![\"Open](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/rank-math-general-settings.jpg\"){kind=icon}
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nOnce you’re there, you’ll notice that the General Settings are divided into many other settings or sections. This is to help find the exact setting you’re looking for faster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To find settings, you can use the sections on the left, and we’ve also included a handy search bar, which is even faster if you know what you’re looking for. Here is how it works.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Anyways, you should use the method you prefer. And if any of the settings discussed in this article isn’t available on your screen, then check if you’re using the Advanced Mode of Rank Math<\/a>, as some of the settings are available only in the Advanced Mode. Here are all the settings in the General Settings of Rank Math.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You can click any of the links to be taken to that section of the settings easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us get started with the Links section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As you probably have guessed by now, the Links section has all the settings that modify the behaviour of links on your website. Here are all the settings you’d find in the Links section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us understand each of the settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n By default, your category archives will include the “category” base on the URL. For example, if you have an SEO category, then the archive page would look like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you enable this option, Rank Math will strip the “category” part of the URL, making the URL shorter. So, the URL will become:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This option only affects the aesthetics, and there is no research or evidence to show that removing the category from the URL helps your SEO in any way. However, it does make the URL shorter and more appealing. The choice is yours; if you like shorter URLs, then enable this option.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Enabling this setting redirects the URLs of your attachment pages to the post that are used in. For example, let us take a post with the URL Now, the attachment URL of the image would be similar to If you enable this option, then if anyone (even search engines) tries to access the image with the URL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n They will be redirected to the post with the URL Doing this might seem insignificant, but it has plenty of SEO benefits<\/a>, including distributing the SEO value of the links that your images and other attachments build over time. For these reasons, we recommend enabling this setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Images and attachments that are not associated with any post on your website are called orphan media. In the section above, you chose whether you want to redirect attachment URLs to the post that contained them, but what about the attachments that do not have any posts attached to them?<\/p>\n\n\n\n That is where this setting comes into the picture. Here you can enter the URL where you’d like the URLs of Orphan Media to be redirected to. The preferred setting is your homepage URL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This option automatically no-follows external URLs on all your posts, preserving the SEO of your website. We recommend that you enable this setting only if all external links on your website are affiliate links or sponsored links<\/a>. You can also take advantage of the exclusion and inclusion lists to select nofollow or follow for certain domains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This option works similar to the NoFollow External Links option above, but this option no-follows any external links to images. We recommend that you enable this setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This setting works in conjunction with the NoFollow External Links option listed above and acts as a blacklist for domains. Simply put, links from your website to any domains that you enter in this section will always be nofollowed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This option also works in conjunction with the NoFollow External Links option, but it acts as a whitelist instead. It means that links from your website to any of the domains you enter in this section will be followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rank Math has three sections to manage the link properties of external links.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This has been done to give you the maximum amount of control over your links. However, it can be a little confusing to understand exactly how it works. Here is a breakdown of different scenarios which will help you understand how the three settings work together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this case, the NoFollow Domains and NoFollow Exclude Domains sections can be ignored, as they will have no effect, even if you add domains to either of the sections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In this case, there are again two possibilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To explain simply, if you disable the NoFollow External Links setting, then links will keep working for you as normal. By default, all links would be created followed, and you would have to manually nofollow them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, if you enable the NoFollow External Links section, then all external links will be no-followed. You can then use the NoFollow Domains (Blacklist) or the NoFollow Exclude Domains (Whitelist) to narrow the domains you want to nofollow. Note that you can either use the blacklist or the whitelist to manage external links, but you cannot use them at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While adding domains to NoFollow Domains and NoFollow Exclude Domains, ensure that you’re adding domains exactly the same as you’re adding to your content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This case is well suited for using short links and affiliate links, where the final URL & domain are often different from the ones you’re adding to your website. <\/p>\n\n\n\n For instance, if you’re shortening your URL ( So, in this case, you should add the exact domain you’re linking to in the NoFollow Domains \/ NoFollow Exclude Domains field and not their final destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This option applies the Once you enable the setting, the target attribute is added dynamically on the frontend without making any changes to the actual content. So even if you have not configured this setting to individual links with the link controls option<\/a>, the external links will now open in a new tab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes, affiliates need to differentiate cloaked links from regular internal links. Traditionally, all links with your domain as prefixes are counted as internal links. And most automation tools skip cloaked links thinking they are internal links. <\/p>\n\n\n\n With this link prefix option, you can choose the URL base for your cloaked links so Rank Math can automatically count them as outgoing links in the content analysis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are using In addition to that, Rank Math automatically includes This concludes the Links section of the General Settings in Rank Math. Let us move on to the next section on the list, the Breadcrumbs section.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Breadcrumbs are navigational elements that let users understand where they are on a certain website and also help them navigate the website in an easy-to-understand manner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In simple terms, they can be compared to “You’re here” signs in large parks, as they both achieve similar things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here is an example of how breadcrumbs appear on a website.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yes, these are breadcrumbs from the article you’re reading right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Breadcrumbs setting in Rank Math lets you configure Breadcrumbs. When you open this section, you’ll only see one setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n That’s because Breadcrumbs are turned off, and there is no need to show any of the other settings. Once you have enabled breadcrumbs, all the other settings will appear on the screen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Important Note: <\/strong>If you want Rank Math to handle your site\u2019s breadcrumbs, you may need to ask your theme developer to disable or remove any existing breadcrumbs added by them. After that, you should also add a filter related to Rank Math’s Breadcrumbs on your theme files<\/a>. This will help the breadcrumbs to appear on your site\u2019s front end accordingly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us understand each of the options one by one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This setting enables breadcrumbs on your website. Breadcrumbs help users navigate your website and also help search engines index your content efficiently. We recommend that you enable this setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you’ve enabled the breadcrumbs function, you’ll need to add the code snippet\/shortcode to your website<\/a> for the breadcrumbs to display on the frontend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This option helps you set a Separator Character for your breadcrumbs. There are many options available, so choose the one you prefer. You can also set a custom separator character by typing it in the last field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n You might have missed it, but guess which separator character are we using?<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want your homepage to be included in the breadcrumbs, enable this option. This is more of personal preference, but we’ve seen most websites do include the homepage in their breadcrumbs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you enable the Homepage Link, two new settings will pop up under it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here you can configure what label to give the homepage of your website. All you have to do is type in the label that you want to assign to your homepage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, we have included the homepage link in our breadcrumbs, and the label we’ve assigned is home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This option lets you configure where will the homepage link take the visitor. This is particularly useful when you have many sections of your website like a blog, a store, or others. Using this option, you can configure the breadcrumb to take your visitor anywhere you prefer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’d like to add a prefix before your breadcrumbs, you can use this option to do so. Popular options would be to add “You are here”, “Navigation”, “Index”, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This option lets you set a breadcrumb format for the archive pages. You can customize it completely, but we recommend that you don’t remove the “%s” from it, as it represents the taxonomy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This option lets you set a breadcrumb format for search result pages. Popular options are, “You searched for”, “Here is what I found for”, etc. We would recommend that you don’t remove the “%s” from the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This option lets you set a breadcrumb format for your 404 pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Enabling this option lets you hide the title of the post from the breadcrumb.<\/p>\n\n\n\n For example, here is the breadcrumb of one of our articles with the title.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you enable this setting, the breadcrumb will change to:<\/p>\n\n\n\n This option enables ancestor categories in the breadcrumbs. What it does is that if your current post is part of a child category, then the breadcrumb will include the parent categories as well. We recommend that you keep this disabled to keep your breadcrumbs small and precise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you use any other taxonomy other than categories, then you can use this option to enable or disable the inclusion of the taxonomy in the breadcrumb. Our recommended setting is “Off”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you want to display your Blog page in Breadcrumb, then you can enable this option. This is more of your personal preference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This covers all the settings in the Breadcrumbs section. Let us move on to the next section, the Images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When you open the Images section, you’ll notice the settings as shown below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Nota:<\/strong> The features of Image SEO are only applicable to the images inside the content (blog posts\/articles). For optimizations outside the content area, you should ensure that your theme that is accessibility-ready and optimized. <\/p>\n\n\n\n To utilize all these Image SEO features, you need to ensure that the Imagen SEO<\/strong> module is enabled from Rank Math’s dashboard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us explore each of the settings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alt attributes are HTML attributes that are considered as “alternative” text versions of images that are displayed on a website when the image is not available or when a visitor wants the text alternative. These attributes can be very helpful when one cannot view images in their browsers. A sample alt attribute is given below:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Importance of Alt Attributes:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Enabling this setting will add Alt Attributes to all the images that do not have their alt text set. Since the alt text is valuable to search engines in understanding your images, we recommend that you enable this setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you’ve enabled the Add missing Alt Attribute<\/strong> option, the next question is, how does Rank Math know what an image is about? Actually, Rank Math does not know, and it relies on you to help answer the question with the Alt Attribute Format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Alt Attribute Format helps you create a pre-defined format that will be used to create alt text for images. Instead of relying on generic names, Rank Math lets you use the supported variables to create a useful format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The default variable configured here is Selecting a variable<\/a> will update the live preview below it, which will help you understand how the final alt text will be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This option automatically adds the Title attributes to the images without a title. A title also helps search engines understand your images better, and we recommend that you enable this setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Title Attribute Format option works similar to the Alt Attribute format, the only difference being that it helps define a format to create the image’s title. Use the variables and live preview to create a format.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The default format is set to be Add Missing Image Caption automatically adds a caption for all the images. Enable this option to add the captions to the images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This option would be visible only if you enabled the previous option, Add Missing Image Caption<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The Caption format helps to define the format used for the new captions. The default format is set to ![\"Tabs](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/general-settings-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"rank](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/search-example-rank-math.gif\"){kind=icon}
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nTabla de contenido<\/h2>\n
\n
1<\/span> Enlaces<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"all](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/links-settings.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n1.1<\/span> Tira Categor\u00eda Base<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
https://yourwebsite.com\/category\/SEO\/<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\nhttps://yourwebsite.com\/SEO\/<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n![\"base](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/strip-category-base.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n1.2<\/span> Redireccionar archivos adjuntos<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
yourwebsite.com\/post-with-image<\/code>. Let us assume that the post has an image with the name some-image-with-filename.jpg<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nyourwebsite.com\/post-with-image\/some-image-with-filename<\/code>\/<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nyourwebsite.com\/post-with-image\/some-image-with-filename\/<\/code>,<\/p>\n\n\n\nyourwebsite.com\/post-with-image<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"redirect](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/redirect-attachments.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n1.3<\/span> Redirect Orphan Attachments<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"redirect](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/redirect-orphan-attachments.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n1.4<\/span> NoFollow External Links<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"nofollow](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/nofollow-external-links.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n1.5<\/span> NoFollow Image File Links<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"nofollow](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/nofollow-image-file-links.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n1.6<\/span> NoFollow Domains<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"nofollow](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/no-follow-domains.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n1.7<\/span> NoFollow Exclude Domains<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"nofollow](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/nofollow-exclude-domain.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n1.8<\/span> How NoFollow Whitelist and Blacklist Actually Work<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
\n
NoFollow External Links is Disabled<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"what](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/nofollow.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nNoFollow External Links is Enabled<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\n
Can Redirects Be Used?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
https:\/\/final-destination.com\/product-page\/<\/code>) to something like (https:\/\/example.com\/product<\/code>) and adding this example.com link to your website, then Rank Math can only detect the presence of example.com domain links in your content and apply\/exclude nofollow according to how you’ve configured.<\/p>\n\n\n\n1.9<\/span> Abrir enlaces externos en una nueva pesta\u00f1a<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
target = \"_blank\u201d<\/code> attribute to external links, which will open them in new tabs or windows<\/a>. We recommend that you enable this setting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"open](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/open-link-in-external-tab.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n1.10<\/span> Prefijo de enlace de afiliado PRO<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
domain.com\/go\/<\/code> as the base for cloaked URLs, then enter \/go\/<\/code> like this in the field.<\/p>\n\n\n\nrel="patrocinado"<\/code> attribute for these links (if not added already), in compliance with search engines guidelines for affiliate links<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"affiliate-link-prefix\"](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/affiliate-link-prefix.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n2<\/span> Migas de pan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Breadcrumbs](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Breadcrumb-example.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"default](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/breadcrumbs-settings-2.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"all](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/breadcrumbs-setting.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n2.1<\/span> Enable Breadcrumbs Function<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"enable](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/enable-breadcrumb-settings.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n2.2<\/span> Car\u00e1cter separador<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"choose](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/breadcrumbs-seperator-character.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Breadcrumb](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Breadcrumb-with-the-post-title.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n2.3<\/span> Show Homepage Link<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"show](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/homepage-link.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n2.4<\/span> Homepage Label<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"homepage](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/homepage-label.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Home](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/07\/Home-position-in-breadcrumbs.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n2.5<\/span> Homepage Link<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"homepage](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/homepage-link-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n2.6<\/span> Prefix Breadcrumb<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"prefix](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/prefix-breadcrumb.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n2.7<\/span> Archive Format<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"archive](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/archive-format.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n2.8<\/span> Search Results Format<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"search](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/search-results-format.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n2.9<\/span> 404 Label<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"404](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/404-label.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n2.10<\/span> Hide Post Title<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"hide](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/hide-post-title.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"basic](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/basic-breadcrumbs-settings.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"breadcrumb](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/breadcrumb-example-without-post-title.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n2.11<\/span> Show Category(s)<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"breadcrumb](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/show-category.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n2.12<\/span> Hide Taxonomy Name<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"hide](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/hide-taxonomy-name.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n2.13<\/span> Show Blog Page<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Show](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Show-Blog-Page-Breadcrumb.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n3<\/span> Images<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
![\"Images](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/11\/image-seo-settings-scaled.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n![\"Enable](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/image-seo-module-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n3.1<\/span> Add Missing Alt Attributes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
<img src=\"img_man.jpg\" alt=\"Man in a jacket\" width=\"500\" height=\"600\"><\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
![\"add](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/add-missing-alt-attribute.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n3.2<\/span> Alt Attribute Format<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"alt](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/al-attribute-format-1.gif\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n%nombre de archivo%<\/code>, i.e. the name of the file will be used as the ALT text. You are free to use other variables or static text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"alt](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/alt-attribute-format-1-1.gif\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n3.3<\/span> Add Missing Title Attributes<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"add](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/add-missing-title-attribute.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n3.4<\/span> Title Attribute Format<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"Title](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/Title-attribute-format.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n%t\u00edtulo% %cuenta(t\u00edtulo)%<\/code>, but you can always edit and use a combination of static text and variables as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n3.5<\/span> Add Missing Image Caption PRO<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n
![\"add](\"https:\/\/rankmath.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/add-missing-caption-image.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\n3.6<\/span> Formato de subt\u00edtulos PRO<\/span><\/a><\/h3>\n\n\n\n