RankControl publishes each approved article as a native post on your WordPress site. Posts use your theme, your permalinks, and your categories. Updates to an article revise the same post. The plugin works with any theme, with or without an SEO plugin.
You need an administrator login for your WordPress site. On WordPress.com, plugins install on the Business and Commerce plans. Self-hosted WordPress has no plan requirement.
1. Create the destination in RankControl
Go to Brand Control → Publishing, open Add a destination, and choose
WordPress. Enter a name and your WordPress site URL, including
https://. Under Publish as, choose Published post or Draft for
review. Click Create integration.
RankControl shows your Integration key and a download link for the plugin. Keep this screen open for the next steps.
2. Download the plugin
Click Download the RankControl plugin (ZIP). The file is the same for every site. Your key is what connects it to your workspace.
3. Install the plugin
In WP Admin, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin. Choose the ZIP, click Install Now, then click Activate.
If the plugin is already installed, upload the ZIP again and choose Replace current with uploaded. Your key and settings stay in place.
4. Paste the key
In WP Admin, go to Settings → RankControl. Paste the key into Integration key and click Save key.
The Status row on that page changes to “Connected” within a few seconds. In RankControl, the destination changes from Setup pending to Active at the same moment. If it is your only destination, new articles now publish here.
Done. Approved articles arrive as native posts on schedule.
What arrives on your site
- The article as a normal post, in the category that matches its topic. A category you set by hand on a post is never replaced.
- The hero image in your media library, set as the featured image.
- The meta title and description, through Yoast SEO, Rank Math, All in One SEO, SEOPress, or The SEO Framework. With no SEO plugin, the plugin renders them itself.
- The article’s structured data (JSON-LD) in the page head.
With Draft for review, posts wait as drafts in WordPress until you publish them there. If you delete a post in WordPress, RankControl archives the article and tells you.
Analytics
Nothing else to install. The plugin reports page views and AI crawler visits across your whole site. Under Analytics → Sources, choose the WordPress plugin as the source.
Troubleshooting
“RankControl plugin not found on this site.” The plugin is not active at that URL. Install and activate it (step 3), and make sure that the site URL in RankControl is the same site.
“Integration key rejected.” The key in WordPress does not match the key in RankControl. Copy the key from the destination row and paste it again in Settings → RankControl (step 4).
“Blocked before reaching the plugin (HTTP 403).” A firewall or bot rule
rejects the request before WordPress sees it. Allow the RankControl IP (see
the note above) and allow the path /wp-json/rankcontrol/*. Then save the
key again in WordPress. That forces a check-in, and RankControl accepts the
check-in as proof of the connection.
The destination stays on “Setup pending”. The plugin has not checked in yet. Make sure that the plugin is active and that the key is saved. Saving the key again forces a check-in.
Posts are published but visitors cannot see them. A coming-soon or maintenance-mode plugin hides posts. Turn it off, or publish the site.
“Could not reach RankControl” on the WordPress settings page. Your host
blocks outbound requests from WordPress. Ask your host to allow requests to
api.rctrl.com, then save the key again.
“Plugin update available”. Download the ZIP again (step 2) and upload it with Replace current with uploaded (step 3). Your key stays in place.