When it comes to digital marketing, there are several aspects that people need to look through. However, the one that always remains on top of others is Search Engine Optimization (SEO.) Search engines are a significant source of traffic for websites, but it is not easy for the owners to get their sites listed on the result pages of search engines, let alone on the top. They have to optimize their websites and promote it using several methods so that the search engine algorithm could consider the site useful and legitimate. To help the owners of its websites with the SEO process, WordPress provides a plugin for them known as Yoast Plugin. It is, by far, one of the most helpful SEO plugins that helps the people who don’t know much about coding or SEO.
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Search Engine Optimization
It is not easy to deal with the complicated algorithms of search engines. Over the years, they have molded their algorithms in a way that filters out most spam and useless websites when a person searches for something. But that has made it tough for legitimate sites to get on the top of these SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages.) Also, as most of the businesses are going online, the competition is high when it comes to their site’s positioning on SERPs. Everyone wants their website to be on the top of the result page when a potential customer searches something related to their business.
As much as it is crucial for websites to optimize themselves for search engines, it is equally vital for search engines to filter out the wrong sites. Otherwise, the people who search on the engine will land on spammy websites, and they won’t trust the search engine again. That is why search engines have made their algorithms rank the sites based on various factors. And they show these websites on a result page according to their rank only. Some of the top factors used for website ranking are:
- Content Quality: Search engines check the quality of the content that is provided on a specific website. If the content itself is not useful or relevant to the people, then the algorithm ranks the website lower than others.
- Backlinks: It is yet another major factor that decides the search engine ranking of a website. The more genuine backlinks a website has, the better its rank would be.
- User Experience: The website that gets the best ranking by search engine algorithms has to be the most user-friendly site. No matter how high the quality of content is, it is of no use if people cannot navigate the website smoothly.
- Updates: Frequent updates help the search engine in recognizing more genuine websites. People who made their website ages ago and left it un-updated for the longest time have a higher chance of losing their search engine rank than those who provide regular updates.
So it is not easy for the owners to make their websites SEO-friendly, and to maintain it. The work becomes even more complicated when the person is new to the online world, so that is when a tool like Yoast plugin comes handy for them.
Yoast Plugin For WordPress Websites
Most big organizations have a separate team that takes care of all digital marketing and SEO work. Those people are experts in the field, and they know how to excel at their job. But the task becomes hectic for people who themselves host their websites on WordPress and do not have anyone to share their work of marketing. For them, the Yoast Plugin is no less than a blessing.
Some of the SEO tasks that the Yoast plugin decides for the website are:
- Keyword selection and usage
- Sitemap management
- Controlling the titles and meta descriptions of the websites
There are several other aspects of SEO that the plugin takes care of. However, for people who do not find Yoast plugin much handy, there are other options as well. Some of the excellent alternates of the Yoast Plugin are:
SEOPress
SEOPress is a one-spot solution for all SEO problems of a WordPress website. Just like the Yoast plugin, it also has paid and unpaid versions. However, the paid version is only for an amount of $39/year, so it is not expensive at all. At this low price, it provides features like:
- Sitemap sharing with Google for indexing purposes
- Keyword analyzing
- Tracking social network sharing
- Title and description management
Squirrly SEO
It is one of the most efficient alternates to the Yoast plugin. It not only optimizes the website according to search engine norms but also enables the owner to look through various SEO aspects of the site and see how much optimal they are. Some of the features provided by this are:
- Optimizes all website pages as well as posts
- Optimizes any WooCommerce products on the website
- A 360-degree coverage of the website
- Multiple keyword optimization
Rank Math
People who want to speed up their process with most efficiency can go for Rank Math. It has got several features that help in the process of SEO and make a website stand out. Some of the features that make Rank Math better than Yoast plugin are:
- Automation of various optimization tasks
- Extremely User-Friendly
- Can optimize a post for up to 5 keywords
- A complete audit of the website
WP Meta SEO
People who do not know even the basics of SEO, this plugin is the best for them. Unlike the Yoast plugin, it not only points out the SEO problems on the website but also gives a little overview of each of them to the user. Also, it has several SEO features that most of the plugins possess. That makes it highly efficient and the most user-friendly plugin.
All In One SEO
All in one SEO have almost similar features to the Yoast plugin. It provides a benefit of modularity so people can easily avoid the features that they do not require to reduce complexity. However, the product stands a little backward that Yoast plugin as it misses on the ‘readability analyses’ and ‘focus keyword’ features.
Conclusion
SEO plays an essential role when it comes to online promotion of websites. That is why everyone needs to optimize their website for search engines. With tools like Yoast plugin, their work becomes significantly less complicated. However, for people who do not find Yoast much friendly, can try their hands on its five alternatives. They all are the best in some way or the other.
