Plugins are software usually added to a WordPress site to perform a specific function. They make it possible for you to add features to your site without any prior knowledge of coding. What's more, they help you optimize your site to rank high on search engines. And this is the primary function of an SEO plugin.
As a web admin, you no doubt want to get started with the best SEO plugin. But before you do so, there are several factors to keep in mind when making your selection. While there are numerous SEO plugins, you need to remember that some are of higher quality than others. Furthermore, a bad plugin can do damage to your website. It can slow down your WordPress site drastically. So which plugins should you choose?
As seen above, there are several SEO plugins out there. And Yoast SEO sits amongst the best. Since its foundation in 2010 by Joost De Valk, it now has about 5,000,000 installations. Yes, it has proven to be useful to many web designers out there. But why should you consider it? To answer that, this article provides you with a Yoast review for 2023.
What Yoast SEO is?
As the name implies, Yoast SEO is a plugin that helps in your website's optimization. It sits amongst the most popular WordPress plugins that allow users to add descriptions as well as titles to posts and pages. Yes, Yoast is the ideal tool for your SEO. But how does it work?
How does Yoast work?
SEO involves implementing different strategies to help you rank better. As a result, Yoast offers features that are aimed at helping you better every aspect of your website optimization. Here are some of those features.
1. Optimized titles and meta descriptions.
Meta descriptions refer to that short text that is displayed at the bottom of the link to your webpage on search engines. True, Google does not focus much on meta descriptions like it did in the past. However, a good description is sure to attract more traffic leading to a higher ranking on Google.
When it comes to driving more traffic, titles are equally essential. And Yoast allows users to create well-optimized descriptions as well as headlines. It will inform you if your description is too long or short. It will also alert you if your keywords are missing in your content. Through the use of color bars, Yoast allows you to know if your description is perfect or not.
2. High-quality SEO articles.
High-quality articles are priceless in the SEO world. And Yoast plugin brings the best of your articles through in-depth analysis and suggestions. With Yoast SEO, you can set a particular keyword to rank your article. After that, Yoast will review various aspects of your content. Some of these aspects include:
Keyphrase density
Length of text
Length of keyphrase
Length of meta description
Keyphrase in title
Keyphrase in introduction
Yoast SEO will display the result of the analysis through the use of color indicators, with green representing good results, and red indicating otherwise. By so doing, it helps you develop highly optimized SEO articles.
3. Good Readability
Developing quality content is very important for your SEO. That said, all your efforts will be in vain if nobody understands your article. And the chance of users patronizing your services will be nil. Hence, you need to develop easy-to-read articles. And Yoast's readability feature will help you achieve this.
It analyzes several aspects of your article and alerts you if you need to make changes. One of such aspects is the Flesch reading ease. This feature shows your article's reading difficulty. It aims to ensure you are developing easy-to-read content as it ranks higher on search engines. Here are other aspects of your article that Yoast pays attention to:
Transition words
Use of passive voice
Length of sentence
Length of paragraph
Now, all these may seem far-fetched. But in reality, it is not. Yoast SEO makes use of an algorithm to review your articles on various factors. These factors, as seen above, are guaranteed to help improve your article's readability. You don't need to worry about passing Yoast's check, as this algorithm was designed to help you achieve accuracy without being too strict or flexible.
Pros and Cons of Yoast
Now, we are back to the question - why should you consider Yoast SEO for your WordPress site. As discussed above, Yoast offers several impressive features to help you develop high-ranking content. And its algorithm is as accurate as you can imagine. However, this might not sound new to you considering there are other SEO tools that offer similar services.
That said, some of these plugins can affect your site adversely. What's more, the Yoast SEO plugin has its own set of unique advantages.
Pros
With that in mind, here are four main benefits of using Yoast.
It is a free, user-friendly plugin. This is one of the main benefits of using Yoast. It offers lots of SEO features to users for free, and its user-friendly nature makes it easy to use. Without a doubt, this is a major aspect of Yoast that has attracted lots of users over the years.
It is best for on-page SEO. When it comes to on-page SEO, Yoast is priceless. After all, many of its features are aimed at helping users create optimized content. So as a user who is looking to improve his content quality, you'll find Yoast irreplaceable.
It helps in SEO proofreading. Still on on-page SEO, creating content is crucial. And the majority of on-site content is no doubt articles. A high-quality article is sure to rank high on Google. But when writing articles, mistakes are inevitable. Whether it's a little misspelling or punctuation error, no writer can do without making an error or so. As a result, you may wonder how those high-ranking articles have no such errors. Proofreading is the key. By going over an article, you can identify any errors and make necessary corrections. Yoast SEO also functions as a proofreader. It identifies any grammar errors and alerts you.
It helps you make proper use of your keywords. As a web admin, you no doubt know the importance of keywords in SEO. Yoast ensures you are using your keywords properly. It analyzes your article and informs you if your keyword is missing. With Yoast, you can rest assured that your article will be rich in keywords.
Cons
Yoast is truly an all-around SEO tool. Its benefits are endless. However, like every other plugin, it has its downside. Here are the main cons of Yoast.
It is pedantic at times. True, most SEO plugins have a set of rules to follow. But Yoast can be overly concerned with them. It treats all articles the same and doesn't know when to adapt its rules. As a result, it may function as a strict grammar checker, which can be frustrating at times.
It doesn't understand the intent behind an article. This is yet another downside of Yoast. It is not good in reading the intent behind an article. As a result, it may offer misleading suggestions at times. So, in the end, you'll need a little SEO knowledge to ascertain when and where to take its suggestions.
When all is said and done, Yoast SEO is a great plugin, despite its cons. Because of its easy-to-use user interface, Yoast is suitable for both experts and beginners alike.
Yoast Pricing
As stated earlier, Yoast offers lots of SEO features to users for free. However, its premium version gives users access to yet more impressive features, which includes:
The Redirect manager. This allows users to get rid of 404 errors in the blink of an eye.
Yoast premium version offers an advanced form of content analysis that helps you identify the synonyms of your keyphrase. What's more, it recognizes related keyphrases. And to top it all, this feature is available in different languages.
Yet another impressive feature of Yoast premium is the internal linking tool which analyzes and suggests links for your website.
There are many more features that come along with Yoast's premium version. And you can access all these features along with the SEO courses for €89 per year. Yes, Yoast premium is worth its cost.
How do you install the Yoast SEO plugin?
Now, you know why you should opt for Yoast. But how do you install this plugin? Yoast installation is similar to that of any other WordPress plugin. Here's how to do so.
Log into your WordPress website.
Tap on 'plugin' in the dashboard.
Tap 'add new' which is located at the top of the screen.
Next, type 'Yoast SEO' in the search bar and press 'enter.'
Afterward, you'll see the plugin in the result page. All you need to do is click on 'install now' and wait for the plugin to start installing.
Once installed, tap on the 'activate' icon. After that, you're good to go.
Conclusion
Having a well-optimized website is crucial to every brand looking to establish a solid online presence. And plugins are designed to help users achieve this. As we've seen in this article, the Yoast SEO plugin will help you optimize your site even if you don't know a single line of code. That said, it is still essential to know about SEO.
Though Yoast makes your SEO strategy easier, applying it will not drive all the SEO knowledge into you. Fortunately, Yoast also offers SEO courses. You can access these courses with Yoast premium. And as discussed in this article, this is just one of the many features Yoast offers to its users. So if you are looking for a plugin for your site optimization, Yoast may be perfect for you.