Anyone making dealing in the creation of websites has come in contact with Word Press and toast SEO plugins. These tools are most commonly used to create web pages and optimize the content on them. Yoast in particular is a popular tool that people use to boost their online presence and their SEO results. Thus, if you are not letting professionals handle your SEO, you should master these tools. This means that you should be aware of how to use them and also how to avoid mistakes. Here we will cover some of the worst Yoast SEO settings mistakes to avoid and why.
Installing Yoast and using it
Yoast SEO plugin is one of the most powerful tools you can use in your SEO effort. However, installing it is not the only thing you should do to be successful. The way you use it is of paramount importance for SEO success. Many SEO experts and those trying to boost their SEO results on their own sometimes feel that their results are lacking. It may seem that you are doing everything right regarding your optimization but you are not getting the right and expected results. Many factors can contribute to this but sometimes it is Yoast.
Well, not Yoast itself, but the user, who is making some of the most common mistakes. Rooting them out may mean a world of difference regarding SEO results. So, make sure you know which Yoast SEO settings mistakes to avoid. Let’s see what the worst of them are:
- Google webmaster tools – not verifying your website
- Sitemaps – forgetting them entirely
- Submitting your XML sitemap
- Yoast Social settings
- Not editing homepage meta
Google webmaster tools – not verifying your website
Google webmaster tools aka Google Search Console is a great and free tool you can easily utilize to boost your SEO results and performance. This tool is great and valuable for webmasters as it checks and provides the info on how your website interacts with Google. Knowing this is then a starting point to managing your website to improve results. This console or tool allows you to view any technical issues like crawler errors, security issues, and mobile optimization problems. It also provides a lot of metrics that you can use to get insight into how your website is actually performing. As this is a valuable and free way of tracking your SEO results, failing to use it is a big mistake. This is what many people do. So, in order to get the data, you will need, do not fail to verify your website with Google webmaster tools. This is the most common of all Yoast SEO settings mistakes to avoid and most don’t.
Sitemaps – forgetting them entirely
Neglecting to generate a sitemap is another grave mistake you can make. Sitemaps can provide better visibility of your site by both users and search engines. It provides a better user experience as it allows for easy navigation. A site map can be made for users and for search engines. The latter helps search engines crawl and notice and value your website. This mistake is one of the most troubling you can make. This is because Yoast already has a built-in feature that makes a dynamic sitemap of your website. The only thing you should do is to navigate to the particular setting to turn it on. As simple as that.
Submitting your XML sitemap
Once you generate your sitemap you should relay or submit it to the Google Webmasters Tool. Submitting the sitemap will help Google index your page more quickly. So this is important. However, this stage shows how connected these issues are. If you don’t verify your website with the Google Search Console you won’t be able to submit your sitemap in XML form. Even if you generate your sitemap it won’t be of any use if you don’t submit it. So, configuring your Yoast settings to do just this is a mistake you should avoid, but also don’t neglect the importance of the following steps. Boosting your SEO will depend on whether you are looking at the bigger picture.
Yoast Social settings
Today the power of social media platforms and social media promotion is irrefutable. Users spend a lot of time on social media websites and usually interact with brands and web pages through them. So, checking out some automatic options to integrate with social media is important. Posting on social media can generate more traffic and stimulate public interest. So, using social media feeds on your webpage can be quite beneficial. Furthermore, Yoast settings provide an easy connection to many social media platforms. Do not neglect to explore them and make the correct settings adjustments. Filling out the social media settings for Facebook, TikTok, Instagram or Twitter is easy and does not take too much time.
Not editing homepage meta
Homepage meta information is probably the first thing you should set when you prepare your website. As your homepage is the face of your business you want to make a good first impression. Chances are that the first interaction from clients will be with your homepage. In addition, the crawlers will crawl the homepage much more than other pages on your website. So, the best advice is to get into Yoast settings and set some metadata for your homepage. The trick here is to be creative and provide as much information as possible. Invest as much time into this as possible. Every second you invest in this action will pay off and be worth your while.
Learning about the worst Yoast SEO settings mistakes to avoid is the first step to cleaning up your SEO activities and achieving results. Although powerful tools, Yoast and Word Press, need to be used the right way to yield results. So, strive to learn more about them, follow their updates and adapt accordingly. Your SEO activity can achieve the results your effort deserves if you master the tools you use.