete article draft, not just an outline, in a cleaner tabbed layout
518 - New: MCP Server screen has a connection health card and a "Test connection" button that makes a real call and tells you exactly which step failed — HTTPS, authentication, permissions or ability discovery
519 - New: Connected AI assistants can preview an SEO import as a dry run before anything is written, and score and save many posts in a single request
520 - Improved: ThinkRank's abilities are now always registered, so any AI connector can discover the plugin — the MCP switch now only controls the MCP server itself
521 - Improved: Redesigned Settings page with tabs and independent saving per tab, and a card-based AI provider picker
522 - Improved: Content briefs on OpenAI reasoning models no longer time out before finishing
523 - Fixed: Pages built with Oxygen, Breakdance, Divi or Elementor were scored as having no content at all — a client reported published pages with over 1,000 words scoring in the 40s. ThinkRank now reads the real page content everywhere: bulk optimization, the post list SEO column, cron reports, AI assistants and the live analysis panel in the editor
524 - Fixed: The SEO score shown by AI assistants is now saved, so the post list no longer keeps saying "Not Analyzed"
525 - Fixed: Social profile fields accepted invalid values (like a malformed YouTube channel ID) and published them as broken verification tags — invalid values are now rejected with a clear message
526 - Fixed: Homepage social sharing — the share title now matches your SEO title, your logo is used as the share image with a large card, and the share URL matches your canonical URL
527 - Fixed: Search Console errors on the dashboard widget now explain what to fix instead of showing raw Google error text
528 - Fixed: Divi's layout library and Theme Builder templates no longer appear in SEO screens
529 - Few minor bug fixes & improvements
530
531 [See changelog for all versions](https://thinkrank.ai/changelog/).
532
533 == Upgrade Notice ==
534
535 = 1.32.0 =
536 Publishes all of ThinkRank's structured data as one linked graph, with every FAQ on the page merged into a single FAQPage. Rebuilds the Instant Indexing Submit URLs and History screens, makes every feature switch save itself, and fixes AI assistant connections on hosts that intercept /.well-known/ addresses. Includes five security fixes: password-protected post content published as meta and social descriptions, unsanitized AI content briefs, and three cases where a user with access to one ThinkRank section could read or write SEO data for content they cannot edit. Also stops settings saves reporting a failure after they had saved. Recommended for all sites.
537
538 = 1.31.0 =
539 Adds Submission Coverage for Instant Indexing, applies a noindex set on category and tag archives, and shows what your robots.txt actually serves. ThinkRank now runs on PHP 7.4 and stops WordPress publishing a second, competing sitemap. Fixes /sitemap.xml leading crawlers to a dead page, a cleanup that deleted other plugins' sitemap files and left your site without one, Core Web Vitals failures reported as server errors, and Open Graph claiming every site is in US English. Recommended for all sites.
540