In short: if you are weighing Yoast vs Rank Math AI features, the honest answer is that both now do useful work for AI search: each generates an llms.txt file in its free plugin, outputs schema, and sells a paid tracker that asks AI assistants about your brand. Keep the one you already use; switching rarely pays off. What neither free plugin does is ask ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude and Perplexity your customers’ own questions and show you who gets named, which is the gap Amaso AI Lite fills next to either of them.
Most WordPress sites in Accra, Kampala or Douala run one of these two plugins. So when owners hear about “AI search”, the first question is often: “Do I need to switch, or buy something new?” This guide looks at what each plugin really offers today, checked on their own pages in November 2026, and at the parts of AI visibility that sit outside their job.
What Yoast SEO does for AI search today
llms.txt, free
Yoast says generating an llms.txt file is included for free, with “no upgrade needed”. You switch it on under Yoast SEO, Settings, Site features, in the AI tools group. Yoast can pick your key content automatically, or you can choose pages by hand, and the file is refreshed automatically. If llms.txt is new to you, our llms.txt explainer covers what it is and what it is not.
Schema
The free plugin outputs what Yoast calls “foundational identity and content schema”: Organization or Person, WebSite, WebPage, Article, FAQPage, HowTo, breadcrumbs and more. Yoast’s own comparison table lists LocalBusiness under its paid products, not the free plugin.
AI Brand Insights, paid
Yoast’s tracker is called AI Brand Insights and is part of Yoast SEO AI+. It runs weekly scans of up to five brand questions you define, across ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude, and reports mentions, sentiment and cited sources. It runs in your MyYoast account, independently of WordPress. At the time of writing (November 2026), Yoast lists Yoast SEO AI+ at $358.80 per year, excluding VAT.
What Rank Math does for AI search today
llms.txt module
Rank Math has an LLMS Txt module that you turn on from Rank Math SEO, Dashboard. You choose which post types and taxonomies to list, with a default limit of 100 items, and posts set to noindex are left out. Rank Math’s own llms.txt guide is candid: it calls llms.txt a proposal, not an official standard, and says only AI tools that support the file will read it.
Schema
The free listing on WordPress.org advertises more than 16 schema types, including Article, FAQ, How To, Product, Recipe and Video, with more pre-defined types in Pro.
AI Visibility, paid
Rank Math’s tracker, AI Visibility, lives inside the WordPress dashboard and needs a Rank Math AI subscription. It currently covers ChatGPT and Gemini, with more platforms announced as coming. You enter your brand name, URL, description, country and language, and Rank Math generates the prompts for you. Depending on the plan, analyses run daily, weekly or monthly, and lower tiers pick one engine while the top tier tracks both.
Side by side
| Feature | Yoast SEO | Rank Math |
|---|---|---|
| llms.txt in the free plugin | Yes | Yes, as a module |
| Schema in the free plugin | Identity and content types | 16+ types listed |
| Paid AI tracker | AI Brand Insights (Yoast SEO AI+) | AI Visibility (Rank Math AI) |
| Engines tracked | ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini, Claude | ChatGPT, Gemini |
| Who writes the questions | You, up to five | Rank Math generates them |
| Where it runs | MyYoast, outside WordPress | Inside WordPress |
What they miss, and why that is normal
Neither plugin is doing a bad job. They are SEO plugins first, and their AI trackers are add-ons. For a small business, three gaps are worth knowing:
- The free plugins prepare, they do not measure. llms.txt and schema help machines read your site. Whether an assistant then names you is a separate question, and both trackers that answer it are paid.
- Your exact customer questions. A florist in Kumasi needs to know what happens for “same day flower delivery in Kumasi”, not a generic brand prompt. Yoast caps you at five questions; Rank Math writes the prompts itself.
- Fixes linked to results. When an assistant names a competitor instead of you, you want to see who, and which page of yours to improve next.
None of this means you should drop your SEO plugin. Classic SEO still matters for AI answers, as our guide on GEO vs SEO explains.
Where Amaso AI fits next to your SEO plugin
Amaso AI is a WordPress plugin built to work beside Yoast or Rank Math, not to replace them:
- No fight over meta tags. With Yoast, Rank Math, All in One SEO or SEOPress active, Amaso AI writes the search description into their field and prints nothing of its own.
- No double schema. When your SEO plugin writes the structured data, Amaso AI leaves it in charge, and its schema checks read the published page and credit the other plugin by name.
- Your questions, four engines. Amaso AI Lite, free on WordPress.org, runs unlimited citation checks on ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity with your own API keys (each provider bills its usage). Each result shows the exact question, the engine and the date.
- Fixes in the same place. Guided schema forms (LocalBusiness, Service, Product, FAQ and more), AI crawler allow or block settings and a content audit. Our JSON-LD schema guide shows what to fill in first.
Two honest limits: Amaso AI does not track Google AI Overviews or AI Mode, and its API answers can differ from what a person sees in the provider’s app. One more practical tip: choose a single llms.txt generator. If Yoast or Rank Math already publishes yours, leave Amaso AI’s llms.txt option off.
A simple decision path
- Keep your current SEO plugin and switch on its llms.txt feature.
- Check that your schema describes your business correctly, using the plugin you have.
- Write ten questions your customers really ask, in their language and with your city.
- Install Amaso AI Lite and run those questions on the four engines. Our Amaso AI Lite setup guide takes you through it.
- If you later want weekly brand reports inside MyYoast or Rank Math, compare their paid trackers with Amaso AI’s yearly plans.
Frequently asked questions
Should I switch from Yoast to Rank Math for AI search, or the other way round?
Usually not. Both generate llms.txt and schema, and a migration carries its own risks. Improve your content and check AI answers instead.
Can Amaso AI run on the same site as Yoast SEO or Rank Math?
Yes. Amaso AI writes the search description into their field and lets the SEO plugin own the schema when it writes it.
Does an llms.txt file make ChatGPT cite my site?
No one can promise that. Rank Math itself calls llms.txt a proposal, and Amaso AI describes it as not a verified ranking or citation signal.
Which engines does Amaso AI check that the Rank Math tracker does not?
Amaso AI checks Claude and Perplexity as well as ChatGPT and Gemini. Rank Math currently tracks ChatGPT and Gemini.
Do I pay for AI usage with Amaso AI?
Amaso AI uses your own API keys, so each provider bills its usage to you directly, separately from any Amaso AI plan.
Keep your SEO plugin and add the missing view: install Amaso AI Lite free from WordPress.org, run your customers’ questions, then look at the yearly plans if you want scheduled checks.
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