If you want to increase your chances of being found in a Google search then you’re going to have to take into consideration search engine optimization. There are a number of elements that affect Google?s search algorithm. Fortunately, there are tools to help you create blog posts that will rank higher. The tool I want to show you is Yoast SEO.

Yoast SEO is a plugin for WordPress. This plug-in shows up on blog posts and pages while you are editing them. The tool will identify elements that you need to incorporate into your post to increase your potential ranking in a Google search.

Yoast SEO Analysis

Yoast SEO conducts two different types of analysis. One is for readability and the other is for search engine optimization. You know that you have it right when the two analyzes turn green. This means your post is optimized for search.

Everything you do as you write your post will be reflected in the analysis in real time. As you make changes to any part of your blog post, it continuously re-analyzes the post to ensure that you are moving in the right direction.

Yoast SEO points out weaknesses in your post and lets you know what you need to fix.

Key Phrase

When starting a new blog post or page, you will need to enter a key phrase so that used SEO can use it to analyze your page. This key phrase is added to the focus keyword field.

Once you add the key phrase, Yoast SEO will analyze your page to see if the phrase is being used in various elements of your blog post. Some of these elements include the title, headings within your post, and in the first paragraphs of your post. It will also let you know if you’re overusing the key phrase. It reports it as a percentage score.

Social Sharing

Yoast SEO also provides two additional features, I consider very important. The first feature is being able to modify the description that you would see in a Google search. Normally, when you do a Google search, you will see the title and a short description. If you do not provide a description, Google will take portions of the first paragraph you provide and use that as a description. Yoast SEO provides the capability to modify this description.

The other capability deals with social sharing. Yoast SEO allows you to modify what you will see for a Facebook and a Twitter post.

Summary

If you are trying to get the best results for your post, Yoast SEO will help you. It serves as a checklist, which will provide you with guidance on how to write the strongest post.

Naturally, it helps to start with a strong key phrase.

If you have questions about Yoast SEO, I would be happy to help you out. I think it is a tremendously powerful tool to help you get more reach and to get your work in front of more eyeballs.