Add your ACF and Secure Custom Fields values to the Markdown (Pro)

If you use Advanced Custom Fields or Secure Custom Fields, RankReady Pro can add chosen field values to the Markdown version of your posts. That is the version AI crawlers read when they request a page ending in .md.

Nothing is added until you tick it. Your fields stay private by default.

Before you start

• RankReady Pro is installed and the licence is active. Activate your licence.
• Markdown output is switched on in RankReady. What Free and Pro each include.
• Advanced Custom Fields or Secure Custom Fields is active. Without one of them, nothing is added.

Turning it on

1. Open RankReady > Custom fields.
2. Tick a post type to switch it on.
3. In that post type’s table, tick the fields you want. Each row has a Label and a Placement.
4. Choose where each field goes. Frontmatter (key: value) puts it in the header block of the Markdown. Under the title prints it as a bullet below the title, using your Label.
5. Save.

Ticking a post type alone does nothing. A post type with no ticked fields publishes nothing, and RankReady tells you so when you save.

If you tick fields on a post type that is switched off, RankReady switches it on for you and says so. If you untick a post type, your ticked fields are kept but ignored until you switch it back on.

Preview it

The same screen has a preview. Enter a Post ID and RankReady shows the Markdown it would serve for that post. The ID must be a whole number of 1 or more. A post that is not published, is password protected or is excluded from RankReady shows a message instead, because no fields are added to it.

What it can read

These field types are supported:

• Text, text area, number, range, email, URL.
• Select, radio, button group, checkbox, true/false.
• Date, date and time, time.
• Link, image, file, WYSIWYG.
• Taxonomy, relationship, post object, page link.
• Group, repeater and flexible content.

Repeater and flexible content rows keep their original row numbers. A group shows its sub-field labels. Lists are capped at 25 rows and nesting at 3 levels by default.

What it never reads

• Password fields and user fields.
• Fields whose name starts with an underscore, and fields marked private. The screen shows these with a dash instead of a checkbox.
• Anything on a draft, private or password-protected post, or on a post you excluded from RankReady.
• Field types RankReady does not know. Clone and Gallery fields are not supported.

What it looks like

Each value is written as plain text on one line, so a field value cannot add a line or break out of the header block. Characters that Markdown treats as formatting are escaped in the bullet form. The key is the field name with custom_ in front.

The example below uses a made-up text field named subtitle. It shows the format RankReady writes. With Placement set to Frontmatter:

custom_subtitle: "A short note"

With Placement set to Under the title and the Label “Subtitle”:

- Subtitle: A short note

Good to know

• Changing a field value, or saving the Custom fields screen, refreshes the Markdown for that post. Behind a CDN, an older copy can stay visible for a while.
• Custom fields in Markdown makes your content easier for crawlers to read. It does not promise citations or rankings.
• Choose fields you would be happy to see quoted. Anything you tick is public.
• RankReady Pro diagnostics show a row for this feature: how many fields are ticked across how many post types, and whether ACF or Secure Custom Fields is active.

Related

WooCommerce product facts in Markdown, Agent discovery (Pro).