SEO + Follow

In this post, we want to go into the importance of upgrading your PHP if you are using an older, unsupported version. This is crucial when it comes to the security and speed of your website. So don’t click away just yet, because we have an important update regarding Yoast SEO, Yoast SEO Premium, and …

XML sitemaps are essential for every site’s SEO strategy and are a big part of our core Yoast SEO product. Both Google and Bing have recently renewed emphasis on properly using the lastmod (last modified) tag in XML sitemaps. The leading search engines now advise site owners to use this feature properly for better crawling …

In the SEO universe, paradigm shifting insights can suddenly appear out of nowhere, like a decloaking warbird a little too close to the neutral zone, catching even the most seasoned captains by surprise. The recent Google API leak has sent such a shockwave through the SEO quadrant, igniting intense discussions and debates within the community. …

Google has many interesting free tools, but two important ones for helping you improve your site are Search Console and the Rich Results Testing Tool. Search Console helps you get a general feel for how your site is doing in the SERPs, plus keep an eye on any errors to fix and improvements to make. …

As Google rolls out its new AI Overviews, SEO professionals and website owners must adapt to these changes to maintain and improve their search rankings. Google’s AI Overview, powered by the advanced Gemini model, integrates generative AI into the SERP. It provides users with summarized answers to complex queries at the top — well above …

Why is email marketing an important element of your marketing strategy? Because it’s a great tool to create and nurture a dedicated audience. Plus, it’s relatively easy to set up. In this post, we’ll discuss the basics of email marketing and give you a few practical tips on how to get started. The four benefits of email …

SEO is crucial for any online store. One key aspect that Yoast SEO needs to help you improve the SEO of your product pages is a focus keyphrase. This guide will help you find and fill in the proper focus keyphrase using Yoast SEO. Understanding the focus keyphrase The focus keyphrase is the main keyword …

Google Search Console (GSC) is a powerful tool for site owners. It helps you monitor and maintain your site’s presence in the SERPs. One of the common issues you might encounter is the “Crawled — currently not indexed” status. This message means that Google has crawled your page but hasn’t indexed it. As a result, …

At Yoast, we talk a lot about writing and readability. We consider it an essential part of SEO. Your text needs to be easy to follow and it needs to satisfy your users’ needs. This focus on your user will help your rankings. However, we rarely talk about how search engines like Google read and …

Artificial intelligence (AI) continues to reshape how we interact with information. Google introduced AI Overviews in its search engine yesterday, marking a new milestone. These new features promise to enhance user experience by providing quick, comprehensive answers to complex queries. However, they also raise important questions about the future of content creation, monetization, and information …

SEO can be explained as any effort you make to improve your website. But did you know there’s an important distinction between on-page and off-page SEO? Optimizing your website is called on-page SEO and includes things like site structure, content and speed optimization. Off-page SEO entails, among other things, link building, social media, and local …

Having awesome products is why people would shop in your Shopify store. But there are many options to get people to notice those amazing products. One of those is content marketing, and then specifically blogging. This article will give practical tips on improving your Shopify store’s blog posts. Main reasons to publish blog posts on …

Exciting news! Yoast SEO for Shopify’s latest update brings a brand new dashboard feature. Say hello to the Optimization overview – a pre-made priority list for your store’s SEO. Get a quick bird’s-eye view of your store’s performance and know exactly where to optimize first! We’ve also fine-tuned the sidebar menu for smoother navigation and …

Beyond getting visitors to your site, you have the crucial task of converting them into engaged customers—whether they sign up for a newsletter, complete a contact form, or make a purchase. A/B testing is an important tool to maximize the value of your organic (and paid) traffic and grow your business. But do it wrong, …

Yoast SEO 22.6 is out today! This release has many performance and quality-of-life fixes to improve your favorite SEO plugin. Plus, we’re asking you to update your PHP versions. Find out what’s new in this post! Performance enhancements We’ve upgraded the processing of user metadata in this release, leading to improved performance, especially in generating …

Google’s algorithm updates can shift the visibility of your sites. In March 2024, Google launched one of its biggest core algorithm updates yet, giving many people food for thought. This update differs from previous ones, as it targets low-quality, often AI-generated, content that’s cluttering search results. All of this affects the quality of information users …

If you want to reach a younger audience, you need to look into TikTok. Almost half of TikTok’s user base is under 30 years old. So if that’s a market you want to target, you should consider creating a TikTok account and a TikTok strategy. In this post, we’ll give you 5 tips on how …

Writing a well structured blog post and an SEO-friendly blog post at the same time can be a challenge, this guide helps you out!

Continuing the theme of optimization and refinements, our Yoast SEO 22.5 release includes general maintenance updates across the plugin. We also improved guidance around best practices for taxonomies and a more effortless user experience overall.  Fine-tuning for taxonomy pages Taxonomy pages, including categories and tags, are crucial in structuring website content, especially for e-commerce platforms. …

Your site should be mobile-friendly. Because nowadays, most people are searching on Google with their phone. But what does it mean to have a mobile-friendly site? And where do you start? In this SEO basics article, you’ll find an overview of what you could do to improve your mobile site. When is a site mobile-friendly? …

We often get the question of how long an online text should be. As this often depends on different factors, it’s difficult to give just one answer. But looking from an SEO and user-oriented perspective, there is a rule of thumb you can follow. We advise writing more than 300 words for posts or pages, …

Want to start using AI? Are you interested in the challenges and opportunities of generative AI? Or are you curious about how AI impacts search engines and the web? We’ve now added a new course to Yoast SEO academy: AI for SEO. In this course, you’ll learn about AI so you can take your SEO …

Get ready for a smoother ride with Yoast SEO 22.4! This update packs a punch, improving performance, fixing bugs and enhancing your overall user experience. Say goodbye to pesky ‘elementor’ slugs and enjoy seamless navigation. Plus, thanks to Yoast WooCommerce SEO 16.2, our webshop customers will better control how their product variants show to shoppers …

WordPress 6.5 is live! Once again, the WordPress team, consisting of people from all over the world, has many new improvements for us. We looked at the exciting, new features and listed them for you. So, let’s see how you can use these changes to improve your WordPress website now that the release is live. …

A new day, a new trend. For businesses and content creators, it sure feels that way sometimes. If you’re not on top of trends, it might be difficult to engage your audience. So, what should you do? Is it still possible to create and maintain a holistic SEO strategy, while keeping your users entertained?  What …

Google’s Core Web Vitals have emerged as critical metrics for SEO. These metrics help you optimize your websites for a superior user experience. A new player is making headlines among these vital metrics: Interaction to Next Paint (INP). This one replaces the First Input Delay (FID). This post will explain what INP entails, its significance, …

Yoast SEO automatically handles all sorts of things for your site. Features like meta tags, schema, sitemaps, and content analysis help you rank higher in organic search results. However, you may have a custom or specific use case that requires adjusting how our plugin works for your site. Yoast SEO includes filters that allow you …

Yoast SEO 22.3 introduces a highly-requested AI feature exclusively for our Yoast SEO Premium customers. AI-generated titles and descriptions—simply input your keyphrase for SEO-optimized suggestions. Effortlessly enhance category and tag pages, save time, and stay ahead in SEO. Yoast SEO 22.3 also includes additional refinements and fixes, enhancing the user experience from which all our …

Google doesn’t always spider every page on a site instantly. Sometimes, it can take weeks. This might get in the way of your SEO efforts. Your newly optimized landing page might not get indexed. At that point, it’s time to optimize your crawl budget. In this article, we’ll discuss what a ‘crawl budget’ is and what …

Starting with SEO can be hard, but tools like Yoast SEO simplify the process. One crucial feature is our traffic light system. We’ve designed this system to guide you and your content toward SEO success. Let’s find out what these traffic lights mean for your work in Yoast SEO. How the Yoast SEO traffic lights …