=== Yoast SEO ===
Contributors: yoast, joostdevalk, tdevalk
Donate link: https://yoa.st/1up
License: GPLv3
License URI: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
Tags: SEO, XML sitemap, Content analysis, Readability, Schema
Tested up to: 6.3
Stable tag: 21.1
Requires PHP: 7.2.5
Improve your WordPress SEO: Write better content and have a fully optimized WordPress site using the Yoast SEO plugin.
== Description ==
## YOAST SEO: THE #1 WORDPRESS SEO PLUGIN
Supercharge your website's visibility and attract organic traffic with Yoast SEO, the WordPress SEO plugin trusted by millions worldwide.
With those millions of users, we've definitely helped someone like you! Users of our plugin range from owners of small-town bakeries and local physical stores to some of the world's largest and most influential organizations. And we've done this since 2008!
Yoast SEO Free provides the essentials to kickstart your SEO, and the [Yoast SEO Premium](https://yoa.st/1v8) plugin and its extensions unlock extra tools and functionality to take your SEO to the next level.
### SEO FOR EVERYONE, MADE BY SEO EXPERTS
SEO is the most consistent and cost-effective website traffic source, but it can be a challenging and complex maze. Luckily, you don't have to do this alone. We're here to help!
Yoast's mission is **SEO for everyone**. Whether you're a beginner or a seasoned expert, Yoast SEO equips you with all the essentials to navigate the complexities of SEO, turning those challenges into opportunities for growth and success.
### STAY ON TOP OF SEO WITH NEW FEATURES
Creating engaging and optimized SEO titles and meta descriptions has never been easier, faster, and more precise! With our latest feature, the AI title & meta description generator, you'll certainly save time. The feature is currently in beta and is available for [Yoast SEO Premium](https://yoa.st/1v8) users.
### WHY YOAST SEO?
Are you agonizing over the intricate details of search engine optimization? Are you losing sleep trying to crack the code of SEO algorithms? Is the ever-evolving landscape of SEO leaving you overwhelmed and behind the curve?
These are the common struggles website owners face when trying to master the art of SEO and gain that coveted top spot in search results.
With Yoast SEO, you can overcome these challenges and unlock extraordinary gains:
* Beat the competition: Leave your rivals in the dust with our powerful SEO tools. Outperform industry competitors and enjoy the traffic and recognition you deserve.
* Streamline your SEO strategy: Bid farewell to the complexities of SEO. Yoast SEO handles the technical aspects, such as canonical URLs and meta tags, automating essential optimizations behind the scenes. Unleash your focus on creating captivating content that connects with your audience.
* Climb those rankings: Take advantage of advanced features like XML sitemaps, title and meta description templating, and Schema.org structured data integration. Empower search engines to fully understand and appreciate your website, helping you reach the top of search results.
* Optimize content mastery: Yoast SEO offers comprehensive analysis tools that help elevate your content's SEO and readability. Get powerful insights and actionable recommendations to craft extraordinary content that resonates with readers and search engines. But there's more! Yoast SEO Premium has unique generative AI features to help write awesome titles and meta descriptions.
* Elevate user experience: Yoast SEO paves the way for an exceptional website experience. Engage your audience with intuitive site breadcrumbs, fast loading times, and great content!
### LET'S GO OVER KEY FEATURES IN YOAST SEO
Yoast SEO helps you do WordPress SEO in many ways. Let's take a look!
#### QUICK AND EASY SETUP TO GET YOU STARTED
Setting up your Yoast SEO plugin is smooth, hassle-free, and doesn't require any advanced knowledge! Our step-by-step first-time configuration walks you through the essentials, helping you get your SEO up and running quickly.
You'll be prompted to fill in key details about your site during the setup. This enables Yoast SEO to translate all this information into structured data, which helps search engines better understand your content and website!
Are you already using another SEO plugin? No worries! Transitioning from other plugins to Yoast SEO is a breeze. We've designed it to be seamless, ensuring you don't lose critical data.
Connecting your site to vital webmaster tools like Google's Search Console usually requires technical know-how. But with Yoast SEO, that's a thing of the past. Our integration simplifies the process, making it something you can do in less than 5 minutes. Of course, we'll guide you along the way!
#### TAKING CARE OF YOUR TECHNICAL SEO NEEDS
Although technical optimization is a big part of SEO, it's not easy.\
Yoast understands that only some people who work on SEO are experts or have the time to dive into the technical aspects of a website. That's why Yoast SEO handles much of the technical optimization, freeing up your time to work on other parts of your website, like writing awesome content that attracts visitors.
* Get automated technical SEO improvements, like optimized meta tags, right out of the box.
* Add canonical URLs to tell search engines which content they should show when you have pages with similar content.
* Get advanced XML sitemaps, making it effortless for search engines to understand your site structure and index your web pages effectively.
* Elevate your brand presence with customizable titles and meta description templating, ensuring consistent and compelling search result snippets that drive click-through rates.
* Get best-in-class Schema.org structured data integration, significantly increasing your chances of getting visually rich search results that attract more users.
* Take complete control over your site's breadcrumbs, allowing visitors and search engines to navigate your website seamlessly.
* Significantly improves your website's loading times, courtesy of Yoast SEO's innovative data management techniques tailored for WordPress.
* [Advanced] Yoast SEO comes with a wide range of crawl settings that optimize how search engines crawl your site and reduce its carbon footprint. This lowers your site's environmental impact and contributes to a sustainable web.
#### WRITE AWESOME CONTENT THAT USERS AND SEARCH ENGINES LOVE
Unlock the full potential of your content with Yoast SEO's state-of-the-art content analysis. Crafting compelling content becomes easier with Yoast SEO's suite of features designed to help you increase your website's content performance.
* Leverage detailed SEO analysis that guides you toward creating SEO-friendly content, allowing you to target the right keywords and boost your visibility in search results.
* Drive engagement and enhance readability with the integrated readability analysis. Ensure your content is clear, concise, and effortlessly readable by humans and search engines alike.
* To effectively cater to a global audience, benefit from Yoast SEO's full language support for English, German, French, Dutch, Spanish, Italian, Russian, Indonesian, Polish, Portuguese, Arabic, Swedish, Hebrew, Hungarian, Turkish, Czech, Norwegian, Slovak, and Greek.
* Preview your content as it will appear in search results directly within Yoast SEO, even on mobile devices. This helps you to fine-tune your meta titles and descriptions to maximize click-through rates.
* Enable your HowTo content to be displayed in search results by using the innovative Schema structured data blocks for the WordPress block editor
* A dedicated breadcrumbs block ensures your users always know their location within your website.
* Embrace inclusivity in your content creation process with the inclusive language analysis. This optional feature analyzes your text and provides suggestions to make your content more inclusive and considerate of different audiences. By using inclusive language, you can create a welcoming environment and ensure your content resonates with diverse groups of people.
* Seamlessly do keyword research right within the plugin with the Semrush integration. Find out what related keywords people are searching for, so you can optimize your content to reach more audiences.
* Track your rankings in Yoast SEO with the Wincher integration. Yoast SEO and Wincher show how your content and keywords rank in Google. So that you immediately know if your optimizations are paying off or if you need to take more action!
* Are you using Elementor to build your website? No worries because Yoast SEO integrates with Elementor. Take advantage of all Yoast SEO's benefits within your favorite website builder!
* Yoast SEO Premium even has advanced AI features, helping you write titles and meta descriptions at the touch of a button thanks to generative AI. We don't use a credit system for this, so this artificial intelligence tool is free to use once you have Yoast SEO Premium.
#### KEEP YOUR SITE IN SHAPE FOR SEO
Yoast SEO empowers you to keep your website in perfect shape, regardless of your role or expertise:
* Fine-tune your website's engine, allowing you to focus on creating engaging and valuable content. With Yoast SEO, technical optimization becomes effortless, allowing you to prioritize what truly matters.
* Structure your website easily using Yoast SEO's cornerstone content features, enabling search engines to understand and index your most important pages effectively.
* Translate valuable content into structured data where applicable, allowing search engines to fully comprehend your website's meaning and context.
* Streamline collaboration and empower your team with SEO roles, granting specific access to colleagues and stakeholders. Efficiently manage your SEO strategy and ensure everyone is aligned toward achieving optimal results.
* Yoast SEO includes a powerful front-end SEO inspector that allows you to preview and fine-tune the SEO settings directly on your website's front end. With this intuitive tool, you can easily optimize elements such as meta titles, meta descriptions, URL slugs, robots meta tags, and structured data by seeing their appearance in real-time.
* Yoast SEO has a regular 2-week update cycle, ensuring you always stay up-to-date with the latest development and updates from search engines.
#### POWERFUL INTEGRATION WITH OTHER TOOLS
Yoast SEO seamlessly integrates with various themes, plugins, and tools to enhance the user experience and improve your WordPress SEO workflow.
* Leverage Yoast SEO's optimized compatibility with the [WordPress block editor](https://wordpress.org/support/article/wordpress-editor/) (or 'Gutenberg' editor) for a seamless content creation experience.
* Take your storytelling to the next level with [Google's Web Stories](https://wordpress.org/plugins/web-stories/%5C) plugin, allowing you to create captivating and interactive [web stories](https://amp.dev/about/stories/).
* Utilize the full potential of the [Advanced Custom Fields](https://wordpress.org/plugins/advanced-custom-fields/) plugin when combined with the [ACF Content Analysis for Yoast SEO](https://wordpress.org/plugins/acf-content-analysis-for-yoast-seo/) plugin, enriching your content with structured data while reaping the benefits of Yoast SEO's powerful analysis.
* Seamlessly integrate Yoast SEO with the [Elementor](https://wordpress.org/plugins/elementor/) website builder, empowering you to optimize your stunning designs effectively.
* Elevate your site search quality with [Algolia](https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-search-with-algolia/) integration, ensuring users can effortlessly find the content they want.
* Utilize the [WordProof](https://wordproof.com/) plugin, which adds timestamps to your content, proving ownership and establishing credibility.
* Combine Yoast SEO with Semrush, a leading SEO tool. Access comprehensive keyword data directly within Yoast SEO, empowering you to supercharge your SEO strategy with data-driven insights.
* Connect your Yoast SEO plugin with Wincher, a powerful SEO tracking tool. Monitor your keyword rankings, and track your website's visibility in search results. Stay on top of your SEO performance and make data-driven decisions to improve your website's ranking.
Choose Yoast SEO for unparalleled compatibility with your preferred tools and seamless integration into your existing WordPress setup.
#### TRUST THE EXPERTS
Yoast is powered by expert developers, testers, software architects, and SEO consultants. They work constantly to stay at the cutting edge of WordPress SEO and to improve the plugin with every release.
#### WE'LL ONBOARD YOU AND HELP YOU DO SEO
You may wonder, "What do I do after installing the plugin?" It's a common question, and we understand that the world of SEO can seem daunting at first glance.
That's why we don't leave you to figure things out alone at Yoast. We're here to help you succeed with your SEO goals because empowering our users is at the core of our philosophy!
Onboarding experience: After you install the plugin and run the first-time setup wizard, we offer an intuitive onboarding experience that guides you through the essential settings and features. This ensures you're making the most out of your new plugin, step by step.
Webinars: Want to learn how to get started with SEO and interact with experts from Yoast? Our regular webinars provide live and interactive learning experiences. They cover various topics and are designed to help you get started with SEO, no matter your skill level.
Courses in Yoast SEO academy: If you're looking for a structured learning path, our Yoast SEO academy offers a variety of online courses, both free and paid. You can follow the courses at your own pace and learn when you want. These lessons cover everything from the basics of WordPress to advanced SEO techniques, catering to beginners and experienced users.
Blogs section: Our regularly updated blog is a treasure trove of information, filled with practical tips, insights, and guides on how to improve your SEO. Whether you're looking for a quick fix or an in-depth analysis, our blog covers you.
Newsletter: Stay in the loop with our newsletter. It's more than just news; it's a timely update on important changes and trends in the SEO world. We sift through the noise to bring you what matters, so you can take informed action when it counts. We'll also provide you with tips and guides on how to improve your SEO.
When you choose Yoast SEO, you're never alone in your journey. We're with you every step of the way, providing the resources and support you need to take your online presence to new heights.
#### EXPAND YOUR SEO KNOWLEDGE WITH ONLINE COURSES
With [Yoast SEO academy](https://yoa.st/3ri), learning SEO becomes accessible and engaging. Whether you're starting fresh or looking to sharpen your skills, our free courses provide a solid foundation in WordPress and SEO.
Investing in [Yoast SEO Premium](https://yoa.st/1v8) gives you FULL access to all courses, from SEO copywriting, ecommerce SEO, and technical SEO to Local SEO. These courses equip you with more advanced knowledge, skills, and tips to help your website grow and succeed. Get two great products for a single price and become a master of SEO with Yoast SEO Premium and the Yoast SEO academy!
### SERIOUS ABOUT GETTING HIGHER RANKINGS AND MORE TRAFFIC?
Not only do you get many additional benefits by upgrading to [Yoast SEO Premium](https://yoa.st/1v8), but you'll also get 24/7 personalized support that takes away your worry.
* Optimize your content and diversify your keywords using synonyms and related keyphrases in Yoast SEO Premium. Expand your reach and deliver more natural, engaging content to your audience. You can optimize up to 5 keyphrases with the Premium version.
* Optimizes your articles for different word forms, singular and plural variations, different verb forms, synonyms, and related keyphrases, thanks to the semantic understanding technology in Yoast SEO Premium.
* Seamlessly handle URL changes or page deletions with Yoast SEO Premium's redirect manager. Automatically create redirects to prevent "404: page not found" errors and retain valuable traffic and backlinks.
* Get internal linking suggestions in real-time. Yoast SEO Premium enhances your article's depth and authority by recommending related posts to link to.
* Gain precise control over your page's appearance on social networks like Facebook and Twitter with Social Previews in Yoast SEO Premium. Customize your social presence and entice users to engage with your content effectively.
* Simplify your SEO workflows and get guidance to work on time-consuming SEO tasks, like finding unlinked content, with the Yoast SEO workouts.
* Get actionable feedback on using intricate vocabulary to enhance your writing and make it accessible to a broader audience. (Note: This feature is currently available in English and beta.)
* Take advantage of the IndexNow integration, which instantly pings search engines like Microsoft Bing every time you publish or update content to ensure timely indexing.
* Easily create optimized SEO titles and meta descriptions at the touch of a button, thanks to generative AI. Crafting optimized and engaging SEO titles and meta descriptions has never been faster and easier. We don't use a credit system for this, so this artificial intelligence tool is free to use once you have Yoast SEO Premium.
* Get 24/7 personalized e-mail support, so no matter when a question or issue arises, you're never left in the dark. Whether it's a technical hurdle or simply a need for guidance, our dedicated support team is always available to assist.
### EXTEND YOUR WORDPRESS SEO
Take your WordPress SEO to new heights with these powerful Yoast SEO add-ons:
* [Yoast Local SEO](https://yoa.st/1uu): Optimize your website for a local audience, drive foot traffic to your local stores, and establish a strong presence in the local search results.
* [Yoast Video SEO](https://yoa.st/1uw): Improves the loading speed of your video and ensures that Google fully understands the content of your videos. This helps you rank your videos higher in video search results.
* [Yoast News SEO](https://yoa.st/1uv): Amplify your visibility and performance in Google News, allowing your news website to reach a broader audience.
* [Yoast WooCommerce SEO](https://yoa.st/3rh): Enhance your online shop's discoverability with extra tools and functionality designed specifically for online shops, helping you drive more targeted traffic and dominate the search results for your products.
### BUG REPORTS
Did you come across a bug while using Yoast SEO? We welcome your bug reports! To provide comprehensive details and track the progress of resolutions, please report bugs in the WordPress SEO [repository on GitHub](https://github.com/Yoast/wordpress-seo). Please note that GitHub is not a support forum, but an efficient platform for addressing and resolving issues efficiently.
### THERE'S MORE TO LEARN ABOUT SEO
For a comprehensive resource on search engine optimization and Yoast SEO, explore our [official website](https://yoast.com/%5C), which is rich with insights and inspiration. Seek resolutions and guidance in our extensively curated help center, designed to empower you with the knowledge required to optimize your website effectively.
Take your SEO skills to new heights with "[WordPress SEO - The Definitive Guide](https://yoa.st/1v6)" by Yoast - a must-read for WordPress enthusiasts. Discover more exceptional plugins and solutions by Team Yoast, tailored to enhance your digital presence and achieve unparalleled success.
Stay updated with the latest developments and analyses by following Yoast on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Begin your journey to extraordinary SEO results with Yoast SEO today!
== Installation ==
Starting with Yoast SEO consists of just two steps: installing and setting up the plugin. Yoast SEO is designed to work with your site’s specific needs, so don’t forget to go through the Yoast SEO first-time configuration as explained in the ‘after activation’ step!
### INSTALL YOAST SEO FROM WITHIN WORDPRESS
1. Visit the plugins page within your dashboard and select ‘Add New’;
1. Search for ‘Yoast SEO’;
1. Activate Yoast SEO from your Plugins page;
1. Go to ‘after activation’ below.
### INSTALL YOAST SEO MANUALLY
1. Upload the ‘wordpress-seo’ folder to the /wp-content/plugins/ directory;
1. Activate the Yoast SEO plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress;
1. Go to ‘after activation’ below.
### AFTER ACTIVATION
1. You should see (a notice to start) the Yoast SEO first-time configuration;
1. Go through this configuration and set up the plugin for your site;
1. You’re done!
== Frequently Asked Questions ==
= How do the XML Sitemaps in the Yoast SEO plugin work? =
Having an XML sitemap can be beneficial for SEO, as Google can retrieve essential pages of a website very fast, even if the internal linking of a site isn’t flawless.
The sitemap index and individual sitemaps are updated automatically as you add or remove content and will include the post types you want search engines to index. Post Types marked as noindex will not appear in the sitemap. [Learn more about XML Sitemaps](https://yoa.st/3qt).
= How can I add my website to Google Search Console? =
It is straightforward to add your website to Google Search Console.
1. Create a Google Search Console account and login into your account.
2. Click ‘Add a property’ under the search drop-down.
3. Enter your website URL in the box and click ‘Continue’.
4. Click the arrow next to ‘HTML tag’ to expand the option.
5. Copy the meta tag.
6. Log in to your WordPress website.
7. Click on ‘SEO’ in the dashboard.
8. Click on ‘General’.
9. Click on the ‘Webmaster Tools’ tab.
10. Paste the code in the Google field and click ‘Save Changes’.
11. Go back to Google Search Console and click ‘Verify’.
If you want more details steps, please visit [our article on our help center](https://yoa.st/3qu).
= How do I implement Yoast SEO breadcrumbs? =
The steps below are a temporary solution as manual edits made to theme files may be overwritten with future theme updates. Please contact the theme developer for a permanent solution. We’ve written an article about the [importance of breadcrumbs for SEO](https://yoa.st/3qv).
To implement the [breadcrumbs](https://yoa.st/3qw) function in Yoast SEO, you will have to edit your theme. We recommend that prior to any editing of the theme files, a backup is taken. Your host provider can help you take a backup.
Copy the following code into your theme where you want the breadcrumbs to be. If you are not sure, you will need to experiment with placement:
<code>
<?php
if ( function_exists( 'yoast_breadcrumb' ) ) {
yoast_breadcrumb( '<p id="breadcrumbs">','</p>' );
}
?>
</code>
Common places where you could place your breadcrumbs are inside your `single.php` and/or `page.php` file just above the page’s title. Another option that makes it really easy in some themes is by just pasting the code in `header.php` at the very end.
In most non-WooTheme themes, this code snippet should not be added to your `functions.php` file.
Alternatively, you can manually add the breadcrumb shortcode to individual posts or pages: `[wpseo_breadcrumb]`
If you need more details or a step by step guide, read our [Implementation guide for Yoast SEO breadcrumbs](https://yoa.st/3qx).
= How do I noindex URLS? =
Yoast SEO provides multiple options for setting a URL or group of URLs to noindex. [Read more about how to do this in this guide](https://yoa.st/3qy/).
= Google shows the wrong description, how do I fix this? =
If you’ve crafted nice meta descriptions for your blog posts, nothing is more annoying than Google showing another description for your site completely in the search result snippet.
Possible causes could be:
1. wrong description in code
2. Google cache is outdated
3. Search term manipulation
4. Google ignored the meta description
You can [read more here on how to solve the issue with the wrong description](https://yoa.st/3qz).
= How often is Yoast SEO updated? =
Yoast SEO is updated every two weeks. If you want to know why, please read [this post on why we release every two weeks](https://yoa.st/3q-)!
= How do I get support? =
As our free plugin is used by millions of people worldwide, we cannot offer you all one on one support. If you have trouble with the Yoast SEO for WordPress plugin, you can get help on the support forums here at [wordpress.org](https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-seo/) or by checking out our help center at [yoast.com/help/](https://yoa.st/3r1).
The plugins you buy at Yoast are called ‘premium plugins’ (even if Premium isn’t in its name) and include a complete year of free updates and premium support. This means you can contact our support team if you have any questions about that plugin.
[Read more on how to get support](https://yoa.st/3r2)
= What happens to my data if I enable usage tracking? =
[This page on yoast.com explains what data we collect to improve Yoast SEO](https://yoa.st/4w7). We only collect data when you explicitly opt in. Read more about how we handle your data in [our Privacy Policy](https://yoa.st/4w8).
= I have a different question than listed here =
Your question has most likely been answered on our help center: [yoast.com/help/](https://yoa.st/1va).
== Screenshots ==
1. The modern interface makes Yoast SEO easy to work with.
2. Easily manage how your posts and pages appear in SERPs.
3. Yoast SEO Premium has extra crawl optimization options.
4. Yoast SEO integrates with tools like Semrush and Wincher.
5. The famous SEO and readability analyses in Yoast SEO.
6. See what your post looks like in Google.
7. The First-time configuration helps you get started quickly.
8. The inclusive language analysis in Yoast SEO.
== Changelog ==
= 21.1 =
Release date: 2023-09-05
Here's Yoast SEO 21.1! After the AI release, we're back with an update filled with fixes and enhancements to improve your SEO work. Check it out! Find out more about what's new in Yoast SEO 21.1 in [our release post](https://yoa.st/release-5-9-23)!
#### Bugfixes
* Fixes a bug where an error could occur when an indexable was outdated. Props to @jaimearroyonavia.
* Fixes a bug where the cleanup routine would throw an error when on multisites.
* Fixes a bug where the notification for a new content type in the notification center would not be dismissed when installing Elementor and reviewing the new content types.
#### Other
* Adds an attribute to the link "See who contributed to" to open in a new browser tab, located in the General tab. Props to @nathanwritescode-uk.
= 21.0 =
Release date: 2023-08-22
We're thrilled to announce Yoast SEO 21.0! This update is geared at making your SEO journey smoother and more successful. We're introducing our first step into AI with automatic titles and meta description generation in Yoast SEO Premium. Find out more about what's new in Yoast SEO 21.0 in [our release post](https://yoa.st/release-22-8-23)!
#### Other
* Sets the WordPress tested up to version to 6.3.
= Earlier versions =
For the changelog of earlier versions, please refer to [the changelog on yoast.com](https://yoa.st/yoast-seo-changelog).
