The following is my own personalised how-to guide for using the “Yoast SEO” plugin for WordPress, formerly known and “WordPress SEO”, valid for version 2.3.4, but also applicable with some minor differences for previous versions from 2.0 and upward. I give this SEO plugin 9.5 out of 10 points and probably the best choice of all SEO plugins I have trialed. I’ll look at the following key elements in this overview: General, Title & Metas, XML Sitemaps, Tools, Search Console, and Yoast SEO Meta Box on individual pages.
Yoast SEO is an absolutely fabulous tool for WordPress users and is included in every single WordPress installation I set up. It’s my “go-to” SEO product for WordPress.
Image used with permission: https://yoast.com
Yoast SEO is an absolutely fabulous tool for WordPress users. Whenever I set up a new development server for a client’s website build, Yoast SEO is included in every single WordPress installation. It’s our “go-to” SEO product for WordPress. I generally won’t bother looking at any other SEO plugin, because Yoast SEO does pretty much everything that I need for most clients’ SEO projects. Yes, I do use other plugins in WordPress that I use for SEO purposes, but they might not necessarily be an SEO plugin as such. Things like header and footer code insertion, or 301 redirect plugins. I’ll detail those in another article some time. Yoast SEO also comes in a Premium version, which I’m yet to trial, plus there are a further three extensions for Video SEO, News SEO and Local SEO. When I get the chance, I’ll be putting those to use and reporting on how I was able to put them to best use, but for now, let’s continue looking at the free version of Yoast SEO…
If you own or operate a WordPress website, you really need to use this plugin.
My Essential Guide to Using Yoast SEO is a 6000 word overview in easy-to-follow language with contextual links to other resources to help you on your way. Get free access to a comprehensive 10 Step Guide to SEO (here), extensive SEO Glossary (here) with explanations on just about anything you can think of for SEO, plus insights into the Google Ranking Factors for 2015 (here).
It’s free. Enjoy.
