Yoast SEO Plugin: Useful Tool, but Only One Piece of the SEO-Puzzle

Let’s start with a confession: at Olly Olly, we’re not obsessed with SEO plugins like Yoast or RankMath. Why? Because we know they’re far from providing everything you need to make a small business website rank (if that were the case, we’d be out of business!).

There are some useful plugins out there, though. We’re pragmatic and want to focus our efforts where they make the biggest difference for our clients. That’s why we use Yoast SEO for a few specific tasks. But it’s just a tool, not the core of any local SEO strategy.

What Is the Yoast SEO Plugin?

In Yoast’s own words, “Yoast SEO is a WordPress plugin that helps your site perform better in search engines like Google. It also gives you tools to bring your content to the highest standards of SEO and overall readability.” At its core, the plugin:

• Analyzes readability and SEO scores for individual posts
• Guides meta title and description structure to avoid truncation in search results
• Creates canonical URLs to prevent duplicate content issues
• Enables Google Knowledge Graph attributes for your business

But remember, this should always remain just one component of a larger toolkit.

Is Yoast SEO Free?

Many small business owners ask, “Is Yoast SEO free?” The answer? Yes—and no. Yoast offers both free and premium versions, but we stick with the former.

With the free Yoast SEO plugin, you get:

1. Content and SEO analysis: Real-time checks on your keyword density and readability
2. Title tag and meta description templates: Ensures consistent, optimized snippets
3. Canonical URL support: Prevents duplicate-content penalties
4. Basic schema markup: Helps search engines understand your business details

While the premium version adds features like multiple focus keywords, internal link suggestions and redirect management, the free version often covers the essentials for small businesses on a budget (or agencies using a more comprehensive set of tools).

Why We Don’t Use the Paid Version

Because it’s such a small part of everything we do, the free version of Yoast SEO gives us everything we need. 

Our team of SEO specialists handles all of the more complex tasks manually. Why? Because we know that’s the only way to ensure precision and high-quality results.

What Does Yoast SEO Do in Its Free Version?

Here’s how we leverage its free features:

• Write title tags and meta descriptions: Yoast helps us ensure that the content usually shown whenever a page appears in search results is the right length and not truncated. Following these best practices improves your visibility and the odds that people will decide to visit your site.

• Create canonical URLs: Yoast helps us avoid Google displaying the wrong version of a web page, which is something that can happen when you create several versions over time. This ensures your potential clients always end up visiting the right pages.

• Set up your site’s presence in the Google Knowledge Graph: The Google Knowledge Graph is essentially Google’s database in search. We use Yoast to set up what’s called your site’s “representation” and include your business name and logo.

Does Yoast SEO Really Work?

You might wonder, “Does Yoast SEO really work?” The answer is yes, but only as part of a broader strategy. Yoast alerts you to on-page issues, yet it cannot:

• Perform in-depth keyword research
• Optimize site speed and mobile experience
• Or build authoritative backlinks or manage citations 

In our experience, clients using Yoast alongside targeted content and technical efforts see measurable gains in organic traffic.

The Bigger Picture: Olly Olly’s Comprehensive SEO Strategy

By now, you should see that Yoast is just another tool in a much larger toolkit. But if it’s not an SEO strategy… then what is?

The answer varies from agency to agency. At Olly Olly, we focus on what makes the biggest impact on your small business. Here’s how we do it:

On-Page optimization

On-page optimization is about making sure each page on your website is set up to rank well in search engines. 

This starts with keyword research. What’s that? Essentially, we use other tools, like Semrush, to find out what your potential customers are searching for. Then, we look at the search engine results pages and confirm that the search intent matches the goal of your content. Then, we write compelling pieces of content and strategically place those keywords and related ones throughout your site to increase organic traffic.

This means including them in your content, headers, meta tags and even images.

Thanks to all that, search engines can understand your site better, which means odds are it’ll rank higher for relevant searches, driving more traffic and thus more potential business!

Technical SEO

This one is the most akin to a black box. To keep it simple, technical SEO is everything that focuses on the behind-the-scenes of your website.

Among other things, our team makes sure your site loads quickly, is mobile-friendly and has a clear, organized structure. 

All of this increases the likelihood that your pages will show up higher in the search results.

Offsite SEO Strategy

Offsite SEO is about building your website’s authority and credibility in the eyes of… you’ve guessed it: search engines!

How do we do this? One way is through primary citation submissions, which are mentions of your business’s name, address, and phone number on directories with high domain authority.

Getting you consistent and accurate citations across the web is important work. Why? Because it helps build trust with Google and other search engines, which can greatly improve your site’s ranking.

Google Business Profile Optimization

These days, optimizing your Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is perhaps the most crucial off-site strategy of all when it comes to local SEO.

We make sure your profile is complete and accurate with up-to-date business information, such as your address, phone number, business hours and services. Via your Olly Olly app, we also help you encourage happy customers to leave reviews and respond to them.

All this helps your business appear higher in local search results and on Google Maps, making it much easier for potential customers to find and contact you.

Continuous Improvement

SEO is not a one-off; you should be wary of anyone who says otherwise!  Why? Because search engines regularly update their algorithms and your competitors are always trying to outrank you.

For this very reason, at Olly Olly, we constantly seek improvements and opportunities to help your website rank higher. This involves running audits, staying updated with the latest SEO trends and adjusting our strategies to ensure your site always remains optimized for both search engines and users. 

Boost Your Local SEO Today

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