Ask Yoast: how many (internal) links on a page?
Links are valuable for search engines. Therefore, it’s important to understand how Google and other search engines use links. They use the number of links pointing to a webpage to determine how important that page is. Not only external links could help in the ranking of a page in Google, but the internal links could help […]
Ask Yoast: why and how to minify your JS and CSS
If you check your site speed with Google PageSpeed Insights you might get the advice to minify your Javascript (JS) and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) files. Your JS files contain the code for the interactive elements of your website. And in your CSS files you specify the design of your pages. Minifying those files will decrease your page […]
Ask Yoast: SEO tactics for link building
As you might know, links from other websites are an important ranking factor. But you might wonder how to get those quality links. What SEO tactics should you use? First, let us tell you one thing about the SEO value of links: quality often beats quantity. One link from a high ranking site can do more for you […]
Ask Yoast: importance of using excerpts
Do you want to increase click-through rates to your posts or pages? Craft great excerpts! In this video Joost explains why excerpts are important.
Ask Yoast: what’s a slug?
For this edition of Ask Yoast, we received a question that belongs in the SEO basics category: what’s a slug? The answer is simple because it’s the piece of the URL that distinguishes a post. In this Ask Yoast, Joost explains what a slug is and what its SEO benefits are. This Ask Yoast is all about the […]
Ask Yoast: how to get most out of cornerstone content
You’ve did it! You’ve written that awesome post that’s designated to be one of the cornerstone articles of your site. And now what? How can you show Google that it is one of the most important articles of your site? This is an issue a lot of our site review customers struggle with. The answer is […]
Ask Yoast: when should I use hreflang?
Do you own a site in multiple languages or aimed at different regions? In that case, you want search engines to point people to the most “fitting” language and site. On top of that, you want to prevent Google from seeing similar content on sites for different markets as duplicate content. hreflang is the technical […]
Ask Yoast: reference number in URL?
Reference numbers (or post IDs) might be easy for your CMS, but they aren’t for your users. Remembering a URL with a number in it is hard, so the chance people will remember it and link to it is smaller. If people can remember your URLs they can also find it and share it with their friends more […]
Ask Yoast: include taxonomies in XML sitemap?
Your tag and category pages could be very important pages on your site. If you’re using these pages in the right way, they can boost your site’s SEO. You might wonder if you should also include these taxonomy pages in your XML sitemap. In this Ask Yoast we explain whether you should, and why! Our support team received the following question […]
Ask Yoast: Links to PDF files
If you’re starting with an (eCommerce) site you might have a lot of content that’s already available in PDF files: product brochures, datasheets, pricing information and so on. So some people might think: why not upload these PDF files and link to them? There are some disadvantages to showing PDF files on your site though. We’ll discuss some of […]
Ask Yoast: why connect GSC with Yoast SEO?
If you use our Yoast SEO plugin you’ve got the opportunity to connect it to Google Search Console (GSC). With GSC you can monitor the SEO health of your site, while Yoast SEO helps you to optimize your site. Connecting the two, so they can work together, will allow you to be more efficient when maintaining your site. […]
Ask Yoast: 301 or 302 redirect?
You’ve deleted a post or page. Of course you know that you’re not done yet though! You’ll have to create a redirect, to avoid that visitors will land on your 404 page. Perhaps your site has a page that shows the information that you’ve just deleted, or something similar. So you want to create a redirect. But […]
Ask Yoast: fix website or start new one
Imagine owning a website with a lot of outdated content. What to do? Should you try to fix the old website? Or would it be better to start all over again with a brand new website? In this Ask Yoast we’ll dive into this frequent dilemma. We’ll do so by discussing the following question, sent to us […]
Ask Yoast: Facebook or Adwords advertising?
If you want to give your products or events that extra push, should you promote them on Facebook? Or would it be better to use Adwords to drive traffic to your site? If you would have to choose, perhaps because of a limited budget, which one should you pick, Facebook or Adwords? At Ask Yoast we received a question from someone who […]
Ask Yoast: www and duplicate content
If content on different urls is the same, search engines don’t know which url to show in the search results. We call this a duplicate content issue. And it can hurt your rankings! Unfortunately it happens more often than you’d think. Did you, for instance, ever think about the consequences of www or non www versions […]
Ask Yoast: can backlinks from one site hurt my rankings?
Backlinks to your website usually contribute to your rankings. So generally you’d be happy to get lots links to your posts and pages. But what if you get lots of links from one site? Would Google consider that as suspicious, and could you therefore be penalized? In this Ask Yoast we’ll take a question from Gabriel Heffes of Alberta Home […]
Ask Yoast: should I never buy links?
We understand that, at times, you might be tempted to buy links. Who doesn’t want to start ranking quickly? And, would it really harm your site, even if it’s from a “trustworthy” link selling site? Watch this video and know why you should never buy links! Why you should never buy links Can’t watch the […]
Ask Yoast: page tabs and SEO
Welcome to another Ask Yoast! This time we’ll take a question from Gary Cannon (Home España). He asks: “What’s your opinion on SEO and using page tabs? Should each tab have an SEO text or just the first tab?” Should you really use tabs? Check out our video or read the answer below! Ask Yoast transcript Well, in […]
Ask Yoast: RSS importers and duplicate content
At Yoast we’re happy to help you with your SEO question! This time we received a question from Diana. She’s asking: “Does Google consider it to be duplicate content when I import my articles from one blog to my main blog using an RSS Importer? Will I be penalized by Google in some way?” Watch the […]
Ask Yoast: Google PageSpeed score
In Ask Yoast we handle your SEO question! This time we received a question from Stefan Wohlert from Venlo, just around the corner here in the Netherlands. He asks: “How important is the Google PageSpeed score for SEO?” In this video we explain what this score means for your site’s SEO: Focus on a fast website […]