Useful Features of Yoast SEO Plug-in for WordPress

Yoast is the most common SEO plug-in for WordPress sites. It’s widely regarded to as the best plug-in for SEO. Yoast provides a comprehensive overview of the most important aspects of SEO combined with a simple user interface.

There are two main things that Yoast looks for:

• Search Engine Optimization Factors
• Readability Factors

Within each of these components are many details that can, in terms of both SEO and readability,  affect the strength of a web page’s content

Useful SEO features of Yoast

Yoast looks for many of the most important aspects of SEO and allows you to change them easily. Some of these include:

• Keyword Strategy: What is the focus keyword for this page, and how is it used throughout the copy? Keyword density and use of the keyword in headings are a few of the measured variables.

• URL Slug and Meta Description: Yoast allows you to easily modify the way your page will appear in search engine results and tells you the optimal way to structure this.

• Inbound and Outbound Links: Do your links work, and do you have at least one of each type? Further details regarding the quality of links are not included, but using Alexa is a good way to measure the quality of a link.

• Images: Does your page have at least one image, and does the alt text of the image contain your keyword? While Yoast doesn’t mention this, additional images should also be included for better readability.  

Speaking of readability, Yoast has a specific measurement for that as well.

Useful Readability Features of Yoast

One of the useful features of Yoast is the Fleish Readability Test. This assigns an overall score to the content of a web page. The higher the score, the more difficult the content is to read.

Some of the details Yoast uses to determine the Fleish score include:

• Length of Sentences: Too many long sentences make for less readability.
• Amount of Multisyllabic Words: Words with more than three syllables are considered to decrease readability.
• Length of Paragraphs: Shorter paragraphs are better.
• Use of Passive Voice: While it cannot always be avoided, less is better.

Clicking the icon that looks like an eye will highlight the corresponding factor throughout the text of your page. This makes it easy to correct any mistakes.

For both readability and SEO, Yoast will provide you an overall score.  Content is scored into three levels, each corresponding to a different color, like a stoplight:

• Red – Many Problems: This area needs work on multiple factors.
• Yellow – Okay:  Could be by tweaking several factors.
• Green – Excellent: You have taken care of everything that matters as best you can.

There are Countless Useful Features of Yoast SEO

In the end, the useful features of Yoast SEO are too extensive to list. Using this plug-in will greatly enhance the visibility of your WordPress site. It will also provide you with a rudimentary education of the fundamentals of web content readability and search engine optimization.

Performance First Marketing will utilize all aspects of SEO to get your site to the top of search results, and ensure your content gets the recognition and audience it deserves.