The Yoast plugin is the most powerful one out there for optimizing content. If you haven’t downloaded it yet, you need to do it now here.
So that you understand the need for the Yoast plugin, here’s what it does for you:
- It tells you where you need to use the keyword phrase.
- It checks your content to make sure it’s readable.
- You can set it up to create a schema markup of your content.
- It will make sure you don’t have the same URLs or at least the same topics for your content.
As you can see, it basically takes your keyword phrase and tells you where to put it and how to structure your content in a way that appeals to users and Google.
Now that you know why the Yoast plugin is so great, this is how to use it.
This is what it looks like when it is installed and active. This will be located below where you create posts.
The first step is to place your keyword phrase where it says “Focus keyword.”
You can then go into your content to make sure you have your “Focus keyword” in the first paragraph, a header, and a few other places in the content. Always make sure you use the keyword naturally in the content, and you don’t use it that many times.
You should also place the keyword phrase in the page title and meta description. Once you do that, you can check to see if you’ve tackled it all looking here.
Once you get the green light on all of the factors Yoast has identified as being important in content, you can publish with confidence knowing it has everything needed for your users and Google.
Yoast Updates
One of the greatest things about Yoast is that it stays current. It updates regularly according to changes in the way Google ranks content. Even with the free version, you end up with the updates.
Free vs. Paid
The differences between free vs. paid aren’t much. The free version gives you all of the basic features you need to optimize content. The paid version gives you just a little bit more to get your content optimized for multiple keywords, and adding schema markup to content for better snippets on search engine results pages.
Most people will start with the free version of Yoast and then move over to the paid version when they feel they are ready to do more with optimizing content.
Need Help with Your Yoast Plugin?
If the Yoast plugin seems to be a bit too much to handle, we can help. We can install it for you, and use it to optimize your content.
If you would someone to go over it with you, so you understand how to use it better than what this blog post provides, let us know. We can do that too.
We are here to help you with your WordPress site. Just reach out to us if you’re looking for help with development or maintenance.
