The Many Benefits of Using Yoast SEO
There are many, many benefits of using Yoast SEO to optimize your website for easy ranking on Google. Search engine optimization can get complicated pretty quickly and it’s easy to get overwhelmed with what you need to know. Luckily, there are amazing tools that make SEO simple as pie, Yoast is one of the most popular. Let’s discuss how you can use Yoast SEO to further your business and get higher rankings on Google.
What is it Used for?
Yoast SEO is a plugin that makes creating optimized content a snap. Optimized content is content that will show up on the first page of a Google search. This makes it easy for people to find you when they search for something. Yoast SEO will give you specific instructions on how to make your blog post or landing page rank higher! Amazing right? Now you can take all the guesswork out of SEO. It gives you real-time fixes for optimization problems before you publish your work.
Key Features
One of the biggest benefits of using Yoast SEO is its ease of use. We use the plug-in for WordPress and have always been in awe of how easy it is to make fantastic optimized content. The main features of Yoast SEO are to tell you how well your content would rank for a specific keyword. By entering your keyword Yoast will tell you what edits you need to make for it to rank better. It uses simple colors to let you know how you’re doing. Green means you’re good to go, orange means the content could use some work, and red means it needs a lot of work. No complicated jargon, just simple to see colors!
Another key feature of Yoast SEO is its analysis of readability. Yoast SEO ranks you on how easy your text is to understand and how likely someone is to read the whole thing. Complicated language or a lot of passive voice can decrease your readability. Again, Yoast will use colors to let you know what you’re doing. Usually, there are simple fixes to get the green light.
What are the Benefits of Using Yoast SEO?
Now that you understand what Yoast SEO does and what it’s used for, we can start to dive a little deeper into the details of the plug-in and the benefits of using it. There will be a small section at the bottom of your text where your SEO analysis will be if you’re using WordPress. You’ll see a place to enter your keyword, title, meta description, and other information. After you’ve entered the information that Yoast needs it will analyze your text using the keyword you entered. From there you’ll get a color based on what Yoast finds. Of one the biggest benefits of using Yoast SEO is that its simple guide lets you see exactly what you need to change to rank better.
The best part? You’ll get specific fixes on how to make your SEO better and the color will change as soon as you make those edits, showing you the direct effect small changes can make on overall SEO. This is one of our favorite benefits of using Yoast SEO it’s so easy to see how your text improves.
Don’t forget to see how your readability is ranking too! Having clear headings and subheadings, good spelling and grammar, and good punctuation can all increase your readability score.
Why do we recommend it?
We’ve been using Yoast for years so you can trust us when we say it’s a great tool! Having a tool that allows you to easily create optimized content will make all the difference for your business. Imagine how much more business and traffic you’ll get if your content shows up on the top of a Google search instead of on the 50th page! That’s what Yoast can help you achieve.
We’d recommend Yoast to anyone that wants simple, guided steps on how to create better content (that’s everyone right?). Steps are as easy to understand as “put more keywords in your headings.” That one edit can make your page rank higher drumming up more leads and traffic than ever before.
We know you have a lot of great things to say, tips to give, and amazing things to sell. But what if no one is seeing it? You can pour your heart and soul into your business but if no one is seeing it, you won’t be successful. You should start using Yoast SEO if you feel like you’re talking and talking but no one can hear you.
Benefits of Using Yoast SEO Integrations and Platforms
Yoast is constantly expanding and offering more integrations for their plug-in. Once you have the plug-in you’ll be able to add other integrations to it to further your SEO efforts. You can integrate Wincher and see how your content will rank in real-time and get even more details on how to improve your SEO efforts. Semrush is another great integration where you can do your keyword research without leaving your post. This integration will give you a keyword research tool right in the sidebar with your Yoast tool. There are many more integrations that will help you pick up your SEO game (here’s a list of integrations)
All these different integrations allow you to further your SEO expertise and boost your content. These integrations can give you further details on how to rank better on search engines than Yoast SEO alone.
We use Yoast with WordPress and it works like a dream, but there are many other platforms that Yoast can work with. There’s no need to fret if you use Shopify, Yoast can be used in conjunction with it and help you create amazing optimized content. Yoast can also be used with WooCommerce and Drupal (full list here).
This is among the other big benefits of using Yoast SEO, it is available on other platforms besides WordPress. Many other SEO tools only work with WordPress, but Yoast SEO can be used with other systems!
The Benefits of Using Yoast SEO-Pricing
Pricing is one of the biggest benefits of using Yoast SEO! The Yoast SEO plug-in has three different tiers for pricing, each with its own set of benefits. The first tier is free! This is a great place to start if you have a small business that’s just starting out with SEO. The free tier has everything you need to start to rank in search engines. It will automatically take care of your site’s SEO and it comes with 5 academy courses so you can continue to learn about good SEO practices! That’s a heck of a bargain, and a big benefit in our eyes.
The next tier is Yoast Premium which is by far the most popular choice. It costs $99/year and has a ton of awesome uses. You’ll be the first to know about new features and tools and avoid frustrating deadlinks on your site. The Premium tier will also give content quality link suggestions as you write and have full access to the SEO academy.
The last tier is a plug-in subscription costing $229/year. This tier includes 5 Yoast plug-ins, SEO training courses, and a full year of updates and 24/7 support. By buying this tier you’ll get more bang for your buck because it’s a bundle.
Tips and Best Practices
We’ve learned a thing or two about using Yoast SEO throughout our many years of using it. Now we can share some of what we’ve learned with you to make your SEO journey easier.
- Learn basic SEO best practices- Although Yoast SEO can be used by anyone, even without any SEO basic knowledge, we recommend educating yourself on the basics. It will save you a lot of time and effort if you can write with SEO in mind. This way you won’t have to go back to fix all your mistakes after it’s already been written.
- Do your keyword research- Yoast SEO will give you tips to help you rank for the keyword you entered. However, it’s your job to find a keyword that is fitting for your industry and that has a higher chance of you ranking for it.
- Be patient- ranking on Google takes time. Typically, you won’t be on the first page of Google with just one optimized blog post. It takes a consistent effort with a lot of great content for Google to know that you’re a trustworthy site with a lot to offer. Be patient.
Similar SEO Tools
Yoast SEO isn’t the only tool to give great SEO support. There are many tools that you can use that will get you on the right track.
- Rank Math- Rank Math includes a smart wizard setup, Google search console integration, and support for local SEO. The free version has a lot to offer and can get you started without any problems.
- SEOPress- This is a great alternative to Yoast and includes content analysis with unlimited keywords, Google Analytics integration, and structured data support. SEOPress is a great place to start for beginners with SEO in WordPress.
- The SEO Framework- This tool has caching tools built in, it’s simple and very easy to use, and has SEO attack prevention. SEO Framework is a genuinely great alternative to Yoast SEO and adds several other useful features on top of that.
Looking for SEO Help?
Even with all these amazing tools readily available, SEO can still be a little overwhelming and complicated. That’s where Shanty Town comes in! Shanty Town is full of SEO experts that can help you integrate Yoast SEO into your WordPress website with ease. We’ll help you boost your rankings and get more traffic to your website. Please reach out to us with any questions and we’d be glad to get you up and going in the world of SEO.
