With Yoast keep making changes like they are changing their underwear each day, I’ve decided to share RankYa settings for Yoast SEO Plugin setup. Here’s are the variables to use when setting up Yoast WordPress SEO Plugin
Content Types
Posts
SEO title: %%title%% %%page%%
Meta description: %%excerpt%%
Pages
SEO title: %%title%%
Meta description: %%excerpt%%
Media
Redirect attachment URLs to the attachment itself? This should be set to YES for most setups (as of Yoast SEO Plugin Version 12.5) if not use settings below
SEO title: %%title%%
Meta description: %%caption%%
Taxonomies
Category
SEO title: %%term_title%% Archives %%page%%
Meta description: %%category_description%%
Tags
SEO title: %%term_title%% Archives %%page%%
Meta description: %%term_description%%
Formats
SEO title: %%term_title%% Archives %%page%%
Meta description: LEAVE EMPTY
Category URLs
Remove the categories prefix > Keep
Archives
Author archives settings
SEO title: %%name%%, Author at %%sitename%% %%page%%
Meta description: Read more blog posts written on %%sitename%% by author: %%name%%
Date archives settings
SEO title: %%date%% %%page%%
Meta description: Read more blog posts written on %%sitename%% published on %%date%%
RSS
Content to put Before each blog entry = %%sitename%% Blog entry
Content to put After a blog entry = The post %%POSTLINK%% appeared first on %%BLOGLINK%%.
Yoast SEO Plugin WooCommerce Extension
Since WordPress is open source, and since most of the Plugins reside in github, if you are thinking of Yoast WooCommerce extension to use, just download from github
%%ct_product_cat%% Product category (comma separated)%%ct_product_tag%% Product tag (comma separated)%%ct_pa_<product-attribute-slug>%% Product attribute (comma separated). Be sure to remove the <> as they are not needed.
Which to use for Product? %%title%% can be purchased securely online at %%sitename%% store
Custom Functions for Yoast Plugin
/* **************************************************** BEGIN YOAST BLOCK ***************************************************************************** */
/* Using Yoast SEO Plugin? Then use these functions to remove annoying popups, divs and stupid SEO score */
function rankya_yoast_edits() {
include_once( ABSPATH . 'wp-admin/includes/plugin.php' );
if ( is_plugin_active( 'wordpress-seo/wp-seo.php' ) || is_plugin_active( 'wordpress-seo-premium/wp-seo-premium.php' ) ) {
function yoast_remove_blocks_with_css() {
if ( is_user_logged_in() && current_user_can( 'manage_options' ) || is_admin()) { ?>
<style type="text/css">
[class*="is-dismissible"], #wpseo-dismiss-about, #wpseo-dismiss-recalculate, li#wp-admin-bar-wpseo-menu, #sidebar-container #sidebar, .wpseotab.active > p:nth-child(6), .wpseotab.active > p:nth-child(7), #wpseo-dismiss-gsc, #yst_opengraph_image_warning, #metamessage.error, #blocking_files, [id*="metadesc_found"][class*="wrong"], .wpseo-tab-video-container, #wpseo-dashboard-overview, #i18n_promo_box, #wpseo-score-readability.column-wpseo-score-readability, .yoast-issue-counter,#yoast_internal_linking, div.yoast_premium_upsell_admin_block, #wpseo-debug-info,[class*="container__alert"],[class*="container__warning"], #wpseofocuskeyword {
display:none !important
}
.postbox {
border:1px solid #e5e5e5 !important
}
</style>
<?php } //end if user logged in
} //end yoast styles removal
add_action( 'admin_head', 'yoast_remove_blocks_with_css' ); // hook in to action admin_head to place this CSS
function yoast_seo_dashboard_overview_widget() {
remove_meta_box( 'wpseo-dashboard-overview', 'dashboard', 'side' );
}
add_action( 'wp_dashboard_setup', 'yoast_seo_dashboard_overview_widget' );
function yoast_ignore_tour() {
update_user_meta( get_current_user_id(), 'yoast_ignore_tour', true );
}
add_action( 'admin_init', 'yoast_ignore_tour', 999 );
function wpseo_disable_rel_next_home( $link ) {
if (is_home() || is_front_page()) {
return false;
}
}
add_filter( 'wpseo_next_rel_link', 'wpseo_disable_rel_next_home' );
function remove_stupid_adminbar_menu_for_yoast() {
global $wp_admin_bar;
$wp_admin_bar->remove_menu('wpseo-menu');
}
add_action( 'wp_before_admin_bar_render', 'remove_stupid_adminbar_menu_for_yoast' );
/*
function remove_json_ld_output( $data ) {
$data = array();
return $data;
}
add_filter('wpseo_json_ld_output', 'remove_json_ld_output', 10, 1);
add_filter( 'wpseo_json_ld_output', '__return_empty_array' );
add_filter( 'disable_wpseo_json_ld_search', '__return_true' );
*/
function rankya_columns_filter( $columns ) {
unset($columns['wpseo-score']);
unset($columns['wpseo-focuskw']);
return $columns;
}
add_filter( 'manage_edit-page_columns', 'rankya_columns_filter',10, 1 );
add_filter( 'manage_edit-post_columns', 'rankya_columns_filter',10, 1 );
//remove the comments
add_action('get_header', 'start_ob');
add_action('wp_head', 'end_ob', 999);
function start_ob() {
ob_start('remove_yoast');
}
function end_ob() {
ob_end_flush();
}
function remove_yoast($output) {
if (defined('WPSEO_VERSION')) {
$targets = array(
'<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v'.WPSEO_VERSION.' - https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/ -->',
'<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v'.WPSEO_VERSION.' - https://yoa.st/1yg?utm_content='.WPSEO_VERSION.' -->',
'<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v'.WPSEO_VERSION.' - https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/ -->',
'<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v'.WPSEO_VERSION.' - https://yoa.st/1yg?utm_content='.WPSEO_VERSION.' -->',
'<!-- / Yoast SEO plugin. -->',
'<!-- / Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->',
'<meta name="robots" content="noodp"/>'
);
$output = str_ireplace($targets, '', $output);
$output = trim($output);
$output = preg_replace('/^[ \t]*[\r\n]+/m', '', $output);
}
return $output;
}
function rankya_remove_yoast_notice() {
if ( is_plugin_active( 'wordpress-seo/wp-seo.php' ) ) {
if ( !class_exists( 'Yoast_Notification_Center' ) ) {
require_once( WP_PLUGIN_DIR . '/wordpress-seo/admin/class-yoast-notification-center.php' );
}
remove_action( 'all_admin_notices', array( Yoast_Notification_Center::get(), 'display_notifications' ) );
}
/*
just stop using the stupid Yoast redirections altogether (if you need to control redirection, use https://redirection.me/ free plugin)
//Yoast SEO Disable Automatic Redirects for Posts And Pages
add_filter('wpseo_premium_post_redirect_slug_change', '__return_true' );
//Yoast SEO Disable Automatic Redirects for Taxonomies (Category, Tags, Etc)
add_filter('wpseo_premium_term_redirect_slug_change', '__return_true' );
// Yoast SEO Disable Redirect Notifications for Posts or Pages: Moved to Trash
add_filter('wpseo_enable_notification_post_trash', '__return_false');
//Yoast SEO Disable Redirect Notifications for Posts and Pages: Change URL
add_filter('wpseo_enable_notification_post_slug_change', '__return_false');
// Yoast SEO Disable Redirect Notifications for Taxonomies: Moved to Trash
add_filter('wpseo_enable_notification_term_delete','__return_false');
// Yoast SEO Disable Redirect Notifications for Taxonomies: Change URL
add_filter('wpseo_enable_notification_term_slug_change','__return_false');*/
} //end rankya_remove_yoast_notice
add_action( 'admin_init', 'rankya_remove_yoast_notice' );
} //end if ( is_plugin_active( 'wordpress-seo/wp-seo.php' ) or premium check)
} //end function rankya_yoast_edits()
// UPON ACTIVATION DO
add_action( 'init', 'rankya_yoast_edits' );
/*end rankya_yoast_edits*/
/* **************************************************** END YOAST BLOCK ***************************************************************************** */
Tips for Setting up Yoast SEO Plugin
Keep in mind always that when you setup Yoast Plugin through its general settings, that means, if you somehow forget to optimize individual posts pages or products by creating unique SEO Title and Meta Description, then, the general settings (and snippet variables) will be used. But the important thing to remember is, you should not forget creating unique SEO Title and Meta Description for each URL you are creating.
Yoast SEO Title Option Best Practice
- For blog posts targeting long tailed keywords (which are a must to do when you want to rank competitive keywords as well): Entire Target keywords should be placed in SEO Title.
- For pages or blog posts targeting short tailed keywords (less than 3 or 4 words): Entire Target keywords + Call to Action (entice the Google searcher who will see your results amongst others to click YOUR website details)
- For Products (WooCommerce): Product Name (If short (less than 3 or 4 words)): Entire Target keywords + Call to Action. If product name is longer than 4+ words: Entire Target keywords
Do you know of better settings? Comment below or share this post with other WordPress site owners using Yoast SEO Plugin.
Might as well install SEO plugin 🙂
“triple check author and date archives and make sure that they do NOT redirect to the home page”
Why not redirect them if we have one author blog?
i just want to ask something on email ?
Hello Deny, questions and comments has to be commented on commenting section of blog posts, thanks
Hi Savas! I was waiting for your post after this “Another Great” update from yoast. If you can sugest some alternative way : how to seo wordpress site without yoast, i’ll be glad to hear you!
This is ridiculous, they are trying to make it worse…
After the major update and every time i was updating to new versions, something happens, i’m losing my xml site maps, my site is crashing and some other issues…
I also believe the Yoast team has lost the plot with these updates (almost everyday???) no other WordPress plugin updates as much as Yoast (thus, these consistent updates causes issues) in fact, there are major flaws with v7 (triple check author and date archives and make sure that they do NOT redirect to the home page)