How to do Content Optimization for SEO using Yoast SEO Plugin

Learn how to Optimize Content for SEO to improve search ranking? How to do Content Optimization for SEO using Yoast SEO plugin? How to make most bullets (of Readability and Keyword Analysis) green in Yoast SEO WordPress plugin? Moreover, do you really need all bullet in Yoast SEO to be green to rank high Google Search results?

The idea is to take you through how to use Yoast SEO to create SEO Optimized Content for best results? And to share few actionable tips which gonna help you to optimize content using Yoast SEO WordPress plugin.

Did you just say that you have already setup Yoast SEO plugin properly?

Alright! I am not saying you haven’t. In case you are not sure whether your Yoast SEO setup is perfect, you must check out our detailed Guide to Setup Yoast SEO WordPress plugin properly.

However, in this article, I am sharing how to create SEO optimize content with the help of Yoast SEO.

Yoast SEO plugin is undoubtedly an amazing tool. Which takes care several SEO aspects of your WordPress site. But correct use of Yoast SEO for content optimization can do wonders and can help your site rank higher in SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).

So let’s get started!

Content Optimization for SEO using Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin

When it comes to Content Optimization there could be several aspects which you can consider to tune for content optimization that works. However, the content optimization using Yoast plugin majorly involves Keyword Analysis and Readability Analysis.

Keyword Analysis

In Yoast SEO plugin, Keyword Analysis comprises bullet points indicating different parameters metering keyword analysis of the content.

The bullets (for different parameters) can be grey, red, brown, orange and green depending upon their fulfilling-ness in the content. Generally, green is most desirable and grey/red is least desirable.

When there is a reasonable number of green bullets the Overall Keyword Analysis will become green. Which is usually considered as a good Keyword Analysis Score.

Clearly, you don’t need all bullets to be green for Overall Keyword Analysis to be green. But a reasonable number is required.

Let’s see Keyword Analysis parameters one by one:

For instance, we want to write an article about How to Optimize WordPress Website for Speed. Let’s see how we can optimize content of this article about optimization of WordPress site for speed.

• Stop Word(s): Occurrence of Stop Word in the Focus Keyword and/or slug. If there is one or more Stop Word(s) in the focus keyword and/ or slug, this warning will appear. The general idea while selecting a focus keyword is – to avoid Stop Words(s) in focus keyword wherever we can. In case of our example, we may prefer Optimize WordPress website for speed as focus keyword and slug instead of How to Optimize WordPress website for speed. As I want the article to rank for ‘Optimize WordPress Website for Speed’ that’s why I would keep ‘for’ stop word in focus keyword and slug.
• Focus Keyword(s): Focus keyword is a single or combination of words for which you want your article to rank.
  Keyword density – make this bullet green. Generally, 1% to 2% keyword density is considered good.
  In process of making keyword density bullet green, I would recommend the natural use of keywords in the sentences and avoid keyword stuffing (unnecessary and meaningless insertion of keywords).
  Focus Keyword in first paragraph – include focus keyword in the first para of the copy (text).
  Focus Keyword in subheading – use focus keyword in one or more subheadings (h2, h3, heading are recommended) in the article (text).
  Never use same focus keyword in another article (on same site of-course).
• Slug/permalink/URL: If slug of the web page is too long in characters, there will be a warning for that. You should consider shorten the slug to remove the warning. Include focus keyword in the slug and try to keep permalink structure clean.In our example, the slug could be – yourdomain.com/optimize-wordpress-website-for-speed/

Do you know?

Which is the Most SEO Friendly Permalink Structure for WordPress, are you following the best one?

• SEO Title: It is the title of snippet shows in search engine results. So SEO title should be of a specific length. Neither too long nor short. Also, it should include (appear) focus keyword(s).
• Meta Description: Like SEO title Meta description also appears in the snippet in search engine results. It is also of specific length, too long or too short is not recommended. Meta description should also include (appear) focus keyword(s).
• Links – Internal & Outbound, follow (normal) & nofollow: If the article text does not contain any internal and/or outbound link (follow or nofollow) that will indicate a warning. You may remove such warning(s) by adding appropriate normal link(s) or anchor link(s).

Pro Tip: I would suggest you do not include outbound links as anchor links to such keywords for which you want your content to rank. Instead, you can insert such links as read-more, read-here links.

• Images: Use focus keyword(s) in image alt attributes (tags). Also, define appropriate image title and description. Use image captions, this may help to improve keyword density as the keywords used in image caption are considered as text.
• Minimum words in the article: Though Yoast team prescribed the minimum of 300 words. I would recommend writing at least 800-1000 words wherever possible. This will help you to rank high if you have written a really good copy.

Readability Analysis

Readability is another parameter to gauge the Content Optimization for SEO.  Similar to keyword analysis, there are bullet points to indicate Readability Analysis of the content. The color code of the bullet is same as the keyword analysis.

• Use of Subheadings: The maximum number of words (prescribed by Yoast team) followed by a subheading is 300. Which means between two subheadings you should not write more than 300 words.
• Use Short Paras and Sentences: There is an optimal percentage for using longer sentences. You should not use more than 25% sentences which are more than 20 words. Also, you should prefer a couple of short paragraphs over single long para.
• Transition Words: The Transition words are the words used to correlate the sentences and there are different Transition Words for the different type of relation. Read this Yoast article for the compiled list of transition words and their importance.
• Passive Voice: You’re allowed to use only 10% of total sentences as passive voice. Using more than 10% sentences will lead to a red flag (warning).
• Flesch Reading Ease Test: This test (Flesch reading ease test) is a part of Flesch–Kincaid readability tests which evaluate how difficult the text (English) is to understand. In Flesch Reading Ease, a text passage is metered from 0 to 100 score. Higher the score is easier to read and vice-versa.

Takeaway tips to score higher on Flesch reading ease test:

• Try to write simple English.
• Use shorter sentences.
• Avoid usages of passive voice.
• Read blog posts of influences of your industry. That will you give you a fair idea to follow a tone and style of easy English writing. (Fun fact: most of our articles on TechNumero score 65 to 85. That means 9^th to 6^th grade student can understand our article. Keep in mind that this score is only for understanding language, not the technical stuff.)

Conclusion

SEO is certainly important for your site’s organic reach. Content Optimization for SEO can help your site rank in search engine results. But always remember do not over optimize your content for keyword density or any other thing for that matter. As Google doesn’t like over optimized content as well.

I hope this article helps you out with content optimization for SEO. Here I have explained the use of Yoast SEO for content optimization, what other methods, tools or techniques you use to optimize content for SEO. Have a question regarding this subject, post that via comments section below. I would love to answer.

Further readings that might interest you …
Top Search Ranking Factors to Improve SEO of Your Website
How to Optimize WordPress Robots.txt file for SEO
Fix Duplicate Meta Descriptions and Titles in WordPress
WordPress Plugins To Improve Productivity of Your Website