The SEO by Yoast plugin is a popular WordPress plugin that helps you optimize your website for search engines. This plugin is designed to make it easier for you to optimize your content for the keywords that you want to rank for, and it also provides suggestions for improving your website’s overall SEO. In this article, we’ll take a closer look at the plugin and explain why and how you should use it to improve your website’s search engine rankings.
One of the main reasons to use the SEO by Yoast plugin is that it helps you write better content. When you’re creating a new post or page on your website, the plugin analyzes your content and provides suggestions for improving it. For example, the plugin checks to see if your content contains your focus keyword, and it also checks to see if your content is well-organized and easy to read. By following these suggestions, you can create content that is more likely to rank well in search engines.
Another reason to use the SEO by Yoast plugin is that it helps you optimize your website’s meta tags. Meta tags, such as the title tag and meta description, are important for telling search engines what your website is about. The plugin allows you to easily customize these tags for each page and post on your website, making it easier for you to create meta tags that accurately describe your content and will help your website to rank well.
The plugin also includes a functionality of snippet preview which will show how your website will look in the search engines, it gives you the idea of how your website title and meta description will look in the search results. By using the snippet preview, you can make sure that your title tags and meta descriptions are optimized and that they will entice users to click on your website.
The SEO by Yoast plugin also helps you optimize your website’s URL structure. By default, WordPress creates URLs that include the post ID, which isn’t very SEO-friendly. The plugin allows you to change the structure of your URLs so that they’re more SEO-friendly. You can choose to include the post or page title in the URL, for example, which will make it easier for search engines to understand what your website is about.
In addition, the plugin includes an XML sitemaps functionality, which will automatically create an XML sitemap for your website and submit it to the search engines. Sitemaps help search engines to understand the structure of your website and it helps them to crawl and index your website more easily.
To use the SEO by Yoast plugin, you’ll need to install it on your WordPress website. Once it is installed and activated, you will be able to access the plugin’s settings by going to the SEO menu in the WordPress dashboard. From there, you can configure the plugin’s settings and start using it to optimize your website.
Hint: If you are using W3 Total Cache plugin on your website, make sure to activate the SEO by Yoast extension.
TLDR: The SEO by Yoast plugin is a powerful tool that can help you improve your website’s search engine rankings. By using the plugin to write better content, optimize your meta tags, and improve your URL structure, you can make it easier for search engines to understand and index your website. Additionally, features like snippet preview and XML sitemaps functionality will make the process even more efficient and user-friendly.
