Yoast SEO: WordPress plugin for search engine optimization
The majority of site visitors arrive at your website or blog via search engines. This makes well-coordinated search engine optimization all the more important. WordPress offers its own plugin for this called Yoast SEO. Using the right keywords when creating text is important, but not enough. Among other things, it also depends on where you use them. Yoast SEO shows you the extent to which you have implemented the SEO-relevant factors. The plugin is particularly helpful when creating metadata.
It is well known that the success of articles, blog posts and articles depends on their findability in search engines such as Google and others. However, many users wonder whether a tool is necessary for this. After all, many online copywriters have practiced placing keywords in a text in a meaningful way. For all those who have not yet fully internalized this, here is a brief summary of where you should place the keyword:
- Headline/title (preferably at the beginning)
- First section (preferably at the beginning)
- Continuous text (several times)
- Subheadings
- Image description/alt attributes for images
Also pay attention to
- a sufficient length of the text,
- external and internal links.
Step by step to the optimal blog post with Yoast
The following is a step-by-step guide on how to create an optimized blog post with Yoast.
- Definition of the keyword
Define a suitable keyword for your blog post. Enter this in the field provided.
- Creation of the text and insertion
It is best if you have already pre-written the article in Word and had it proofread by a second person. Ideally, you should have already placed the keyword when writing so that it appears in the most important places in the text. Now insert the text into WordPress. The use of suitable images would also be beneficial; subheadings are indispensable. A post image must then be defined. Make sure that the URL is short and memorable and contains the keyword!
- Definition of SEO title and meta description.
Now add the SEO title and meta description in the field provided. Yoast shows you the optimal length of these elements. The SEO title and meta description must be neither too long nor too short.
- Testing the analysis of Yoast
Then scroll down. Yoast lists the extent to which your article is SEO-ready point by point. The tool shows you the individual factors with a traffic light system of green, orange and red dots. Red dots indicate that there are still major problems to be rectified, orange dots indicate that there is still room for improvement and green dots indicate that everything is in order. If all symbols light up green, you have done everything right!
Yoast also perfect for social media optimization
In addition to search engine optimization, Yoast also offers the option of aligning the description, title and image of the post for social media posts. For publications on Facebook, for example, the title does not have to contain the keyword. The description can also be adapted specifically for the social media target group.
Improved readability of posts
Recently, Yoast not only evaluates the purely technical view of SEO optimization. The readability of your post is also subjected to a critical check by the plugin. The following factors are used for the readability assessment:
- Record length
- Heel length
- Level of difficulty
- Frequency of passive formulations
- Number of transition words
Yoast SEO: Focus on the metadata in particular
You will notice: Simply including the keyword is not enough. Yoast SEO reminds you to keep an eye on all of these factors while creating your text. You will be made aware before you go online that you have not taken sufficient account of one thing.
However, Yoast SEO is even more important when it comes to creating SEO titles and metadata. These are the elements that the reader sees as results in a Google search. This means that these are the first parts of text that potential visitors will see on your website or blog.
Yoast helps you to create optimized SEO titles and metadata. This is what makes it so valuable for online copywriters.
What makes Yoast SEO so special?
Yoast SEO is not the only WordPress plugin for search engine optimization. But what makes Yoast SEO so popular and advantageous? First of all, the extremely practical and simple application. It has a simple design and therefore does not distract from the actual task of supporting you with SEO. There is simply no better SEO plugin for WordPress at the moment. More than five million installations worldwide speak for themselves. This makes Yoast the clear market leader, which brings the advantage of regular updates and upgrades for you as a user.
Readability rating as a recommendation only
Especially if you are writing business or technical texts, the following principle applies: Do not overestimate Yoast’s readability analysis. It can be helpful, but the level of difficulty can of course be somewhat higher for specialist articles. After all, the reader shouldn’t be bored either. In addition, no reliable statement can be made about the extent to which the readability analysis is adapted to the respective user language. It is possible that the readability recommendations are most applicable and meaningful in English.
Further practical applications of Yoast
It is not even possible to mention all of Yoast’s other features individually here. However, one function should be emphasized: You can exclude individual pages from being listed by search engines. This is done by the Meta Robot Indexes “noindex” or “nofollow”. When does this make sense? Whenever you want to make certain pages available only to selected users without using password protection.
Finally, it should be mentioned that there is also a premium version of Yoast. This sets up automatic redirects, for example, as soon as there are changes to the URLs on a page.