Yoast SEO Best Practices to Boost Website Traffic and Rankings

Yoast SEO is a powerful tool for improving your website's visibility and search engine rankings. By following Yoast SEO best practices, you can significantly boost your website traffic and rankings.

First, make sure to optimize your website's meta title and description. A well-crafted meta title should be no more than 60 characters, and the meta description should be around 155-160 characters. This will help search engines understand your content and display it in search results.

A good meta title should include your target keyword, and the meta description should entice users to click on your result. Yoast SEO's built-in functionality makes it easy to create and edit these essential elements.

Curious to learn more? Check out: Yoast Seo Title

About 53% of website traffic comes from organic search, making it crucial for bringing visitors to your site.

Before diving into advanced SEO techniques, it's essential to get the basics right.

First, you'll want to configure the WordPress SEO settings, which is much easier to do from the beginning than trying to change them later.

By setting these settings correctly, you'll be able to improve your SEO and set your site up for success.

Expand your knowledge: Optimize Site for Google

On-page optimization is a crucial aspect of SEO, and it involves optimizing the actual content of your website to improve its visibility for search engines and provide a better experience for users. To start, select the relevant keywords you want to target in your content based on the criteria.

To optimize your content, include your focus keyword in the subheadings (H2) of your copy, and aim for a keyword density that's not too high. The number of times your keyword needs to appear depends on the length of your post, but you can always keep track of your keyword density using the Yoast SEO analysis at the bottom of the WordPress page.

Here are some key WordPress on-page SEO tips to help you get started:

Conducting extensive keyword research is a crucial step in on-page optimization. It involves finding the keywords your target audience is searching for, and optimizing your pages and posts with those keywords.

To find the keywords your target audience is searching for, you can take advantage of Google autocomplete predictions. These predictions reflect actual queries that people use in Google's search box.

For example, if you type "web design" as a keyword, automatic suggestions like "web design courses" and "web design software" will pop up. You can also begin a new word with any letter, like "a", "b", "c", "d", and so on, to reveal additional keyword suggestions.

You can use free tools like Moz Keyword Explorer and Google Keyword Planner to check the monthly search volumes of your listed topic ideas. However, keep in mind that free keyword research tools are limited in their own way, and you can only search for keywords three times a day with Moz.

To conduct more in-depth research, it's recommended to invest in a paid tool like Ahrefs. This tool can give you a stable volume of around 55,000 monthly searches for a specific keyword, like "web design". However, it's also highly competitive, so it's better to find long-tail keywords at this stage of your journey.

Recommended read: Best Seo Web Design

Here are some key factors to consider when evaluating keywords:

* Search volumes: Make sure each keyword has plenty of monthly searches, as this indicates strong user interest and can help boost visibility and traffic to your website or content.Trends: Check if the topics are getting more or less popular. This way, you can see if a keyword is trending up and might bring in more traffic down the line or if it's losing steam and could become less relevant soon.Difficulty: Go for queries with low competition since they're easier to rank for. Focusing on these keywords gives you a better shot at landing higher in search results, driving more traffic, and boosting your visibility, especially if you're just starting.

Titles and Descriptions are crucial components of On-Page Optimization. They help search engines understand what your content is about and entice users to click through to your website.

A good SEO title should contain keywords/phrases you're trying to rank for and entice the searcher to click through and read your article. It should be no longer than 65-70 characters in length.

Meta titles are the website titles that appear on the search engine results page. It's essential to make these meta titles the proper length so they don't get cut off in the search results.

Your meta description is another form of content that is only intended for search engines; it will not show up on your actual page anywhere. It's used by Google as the snippet that appears below the title & URL on a SERP.

Every page on your site should have a unique meta description that accurately describes your page content and includes your target keywords. It should be no more than 320 characters in length.

Here are some tips to improve your meta title and meta description:

Keyword cannibalization is a real issue that can hurt your SEO efforts. It happens when two or more pages rank for the same keyword, splitting traffic and damaging your conversion rate.

To identify keyword cannibalization, use Google Search Console. Go to the Performance tab, click the (+) plus icon, and select Query to add a query filter. This is the keyword you want to check for cannibalization. Scroll down to the Pages tab, and you'll find all the URLs that get clicks and impressions from the keyword.

If there are multiple URLs that get significant clicks and impressions for the same keyword, it's an indication of cannibalization. To fix it, take a step back and re-adjust your SEO strategy for these pages.

To fix keyword cannibalization, understand the primary focus and user intent behind each page. Are they indeed serving the same purpose? Or is there a slight variation in the angle or information provided? Find a new focus keyword for the page you decide to repurpose, looking for long-tail keywords or variations that reflect a different aspect or niche within the same topic.

Revise the content of the page targeting the new focus keyword. This involves rewriting sections, headings, and metadata so the new keyword is naturally integrated throughout the text. Use internal linking strategically, linking from relevant pages on your site to the updated page using anchor text that includes the new focus keyword.

Here's a checklist to help you fix keyword cannibalization:

URLs, also known as permalinks, are a crucial aspect of your WordPress SEO setup. They're the exact text someone types into their browser to access a specific page on your website. Each page on your site has a unique URL.

WordPress takes care of making URLs lowercase automatically, but it's worth noting that URLs should be completely lowercase.

A good SEO-friendly URL should include keywords found within your content, be short and memorable, and exclude stop words like "the", "a", and "and".

Here are some basic rules to keep in mind:

One way to automatically remove stop words from your URLs is by using the Yoast SEO plugin. To do this, navigate to SEO > Advanced, click on the Permalinks tab, look for Stop words in slugs, choose Remove, and click on Save Changes.

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Creating a SEO-friendly URL slug is another important SEO best practice. Your URL should not be too long and should include the keyword somewhere in the slug. If your slug is too long, it will notify you in the Yoast SEO Analysis.

Optimizing your permalink is also essential. Your post's URL should probably contain your focus keyphrase so that it's obvious what your page is about from the link. Try to keep your permalinks short, descriptive, and clean, and avoid putting unnecessary words in for the sake of it!

A permalink is essentially a URL that points to your specific page or post. Creating a clean permalink structure is required to get more clicks, as visitors trust clean, readable permalinks more than those filled with random letters and numbers.

You can easily customize your WordPress website's permalink structure to make it more SEO-friendly. To do so, head to Dashboard → Settings → Permalinks, select the Custom Structure option, and include the necessary tags based on your website's type. For example, news sites often include the date and title in their URLs, while online store permalinks usually include the category and post name.

Curious to learn more? Check out: How Important Is Heading Structure for Goole Best Practices

If your website is already online, remember to redirect your old URLs to the new ones after changing the permalink structure to prevent 404 errors. You can use a plugin like Redirection to do just that.

Choosing the right permalink structure is essential, as it can significantly impact WordPress SEO. Selecting the correct format when setting up your website is crucial, as changing it later can cause SEO issues. We usually recommend using a structure that creates URLs that look like example.com/post-name/, or example.com/category/post-name/.

To add Open Graph & Twitter Card data, navigate to SEO > Social in your Yoast SEO settings.

Click on the Facebook tab and make sure the option for Open Graph data is set to Enabled.

Click on the Twitter tab and make sure the option for Twitter Card data is set to Enabled.

This will allow your content to be displayed correctly when shared on social media.

You can check your settings and make sure everything is set up correctly.

Content creation is key to successful SEO. To write effective content, start by identifying your focus keyword and using it in your post title, meta description, and body of content. This is where Yoast's tool comes in, analyzing your keyword density and placement to ensure you're optimizing properly.

Your focus keyword should be a phrase that accurately represents your content, such as "Central Florida Investment Property" for a real estate business. This phrase should be incorporated into your post title, like "Central Florida Investment Property Experts on the Latest Real Estate Trends."

Think about what your audience wants to achieve by searching for a specific term, known as search intent. This could be looking for the answer to a question or wanting to buy a specific product. By creating content that addresses their needs, you'll be more likely to rank well in search engines.

Worth a look: Seo Title in Wordpress

Including video content in your content creation strategy can be a game-changer. People retain 95% of the information they get from watching a video, compared to 10% when reading the text-based version.

Worth a look: Video Schema Markup

To create successful video content, consider making the video version of your written content. This can be a blog post or a landing page, and it's likely that some people would prefer to see it in a video format.

Producing your own videos is also a good idea. Free stock videos can be a great starting point, but as your site grows, you'll need to invest in video production to create content that's truly helpful for your readers.

Optimizing for search engines is also important. For some queries, videos can appear on Google search results. To achieve this, include your video details, such as the title, description, and thumbnail, using the VideoObject schema markup.

Here are some tips for creating successful video content:

By incorporating video content into your strategy, you can boost engagement, social shares, and time spent on your site. For example, our educational client saw a 35% increase in traffic over four months after embedding explainer videos and interactive diagrams within their blog posts.

Understanding search intent is crucial for creating effective content. It's essential to think about what your audience wants to achieve by searching for a specific term.

Your content should be tailored to address the needs of your visitors. For example, if your focus keyword is "Central Florida Investment Property", you'll want to create content that provides information or solutions for people searching for that term.

To determine search intent, consider what your audience is trying to accomplish. Are they looking for answers, products, or services? Your content should be designed to meet those needs.

Incorporating your focus keyword into your post title, meta description, and body of content is a good start, but it's just as important to think about how you're using it. Yoast's tool can help you analyze the density and placement of your keyword, ensuring you're optimizing properly.

Recommended read: Yoast Seo Focus Keyphrase

Technical best practices are a crucial part of on-page SEO strategy, focusing on improving search engine crawling and indexing.

Technical SEO is not easy, but Yoast SEO handles much of the technical optimization, freeing up time to work on other parts of your website.

To take care of your technical SEO needs, you can get automated technical SEO improvements, such as optimized meta tags, right out of the box.

Here are some benefits of using Yoast SEO:

Setting up a permalink structure is a crucial step in optimizing your WordPress site for search engines. This will help visitors trust your site and increase the chances of them clicking on your links.

A permalink is essentially a URL that points to your specific page or post. Since these URLs appear in search results, creating a clean permalink structure is required to get more clicks. Visitors trust clean, readable permalinks more than those filled with random letters and numbers.

To set up a permalink structure, head to Dashboard → Settings → Permalinks. Then, select the Custom Structure option and include the necessary tags. Choose tags based on your website's type, such as including the date and title for news sites or the category and post name for online stores.

Take a look at this: Seo Expert Seo Trust

If your website is already online, remember to redirect your old URLs to the new ones after changing the permalink structure to prevent 404 errors. You can use a plugin like Redirection to do just that.

A good permalink structure should be short, descriptive, and clean. You should always try and keep your permalinks short, and include your focus keyphrase so that it's obvious what your page is about from the link.

On a similar theme: Improve Website Visibility for Short

Duplicate content occurs when one page has multiple URLs, including www and non-www versions. This can happen when a website has a translation feature that applies to all content, including metadata, images, and videos.

To identify duplicate content, use online tools like Siteliner to enter your domain name and click Go to start analyzing. Once the report is ready, scroll down to Your Duplicate Content and click Duplicate Content.

When multiple URLs lead to the same content, search engines choose one as the canonical version and crawl the duplicates less often. However, if Google marks your duplicate page as canonical instead of your main content, it's best to set up canonical tags.

If this caught your attention, see: When Is the Best Time to Do Instacart?

To avoid such a scenario, decide which version of the content you want search engines to index and rank. This version will be the canonical page. Open the page or post from the WordPress dashboard you want to set as the canonical version and enter the URL in the field next to Canonical URL.

Here are the steps to set a canonical link with Yoast SEO:

1. Go to the Advanced tab in the Yoast SEO meta box below your post or page or the sidebar of the block editor.

2. Enter the URL of the original article in the Canonical URL field.

3. Update or publish the page to save your changes.

By setting a canonical link, you can prevent search engines from indexing your site's content under multiple URLs, which can dilute page rankings and split link equity.

For your interest: Add Website to Search Engines Free

Low-value content, which includes archive pages, category pages, tag pages, and low-quality blog posts, can dilute your site's credibility with search engines and visitors.

Discover more: Low Bounce Rate

You can identify low-value content on your site using tools like Ahrefs.

To discourage search engines from indexing this type of content, add the noindex tag using AIOSEO.

Here's how to do it with AIOSEO:

You can also noindex your category and tag pages in bulk. Simply head to All in One SEO → Search Appearance from the WordPress dashboard.

When choosing a WordPress theme, you might see SEO listed as a feature, but the truth is, themes can only do so much to help with search engine rankings.

Using heading tags appropriately is one thing themes can do, but it's just the tip of the iceberg.

Themes can also use schema markup and keep code clean, which is a good start, but they can't handle the bulk of technical SEO efforts.

Plugins, on the other hand, are where the real power lies for optimizing your WordPress site for search engines.

The Yoast SEO plugin is a great example of this, and we'll be covering how to set it up and get the most out of it later in this guide.

In fact, the bulk of your technical WordPress SEO efforts should be accomplished using a plugin, not a theme.

For your interest: Why Is Technical Seo Important

Off-page SEO is a crucial aspect of improving your website's rankings, and it's not just about fine-tuning your website for users and search engines. You can take actions outside your site to establish expertise, gain valuable links, and drive traffic to your site.

One effective way to do this is by adding external links to other websites, which helps readers learn more about topics you haven't covered yet. This also signals to Google that your site prioritizes user experience, a significant ranking factor.

To add external links, use Moz's free domain SEO analysis tool to check the site's domain authority (DA) score. Aim for sources with a score between 70 and 100. Remember to avoid paywalled links, open links in a new tab, and reach out to the website owner to ask if they'd like to link back to yours.

If you use an external link to a website you don't want to be associated with, include the nofollow rel attribute to stop search engines from crawling the link.

Worth a look: Alexa Rank Google Pagerank Domain Age

Here are some additional tips for adding external links:

By including high-quality external links, you can signal to Google that your site is reputable and provide value to your readers. Just remember to use common sense and only link to trusted sources.

Having a fast-loading site is crucial for SEO. Google themselves announced in 2010 that they would start using site speed as a ranking factor.

Fast-loading websites are more likely to rank in Google, so it makes sense to speed things up. This is backed by Brian Dean's study at Backlinko.

A slow website can frustrate users, making them less likely to engage or return. Speed is an essential part of WordPress SEO and a huge part of the overall user experience.

Google's Page Experience update puts page speed and user experiences front and center. Offering outstanding performance will continue to become more critical by the day.

Measuring your site speed can be confusing, but it's a crucial step in optimizing performance. Different tools give different scores and results, so it's essential to pick the right metrics and tools for the job.

Improving your site speed requires identifying bottlenecks and making hosting, theme, plugin, and performance tweaks. This can be a discipline that spans beyond WordPress SEO, so the most significant opportunities will vary from site to site.

Before you dive into advanced SEO techniques, it's essential to get the basics right. About 53% of website traffic comes from organic search, making it crucial for bringing visitors to your site.

To set up your WordPress site for SEO, there are a few settings you should configure first. It's much easier to do this from the beginning than having to change it later.

Some useful tools to get insights into your website and find SEO opportunities include all-in-one SEO tools that give you a complete overview of your performance, and more in-depth tools that provide specific data.

Before you start creating content and designing your new WordPress site, it's essential to configure a few settings to improve your SEO. This will make it easier to optimize your site for search engines later on.

You should submit your sitemap to search engines, as it helps them understand your site's structure better and faster. There are two types of WordPress sitemaps – HTML and XML. An XML sitemap is the one you should submit to search engines, as it contains a list of all important pages on your website.

To generate an XML sitemap, you can use a WordPress SEO plugin like AIOSEO or Yoast SEO. With AIOSEO, you can head to All in One SEO → Sitemap from your WordPress dashboard, open the General Sitemap tab, and click the Open Sitemap button. This will open your XML sitemap in a new tab, and you can copy the URL.

For another approach, see: Yoast Seo Site Map

You can also use Yoast SEO to create an XML sitemap. Navigate to SEO > XML Sitemaps, select Enabled, and click Save Changes. This will automatically generate a sitemap for you, and you can copy the link to it.

It's crucial to review your generated sitemap and exclude any posts and pages you don't want to be indexed. This will help prevent unnecessary pages from appearing in search engine results.

Here's a quick rundown of the steps to submit your sitemap to search engines:

By following these steps, you'll be well on your way to optimizing your WordPress site for search engines and improving your online visibility.

Integration with Other Tools is a key aspect of using Yoast SEO effectively. You can seamlessly integrate it with various themes, plugins, and tools to enhance your WordPress SEO workflow.

The Advanced Custom Fields plugin and ACF Content Analysis for Yoast SEO plugin are a powerful combination when used together. This integration allows you to utilize the full potential of both plugins and reap the benefits of Yoast SEO's powerful analysis.

Yoast SEO also integrates seamlessly with the Elementor website builder, empowering you to optimize your stunning designs effectively. This integration ensures that your website's design and SEO are in perfect harmony.

Algolia integration is another game-changer, elevating your site search quality and ensuring users can effortlessly find the content they want. With Algolia, you can provide a better user experience and improve your website's overall performance.

Semrush is a leading online marketing tool that integrates with Yoast SEO, providing you with comprehensive keyword data directly within the plugin. This integration empowers you to supercharge your SEO strategy with data-driven insights.

Here's a summary of the tools that integrate with Yoast SEO:

Mobile and User Experience is crucial for a good user experience, and around 62% of website visits come from mobile devices. This means that if your site isn't optimized for mobile viewing, you'll lose out to competitors who do.

To create a mobile-friendly website, you should implement a responsive layout, which means your site will automatically adjust its content based on the device being used. You can install a responsive WordPress theme to keep your website running smoothly on all screen sizes.

A mobile-friendly website should also optimize visual elements for mobile, such as using a hamburger menu to save space, making buttons large enough for users to tap, and placing elements like CTAs within easy reach of the thumb. You should also avoid pop-ups, as they can distract users from the main content and ruin their experience.

Here are some key things to prioritize for mobile users:

Around 62% of website visits come from mobile devices. If you don't optimize your site for mobile viewing, you'll lose out to competitors who do.

To create a mobile-friendly website, you should implement a responsive layout, which means your site will automatically adjust its content based on the device being used. This can be achieved by installing a responsive WordPress theme.

Optimize visual elements for mobile by using a hamburger menu to save space, making buttons large enough for users to tap, and placing elements like CTAs within easy reach of the thumb.

Avoid pop-ups, as they can distract users from the main content and ruin their experience. Present crucial information early, so visitors can quickly find what they're looking for without having to scroll too far down the page.

Here are some key steps to make your site mobile-friendly:

Remember, your mobile and desktop site are one entity, and you should cater to your visitors by optimizing for mobile. In fact, the mobile market share has surpassed the desktop market share, so it's no longer optional – it's essential.

Users love content that's clear and concise, which is why readability analysis is a must-have. It ensures your content is effortlessly readable by humans and search engines alike.

With a readability analysis, you can drive engagement and enhance the overall user experience. This means your content will be more accessible and enjoyable for your audience.

To create content that resonates with diverse groups of people, use the inclusive language analysis. This optional feature analyzes your text and provides suggestions to make your content more considerate of different audiences.

By using inclusive language, you'll ensure your content is more relatable and engaging for users from different backgrounds.

Here are some key benefits of creating user-friendly content:

By focusing on user needs and preferences, you can create content that truly resonates with your audience. This means optimizing for long-tail keyphrases, like [how to make a low-calorie vegan blueberry cheesecake], which are more specific and easier to rank for.

Sharing your content on social media can significantly increase its reach and visibility, driving more traffic to your site. People are primarily on social media for entertainment, not education, so make sure your content is fun, engaging, and easy to consume.

To capture attention, consider creating visually appealing infographics that deliver key points in a bite-sized format. Peak engagement times for social media posts are between 9 a.m to 2 p.m from Tuesday through Thursday.

Collaborate with social media influencers to promote your blog posts if you don't have a big audience yet. Tools like BuzzSumo can help you find and connect with influencers.

Optimizing your social media content with relevant keywords can boost your brand visibility on SERPs. Major social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Medium, and X get indexed by Google.

Here are the most effective social media platforms for boosting your site's SEO efforts:

Building relationships with others is priceless, but it's also essential for off-page SEO. A sound strategy implemented consistently over time will pay off in the long run.

Expand your knowledge: Off Page Seo Factors

Technical support and maintenance are crucial for keeping your website in top shape. Yoast SEO handles much of the technical optimization, freeing up your time to work on other parts of your website.

Automated technical SEO improvements like optimized meta tags and advanced XML sitemaps are included right out of the box. This makes it effortless for search engines to understand your site structure and index your web pages effectively.

A fresh viewpoint: Technical Seo Audit Services

The plugin also comes with 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.

Here are some of the key technical support and maintenance features of Yoast SEO:

To keep your technical support and maintenance content fresh, you should regularly update your long-form articles and cornerstone content. This ensures your audience gets the most up-to-date information.

Google prefers fresh content, just like you prefer a fresh donut. Regularly updating your content will help it rank higher and get more organic traffic.

To prioritize your updates, focus on your cornerstone content first. This type of content is essential for your audience and shows authority. It's also the content that gets the most links from related posts within your site.

Here are some key points to remember when updating your content:

Managing spam comments is a crucial aspect of maintaining your website's integrity and professionalism. You can turn off comments altogether, but there's no need to do that if you're not ready to give up on user engagement.

The Akismet plugin is a popular solution that catches over 99% of spam comments. Installing it is a great way to minimize the amount of spam you see on your site.

If you're not ready to install a plugin, you can use Cloudflare to block the type of traffic that leaves spam comments. This can help prevent spam comments from even reaching your site.

Here are some ways to manage spam comments:

Technical support is a crucial aspect of maintaining a website, and Yoast SEO offers a range of features to help with this.

Automated technical SEO improvements are available out of the box, including optimized meta tags.

With Yoast SEO, you can also add canonical URLs to tell search engines which content to show when you have pages with similar content.

Advanced XML sitemaps make it effortless for search engines to understand your site structure and index your web pages effectively.

Here's an interesting read: Content Seo vs Technical Seo

This can significantly improve your website's loading times, courtesy of innovative data management techniques tailored for WordPress.

Yoast SEO also comes with crawl settings that optimize how search engines crawl your site and reduce its carbon footprint.

Here are some of the key technical support features offered by Yoast SEO:

Keeping your site in shape is crucial for its overall health and performance. Technical optimization is a big part of SEO, but it's not easy, especially for those who aren't experts or don't have the time to dive into the technical aspects of a website.

Yoast SEO handles much of the technical optimization, freeing up your time to work on other parts of your website, like writing helpful content. With Yoast SEO, you can get automated technical SEO improvements, like optimized meta tags, right out of the box.

Regularly updating your content is also essential. Google sees your content as fresh or stale, and it prefers fresh content over the stale stuff. You should regularly update your long-form articles and cornerstone content, and publish new content on a regular basis.

Related reading: On-page Keyword Optimization Ca

Cornerstone content is the most valuable content on your site, containing essential information for your audience, and ranking higher than other articles on the same topic. You should prioritize your cornerstone content when updating your site's content, as it's the foundation of your website.

To keep your site in perfect shape, you can fine-tune the engine of your website, so you can work on creating great content. Yoast SEO includes features like cornerstone content, structured data, and a powerful front-end SEO inspector that lets you preview and fine-tune the SEO settings directly on your front end.

Here are some key benefits of keeping your site in shape:

Organizing your website's content is crucial for both users and search engines. A solid site structure helps users navigate your site, while also making it clear what pages are most important.

Categories define the hierarchical structure of your content, helping organize web pages into parent categories and subcategories. For instance, if you have a food blog, your categories could be Recipes, Diets, Wellness, and Cookbooks.

To create categories, open your WordPress dashboard and head to Posts → Categories. Fill in the Name, Slug, and Description fields, and if it's a subcategory, assign a parent category for a more organized website structure. Save the changes by clicking Add New Category.

Tags are entirely optional, but they can be used to describe various aspects of a blog post. For instance, an article about healthy meals may have tags like Vegan, Gluten-free, and 30-minute meals. Users can find content by clicking a particular tag that interests them.

A good site structure also involves organizing your site and internal contextual linking. Internal linking is one of the most important aspects of WordPress SEO, and it helps users and search engines understand how pages are related. Always ensure that the number of links to a page reflects the importance of that page.

Explore further: Important Meta Tags

A good internal linking strategy is crucial for a well-organized site. A solid site structure helps your users and search engines navigate your site.

Organizing your site is a key part of a good site structure. Two pillars of a good site structure are organizing your site and internal contextual linking.

Internal links are links within your page content that link to other pages on your site. They keep a user on your site.

To create effective internal links, always hyperlink the actual words that describe the content you're linking to. For example, you would hyperlink the words "WordPress SEO", not "read more" or "click here."

The pages you link to should provide additional value to the user. Don't overdue it – be intentional about linking to your best content.

A good internal linking strategy also involves connecting your content with contextual internal linking. This means linking your content within your copy, always appearing within the context of a text.

To add a contextual internal link, make sure the link makes sense within the current page's context. Use anchor texts which accurately describe the page you're linking to.

Here are some best practices for contextual internal linking:

By following these best practices, you can create a network of pages that point your users to related content. This helps users and search engines understand how pages are related.

Discover more: A Page Ranking Algroithm Ranks Web Pages Accroding to

Your site structure is the backbone of your website, making it easier for users and search engines to navigate and find what they're looking for. A clear and straightforward URL helps users understand what a page is about at a glance, making them more likely to click on it.

To create a clean permalink structure, head to Dashboard → Settings → Permalinks and select the Custom Structure option. You can include tags like post name, category, and date to make your URLs more descriptive and SEO-friendly.

Organizing your site structure with categories and tags makes navigation easier for your users. Categories define the hierarchical structure of your content, while tags are optional and can be used to describe various aspects of a blog post.

To create categories, open your WordPress dashboard and head to Posts → Categories. Fill in the Name, Slug, and Description fields, and if it's a subcategory, assign a parent category for a more organized website structure. You can also use Yoast SEO's cornerstone content features to structure your website's content easily.

A solid site structure helps your users and search engines navigate your site. You can optimize your site structure by organizing your site and internal contextual linking. Contextual internal linking sets up a network of pages, pointing your users to related content, and helps search engines understand how pages are related.

To connect your content with contextual internal linking, make sure the link makes sense within the current page's context, and use anchor texts that accurately describe the page you're linking to. The internal linking tool in Yoast SEO Premium helps you connect your content by automatically suggesting relevant links.

WordPress allows you to create custom taxonomies if you want to structure your content differently. However, consider carefully whether your custom taxonomy groups content in a way that makes sense and helps your visitors.

Expand your knowledge: Internal Link Building Seo

Yoast SEO includes a feature called "Cornerstone Content" that can help you identify and optimize your most important pages. These are your best pieces of content, often long-form articles that explain a topic in great detail.

Cornerstone content should be complete, up-to-date, and well-written, and it should show authority. It should get the most links from related posts within your site, rank higher than your other articles on the same topic, and get the most organic traffic to your site.

To identify your cornerstone content, look for posts or pages that contain essential information for your audience. You can also use Yoast SEO's Cornerstone Content feature to enable cornerstone content on your site.

Here are the key characteristics of cornerstone content:

To update your cornerstone content, prioritize the most important pages on your site and make sure they are up-to-date and well-written. You can use Yoast SEO's Stale Cornerstone Content filter to find pages that haven't been updated in the last six months.

With a well-planned content cluster, you can establish your site's topical authority and improve your SEO. A content cluster should include a pillar page and supporting blog posts that link to each other.

Managing your archive pages is a crucial part of maintaining a well-organized site structure. You can use categories and tags to create archive pages that list posts and pages within a specific category or tag.

You'll automatically create date-based archive pages and author archives if you use categories and tags. These archive pages can cause SEO problems if you don't manage them properly.

To prevent search engines from indexing archive pages that don't make sense on your site, use the Yoast SEO plugin. You can find the necessary options under Yoast SEO → Advanced, specifically on the "Author Archives" tab.

If you don't need date-based archives, disable them as we've done on our site. Any date-based link will redirect to our homepage because of this setting. We've left the author archives untouched, but set the subpages of those archives to be noindex, follow by default.

If your blog is a one-author blog, or you don't need author archives, use Yoast SEO to disable the author archives. This will prevent duplicate content issues that Google and other search engines don't like.

Here's an interesting read: Author Schema Markup

Here's a quick summary of the archive types and their default settings in the Yoast SEO plugin:

By managing your archive pages effectively, you can improve your site's SEO and user experience. Remember to regularly check and manage your XML sitemaps to ensure they're up-to-date and accurate.

A solid site structure is not just about organizing your site, but also about making it easy for users and search engines to navigate.

Breadcrumbs are a crucial part of this navigation system, helping users understand their current location within a site and easily trace their path back to the starting point. They appear as a row of links at the top of a web page, usually just under the navigation bar or header.

Breadcrumbs typically follow a structure that starts with the homepage, followed by subsequent sections leading up to the current page, separated by a delimiter like a forward slash (/), greater than sign (>), or another symbol. This structure helps search engines determine the site's structure more easily.

To add breadcrumbs on your WordPress website, you can use the AIOSEO plugin. To do this, navigate to All in One SEO → General Settings, then open the Breadcrumbs tab and switch the Enable Breadcrumbs toggle on. You can then select how you want to embed breadcrumbs on your website.

Here are the steps to add breadcrumbs on your WordPress website using AIOSEO:

Once enabled, you can add the breadcrumbs on any WordPress template or page. For example, you can use the AIOSEO Breadcrumbs block on the single post template so that the breadcrumb navigation will appear on every blog post.

For more insights, see: Yoast Seo Breadcrumbs

Measuring your site speed can be a challenge, but there are tools available to help. You can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to get an idea of your site's speed.

Different tools give different scores and results, which can be confusing. This is why it's essential to choose the right metrics to use the right tools for the job.

To monitor and diagnose issues, you need to pick the right metrics, and there's a guide available that can walk you through the basics of doing so.

Consider reading: Most Important Seo Metrics

Yoast SEO seamlessly integrates with various tools to enhance your WordPress SEO workflow and user experience. This integration empowers you to optimize your website more effectively.

One such integration is with the Advanced Custom Fields plugin, which, when combined with the ACF Content Analysis for Yoast SEO plugin, unlocks the full potential of both tools. This powerful combination allows you to reap the benefits of Yoast SEO's analysis.

For stunning website designs, Yoast SEO integrates seamlessly with Elementor, enabling you to optimize your designs effectively. This integration ensures that your website's design and SEO are in harmony.

If you're looking to improve your site search quality, consider integrating Yoast SEO with Algolia. This integration ensures that users can effortlessly find the content they want, enhancing their overall user experience.

Another valuable integration is with Semrush, a leading online marketing tool. By connecting Yoast SEO with Semrush, you can access comprehensive keyword data directly within Yoast SEO, empowering you to supercharge your SEO strategy with data-driven insights.

A fresh viewpoint: Semrush Visibility

If you want to monitor your keyword rankings and track your website's visibility in search results, consider connecting your Yoast SEO plugin with Wincher, a powerful SEO tracking tool.

Here are some other tools that can help you get insights into your website and find SEO opportunities:

These tools can provide you with a complete overview of your performance or more specific data, depending on your needs.