Yoast SEO plugin is the best WordPress SEO plugin when working with a self-hosted WordPress site. It is the most popular WordPress SEO by Yoast plugin around and it’s easy to understand. It’s an all-rounded tool that can work for both personal and commercial websites. Yoast is a powerful tool that can help you make your site as search engine-friendly as possible. The tool can be installed on any self-hosted WordPress site. What makes it even more incredible is that the tool is completely free and very comprehensive. The WordPress SEO plugin has Yoast premium option with extensions for extra functionality, but its most important functions are part of the free plugin. With Yoast SEO tool, you can do things like control titles secuand Meta descriptions, set your targeted keywords and track how often you’re using them, manage sitemaps, and so much more
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Installing Yoast SEO Tool
If you have not installed the Yoast WordPress SEO plugin, you don’t know what you are missing. Let’s take care of that. But if you have it running, you can also benefit from this review by learning more about how to use it, which I have addressed in this article. First, let’s see how you can quickly install it. From your site’s admin dashboard, look along the left-hand side of the screen for the “Plugins” option. When you hover over it, you’ll see the “Add New” option. When you click, on “Add New” and you’ll be brought to a page with a selection of featured, popular, recommended, and favorite plugins. If Yoast is not listed among those plugins, use the search box to find it. After finding the Yoast SEO plugin, click “Install Now” and WordPress will download it, install it, and ask you to activate the plugin. Once you have installed and activated successfully, installed and activated, an option marked “SEO” on the left-hand sidebar menu of your admin dashboard will be provided.
That was the downloading and installation of this awesome tool, which is a breeze. Now you need to setup the plugin. This can be overwhelming if you’ve never used Yoast SEO before. This does not mean that you can’t handle the process. You can expect a non-stop, action-packed bumpy ride, but at the end of it all it is completely worth the time used to set it up properly. Note that the Yoast SEO settings vary from site to site that is why we won’t go for the hard and fast setting that leads to troubleshooting. I will instead walk you through what each of the settings are.
Importing settings from other SEO plugins
What will make this process easier and fast is if you have another SEO plugin running in your site? This way, you can import your settings from the other plugin. From the “SEO” option on the left-hand menu, click on “Tools,” then “Import and Export.” Select the “Import from other SEO plugins” tab. Some of this plugins include HeadSpace2, All-in-One SEO, and WooThemes SEO Framework. Check the appropriate box and click on “Import”.
For those using older Yoast SEO plugins such as Robots Meta, RSS Footer, or Yoast Breadcrumbs, you can also import settings from those plugins from the “Import from other plugins” tab. If you are not using any of the mentioned plugin, no fuss, just use the “SEO data Transporter” plugin that is recommended by Yoast. If you already have settings you’ve exported from another plugin and you want to import them, all you have to do is go to the “Import” tab, select the file you want, and hit “Import settings.”
Setting up Yoast SEO
That was the easy way out of setting Yoast. Now, if you don’t have any settings to import, you’ll have to start from scratch. After importing settings from other plugins you need to counter check if everything was entered correctly to avoid future problems. For starters, go to your site’s admin dashboard, find the “SEO” option on the left-hand side menu and click on “General.” This will bring you to a page where you’ll have the chance to set up some basic global SEO options for your site.
See More: Best Keyword Research Tools for SEO
General settings
If you prefer reverting Yoast SEO plugin to its default settings, you can do so on the “General” tab. You can also decide to take an introductory tour by clicking “Your Info.” Your Info You can tell Yoast what your site’s name here, or if any alternate name you’d like to use. You can also state whether you are a company or an individual making it easier for
Webmaster Tools
The “Webmaster Tools” tab allows you to verify that various tools you are using in your websites such as Google Search Console, Alexa, Bing Webmaster Tools, or Yandex Webmaster Tools, you can verify your site through here if your site isn’t already verified.
Security
The last thing is “the Security” tab. For single author sites, there’s really nothing to worry about so you can leave the box unchecked. But if you’re working for a multiple author site, this section is helpful. Checking this box will prevent contributors from adding content on their own, you might not necessarily want them to change those sorts of settings. All you have to do is check this box and you won’t have to worry about it.
Checkout quick video review on Yoast Seo
Source: Darrel Wilson
Final Remarks
Yoast SEO WordPress plugin is well known for its delivery on search engine optimization. It really helps in improving your SEO ranking for better visibility. Those who are using it like me can attest to this fact. The amount of functionality you get from Yoast SEO is incredible for a free plugin. Now that you’re familiar with the Yoast SEO plugin, you can make your site as search engine-friendly as possible. If you’re interested in a little extra functionality, you might want to check out the Yoast SEO premium extensions. Read other Yoast SEO reviews to make an informed decision.
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