How to optimize for your focus keyphrase with Yoast SEO | Yoast SEO for WordPress
Search Engine Optimization Tips
Yoast SEO for WordPress training:
This video is part of the Yoast SEO for WordPress training course by Yoast Academy. Take the full course at https://yoa.st/3g0 to learn how the Yoast SEO plugin can make you rank better. In this training, we discuss the ins and outs of the Yoast SEO plugin. We’ll guide you through the features and teach you what the best settings for your website are. And of course, we’ll show you how you can optimize a post or page in the editor (both the classic editor and the new block editor are taken into account).
About this video:
The focus keyphrase is the search term that you most want your page to rank for, so when people search for that keyword or phrase, they should find you. A focus keyphrase can be a word, like ‘dog’, but also a phrase, like ‘dog training school in Bakersfield’. Yoast SEO has its own input field for focus keyphrases. The plugin evaluates the page’s content and provides feedback on how to improve the content for that focus keyphrase. The plugin gives you feedback on a lot of different aspects, including whether you use the focus keyphrase often enough (but not too often) throughout
your text, and whether you use it in enough of your subheadings. In addition, it tells you whether or not you have used this keyphrase before.
Synonyms
Search engines are becoming smarter. They increasingly use the context surrounding terms to build a complete picture of what that term means. That’s why we help you optimize your text with synonyms as well – if you have Yoast SEO Premium. Synonyms of a word are words or phrases that have the same meaning. A synonym for ‘dog’, for example, is ‘canine’, ‘hound’ or ‘man’s best friend’. Using synonyms in your copy can help people understand it better, and it improves the readability of your text. If you repeat the same word very often in your copy, it looks like you’ve written it for search engines, not humans.
Word forms and word order
Search engines also recognize word forms such as plurals, singulars, comparatives, or past-tense variants of the same words. That’s why we also added this functionality to the Yoast SEO Premium plugin. The plugin will now recognize all word forms of your focus keyphrase.
In addition, word order doesn’t influence keyphrase recognition anymore, both for search engines and in Yoast SEO. So, it doesn’t matter if you write ‘a trained dog’ or ‘a dog that is trained’. In both sentences, the Yoast SEO analysis will find the keyphrase you’re optimizing your post for. This will enable you to write in a more natural and free way and still get green feedback bullets from Yoast.
Related keyphrase
Finally, search engines also recognize related terms. This means that in a text about puppy training, search engines will also recognize words like ‘rewards’, ‘commands’ or ‘behavior’. In Yoast SEO Premium, you can also set related keyphrases for your post or page, apart from your focus keyphrase. Your focus keyphrase is the most important, of course. That’s why we’re less strict in our analysis of your related keyphrases.
Yoast Academy:
Yoast Academy is the online learning platform for SEO by the makers of the biggest SEO plugin for WordPress: Yoast SEO. Our online SEO training courses teach you vital SEO skills you can apply at once. We have training courses on keyword research, SEO copywriting, technical SEO, structured data, site structure, our own Yoast SEO for WordPress plugin, and more. They are developed by world class SEOs and education experts trusted by the world’s biggest brands. Whether you’re a blogger, developer, online marketeer, or own a business, big or small: we believe in SEO for everyone. #YoastAcademy #YoastSEO #SEOforWordPress
Yoast SEO for WordPress training:
This video is part of the Yoast SEO for WordPress training course by Yoast Academy. Take the full course at https://yoa.st/3g0 to learn how the Yoast SEO plugin can make you rank better. In this training, we discuss the ins and outs of the Yoast SEO plugin. We’ll guide you through the features and teach you what the best settings for your website are. And of course, we’ll show you how you can optimize a post or page in the editor (both the classic editor and the new block editor are taken into account).
About this video:
The focus keyphrase is the search term that you most want your page to rank for, so when people search for that keyword or phrase, they should find you. A focus keyphrase can be a word, like ‘dog’, but also a phrase, like ‘dog training school in Bakersfield’. Yoast SEO has its own input field for focus keyphrases. The plugin evaluates the page’s content and provides feedback on how to improve the content for that focus keyphrase. The plugin gives you feedback on a lot of different aspects, including whether you use the focus keyphrase often enough (but not too often) throughout
your text, and whether you use it in enough of your subheadings. In addition, it tells you whether or not you have used this keyphrase before.
Synonyms
Search engines are becoming smarter. They increasingly use the context surrounding terms to build a complete picture of what that term means. That’s why we help you optimize your text with synonyms as well – if you have Yoast SEO Premium. Synonyms of a word are words or phrases that have the same meaning. A synonym for ‘dog’, for example, is ‘canine’, ‘hound’ or ‘man’s best friend’. Using synonyms in your copy can help people understand it better, and it improves the readability of your text. If you repeat the same word very often in your copy, it looks like you’ve written it for search engines, not humans.
Word forms and word order
Search engines also recognize word forms such as plurals, singulars, comparatives, or past-tense variants of the same words. That’s why we also added this functionality to the Yoast SEO Premium plugin. The plugin will now recognize all word forms of your focus keyphrase.
In addition, word order doesn’t influence keyphrase recognition anymore, both for search engines and in Yoast SEO. So, it doesn’t matter if you write ‘a trained dog’ or ‘a dog that is trained’. In both sentences, the Yoast SEO analysis will find the keyphrase you’re optimizing your post for. This will enable you to write in a more natural and free way and still get green feedback bullets from Yoast.
Related keyphrase
Finally, search engines also recognize related terms. This means that in a text about puppy training, search engines will also recognize words like ‘rewards’, ‘commands’ or ‘behavior’. In Yoast SEO Premium, you can also set related keyphrases for your post or page, apart from your focus keyphrase. Your focus keyphrase is the most important, of course. That’s why we’re less strict in our analysis of your related keyphrases.
Yoast Academy:
Yoast Academy is the online learning platform for SEO by the makers of the biggest SEO plugin for WordPress: Yoast SEO. Our online SEO training courses teach you vital SEO skills you can apply at once. We have training courses on keyword research, SEO copywriting, technical SEO, structured data, site structure, our own Yoast SEO for WordPress plugin, and more. They are developed by world class SEOs and education experts trusted by the world’s biggest brands. Whether you’re a blogger, developer, online marketeer, or own a business, big or small: we believe in SEO for everyone. #YoastAcademy #YoastSEO #SEOforWordPress
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