By default your license key is activated on your primary domain, but each subsite will need the license key manually added or managed through the Network Settings screen.

Tutorial Video

Network Activating AIOSEO

To manage which sites the AIOSEO license key works on, you will first need to Network Activate the plugin across your entire network. To do this, visit the Plugins page and locate All in One SEO Pro in the list of plugins. Click on Network Activate:

Adding Your License Key to the Multisite Network

Once All in One SEO Pro has been activated, Select All in One SEO > Network Settings from the sidebar. From there you can paste in your license key and then choose Connect to activate the license key on the network:

Once connected, your main network domain will be activated with All in One SEO and will work with all premium features connected to your plan.

Activating Individual Domains with Your License Key

After your license key has been added you will see a list of your domains appear below in the Domain Activations section. Find the domain that you want to activate the license key for and choose Activate from the row actions below the domain:

You’ll know the domain was successfully activated on the license key because the red ‘X’ under the Activated column will change to a green checkmark.

You can easily use the Domain Activations table to easily search for any domain or domain alias that is available in the list. Our multisite support also includes support for Mercator domain aliases.

You can also bulk activate/deactivate by selecting the checkboxes on the left side next to the domains you want to modify and then selecting the appropriate action from the Bulk Actions dropdown above or below the table.

Individually Managing Licenses on a Multisite Network

You can easily manage all license key activations from the Network Admin of your multisite network, but if you want to individually manage sites that option is still available. This gives the added flexibility of using different license keys based on your needs or clients.

To manage the license key individually for a site, just visit the dashboard for that site and then go to the All in One SEO > General Settings tab. If your site has already been network activated, you’ll see a notice letting you know that everything is already working, but you can add a license key to override it:

Just add your additional license key and choose Connect to get everything working with the separate license key.

Addons are available in the Pro version that extend the features built into the plugin. 

Tutorial Video

Activating Addons on a Multisite Network

To install and activate an addon, click on Feature Manager in the All in One SEO menu in the network admin and then click on Activate All Features or click on the toggle next to the addon you want to activate.

Because this change affects the entire network, you’ll receive a confirmation modal that asks you to confirm the change you are making:

Choose the Yes, process this network change button and you’re all set!

If you have a WordPress Multisite Network, you can manage global robots.txt rules that will be applied to all sites in the network.

Tutorial Video

To get started, go to the Network Admin and then click on All in One SEO > Network Tools in the left hand menu.

You will see our standard Robots.txt Editor where you can enable and manage custom rules for your robots.txt.

Click on the Enable Custom Robots.txt toggle to enable the rule editor.

You should see the Robots.txt Preview section at the bottom of the screen which shows the default rules added by WordPress.

Default Robots.txt Rules in WordPress

The default rules that show in the Robots.txt Preview section (shown in screenshot above) ask robots not to crawl your core WordPress files. It’s unnecessary for search engines to access these files directly because they don’t contain any relevant site content.

If for some reason you want to remove the default rules that are added by WordPress then you’ll need to use the robots_txt filter hook in WordPress.

Adding Rules Using the Rule Builder

The rule builder is used to add your own custom rules for specific paths on your site.

For example, if you would like to add a rule to block all robots from a temp directory then you can use the rule builder to add this.

To add a rule, enter the user agent in the User Agent field. Using * will apply the rule to all user agents.

Next, select either Allow or Disallow to allow or block the user agent.

Next, enter the directory path or filename in the Directory Path field.

Finally, click the Save Changes button.

If you want to add more rules, then click the Add Rule button and repeat the steps above and click the Save Changes button.

Your rules will appear in the Robots.txt Preview section and in your robots.txt which you can view by clicking the Open Robots.txt button.

Any rule you add here will apply to all sites in your network and cannot be overridden at the individual site level.

Editing Rules Using the Rule Builder

To edit any rule you’ve added, just change the details in the rule builder and click the Save Changes button.

Deleting a Rule in the Rule Builder

To delete a rule you’ve added, click the trash can icon to the right of the rule.

Managing Robots.txt for Subsites

In the multisite Robots.txt Editor, it’s very easy to edit robots rules for any site on your network.

To get started, simply click on the site selector dropdown from the top of the Robots.txt Editor. From there select the site you wish to edit the rules for, or search for it by typing in the domain:

Once you’ve selected a site, the rules below will automatically refresh and you can modify/change the rules for just that site. Make sure to click Save Changes after modifying the rules for the subsite.

Tutorial Video

Backing Up Settings on a Multisite Network

To get started, click on Network Tools in the All in One SEO menu of the Network Admin and then click on the Import/Export tab. Then scroll down to the Backup Settings section.

In the Backup Settings section, first choose a site from the Site Selector, then click on the Create Backup button.

That’s all! An entry with the date and time of your backup will be created.

Restoring Settings on a Multisite Network

If you want to restore a backup, click the Restore icon to the right of the backup you want to restore.

If you want to delete a backup, click the Delete icon to the right of the backup you want to delete.

We’ve taken that to the next level by giving Network Admins full control over this functionality inside our Network Tools section that was added in version 4.2.5 of the plugin.

Tutorial Video

To get started, click on Network Tools in the All in One SEO menu and then click on the Import/Export tab.

Exporting Your Settings and Meta Data

You can export your settings in the Export Settings area.

First, select a site from the Site Selector, then choose the checkboxes for the settings you want to export, or click on the checkbox for Export All Settings.

To export SEO meta data for your content, select the checkboxes for the post types you want to export, or click on the checkbox for Export All Post Types.

Once you’ve selected the checkboxes, click the Export Settings button.

A file starting with aioseo-export-settings will be downloaded to your local computer. This contains the exported information.

Importing Your Settings and Meta Data

You can import your settings and meta data in the Import/Restore AIOSEO Settings area.

To import your exported settings and/or SEO meta data, you will need to first select a site from the Site Selector, then click on the Choose a File button and upload the aioseo-export-settings file. Then click on the Import button.

You should see a message saying “Success! Your settings have been imported.”

Copying SEO Data Between Sites on a Multisite Network

To copy data from one site to another, you simply need to export the data for the first site using the steps above. Then choose another site in the import section and upload that exported file to be imported.

Import Settings From Other Plugins on a Multisite Network

You can also import settings from other SEO plugins to individual sites on your network. You can find details on this feature here.

Tutorial Video

Importing Settings on a Multisite Network

To get started, click on Network Tools in the All in One SEO menu and then click on the Import/Export tab.

In the Import Settings From Other Plugins section, click on the dropdown and select the plugin you want to import from.

Select the checkboxes for the settings you want to import and click the Import button.

Tutorial Video

Resetting AIOSEO Settings in Network Tools

You can reset any or all of the settings by clicking on Network Tools in the All in One SEO menu and then clicking on the Database Tools tab.

You’ll see the Reset Settings section which has checkboxes for each of the settings areas in All in One SEO.

You’ll first need to select the site you want to reset from the Site Selector dropdown.

Then check the boxes for the settings you want to reset, or check the box for All AIOSEO Settings to reset ALL settings to default. Once you’ve made your selection, click the Reset Selected Settings to Default button.

The settings will now be reset to their defaults.

Further Reading

Did you know you can back up your settings before you reset them? Check out our article on backing up and restoring settings here.