I’ve written before about the benefits of using a plugin to boost your SEO on WordPress. It’s simply a game changer as far as SEO is concerned. It can take a decent blogger with a modicum of SEO knowledge and bring them to the next level. It is one of the first things we here at Wikimotive install when we’re starting a new blog (either personal or professional) and it simply covers all of the SEO basics you could think of.
Before you accuse me of being some kind of shill for WordPress SEO by Yoast, you should consider the best part: it’s absolutely free.
Getting Yoast only takes a few minutes, just follow these simple steps:
1. Login to your WordPress dashboard.
2. Locate the Plugins nav menu option on the left-hand side of your screen. It should be between the Appearance menu and the Users menu, though this may be different depending on the theme you have installed.
3. Click “Add New” to bring up the Plugin search box.
4. Search for “Yoast.”
5. Find the option “WordPress SEO by Yoast” and click “Install Now” below.
6. Once the Plugin installs, click the “Activate Plugin” button below the success message.
Once it’s installed and activated, you should notice the posts screen change right away. If you don’t, you should hide the “SEO Details and Traditional Style” in the screen options menu and turn on the “WordPress SEO by Yoast” screen option. This will bring up a slightly different screen than you may be used to, but it’s essentially the same idea. The big difference is that now you can input a Focus keyword above your SEO title. This focus keyword will be how you hone the entire SEO strategy of the page. Of course, the focus keyword isn’t the end all be all of Yoast’s strategy, but it represents the changes Yoast brings to the table. Click the new SEO menu on the left hand side of your dashboard to check out the rest of what Yoast has to offer.