Rankology SEO and Analytics Tool

Rankology SEO and Analytics Tool is a comprehensive WordPress SEO plugin that helps sites rank higher in search engines, built to WordPress.org Plugin Check standards for secure, well-sanitized, and internationalization-ready code. Features include:

AI Content Generator: Generate content using your own OpenAI or Gemini API key, with model selection, streaming output, and usage/cost tracking.

Core & Advanced SEO: Meta titles/descriptions, focus keywords, canonical URLs, content scoring, schema markup (Article, FAQ, Review, Organization, Local Business), robots.txt & .htaccess management, and XML sitemaps.

Rankology LinkFlow: Smart internal linking suggestions, broken/orphan link detection, engagement tracking, and interlinking/sitemap visualizations.

Google Integration: Connect GA4 and Search Console for at-a-glance performance metrics (sessions, clicks, impressions, CTR, position) with filters and reports.

Speed Optimization: HTML/CSS/JS minification, full-page caching, image compression & WebP conversion, server cache headers, and GZIP/Brotli compression.

Web Performance & Core Web Vitals: PageSpeed Insights dashboard measuring LCP, FCP, CLS, INP, TBT, TTI, and TTFB, with history, comparisons, and shareable reports.

Settings & Customization: Global meta settings, social sharing, breadcrumbs, header/footer code injection, import/export, and Cloudflare CDN integration.

Technical SEO Controls

• Server Settings: Add custom rules to the .htaccess file (Apache servers only) via a manual input field.
• Robots.txt Settings: Manually add custom entries, or auto-append entries from the robots options table.
• Sitemap Settings: Auto-generate XML sitemap, exclude specific pages/posts, automatic updates on new content, and direct submission to Google & Bing.
• Image SEO Settings: Auto-use filename as alt text/title on upload, set post title from image metadata, and automatically clean uploaded filenames.
• Crawling Options: Control site visibility, disable link/image indexing, disable descriptions in Google, and exclude paginated or attachment pages from indexing.
• Alerts & Warnings: Notices for “Discourage search engines,” robots.txt status, and sitemap status.

Rankology Speed Booster

Boost your site’s loading speed with advanced optimization tools for performance and Core Web Vitals, organized into 5 tabs:

• Feature Control: Master toggle plus individual switches for HTML, CSS, and JavaScript minification with live status indicators.
• Cache Generation: HTML/CSS/JS minification with automatic AJAX-based cache rebuilding and one-click cache clearing.
• Image Optimization: Multi-method compression (Spatie, Imagick, GD), automatic WebP conversion, lazy loading, and bulk optimization with real-time stats.
• Server Configuration: Cache-Control/Expires headers, GZIP/Brotli compression (Apache/LiteSpeed), .htaccess-based caching, and object cache support.
• Performance Stats: Cache hit-rate metrics, overall performance score, and optimization recommendations.
• Web Performance & Core Web Vitals: PageSpeed Insights dashboard measuring LCP, FCP, CLS, INP, TBT, TTI, and TTFB, with report history, side-by-side comparisons, shareable public report links, email sharing, and automatic mobile analysis — powered by the Rankology API (no Google API key required).

External Services

This plugin connects to the following external services:

1. Rankology API Services
   • Purpose: Fetch Google Analytics and Search Console data, submit URLs for indexing, provide SEO insights, and analyze PageSpeed performance
   • Data Sent: Website URL, API key (encrypted), requested metrics, and PageSpeed analysis requests
   • When: When loading analytics dashboards, submitting URLs for indexing, or analyzing page performance
   • Endpoints:
     • https://app.rankology.io/api/rankology/url-inspection/single
     • https://app.rankology.io/api/rankology/submit-urls
     • https://app.rankology.io/api/rankology/google-analytics/google-insights
     • https://app.rankology.io/api/rankology/google-search-console/google-insights
     • https://app.rankology.io/api/rankology/connect-app
     • https://app.rankology.io/api/rankology-pagespeed/wordpress/get-site-speedinsight (PageSpeed Insights analysis)
   • Rankology Privacy Policy
   • Rankology Terms of Service

1a. Rankology Webhook System (Plugin Lifecycle)
* Purpose: Secure communication with Rankology servers for plugin activation and deactivation events
* Data Sent:
– On Activation: Site URL, site name, WordPress version, PHP version, plugin version, timestamp, nonce, and HMAC-SHA256 signature (if webhook secret exists)
– On Deactivation: All activation data plus stored API key (if available)
* When:
– Plugin Activation: Sends blocking request to receive webhook secret and API key from server
– Plugin Deactivation: Sends non-blocking request to notify server of deactivation
* Security Features:
– HMAC-SHA256 signature verification for request authenticity
– Nonce generation for request validation
– Rate limiting (5-second cooldown between requests)
– SSL certificate verification
– Secure storage of webhook secret and API key in WordPress options
* Endpoints:
– https://app.rankology.io/api/rankology-pagespeed/wordpress/plugin-install (activation)
– https://app.rankology.io/api/rankology-pagespeed/wordpress/plugin-uninstall (deactivation)
* Data Storage: Webhook secret and API key are stored securely in WordPress options table and only sent to Rankology API endpoints
* Note: The webhook system ensures seamless integration with Rankology services and automatic API key provisioning upon plugin activation
* Rankology Privacy Policy
* Rankology Terms of Service

1. Cloudflare API

   • Purpose: Manage CDN cache, security settings, performance rules, and analytics data
   • Data Sent:
     • API credentials (API key/token and optionally email address for Global API Key authentication)
     • Zone ID (identifier for your Cloudflare zone/domain)
     • Cache management commands (purge all cache, purge specific URLs)
     • Security settings (WAF status, security level, bot fight mode, browser integrity check)
     • Performance settings (cache level, browser cache TTL, auto minify settings, rocket loader, polish, WebP)
     • Page rule configurations (URL patterns, cache rules, security rules)
     • Analytics queries (time range parameters for performance and security analytics)
   • When:
     • When testing Cloudflare connection (sends zone ID to verify credentials)
     • When purging cache (manually or automatically after content updates)
     • When updating security settings (WAF, security level, bot protection)
     • When updating performance settings (cache level, minification, optimization)
     • When creating or deleting page rules
     • When fetching analytics data (performance metrics, security events, top statistics)
     • When toggling development mode
   • Endpoints:
     • https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/ (REST API for cache, security, and settings management)
     • https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/graphql (GraphQL API for analytics and advanced queries)
   • Note: All API credentials are stored securely in WordPress options and only sent to Cloudflare API endpoints. No user data or website content is sent to Cloudflare.
   • Cloudflare Privacy Policy
   • Cloudflare Terms of Service

2. Google Autocomplete API

   • Purpose: Fetch real-time keyword suggestions for SEO optimization
   • Data Sent: Search queries (keywords), locale, and country data
   • When: When using the “Get Suggestions” button in SEO fields
   • Endpoint: https://www.google.com/complete/search
   • Google Privacy Policy

3. Google Analytics Data API (GA4) & Google Search Console API

   • Purpose: Fetch Google Analytics (GA4) reporting metrics and Google Search Console performance data (and URL Inspection, if enabled) inside the Rankology dashboard
   • Data Sent:
     • Your configured GA4 Property ID and/or Search Console Property URL
     • Requested date range, filters (e.g., country/device), dimensions/metrics, and URL(s) used for reporting
     • Authentication data required to obtain an access token (service-account based OAuth2 flow)
   • When: When you enable Google Analytics / Search Console integration and load GA/SC dashboards, reports, or URL inspection features
   • Endpoints:
     • https://oauth2.googleapis.com/token (token exchange)
     • https://analyticsdata.googleapis.com/v1beta/ (GA4 Data API)
     • https://searchconsole.googleapis.com/webmasters/v3/ (Search Console Search Analytics)
     • https://searchconsole.googleapis.com/v1/urlInspection/index:inspect (Search Console URL Inspection)
   • Note: Rankology uses the bundled Google API Client Library for PHP (google/apiclient) to handle authentication and requests.
   • Google Privacy Policy

Source Code

This plugin includes minified JavaScript and CSS files for performance. The source code and build process are available at:

• Plugin Source Code: https://github.com/rankology/rankology-seo-wordpress-plugin
• Third-party Libraries:
  • DataTables: https://github.com/DataTables/DataTablesSrc
  • Chart.js: https://github.com/chartjs/Chart.js
  • vis-network: https://github.com/visjs/vis-network
  • cytoscape.js: https://github.com/cytoscape/cytoscape.js
  • Select2: https://github.com/select2/select2
  • Tagify: https://github.com/yaircohen/tagify
  • html2pdf.js: https://github.com/eKoopmans/html2pdf.js
  • Google API Client Library for PHP (google/apiclient): https://github.com/googleapis/google-api-php-client

Note: Some JavaScript files (vis-network.min.js, cytoscape.min.js) are minified for performance. The source code is available at the GitHub links above. The plugin uses build tools (npm/composer) to generate production files. To build from source, clone the repository and run the build commands as documented in the repository.