When it comes to WordPress and SEO the only name that usually gets brought up is Yoast. Yoast is an all-in-one SEO plugin that allows seeing how the post ranks and how keyword-heavy your article is. Meaning that you can reach more people looking for your articles or website.  

The power of Yoast comes from the ability to do everything you need to optimize your post from the post creation page. This means that you can make sure that your post is displaying correctly on all social sites for shareability. As well as make sure that you are ranking in search results on Google, and or any other search engine. So, let’s dive into it! 

Getting to know Yoast 

After you have written your post and are ready to start adding your SEO attributes. The first place you want to take a look at is right below the written post section. It will be entitled Yoast SEO just like the image below. This is where all the magic will happen. I will be going over each part shortly. 

SEO Tab 

Let’s start at the very beginning with the first tab called SEO and what the colors mean. When you start the face will be red and this means that nothing has been filled out and is bad. This is where we much start and fill out each option and see where we need to improve our article to rank on search.  

The very first step is to set your defined keywords. These keywords should be what your article is going to be about. This usually would be a phrase that you are talking about like “Games as a Service” or “Gaming in the Modern Era”. This helps the search engine categorize you properly. On top of getting, you to the correct audience. 

Google Preview 

Next is my favorite part of doing this and it’s the Google Preview Section which is identical to the Facebook and Twitter Sections. This is very straightforward. What you want to achieve with this section is getting the audience’s attention with your listing. First up is the SEO Title this section is my option and what works for me is as follows. I just keep it simple I Structure it as Title, next is the Separator, and last is the Site Title. So, it would look like this “Why Social Matter for Game Development“. This way you know what the article is about and the name of the site it’s on.  

After that, the next section is going to be the Slug. This is what the link looks like generally, you don’t want to mess with this section. Unless your URL is ugly and what to change it to something better. After this section, we have the Meta Description. This part is the most important part. This is the place where you get to tease and entice the reader to click the article and stay awhile. So, make sure it summarizes what the article is all about. 

SEO Analysis 

The next section on the list is going to be right after the google preview and this is called the “SEO Analysis” section. This part is fairly straight forward and it is just a breakdown of the article. This shows all the good, bad and ugly about the article.   

During this section I want you to take your time going down the list and correct all the problems. Don’t leave them there and expect to be top of the search results. Doing this will help you get better at creating posts/articles in the future. Plus, you can’t take what you learn here and use it on other platforms for better visibility. 

Readability 

Time for the next tab and it is called “Readability”. This section is all about the way your article is written out and how easy is it for you to read. Think of any one of your favorite websites and/or books. Thin back on how it was laid out. Most of the think paragraphs are broken down in a way that isn’t overwhelming for the reader. This way you can let everything breathe. Plus, it makes it look shorter to read than it takes.  

So just like the previous section. This will have a list of good, bad, and ugly parts of your article and way to improve them. So, you really want to take the time out and go down the list and update or correct any problems on the list. This way you can make sure that the flow of the article is perfect for any future or current readers. 

Schema 

This section is called schema and will change the way it is promoted on the search engines. So, in most cases, it is best to leave it alone and leave it to default. Unless this is for a page or needs something else to fit its purpose better. Use the link in this section to see the differences. 

Social 

The last tab is called “Social” with is straightforward. This is section is the exact same as the Google Preview but for sharing on Facebook and Twitter. The reason why you want to do these is for sharing and making sure that across social media your article is taken seriously. If this section isn’t completed you risk the platform choosing random elements and images which may confuse and/or disserve your audience from taking a look at what you wrote.  

After reading everything are ready to start tackling Yoast or do you plan on using a different SEO plugin for WordPress?