Understanding Polylang and Rank Math Compatibility: Sitemaps, Breadcrumbs, and Workarounds

Many WordPress users rely on Polylang to create multilingual websites and Rank Math to handle their SEO. A common point of confusion and frustration arises from the perceived lack of compatibility between these two popular plugins. Users frequently report issues with translated content not appearing correctly in sitemaps, breadcrumb problems, and canonical URL conflicts.

This article explains the situation, why these issues occur, and what you can do about it.

Why is There a Compatibility Issue?

Based on public discussions, the Polylang team has stated that their development priorities are focused on supporting WordPress core sitemaps and Yoast SEO. They have also noted that the SEOPress plugin includes its own Polylang compatibility.

While a Pull Request (PR #373) was opened on the Polylang GitHub repository to address Rank Math compatibility, it has remained unmerged for several years. The official position is that the team prefers to focus on other priorities rather than dedicating resources to another SEO plugin's integration.

Official and Community Workarounds

Since a native integration is not currently available, users have sought alternative solutions. Here are the most common approaches:

1. Code Snippets: The Rank Math team provides a knowledge base article with a compatibility code snippet. Some users have reported success with this, while others find it does not resolve all their issues. It is often recommended as the first thing to try.
2. Community Code: The aforementioned Pull Request #373 on GitHub contains code that some advanced users have adapted for their own projects. This is a more technical route and should only be attempted if you are comfortable modifying your site's code, preferably in a child theme's functions.php file or via a custom plugin.
3. Alternative SEO Plugins: If a seamless out-of-the-box experience is a priority, considering an alternative SEO plugin with official Polylang support, such as Yoast SEO or SEOPress, may be the most straightforward solution.

Important Considerations Before Proceeding

• Always back up your website completely before adding any custom code or changing plugins.
• Test any code snippets on a staging site first, not your live production environment.
• Custom code solutions may break after future updates to WordPress, Polylang, or Rank Math, requiring maintenance.

In summary, while Polylang and Rank Math can run on the same site, full compatibility for features like sitemaps is not officially supported. The solutions currently available rely on community-provided code or switching to a different SEO toolset.