The Yoast plugin for WordPress is an incredibly useful tool that helps you improve SEO on your website. If used properly, in conjunction with great writing and relevant content, Yoast will assist in increasing the findability of your website and blog based on your chosen keywords for each page. Below are a few tips to maximize your use of Yoast.
- Nothing can replace excellent writing and content. Google has somehow, incredibly, learned how to distinguish bad writing from decent writing. When you are creating blog posts and content for your website, “keyword stuffing” no longer suffices for Google. Not to mention that you gain potential customers’ trust when you deliver well-written, great content. If you publish nonsense, a well-informed customer will detect your “keyword stuffing” technique, and everyone else will simply think you are not to be taken seriously. Content marketing is no longer an option – it’s a necessity, and creating or curating excellent content is the crux of it.
- The Yoast fields are found below the body of your blog. The tabs are General, Page Analysis, and Social.
- The focus keyword serves as a guide only. When you enter the focus keyword, it has no effect on the page you are creating. It simply gives Yoast a way to assess the SEO on your page based on your chosen target keyword. This will assist in your writing process, as Yoast uses this keyword to score your SEO and make recommendations on how to improve it for that page.
- Check the Yoast Page Analysis periodically. It will keep you on track and urge you to refine your writing according to your focus keyword.
- Make sure to fill in your meta description at the bottom, and include your focus keyword in that description. This is an easily overlooked field, but Yoast will remind you if the keyword does not appear here.
Yoast is not a difficult plugin to use. It can be powerful if applied properly, and it is unparalleled in functionality. We use it for all of our clients’ blogs, and with the help of Yoast, we have created successful content marketing campaigns that drive website traffic, and, more importantly, return on investment.
