If you use WordPress Iâm betting you also have the Yoast SEO plugin. Itâs super popular and a great tool to help you optimize your website for Google and co, so folks can find you when they are searching the wild wide web. This is called search engine optimization btw, or SEO. From my coaching and website clients I know that Yoast can be a bit confusing, so I wrote this post to help you use it efficiently and make the most out of it.
How the Yoast SEO plugin works
For Yoast SEO to do its job you first need to decide on a keyword for your page/post. The key word is what you want to rank for in Google. Itâs normally not one word but a phrase of a few words. For example, if you offer private yoga classes in your town, your keyword for that page could be âprivate yoga in xyzâ.
Once youâve entered your keyword, the SEO analysis checks the presence of your focus keyword in places such as:
- The title of the page
- The headline and subheadline
- URL
- The content of the article
- The meta description
- Image alt tags
Yoast also calculates the number of words and the density of usage of the focus keyword. Finally, the plugin checks whether youâve been using the same keyword on other pages already. This should prevent you from competing with yourself.
If youâve done well and included your keyword everywhere, Yoast will indicate this with a green bullet.
Yoast SEO now also offers a Readability Check. The readability analysis consists of readability checks such as sentence length, paragraph length, use of subheadings, use of passive voice. If you write a readable text, the plugin will indicate this with another green bullet.
A green bullet doesnât mean that your content will be in the top results on Google
Youâve done everything right, all your bullets are green, but still your page doesnât show up in the top results on Google? Unfortunately, itâs not so easy anymore. Google has only so much space for top results and you can bet that all those pages have optimized their keywords.
There are a lot of other things that Google is looking for when determining how to rank your page, such as the age of your domain, links from other websites to your page (those are called backlinks) and engagement.
Stop being obsessed by the green bullets
If youâre copy/pasting keywords throughout your content to make Yoast happy, I want you to stop it right now.
A lot of my posts are well optimized (they are super useful and organized) and half my bullets are red. Stop obsessing over green bullets and start obsessing over your content instead. Yes, you want to include your keyword in the right places, but if your content is short and doesnât bring real value it wonât be enough to get a high ranking on Google.
Donât be a slave to your chosen keyword
Yoast is a tool and only detects exact keyword matches. If youâre using synonyms, your Yoast SEO bullets will be red (which is what happens to me and Iâm totally okay with it). Even if Yoast tells you so, it doesnât always have to be an exact match.
For example, if your focus keyword is âPrivate Yoga in Londonâ and you use âPrivate Yoga Lessons in Londonâ in your content, Yoast will not pick it up. But Google is smart enough (and actually prefers it) and your readers will thank you for a text that is much nicer to read.
Also, donât forget that thereâs a fine line between writing a headline that sounds good, and writing a headline so it includes your keyword. You need to find the right balance. Crafting a headline that people will actually click on is more important than a green bullet from Yoast.
Use Yoast SEO to define your meta data
One of the most important functions of Yoast SEO is the possibility to edit your page title and meta description. They are shown on Google and when you share your page on social media, so you want to be sure that they are informative and inviting people to click.
Google uses click-through-rate (CTR) as a way of determining whether youâre a good result. If more people click your page, Google moves you up. This is why optimizing the meta description is so important, as is optimizing your titles. If youâre unsure how to do this have a look at the top results for some keywords in your niche and learn from those. Think of your title and description as an invitation for people to click.
To sum it up, use Yoast for direction but donât treat it like a magic SEO bullet. I canât say this enough: your content should always come first. That means that first and foremost, you have to write an awesome article full of value that people are happy to read. Thatâs where your efforts should go. Click here to learn 3 things you can do right now to get better results in Google. SEO copywriting remains hard work.