This free tool could improve your website's reach.
We’re all about taking a complicated topic and making it as simple as possible to do yourself, which is why we recommend using the Yoast WordPress plugin for search engine optimization (SEO) purposes. It’s a tool we use ourselves at Infomedia and have found to be highly helpful with optimizing blog posts. Whether you spring for the paid version, or keep it cost-friendly by downloading the free option, you’re likely to find at least a few benefits from the Yoast plugin.
Analytics
The Yoast plugin offers analytics for your writing. Different sections are reviewed, scored and often have suggestions for improving your blog’s readability and SEO. Some of the sections Yoast reviews are word count, whether alt text is used in images, how many links are included and more. For each section there will be a score (either Bad, OK or Good) and some will contain suggestions for improving a poor score, such as “Add more content that is relevant for the topic” or “No links appear in this page, consider adding some as appropriate.”
Optimization
Besides giving you writing suggestions, Yoast optimizes your content in a few other ways too. It avoids duplicate content (a big issue to Google) by setting canonical URLs, keeps up with Google’s algorithm by updating every two weeks and even allows you to edit how your content will look in Google’s search results listings.
Cost Effectiveness
If you don’t have the resources — whether monetarily or time-wise — to invest largely in SEO, then the Yoast plugin might be a good solution. The free option provides all of the components listed above, or the paid version is $89 for a lifetime of Yoast on one website along with a year of updates and support.
If you’re an Infomedia client and are interested in adding the Yoast plugin to your website, reach out to Support. If you’re not a client but want to learn more about our SEO services and how our team can assist you, then contact us to set up a fuss-free consultation.
