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Aaron Weiss

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Search Engine Optimization

Read all the search engine optimization (SEO) blog posts by Aaron Weiss. Includes opinions and thoughts regarding a variety of factors regarding SEO and search engines in general.

Clickbait Headlines and what John Mueller Says

March 17, 2020 by Aaron Weiss

Clickbait headlines have infiltrated our society in a negative fashion and has become quite pervasive and unfortunately persuasive. What is worse is when those headlines aren’t clicked upon and read, but instead scrolled past with the headline taken as fact without reading the entire article.

For example, we’ll get tidbits from Googlers like John Mueller such as a recent comment about how W3C validation doesn’t impact search results. Had you just read the headline, “Google’s John Mueller: We Do Not Use W3C Validation in Search Results,” you would have thought that was the end of the conversation.

Without clicking on the article and reading it myself, I immediately recognized what was going on here. Just because Mueller stated that W3C validation doesn’t impact search results, doesn’t mean it doesn’t impact the result of crawling your website or how well your website’s structure is developed. Someone who doesn’t read between the lines isn’t going to pick that up.

This article will look at a few times John has provided more information about whether a topic or factor is or is not considered in search results or how to approach a situation. The goal is to investigate the language being used within the clickbait headlines and how it is reported on by third-parties such as SEO news websites.

The goal is to hopefully get others to understand how important it is to read articles and dissect the information to make better conclusions. Generally, this is a return to mid-level high school contextual critical thinking by looking at four different articles that have cited responses with John Mueller of Google.

What are Clickbait Headlines?

Clickbait is a form of false advertisement or misleading headlines which influence the user to click on the headlines to visit the page. This is done so with deceptive and over-sensationalized headlines.

Article #1: “Google’s John Mueller: We Do Not Use W3C Validation in Search Results”

The first article and comment is reported on by Search Engine Journal. This clickbait headline is very clear: “W3C Validation is not used as a factor in search results.” That seems simple enough.

If you do not know what W3C validation is, it is a tool that helps validate HTML code to help uncover potential warnings and errors that might make it more difficult to render a web page. Having valid HTML code on your website can help your website load more consistently across different browsers and devices.

Beyond the Headline

If you click on the article, you’ll learn that the original question posed to Mueller was “whether W3C validation errors could slow down the time it takes to download a page.”

Initially, this question stated to have nothing to do with whether W3C Validation mattered to search results. The question asked if HTML errors took more time to download a page. The assumption here is not if the page took longer to download in a browser, but with Googlebot.

It just so happens that Mueller decided to elaborate more fully:

“In general, the W3C validation is something that we do not use when it comes to search. So you don’t need to worry if your pages kind of meet the validation bar or not. However, using the validation is a great way to double check that you’re not doing anything broken on your site.” (Source)

The “broken-ness” referred to here is meant to help the admin understand if the website has the capability to load properly, which can impact how well the site is crawled. Meaning: if there are obstacles in Googlebot’s way when it crawls a page, it can hinder how well it crawls your site or how often. Therefore, the key meaning in this article is not truly laid-out: Understanding the difference between when a Google employee says that a factor doesn’t impact search results doesn’t mean it doesn’t impact the crawl.

Furthermore, it’s important to understand that W3C validation can the website load properly for the user first and foremost. Lastly, W3C Validation also has ADA Compliance and AIRA factors which may assist those who need additional assistance to interact with websites and applications.

Article #2: “When John Mueller Of Google Is Frustrated A Site Not Ranking Well”

First, this clickbait headline is grammatically incorrect. It’s missing an “is” between “site” and “not.” Double-whammy.

However, this article is from Search Engine Roundtable and is mostly a quote from John referring to a question by James Bradley from a Hangout where he asked about how to recover from a drop in rankings nearly one year prior.

Beyond the Headline

What to make of this: even a seasoned Google employee with insider information can be stumped by their own algorithm. This makes me feel better about being in the SEO industry.

We’re all humans dealing with the results of machines and software developed by humans. Ideally something is going to go wrong or we’re not going to understand the results and factors that make up the results.

John is showing that he needs another set of eyes to get help on something he can’t seem to figure out. This is sign of a truly mature adult who takes his craft seriously and is asking for help when something is beyond his own understanding.

Article #3: “Google Says Don’t Focus on how it Defines Content Quality”

This article is from Edgy.app and the clickbait headline insinuates for website administrators to not focus on how Google defines quality.

The problem with this headline is how it uses “Google” instead of John Mueller. It is true that John Mueller is a subject matter expert who is speaking on behalf of Google, but this is not Google speaking.

Generally, this headline is stating that Google’s definition of quality has no factor on search rankings.

Beyond the Headline

A user asked:

“What is quality content in Google’s eyes? If two people are writing on the same content, it’s possible they have a different opinion on the same thing. Then how does Google decide which one is better?”

This is a fantastic question! How does Google determine which article is of more quality, even if they come to different conclusions? John’s response:

So instead of trying to work back how Google’s algorithms might be working, I would recommend trying to figure out what your users are actually thinking and doing things like user studies…

Google has discussed the importance of authority through the initialism of EAT in the past. However, that initialism doesn’t tell you how to express experience, authority, and trust. Essentially, the author can assume their content is relevant and provides value to the user, but only the user will be able to make that determination.

For years there has been an assumed correlation between quality content and word length. But a thousand word article doesn’t prove that the article is of high quality. That’s just an example of how even known correlations do not exactly equate to quality.

Then again, even if your article is more relevant it may not necessarily mean that is resonates with the user or solves the problem they might be experiencing. That is why John recommends user testing to understand what it is the user attempt to solve.

But that still doesn’t answer the question which even John doesn’t respond to exactly: what if two articles about the same thing have different findings or results? I truly believe that this isn’t something that should be left for Google to answer because it’s subjective. Instead, having a diverse set of ideas that are well researched and backed by evidence is valuable to the user and society. This is a situation where Google is merely a tool to the user to find options and it is up to the user to decide what is and isn’t important to their search.

Article #4: “Google’s John Mueller: ~2/3rds Of What He Says Is Taken Out Of Context”

I saved the best for last.

This clickbait headline from Search Engine Roundtable states that 2/3rds of what John Mueller says is taken out of context. On the surface, especially after writing about the first three examples, I could say this is accurate. Since we’re discussing how the culture of clickbait headlines may be a detrimental form of communication, I think this quite a meta way of concluding this investigation.

Beyond the Headline

Jason Barnard of kalicube.pro published an podcast interview with John Mueller where Jason asked if John’s comments are taken out of context to drive traffic through clickbait headlines. John’s response:

“It is hard to say like a number but I’d guess that about 2/3rds of the content out there is kind of taken out of context and presented in a way that doesn’t really to those cases that they are talking about. And that is within the SEO space and I assume that is kind of similar within all other technical spaces or maybe even general with news.”

What John is saying is that users are not clicking on the article to learn what is really going on, nor are they attempting to understand the context of the user’s question (user research and intent) and the context of John’s responses. This means that John’s responses might be specific to a site or specific situation and the user only absorbing clickbait headlines are potentially harming their understanding of the industry.

Clickbait Headlines Conclusion on what John Muller Says

Don’t just read clickbait headlines and believe you’ve got quality information that has improved your position as an SEO.

I’ll be honest, I do this with non-SEO related news. I think we all do. We’re all humans who are much more susceptible to manipulation that we aware of or will admit.

In general, there are a few take away from the above articles:

  • Don’t assume the clickbait headline is the whole story. User behavior has been studied to manipulate our lack of time and anxieties.
  • We’re all humans. We don’t always understand the things we create. Quite an existential concept really.
  • Even experts aren’t going to have all the answers. However, experts do ask other experts. That’s a sign of a true expert.
  • Try to understand your users and audience. This is a basic marketing practice (see first bullet point)
  • Learn about the context of something to truly understand it. New information should pose new questions.
  • Clickbait headlines are damaging to journalistic integrity, but everyone is susceptible to it.
  • Don’t believe everything you read. 

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization Tagged With: clickbait, google, googlebot, John Mueller, w3c

Introducing Bunk SEO

March 4, 2020 by Aaron Weiss

SEO is a strange industry. You can’t really go to college for it, and it can take years to show competency. In my opinion, a minimum of a decade to show real maturity and expertise.

Yet, the industry is flooded with individuals and companies selling unethical and black hat SEO techniques which harm their clients or sour the search engine results. As someone who cares about doing ethical SEO that lasts and lasts, I’m continuously astonished by spammy and unethical techniques.

I’ve been doing SEO since 2008, and I’ve seen my fair share of SEO SPAM and techniques that just don’t last. Recently, when looking at the competitive landscape for “South Austin SEO,” I stumbled upon a public Trello board riddled with keyword stuffing that found its way in the middle of the first page for that search phrase.

When I began to investigate the board, I found myself going down a rabbit hole of more SEO spam and unethical techniques, as well as suspicious and dubious websites. I record my investigation which became the first episode of SEO Bunk which you can also watch below.

This project reminds me how magicians and illusionists like Houdini or Penn & Teller who have used their expertise to uncover the unethical or dubious claims. I consider this project to be of similar intentions. Uncovering how unethical agents are either flooding the search results pages with poor results or harming unaware business owners has become a new initiative of mine.

Since the first episode, I’ve recorded several more videos and I plan on putting out a video a week on my new SEO Bunk YouTube Channel.

In addition to the channel, I’ve also created a website for Bunk SEO website and have recorded a soon-to-be released series of how I put that website together on a budget. I think it’s an excellent series that shows how you can create a great WordPress website using their Twenty Twenty theme and Gutenberg.

Please subscribe and let me know what you think.

Filed Under: Projects, Search Engine Optimization Tagged With: ethical seo, keyword stuffing, seo spam, youtube

Link Building is Overrated

August 8, 2019 by Aaron Weiss

Link building used to be incredibly easy. I remember when I could submit hundreds of links using a directory submitter in the late 2000s and rank my sites in just a few weeks.

Those days are long gone.

Google has updated their algorithms consistently in order to figure out abusive link strategies, and reduce those websites’ rankings, or remove them from the index altogether. Yet, unsuspecting or unethical SEOs still rely on out-dated link strategies, and it never works long-term.

It’s time to stop using and abusing outdated tricks, because the majority of link building doesn’t work.

Story of Bad Link Building

Last year, I did some moonlighting for a marketer who had various clients. They had outsourced their SEO to a foreign company for nearly 3 years, but got the run-around for nearly half of it, and needed someone to take a look at what was going on.

Among terrible content, poor designs, and terrible organization, the outsourced team knew how to do one thing: build links. It was an awful link building strateg. Private Blog Networks (PBNs), Web 2.0 links, Spammy blog comments, pingbacks, you name it.

Yet, the clients’ rankings were plummeting, even past the top 10 pages. When the marketer approached this outsourced team about what to do, their only reply was: more links.

Smack my head.

When I was brought on board, I used various tools to learn about these websites. I imported all the known links to Cognitive SEO. After letting the numbers crunch for the day, I found something impressive: this marketer’s sites had more links than their competitors, but were so far behind in the rankings. Additionally, one he site had nearly three times the amount of links as it’s nearest competitor, but weren’t anywhere to be seen on the first 10 pages for many of the most important keywords.

Chart showing a site with lost of links not equating to better rankings.
The above chart shows a site in Cognitive SEO being listed as the “winner” when compared to the competition. This site was no where to be found in rankings.

I kept going back to my client saying this needs to stop. What did the do? They started looking for another link builder to do the same work that got them where they needed.

Stop Building Links

Seriously.

All the time and effort put into getting links can be used to create new, engaging, quality content that drives user interest.

I don’t care if other SEOs think I’m an idiot. Link building keeps you from building equity in your website’s tangible value.

But Some Link Building Is Good, Right?

Links are a part of what makes the internet the world wide web. Linking from one site to another is how this whole thing works.

Spending time adding links on low quality websites where legitimate traffic doesn’t exist isn’t valuable.

What About Other Internet Marketing Strategies?

I don’t think there’s anything wrong with writing a guest post on another website if that content and blog are designed to benefit users.

There’s nothing wrong with making sure your local business has accurate local listings and a link to your website.

Creating profiles on industry specific directories are fine too.

But do not waste your time with old-hat link building. It truly isn’t worth it.

Link Building is a Desperate Industry

When I browse the SEO Sub-Reddit, often times I see users asking about low-cost link building or admitting they wasted money on Fivvr campaigns that did more harm than good.

After the first wave of Google’s Panda and Penguin updates in 2011 and 2012, I really took a step back to look into these why these algorithms were implemented.

Link directories and article directories fostered an industry of low-quality content and link building. Misinformation was rampant. With said misinformation, users’ trust was on the line. Without user trust in a product (Google’s search functionality), there would be no advertising to sell.

Since then, every major algorithm update has been designed in order to protect that income stream: their AdWords (now just Ads) cost-per-click model.

Link Building Outreach

One of the aspects of link building I always despised was outreach: Contact blogs and websites to ask for a link. It gave me the same feeling I suspect telemarketers feel.

It always felt insincere and one-sided. Probably because it was.

I look back at the really great links that cinemafunk.com obtained when I was actively working on it. The best links were the ones I never asked to have. They were from real bloggers who found my content and linked to it. Even when someone thought I was full of shit. Still a better link than any private blog network can provide.

The Value of a Good Link

Google has kept their algorithm close to heart, but I’ve figured out what makes a link a good link or not. I didn’t need any data – just experience and wisdom. Doesn’t matter if it’s a nofollow or dofollow link, or if it comes from a high domain authority or other third-party measurement for a domain’s value.

A GREAT link is one that people click on.

BOOM.

That’s it. It’s really that simple.

The value of a link is determined by whether or not someone clicks on it, goes to your website, and performs and action such as buying something, joining something, or sharing something.

I’m not interested in the value that Google places on links. As algorithms evolve, it’s becoming too risky to place links on other sites where you ultimately have  no control, you’re out of luck when those changes occur, and your site falls in ranks or is penalized.

The value of links in SEO no longer carries the weight like it once did. I wrote about how Google was looking for more trust in websites as far back as 2015.

It’s time to sleep better at night. Write awesome content. Build trust. Forget about the links.

 

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization Tagged With: congitive seo, link building

Yes, Google Does Read Text on Images

July 11, 2019 by Aaron Weiss

On a blog post on June 20th this year, I wrote a blog post wondering, “Can Google Read Images?” Well, it turns out they can. I found similar blog posts that have reported the same, but I wanted to try for myself in a small experiment.

To complete this test, I created an image that included the text “The Worst St Pete SEO Expert.” The only place that exact phrase existed was on the rendered image. No where else. Not the filename, ALT text, etc.

Within 4 or 5 days, I found the following in an image search:

Google search result showing an image displaying with text only found in the rendered image.
Proof that Google does read text within images, but they seem to only display in Image searches.

So, there’s no doubt that Google can indeed read images. However, this didn’t show any increase any organic web rankings. Therefore, this appears to only affect image searches.

If you click the link, it goes to my homepage. That’s because the homepage is most-likely a high-priority crawl target as I developed my most recent blog posts to appear on the homepage.

I suspect if you’re a photographer or image creator looking to improve your stock photography sales, this might be an excellent option to grow your incoming traffic.

For those who are focused solely on organic web searches, this may not provide much of a rankings boost. However, it’s great information to know.

Overall, I’m impressed and tickled. Perhaps I should have provided a less self-deprecating phrase, but I wanted this to really stick out. Let’s see what trouble it brews for me later.

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization Tagged With: google, image search

Can Google Read Images?

June 20, 2019 by Aaron Weiss

There’s a good reason why this blog post’s featured image says something very negative. I need it to be unquestionably unique because it’s a test.

Almost a year ago, I came across a Chrome extension called Project Naptha which allows you to highlight and extract text from an image. I was floored by the possibility. Then I saw that SnagIt from TechSmith – my go-to screen capture software – also was now able to grab text from a screenshot.

Surely if a Chrome extension and a screen capture program could read and extract text from an image, Google should be able to as well. Right?

History and Context

Knowing what has come before  gives a clue on what to expect in the future. Below are some technologies that have been reasonably within the consumer’s hands in the last few decades.

Optical Character Recognition (OCR)

First, we already know there is some precedent for this. Optical character recognition (OCR) is a technology found in many consumer-level scanners and software. This allows you to scan a document and have the text extracted to a word processing program. However, the source needed to be printed text, and the fonts could not vary widely. Additionally, accuracy wasn’t high, requiring review and cleanup.

Text Verification

You might be familiar with Google’s reCAPTCHA tests to validate human input and deter SPAM and automated form submissions. Every time a user successfully passed validation, it helped Google’s own OCR software to become smarter. Having a human recognize words or phrases that the OCR software couldn’t, increased the accuracy of the software. This helped Google capture the entire New York Times archive.

Image Verification

More recently, Recaptcha now has us picking out buses, cars, chimneys, store fronts, bridges, etc. This version of Recaptcha is called No CAPTCHA, reCAPTCHA reduces the friction from used frustration in entering the wrong text. Instead, the user simply clicks on one or more images that match the requested image. Here, Google is now increasing it’s image recognition software, which increase it’s image search capabilities and Street View.

Mobile Check Cashing

Cashing your Grandma’s birthday check has never been easier thanks to mobile check cashing. Take a picture of the back and front of your check and boom, money in your account. This is just an instance of OCR benefiting consumers.

Image to Chart

Microsoft Excel’s mobile app now has the capability of capturing data from a picture of a chart and importing it to an spreadsheet. This feature is in beta, and the reviewed on Lifehacker states it’s not perfect.

Research

So we know that there are precedents for such software, but can Google actually read, understand, and leverage text within images in it’s search results?

Google has stated that it’s bots and index cannot read images, but SEO Roundtable explains Google does have a patent that can read text in images. So they state they have the technology, just they aren’t using in a certain fashion.

Hold on there for a second.

Some quick Googling can provide some more insight. There are many articles explaining that evidence suggests that they can and do, and might have for some time:

  • https://cognitiveseo.com/blog/5909/did-google-read-text-image-can-affect-my-rankings/
  • https://cognitiveseo.com/blog/6511/will-google-read-rank-images-near-future/
  • https://www.theleverageway.com/blog/can-google-read-text-in-images/
  • https://www.techwyse.com/blog/search-engine-optimization/google-reads-text-in-images/

The Method

Can I replicate these findings? I’m gonna try. That is how you discover new SEO research. Therefore, the blog post featured image in this post has something that I would not normally write about myself in order to have something unique.

To be clear, the text in the image will not appear anywhere else. This includes the filename, ALT text, embedded data, etc. It will only appear as text in the image. My WordPress installation, like many, will generate a few variant images for specific use-cases (.i.e. thumbnails, etc.) so there may be a few different versions that are found and indexed, but I’m uncertain which version will rank, although I believe that primary featured image will.

I’m going to give it about 3 months before I report back my findings. I feel that, since this website is still pretty new in the eyes of Google, I’m sure that the algorithm is still sorting out where this website belongs.

 

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization Tagged With: google, image optimization, image recognition, seo research

Yoast SEO Criticism

April 25, 2019 by Aaron Weiss

The Yoast SEO plugin is undeniably one of the most popular plugins for WordPress. Its “SEO for everyone” slogan is accurate as it allows many WordPress users to have a near set-it-and-forget-it attitude for most of the settings. However, one of the plugin’s most useful features can also be misleading if you’re not careful.

The gist of Yoast’s on-page analysis is simple: the writer simply adds their target or focus keyword phrase, and lo-and-behold, dozens of metrics are provided to guide the user how to improve their content to rank better. Generally, these are pretty good guidelines, but inherent problems may arise following each one.

Generally, the Yoast SEO metrics and formulas are not considerate of the writer’s intended audience, goals, and style, but is merely there to guide one to rank well in the search engines. Additionally, following each and every metric can force a writer of lesser SEO strength to produce a formulaic and soulless writing style to appease an algorithm and not a user.

This article will focus on Yoast SEO’s on-page analysis tools, opposed to the broader settings.

Snippet Preview

Yoast SEO’s snippet preview is simple to use and easy to understand. This is where the plugin truly shines for users of all levels. A live feedback monitor helps the writer get an understanding of the role the page title and meta description plays in search engine result pages. There’s no criticism here. Just praise!

Readability

Example of Yoast SEO's Readability Suggestions
Example of Yoast SEO’s Readability Suggestions
  • Reading ease
  • Passive voice
  • Transition words
  • Consecutive sentences
  • Paragraph length
  • Sentence length
  • Subheading distribution

Focus Keyword

Example of Yoast SEO's Focus Keyword Suggestions
Example of Yoast SEO’s Focus Keyword Suggestions
  • SEO Title (page title) width
  • Meta description length
  • Keyphrase in title
  • Keyphrase in slug (URL)
  • Keyphrase in introduction
  • Keyphrase in subheadings
  • Keyphrase density
  • Previously used keyphrase
  • Internal links
  • Outbound links
  • Text length
  • Image alt attribute

These really are excellent areas to focus on, but if one person spent all their time making sure each area turned green, I’m not sure if the user’s content would attract and convert an audience. In fact, I think following each of these areas could lead to formulaic and soulless content. It might rank well, but would it really engage the reader?

 

Yoast SEO Metric Breakdown

Flesch Reading Ease

This is a formula devised in 1948 by Rudolph Flesch. The lower the score, the more difficult to read. However, you need to know your audience. If you’re writing scientific analysis, your article might be more complicated than an article about beauty tips. There’s nothing wrong with that.

I personally tend to write stronger articles, and I prefer that. I’m not interested in a broad audience. I wanted a focused audience. I generally skip this Yoast SEO metric when writing and optimizing my own articles.

Passive voice

There is nothing wrong with passive voice. If I wanted to have a stronger emphasis on my own opinions and really stress my ego, I would use passive voice less frequently. My goal is to educate with wisdom, facts, and metaphors, and an active voice may does not fit my own personal style.

Again, the writer should know how to deliver their thoughts to their intended audience.

Transition words

I don’t have much negativity towards using transition words, as they can naturally help guide the narrative the writer is intending.

Consecutive sentences

I recently wrote a post titled “What if Search Engines Didn’t Exist.” In that article, I started several sentences with the same phrase. I did so as a stylistic choice to grab the reader and develop a point. Again, the intent of the writer is not considered in Yoast’s on-page analysis.

Paragraph length

Again, this comes down to style. It does make sense since websites are generally a vertical medium, paragraphs should be short. Paragraphs should contain a singular theme. It may not make sense if the theme is broken into multiple paragraphs in order to comply with Yoast SEO’s metric.

Sentence length

Another stylistic choice. However, the writer should be cognizant (I’m sure this word will decrease my reading ease) of their intended audience. There’s value in having short, concise sentences. There’s also value in crafting well-written sentences that deliver a point. Short. Long. What matters is that the writer is connecting with the reader.

Subheading distribution

I think this is generally fair. Using headings can help users quickly find points with supportive paragraphs.

SEO Title (page title) width

This is strictly an SEO aspect. Page titles or in Yoast’s world, SEO Title, should generally be ~70 characters including spaces. This is a fair metric.

Meta description length

Google has been known to test longer meta descriptions, but generally 160 characters tends to be the go-to. This is plenty of space to quickly write an accurate description with the keyword phrase and deliver a reasonable call-to-action. I think this a fair metric.

Keyphrase in title

This is fair. Don’t overdue it.

Keyphrase in slug (URL)

Also fair.

Keyphrase in introduction

Sure.

Keyphrase in subheadings

Absolutely. Don’t over do it.

Keyphrase density

Another potentially misleading formulaic metric. It is true that the frequency of a keyword phrase can assist with rankings, but sticking to a specific amount of times it should be is an awful metric.

Previously used keyphrase

If you’re writing about a specific topic often, it might be difficult to avoid. News and recent events may require you to use a specific phrase more than once as a blog post’s target or focus keyword phrase. Don’t stress it.

The idea is that you do not cannibalize the keyword phrase; meaning that you don’t have multiple page vying for the same keyword phrase.

Internal links

Any time it is reasonable, linking to another page on your website is helpful to users and search engines. I’ve done it a few times in this article.

Outbound links

Citing sources like I’ve done in this article helps provide users with additional information and may keep you honest.

Text length

I’ll always say it: write exactly what needs to be said, and not a word more. If it’s a few hundred words. Awesome. Do you have an endless diatribe with dozens of supportive paragraphs? That’s great too.

You should know your intended audience. Don’t let a plugin tell you how much or how little to write. Seth Godin’s blog articles tend to be short and concise.

Image alt attribute

The issue isn’t that Yoast SEO is recommending you to add an ALT attribute that describes an image for those who use screen readers to access the web. Accessibility is a great way to increase your website’s reach and be more inclusive to users who may be marginalized by other sources.

This metric assumes and insinuates that you have to have an image. You don’t. The insistence to have an image might have credence, but managing images technically and the  complicated world of copyrights can be frustrating.

Images can be great if you have an excellent illustration to match a point. However, ensuring that you have the necessary copyrights and bandwidth can be difficult. My day job requires me to be diligent about our clients providing copyrights for all images, and it’s made me personally more proactive about copyright when it comes to my personal website.

If you don’t have an image, that’s okay.

Technical Issues with Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO cannot take into account how dynamic content is used on the page. This includes page-specific widgets, shortcodes. Yoast SEO can only analyze the title, meta description, and the text within the text editor.

For example, on my homepage, I use a widget that displays the hero banner. Because that content is outside of the actual page, but is rendered and displayed, it is not considered in Yoast’s analysis.

What I do like about Yoast SEO

Regardless of the nitpicking within this article, Yoast SEO is a fantastic plugin, and the value it provides as a free plugin is insurmountable. Unless you’re a massive website that needs urgent SEO attention, the free version will be fine.

Additionally, I enjoy how some of the descriptions for the many various settings are geared to entry-level users, and highly accessible to advanced SEOs like myself.

In general, the on-page analysis tool keeps writers who are untrained aware of writing enticing meta descriptions and provide feedback on keyword proximity and frequency.

Conclusion

If you read this article in full, the primary points are clear: Know your audience, be confident in your style, and say what you need to say, the way you need to say it. Yoast SEO’s analysis is a checklist designed around general best practices, not what is best for your unique case. If every blog post ticked every check box in Yoast SEO, the web would more boring and formulaic than it already is with listicles and click-bait.

Following each checkbox might increase the optimization for that page to rank better, it may not connect with your audience. You’ll be writing for robots and not people. Too much emphasis on technical aspects when the writer might be more conscious of emotional connection. There is a balance between art and science, and Yoast SEO leans far too much on the science.

Filed Under: Search Engine Optimization Tagged With: wordpress plugins, wordpress seo, Yoast SEO

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