Rank Math Optimization Metrics

I was thinking of creating a blog on RankMath and Yoast's On-Page SEO scoring system and why it's not something to obsess over. So, I wanted to share the info I gathered on Rank Math to help some beginner SEOs if they were wondering about it. Plus, if there is something that I have a wrong perspective on or is wrongly cited, then I would love to fix it before publishing. So please take a look at it and let me know your thoughts -

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Metric	Ranking Factor?	Source	Should you follow it?	Optional blogs to understand better
Focus Keyword in the SEO Title	Yes	[1] SERoundTable	Yes. As long as you avoid keyword stuffing
Focus Keyword in the Meta Description	No	[2] Ahrefs	Depends. Would including the keyword improve CTR?
Focus Keyword in the URL	Yes (but minute)	[3] SERoundTable	Yes. But the focus should be on creating a clear and descriptive URL
Focus Keyword at the beginning of the content	No confirmation	N/A	If you start your content with jokes and an engaging para - Avoid it. If you start with info and descriptive content - Yes (only if its natural and avoids stuffing)
Focus keyword in the Content	No confirmation but obvious	N/A	No need to. When writing content for a topic/keyword it will naturally be present several times in your content. So avoid it for the sake of stuffing.	[4] Semantic Relevance of Keywords - Bill Slawski
Overall Content-Length	No	[5] LinkGraph	No. More content doesn't mean better rankings. Content Depth is what you are looking for!
Focus Keyword in Subheading	No confirmation	N/A	Depends. It should come naturally. Like when creating content on keyword 'SEO', subheadings like, What is SEO?, Who needs SEO?, would obviously include the keyword SEO in it.
Focus Keyword in Image Alt Attributes	No confirmation	N/A	Yes. A featured image of a blog can definitely use it. But don't explain just an image of a rock with your title '10 Fun activities to do when you are alone'
Keyword Density	No	[6] Google Search Central	No. Don't obsess over it, informative and descriptive content would include it plenty of times.	[7] TF-IDF - Bill Slawski
URL Length	No	[8] SERoundTable	Yes, but don't obsess over length. If a long URL helps understand the category, subcategory, topic of the content then be it more than 75 characters
Linking to External Sources	No confirmation but obvious	N/A	Yes. But also, read further about Link Equity to get a clear perspective	[9] Link Equity - Moz
Linking to External Content with a Followed Link	No confirmation	N/A	Depends. Do note that while nofollow doesn't pass link equity, it also hints you don't trust the other webpage. And it looks fishy when 'every webpage' you suggest is regarded as 'not trustworthy' by yourself!
Linking to Internal Resources	No confirmation but obvious	N/A	Yes. When you choose a niche and stick to it, your content would definitely be inter-related with each other. Connect them with proper anchor text (and avoid stuffing the keyword here)!	[9] Link Equity - Moz

Notes:

1. The links are provided in comments according to the numbering [#].
2. Their Optimization Score is based on four categories (Basic SEO, Additional, Title Readability, Content Readability) out of which I have only covered the first two. Title and Content Readability Scores are based on Rank Math's own suggestions rather than ranking factors, so each suggestion's importance could differ from person to person. I wanted to avoid a debate on those so I won't share my opinion here.
3. My motive was not to criticize Rank Math here. It is an excellent plugin for WP sites. But reaching 100/100 on their optimization scores is also not something to obsess over. Here is their official words on it - "Whenever you are writing a post, take the recommendations as suggestions, not absolute rules. Your goal is to please the reader of the article first, the search engines second. We understand the desire to optimize every post 100%, but if it is detrimental to the user experience, you are doing more harm than good." ([10] Source)
4. I don't want to spread misinformation of any kind. So if you find something inappropriate, please DM me and I will fix it immediately.
5. The above info is only for Rank Math. But I will do something similar for Yoast before publishing it on my own blog. And, if you find this helpful, I will share the data I collect for Yoast, here too.

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