The big question for WordPress users and developers is which is the best Search Engine Optimization Plugin.
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the most important topic for ranking you website higher on Google. By applying SEO principles, by default it means that you pay attention to quality and optimized content that over the long-run will drive more traffic to your website. You can also check our SEO tools website.
Search Engine Optimization Plugin by Yoast
The majority of webmasters are already familiar with one of the best SEO Plugins, the Yoast SEO. This is a superb Plugin that if used wisely and appropriately it can deliver astonishing results.
Prior to start looking at Yoast SEO, the very first step is to install the Plugin and have it ready for implementation. You can also view some parts of this Plugin on one of our previous articles by clicking here and viewing point C of that article.
In this article we are going to mainly focus on content optimization, therefore to start using Yoast SEO, you must either have ready made created pages or articles that you wish to optimize, or start preparing new pages or articles and optimize them as you go along.
As you can see on the image very below, this is the checklist of SEO items which Yoast considers important for optimizing pages or articles in full. The below checklist refers to an article that is fully optimized, having passed all checks with green color.
In the scenario where some checks would fail we would then have an indication of red color, whereas points that are of medium SEO level we would have an indication of orange color.
Let’s now view and explain each checklist point one by one in some detail (view the content below / after this image).
A. Outbound links
These are the links or link which you include in the content of your page or article that redirects to an external site or portal. This shows Google that you are a “fair” competitor in the game of ranking, as well as that you care for your users education and want them to learn more about a specific subject.
B. Image Keyphrase
While adding images to your content, it is important to include the so called “ALT-TEXT” to your image. The “ALT-TEXT” is your keyphrase.
C. Images
By including images to your article or web page you are again optimizing for SEO. With images it’s another way to explain your content to your users, as well as making it more interesting for them.
D. Internal links
These links have the opposite approach compared to Outbound links. This type of links are links that you include within your web page or article content that redirect the users to another web page or article within your website.
E. Keyphrase in introduction
When creating content for an article or web page, you should always try to include your keyphrase in your very first sentence.
F. Keyphrase length
Your keyphrase you are writing content about, for your web page or article, should not be big in length but not too short. The ideal size is four to five words.
G. Keyphrase density
This parameter defines the number of times your keyphrase appears within your web page or article content. Depending on the length of your content, Yoast SEO will be letting you know how many times you have to add your keyphrase.
H. Keyphrase in meta description
The meta description is the area where a short description of your web page or article is demonstrated in the search results. In your meta description your should always include your keyphrase.
I. Meta description length
The length of your meta description should not be too big nor too short. Yoast SEO will be letting you know whether you have met the desired length.
J. Previously used keyphrase
When preparing a web page or article it is important to include every time, or base your content every time, on a different keyphrases. Using the same keyphrase over and over again can have a negative impact on your SEO strategy and website ranking.
K. Keyphrase in subheading
Your keyphrase can also be included in your subheadings, such as your “inside content titles” in simpler words that comprise of the H2 and H3 heading types.
L. Text length
To fully optimize an article or web page length, your content length should be more than 300 words in total. A better length is between the range of 1000 – 1500 words. In general through, as long as you are providing quality and optimized content that is more than 300 words you’ve still done a great job.
M. Keyphrase in title
Your keyphrase should also be included on your web page or article’s title. In other words, your whole content starts from your title, as your title will define at the end of the day what you will write content about.
N. SEO title width
Your title is strongly associated or correlated with your keyphrase. If your keyphrase is between four to five words and is actually your whole title, you should then keep this limit. Alternatively, if your keyphrase is made of two words, then it is advisable to add another two to three words to have a complete title width of four to five words in total.
O. Keyphrase in slug
This SEO factor or parameter takes into consideration the appearance of your keyphrase in the URL link of your article or web page.
And we are done! You are now in a good position to understand why Yoast SEO is the best Search Engine Optimization Plugin with regards to WordPress.
If you are still finding some difficulties to understand the above terms and definitions, you can always contact us and we will come back to you.
