How to implement Schema.org with Yoast SEO

How to implement Schema.org with Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO lets you automatically implement Schema.org markup on your pages. The Yoast approach to Schema is unique because it doesn』t just produce blobs of code. Instead, it ties the Schema bits into an interconnected structured data graph. With the code presented in such a structured way, search engines can understand your pages better. As a result, they may decide to display your content as a rich result, or your site may be eligible to appear in Google』s Knowledge Panel. 

Table of contentsSchema.org output in Yoast SEOWhat you need to do1. Configure your Search Appearance and Social settings2. Set your defaults and use the Schema tab in the Yoast SEO meta box 3. Use the HowTo and FAQ Yoast structured data blocks 4. Implement breadcrumbsAdding Schema markup on your own and integrating with other plugins and themes

The Yoast SEO Schema.org output

Yoast SEO outputs some core Schema.org pieces on every page. Some additional pieces get added based on different scenarios:

When the website represents a personOn single posts When a page contains a HowTo blockWhen a page contains an FAQ block 

To learn about all the pieces that Yoast SEO (and the Yoast SEO add-ons) output read the Schema – Pieces developers』 documentation. 

What do you need to do?

The plugin does a lot of the work behind the scenes, so you will not be required to do any coding. However, to let Yoast SEO properly implement Schema.org on your site, you will need to adjust a few settings and provide some information. 

1. Configure your Search Appearance and Social settings

In the Yoast SEO Search Appearance Settings, you can select whether your site represents a person or an organization. With that information, Yoast SEO will be able to output the correct structured data. Follow the steps in the help article on the Yoast SEO Search Appearance settings to configure your website』s settings. 

Yoast SEO uses different profiles for outputting the correct structured data

Make sure to also add your social profiles in the Yoast SEO Social settings. The plugin will use that information to let search engines know which profiles are associated with your site.

2. Set your defaults and use the Schema tab in the Yoast SEO meta box or the Yoast SEO sidebar

When you use Yoast SEO the plugin automatically describes your pages with WebPage schema and your Posts with Article schema. You can change these defaults in the Search Appearance settings of Yoast SEO. But, you can also decide how we describe the content of each individual post or page with the Schema tab in the Yoast SEO meta box or the Yoast SEO sidebar.

Find out how to change the default settings and how to use the Schema tab in this help article – Selecting the Page or Article type in your Schema settings.

3. Use the HowTo and FAQ Yoast structured data blocks

If you want to get rich results for your HowTo or FAQ pages, all you need to do is use the Yoast SEO HowTo or FAQ structured data blocks. Yoast SEO will automatically add the appropriate Schema.org markup corresponding to the blocks. 

To learn more, read these articles:

How to add HowTo schema using Yoast SEO blocksHow to add FAQ schema using Yoast SEO 

4. Implement breadcrumbs

Yoast SEO also adds Schema.org markup for breadcrumbs. To learn more about breadcrumbs and how to implement them, read these articles:

What are breadcrumbs? Why are they important for SEO?How to implement breadcrumbs 

Implementing Schema.org markup on your own and integrating with other plugins and themes

Although Yoast SEO outputs a large structured data graph, it does not currently support all content types. If you want to add your own pieces of Schema read the integration guidelines.

The guidelines also contain information on what to do if other plugins or the theme you use already output schema markup. 

Want to learn more? We launched a free Structured data for beginners training course! In this course, we explain what structured data is, how you can get your own rich results and why this is important for SEO.

How to migrate from wpSEO to Yoast SEO

How to migrate from wpSEO to Yoast SEO

You landed on this page because you are probably about to migrate from wpSEO to Yoast SEO. First of all, thanks for choosing our plugin! Now, we created this post to make sure your transition to Yoast SEO goes well. In the steps below, we show you how to safely import your SEO data from wpSEO to Yoast SEO.

In this article, we mention the configuration wizard. In Yoast SEO 17.7, we』ve replaced the configuration wizard with the new configuration workout. Check out this help article to read how to use the configuration workout!

Migrating from wpSEO to Yoast SEO

To migrate from wpSEO to Yoast SEO follow these steps Deactivate wpSEO. You can do that by going to the Plugins screen, and locating the plugin. Then, hover your mouse over it to reveal the options, and click Deactivate. Create a backup of your site. If you are not sure how to do this, take a look at the article – How to create a backup for your WordPress site. Go to the SEO menu item, and select Tools. The Tools screen will open. Click on the Import and Export link. The Import and Export settings will open. Select the Import from other SEO plugins tab. The tab options will be revealed. Since you should have already created the backup, move on to importing your data from wpSEO by clicking the Import button.  The time it takes to do the import depends on the amount of data you have. Once the importing is done you will see a notification on the top of the screen. Go to a Post or Page and check if your data is imported. For example, check if your focus keyphrase is there. Also, click the Google Preview button and check if your SEO title and meta description are in order. Run the Yoast SEO configuration wizard. If you need help in this process, watch the video on how to configure Yoast SEO with the configuration wizard. Once you』ve checked that everything is working properly, click the Clean button. When the plugin cleans up the data, you will receive a notification on the top of the screen.

Get started with Yoast SEO the right way

When you are new to Yoast SEO, you may have some questions on how to get started. The following posts may help:

The beginners guide to Yoast SEOHow to use the content analysis in Yoast SEO.WordPress SEO the definite guide

How to secure a Google Maps API key

How to secure a Google Maps API key

Our Local SEO plugin allows you to add Google Maps API keys. To prevent quota theft, secure your API key following these best practices. There are two types of restrictions: application restrictions and API restrictions. In this article, we』ll explore both of these restrictions. If you need help setting up your key, check out our guide for generating and setting up a Google Maps API key first.

Related articles

How to generate and set a Google Maps API keyConfiguration guide for Local SEO

Table of contents

Application restrictionsAPI restrictionsRemoving restrictions

Application restrictions

Our Local SEO plugin uses a Google Maps Javascript API (browser) key. The browser key should be restricted using the HTTP referrer restrictions. We』ll explore what this means below.

Javascript API (browser) key: HTTP restrictions

For the Google Maps Javascript API (browser) key, please enter the correct HTTP referrers, which is most commonly used in this format:

https://example.com https://example.com/*

There are other options depending on your preferred URL format. Learn more here. If you are unsure as to what HTTP referrer to add, please contact your web host or server admin.

API restrictions

The Yoast Local SEO plugin uses the following APIs:

Maps JavaScript API (browser key)Directions API (browser key)Timezone API (browser key)Geocoding API (server key)

How to remove Google Maps API restrictions

We highly recommend securing your API key to prevent others from using your quota. The downfall is that incorrect restrictions can cause the maps to fail. Temporarily removing the restrictions will help identify if the restrictions are causing unexpected behaviors. Go to Google API Console. If prompted, log in. Select your site project. Click on the name of your API  key. Select 『None』 under the 『Application restrictions』 section. Select 『Don』t restrict key』 under 『API restrictions』 section. Click 『Save』. Google says it may take up to 5 minutes for the settings to take effect.

After 5 minutes, start from your homepage and browse to where the map should appear. If the map appears, the restrictions were invalid. Please re-add the restrictions one option at a time to determine which restriction caused the map to not appear.

How to use RSS variables in Yoast SEO

How to use RSS variables in Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO allows you to automatically add content to your RSS feed. In the video below, Joost explains how this works and why it is important. In short, these RSS settings exist because, unfortunately, there are scraper sites that republish content from other sites without their permission. If they republish your content, they usually don』t link back to your site. This leads to duplicate content problems in the search results, and because of this, a scraper site with a bit more authority than your blog would simply outrank you with your own content.

In this article, we』ll discuss the variables you can use to customize your RSS content. What makes the variables so powerful is that they allow you to automatically add a link to each and every post that is added to your RSS feed.

RSS variables

There are four RSS variables that you can put into the text boxes on the RSS tab in Yoast SEO. The variables start and end with %%, with a description of the variable in between. Let』s go through them one by one to see what they do and when you should use them.

Available variables on the RSS tab under Search Appearance in Yoast SEO

%%AUTHORLINK%%

The %%AUTHORLINK%% variable adds a link to the author archive for the post author. The author』s name is the anchor text of the link. It』s not part of the out-of-the-box setting for the RSS content in Yoast SEO, because we』re primarily focused on getting the post ranked. But still, it』s a link that you may get out of the scraper sites.

%%POSTLINK%%

The %%POSTLINK%% variable is part of the out-of-the-box setting for the RSS content in Yoast SEO. It adds a link to your post, with the post title as an anchor text. Because the post link variable allows you to build many more links than your scraper competitors, it provides a strong signal that your post is the original one that should rank in the search engines.  

%%BLOGLINK%%

The %%BLOGLINK%% variable is part of the out-of-the-box setting for the RSS content in Yoast SEO. It adds a link to your blog, with the blog name as an anchor text. This is a strong signal that this post was originally posted on your blog.

%%BLOGDESCLINK%%

The %%BLOGDESCLINK%% variable is very similar to the %%BLOGLINK%% variable. The only difference is that with this variable, the anchor text will include a description of your site, rather than just the site name. So why use this one rather than the %%BLOGLINK%% one? It simply adds a little bit more context. It』s not crucial (or it would have been the default variable), but it can』t hurt either!

Using the variables

Using the variables is as simple as adding them to the text box on the RSS tab in Yoast SEO. It』s easiest to just copy paste them from the list that we provide there. But if that』s a problem for you, they』re fairly easy to type as well! Let』s go through the steps one by one now. Log in to your WordPress website. When you』re logged in, you will be in your 『Dashboard』. Click on 『SEO』. On the left-hand side, you will see a menu. In that menu, click on 『SEO』. Click on 『Search Appearance』. The 『SEO』 settings will expand providing you additional options. Click on 『Search Appearance』. Click on the 『RSS』 tab. Click the text box and start editing your content using the variables listed below.  Click 『Save Changes』.

Search Appearance: organization or person?

Search Appearance: organization or person?

In the Search Appearance settings of the Yoast SEO plugin, you can set whether your site is an organization (for instance, a local business) or a person (say, a personal blog). Based on what you decide, you have different additional settings to choose from. This information may be used in Google』s Knowledge Graph Card. In this help article, we』ll walk you through the settings. If you prefer watching a video, start watching at 3:24.

In this article, we mention the configuration wizard. In Yoast SEO 17.7, we』ve replaced the configuration wizard with the new configuration workout. Check out this help article to read how to use the configuration workout!

Good to know: this setting is covered during the Configuration Wizard, but can always be adjusted afterward.

Organization

After choosing 『Organization』, you will need to fill out the name of the organization and add a logo. Social profiles for the organization can be filled out in the Social tab.

Local SEO

If you have a local business (even if it』s your own business and you have no one else employed), you should choose 『Organization』. Furthermore, if you have the Yoast Local SEO plugin installed, then 『Organization』 is the default setting and this cannot be changed.

If you have the Yoast Local SEO plugin installed, then 『Organization』 is the default setting.

Person

『Person』 should be chosen if you have, for example, a personal blog, or a personal portfolio website for your art.

When doing so, you should select an author that is the 『Person』 that the website represents from the available user accounts on your website. Social profiles for this person can be filled out in their personal profile on the website (not in any of the Yoast SEO settings).

The name of the author that is shown in the dropdown menu and which will be outputted, is the 『display name publicly as』 name from the author』s profile.

How to assign a course or a subscription to someone else

How to assign a course or a subscription to someone else

Unfortunately, it』s temporarily not possible to assign a training course to someone else. We』re sorry for the inconvenience this may cause.

It is possible to purchase a course or subscription yourself and then enroll someone else as the student of that course or subscription. In order to do so, you will need to purchase one or more courses or subscriptions from our shop.

Assigning someone else to a course or subscription

After purchase, there are three options:

If you are not yet enrolled in these courses, then you will automatically be enrolled.If you purchase multiples of the same course and you are not yet enrolled in that course, then you will automatically be enrolled in one of those and all others of that course will have no student assigned.If you are already enrolled in this course (because you have purchased it before or someone else gave it to you), then no one will be automatically enrolled in the new course(s).

Follow these steps to enroll someone else in your course(s). Log in to your MyYoast account. Not sure how to log in? Go to the 『Courses』 in the sidebar (desktop) or across the bottom of the screen (mobile). Click on the 『Enrollments』 tab. Click the 『Change student』 button of the course where you want to change the enrolled student from. Fill in the email address of the new student and confirm the email address by filling it in for the second time. Click the 『Invite student』 button to enroll the student in the course. The new student will receive an enrollment email and a MyYoast account. The enrolled student can read an additional article about receiving a course.

Video SEO: FAQ

Video SEO: FAQ

Our Video SEO for WordPress plugin helps you with optimizing your videos for search engines. In this article, we』ll answer frequently asked questions about our Video SEO plugin.

Where can I find Video SEO in my WordPress post or page editor? You can find Video SEO in the sidebar and in the Video SEO meta box below the post or page. In Video SEO 13.6, we』ve integrated Yoast Video SEO into the block editor (or Gutenberg) sidebar. This makes it a lot easier to use Video SEO while writing and editing your content, as you no longer have to scroll down to find the Video SEO meta box! Why doesn』t the Video SEO plugin index videos on my category page? The Video SEO plugin only indexes videos on your taxonomy pages that are in the description of that taxonomy. If the videos are shown as excerpts of underlying pages, it will not index them. If you want the videos on your taxonomy indexed, follow the steps described in this article on how to index videos on taxonomy pages. Does the Video SEO plugin work with videos marked as private? Currently, if your video is set to private before it』s indexed by our plugin, it may not be recognized. We』re working on a solution for this, but for now, we have a workaround for indexing private videos with the Video SEO plugin. Why is my video not showing in the search results? In this post on videos not showing in the search results, we explore why your video might not show up in the search results, and we tell you what the solution is for this issue. You might also find the article How to rank with your videos in Google useful. What video hosting platforms are supported for the Video SEO plugin? This article on supported video hosting platforms for Video SEO plugin lists all the hosting platforms that have been proven to be possible to optimize with the Video SEO plugin. Why doesn』t my video sitemap work when I have custom post type 『Video』? When you have the custom post type 『Video』, the Video SEO plugin will automatically detect a naming collision and change the video sitemap name. Please go to SEO > Video SEO and click 『XML Video Sitemap』 to get the correct video sitemap URL. In this article, we explain how to change the XML video sitemap URL. Can I change the XML video sitemap URL? Yes, follow the steps described in this article on how to change the XML video sitemap URL. Why is my video not detected? Are you getting an error message saying our plugin has not detected a video in your content? We』ve listed possible causes and solutions in this article.

How to cancel your Yoast subscription

How to cancel your Yoast subscription

If you have an automatically renewing subscription or a manual subscription, you can cancel the subscription in your MyYoast account. The subscription will remain active for the remainder of the subscription period. In this article, we』ll show you how.

Do you have any other questions regarding Yoast subscriptions? Please read Yoast subscriptions: FAQ. If you have issues regarding MyYoast, check out our article on Common MyYoast issues.

Login to your MyYoast account. Click on 『Account』 in the sidebar (desktop) or across the bottom (mobile). Click 『Manage』. Find the subscription you want to cancel and click 『Manage』. Click 『Cancel subscription』. Click 『Confirm cancellation』. Review the popup, select the amount you want to cancel (default is set to 0), and click 『Confirm cancellation』.

After you have completed these steps, you will see the status Pending-cancel in MyYoast. This is expected behavior, and it means that the subscription cancellation went through.

What if you change your mind?

You canceled your subscription but changed your mind and you want it back? No problem. Contact our support team, and they will gladly help you!

Renewing your subscription manually

If you are subscribed to some products offered by Yoast, you will receive an e-mail shortly before your subscription expires. That e-mail will contain a link that you can use to manually renew your subscription.

My SEO title isn』t showing as I have entered it

My SEO title isn』t showing as I have entered it

If you』ve crafted SEO titles for your blog posts, pages, or shop pages, you may be surprised if they aren』t showing properly in Google. There are also times when you set up a template for your titles, only to see them altered in search results. You may notice things like double titles or your branding showing up twice. The title just doesn』t match what you』ve entered into the settings. Let』s go through all the problems you can run into on this front and tackle them one by one.

NOTE: If you need help with meta descriptions, use this guide: Google shows wrong meta description for my site.

To unlock the full potential of Yoast SEO, you may want to consider upgrading to Yoast SEO Premium! Its advanced text analysis helps you write naturally flowing texts. The internal linking tool and the content filters make your posts easy to find. 404 errors become a thing of the past with the redirect manager. And the social previews give you full control of how your posts appear on social media. Get Yoast SEO Premium!

Table of contentsThe source code is wrongSearch term manipulationGoogle cache is outdatedGoogle ignored your preferred titleTitle templatesTheme supportThemes with title-tag supportThemes without title-tag supportEdit your theme filesForce a rewrite

The source code is wrong

The source code for your site should contain exactly one title meta tag. If the tag is missing or more than one appears, you may not see the preferred title in search engines. Please view the source code for your site to determine if either of these situations apply.

Preferred title goes here

If you do not see a title meta tag, please follow the steps in this article.

Alternatively, if you have more than one title meta tag, please run a conflict check to determine what other feature on your site outputs the duplicate title(s).

Search term manipulation

When you search for a specific search term, Google scans all indexed pages for the exact term or phrase. Google uses the search term to highlight information in search results which is why the meta title may be different from what you entered into the plugin.

To see the title without search term manipulation, use the site: search operator followed immediately by the URL of your site. For instance, a search for all pages on example.com without search term manipulation would be site:example.com

Google cache is outdated

It can take up to a week for Google to index the changes you made, depending on how often it crawls your website. So, if you』ve recently updated your title, Google probably hasn』t indexed the new title yet.

You can go to Google and type in cache: followed immediately by the URL of your site or page to see what Google has cached for your site. If the appeared date is before you made the changes, you』ll have to wait for Google to crawl your site again. Sometimes you can speed up this process with the Inspect any URL tool in Google Search Console.

Google ignored your preferred title

Sometimes, Google just doesn』t like your titles. This could be true for all sorts of reasons and the ways of Google are fickle. We have seen that sometimes it can replace your title with parts of your URL. It』s also known to add the brand to the end of your title, or just completely rewrite it when it feels like it. Ultimately, Google will make the final decision on what comes up in search results. You can learn more in Google』s help doc about titles and descriptions.

However, there is still something you can do. You can try writing better titles. For your posts and pages, try writing one sentence titles that contain your brand name and your focus keyword. And for your homepage, your title should probably start with your brand name. Start improving your titles right now, with the help of this article that provides advice on crafting good titles for SEO.

If you do change your title, be sure to use the Inspect any URL tool in Google Search Console to update Google』s index with the new change.

Sometimes this same issue can happen with meta descriptions. Learn more about it here: Google shows the wrong meta description for my site.

Title templates

Now that we』ve looked at the possible reasons that Google doesn』t display your title correctly, let』s look at some possible issues with title templates. First, let』s tackle the title templates that are available within Yoast SEO and how they work.

Wrong title for other pages?

Each post or page』s title is automatically created by using template variables but can be overwritten at the post or page level. As the title is available to all plugins and themes, there are times when the Yoast SEO title is overwritten by another plugin or theme feature. If the template and the page level titles are correct, please check for conflicts.

Theme support

Themes with title-tagThemes without title-tagForce rewrite of titles

Themes with title-tag support

If your theme is compatible with WordPress 4.1 and newer versions, it should declare theme support for the title-tag and remove all calls from theme files to support dynamic titles.</p> <p>Warning: Any manual edits made to theme files may be overwritten by future theme updates. You may wish to explore how to make a Child Theme to prevent this from happening.</p> <p>Does your theme declare title-tag support?</p> <p>You can manually check your theme by looking for add_theme_support() in the functions.php file:</p> <p>add_theme_support( 'title-tag' );</p> <p>You may need to contact your theme developer for further assistance if you are not sure if your theme declares title-tag support.</p> <p>Does your theme still include <title> tags?</p> <p>It is also possible to check your theme manually by viewing the appropriate header or template files for the <title> meta tag.</p> <p>Not sure which template files impact a specific page? We recommend using the plugin What The File.</p> <p>If the theme developer declares support for the title-tag, you should find zero <title> meta tags in theme files.</p> <p>When the theme developer declares support for the title-tagbut included <title> meta tags, these must be removed for the title-tag support to work correctly.</p> <p>If your theme has not properly implemented the new dynamic title method, please contact the theme』s developer to request compatibility.</p> <p>Themes without title-tag support</p> <p>If your theme does not declare support for the title-tag feature, you have two options: edit your theme files or use the force a rewrite option.</p> <p>Edit your theme files</p> <p>Warning: Any manual edits made to theme files may be overwritten by future theme updates. You may wish to explore how to make a Child Theme to prevent this from happening. </p> <p>Search your theme』s files for the title element. You can typically find this in the header.php file. Change the title element to just this:</p> <p><title>

If you are not sure how to do this you may need to contact your theme developer for further assistance.

Force a rewrite

Note: This can considerably slow down your site and is the least desirable option of the two. This is not available when your theme already supports dynamic titles as discussed here.

The first option is to enable 「Force rewrite titles」 on the SEO -> Search Appearance page. Log in to your WordPress website. When you』re logged in, you will be in your 『Dashboard』. Click on 『SEO』. On the left-hand side, you will see a menu. In that menu, click on 『SEO』. Click on 『Search Appearance』. The 『SEO』 settings will expand providing you additional options. Click on 『Search Appearance』. Click on the 『General』 tab. Toggle the 『Force rewrite titles』 switch to 『Enabled』. This is discussed in detail here. Click 『Save changes』.

How to use the list assessment in our analysis

How to use the list assessment in our analysis

The goal of product pages and product descriptions is to convince people to buy your product. Of course, there are many things you need to do to create successful product pages that sell. One simple way to really highlight the benefits and features of your product and make them stand out is using lists. That is why we have a list assessment check in WooCommerce SEO for Product pages.

Lists enable your customers to scan the content on the page and quickly discover if you can offer them what they need. In addition, lists improve the accessibility of your product page since they enable screen readers to make sense of the different points you are trying to make.

The list assessment in WooCommerce SEO

The list assessment is part of the Readability tab in the Yoast SEO meta box. The check is quite simple. If you have at least one list (ordered or unordered) in your product description, you will get a green bullet. If you don』t, you』ll get the feedback that reminds you to add one.

Note that it is important to use the right tags when creating lists. For instance, the plugin will recognize this list if you use the tags as they are displayed in the following examples:

Example 1

  1. Coffee
  2. Tea
  3. Milk

Example 2

  • Coffee
  • Tea
  • Milk

If you omit the

    or

      tags, the plugin will not recognize the list, and you will get a red bullet. This is because, without those tags, screen readers can』t figure out the content, which makes it less accessible.