WordPress is a good foundation for SEO, but it needs help to control titles, descriptions, sitemaps, schema, and indexing. That is the job of an SEO plugin, and Yoast SEO is the most popular one, active on more than 10 million sites.
Yoast’s interface has changed a lot over the years. This guide walks you through setting up the current version of Yoast SEO (free) in 2026, step by step, with the settings I recommend for a typical blog.
What Yoast SEO Does
- Lets you set the SEO title and meta description of every post and page.
- Adds structured data (schema) so Google understands your site, author, and content.
- Creates XML sitemaps automatically.
- Controls which content types appear in search results.
- Adds Open Graph data so your posts look good when shared on Facebook, X, and LinkedIn.
- Verifies your site with Google, Bing, Yandex, and Pinterest.
- Analyzes each post for SEO and readability.
Step 1: Install and Activate Yoast SEO
Go to Plugins > Add New Plugin, search for Yoast SEO, click Install Now, then Activate. (How to install a WordPress plugin.) A new Yoast SEO menu appears in your dashboard.
Use only one SEO plugin. If you already use Rank Math or All in One SEO, do not run Yoast alongside it.
Step 2: Run the First-Time Configuration
Go to Yoast SEO > General > First-time configuration. The wizard has a few short steps:
- SEO data optimization: click Start SEO data optimization so Yoast can analyze your existing content.
- Site representation: choose whether your site represents an Organization or a Person. For a personal blog, choose Person and select your user; for a brand, choose Organization and upload your logo.
- Social profiles: add your Facebook, X, LinkedIn, and other profile URLs so Google can connect them to your site.
- Personal preferences: choose whether to share anonymous usage data and subscribe to the newsletter.
Step 3: Review the Main Settings
Open Yoast SEO > Settings. Most defaults are good; these are the sections worth checking.
Site Features
Under General > Site features, keep SEO analysis, readability analysis, cornerstone content, the text link counter, and XML sitemaps turned on. Turn off anything you will not use.
Site Basics
Under General > Site basics, check your site title and tagline, pick a title separator (the symbol between your post title and site name in search results, such as a dash or pipe), and upload a default site image used when a post has no featured image.
Site Connections (Webmaster Verification)
Under General > Site connections, paste the verification codes from Google Search Console, Bing Webmaster Tools, Yandex, Baidu, and Pinterest. Only paste the code itself, not the whole meta tag. See how to verify your site in Search Console.
Content Types
Under Content types, Posts and Pages should be set to show in search results. Here you can also set the default SEO title and meta description templates using variables like %%title%% and %%sitename%%. If a plugin adds custom post types that should not appear in Google (for example, affiliate link post types or popup templates), turn off Show in search results for them.
Categories and Tags
Under Categories & tags, keep categories in search results if they are useful landing pages. Many blogs hide tags from search results to avoid thin, duplicate-looking archive pages.
Advanced
- Breadcrumbs: enable them if your theme supports Yoast breadcrumbs; they help users and appear in search results.
- Author archives: on a single-author blog, disable them, because they duplicate your blog archive.
- Date archives: usually safe to disable.
- Media pages: keep disabled so attachment URLs redirect to the image itself.
- RSS: keep the default text that adds a link back to your post, so scraped copies credit you.
Click Save changes after editing each section.
Step 4: Check Your XML Sitemap
With XML sitemaps enabled, your sitemap is at yourdomain.com/sitemap_index.xml. Submit it to Google and Bing: submit your sitemap to Google. More detail in how to create a sitemap in WordPress.
Step 5: Optimize Every Post With the Yoast Panel
When you edit a post, open the Yoast panel (the Yoast icon in the top right of the block editor, or the box below the content). For each post:
- Focus keyphrase: enter the main search term you want to rank for.
- Search appearance: edit the SEO title (around 50 to 60 characters so it is not cut off), the slug, and the meta description (around 150 to 160 characters). Guides: how to add a meta title and description and how to write a good meta description.
- SEO and readability analysis: use the suggestions as a guide, not strict rules. Writing naturally for readers matters more than turning every light green.
- Social appearance: set a custom title, description, and image for Facebook and X if you want.
- Advanced: only use noindex or a custom canonical URL when you know you need them.
Useful Yoast Tools
- Import and export: import settings from another SEO plugin when switching.
- File editor: edit robots.txt (and .htaccess on some servers). Back up first; see how to optimize robots.txt.
- Bulk editor: edit titles and descriptions of many posts at once.
- Integrations: connect tools like Semrush for keyphrase ideas and Google Site Kit for Search Console data.
Yoast SEO Premium: Do You Need It?
The free version is enough for most blogs. Premium adds a redirect manager, internal linking suggestions, multiple focus keyphrases, AI tools for titles and descriptions, and support. If you mainly need redirects, a free redirection plugin also works.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Yoast SEO free?
Yes. The free version covers titles, descriptions, sitemaps, schema, and content analysis. Premium is optional.
Yoast or Rank Math?
Both are excellent. Rank Math includes more features in its free version; Yoast is very stable and widely used. Pick one and configure it well. We use Rank Math on this blog.
Do I need a green light to rank?
No. The analysis is a helpful checklist, but Google ranks helpful, original content, not plugin scores.
Questions about setting up Yoast? Ask in the comments.
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