Is Focus Keyphrase in Yoast SEO needed

[tcq2005]

I have been told that focus keyphrase in Yoast seo no longer plays any role in seo ranking, I don’t need to enter it any more. Is that correct? What are the most important factor for on-page seo in 2022? Many thanks.

 

[NickGrogan]

You don't need Yoast for SEO ranking.

The most important factor for on page SEO in 2022 is the content.

 

[fisicx]

You have never needed a focus keyword/phrase. Yoast has always been one of the more useless plugins.

 

[Alan]

Yoast has always been one of the more useless plugins.

Useless is in the eye of the beholder.

Yoast employs over 120 people,and is profitable. So as a business it isn't exactly useless

 

[fisicx]

Useless is in the eye of the beholder.

Yoast employs over 120 people,and is profitable. So as a business it isn't exactly useless

They have a very good marketing team.

 

[Deleted member 335660]

Useless is in the eye of the beholder.

Yoast employs over 120 people,and is profitable. So as a business it isn't exactly useless

Yes Fisicx seems to have a chip on his shoulder with Yoast.

I find even the free version useful and their website explains all the research behind their beliefs.

 

[Deleted member 335660]

I have been told that focus keyphrase in Yoast seo no longer plays any role in seo ranking, I don’t need to enter it any more. Is that correct? What are the most important factor for on-page seo in 2022? Many thanks.

I find it quite useful in helping me to identify keywords for a product and keep my content in line. The Focus Keyphrase may not be critical but if all the content is related to it, it will make your content more focussed.

 

[fisicx]

Yes Fisicx seems to have a chip on his shoulder with Yoast.

Not really. It’s just that their whole philosophy is wrong.

Google looks at the whole site not individual pages. If you have a focus keyword/phrase on a single page you can easily miss out on a whole load of ranking opportunities.

To be honest, I’m not a fan of any seo plugin or seo analysis tools. You can do a far better job if you ignore what they suggest.

 

[Deleted member 335660]

Not really. It’s just that their whole philosophy is wrong.

Google looks at the whole site not individual pages. If you have a focus keyword/phrase on a single page you can easily miss out on a whole load of ranking opportunities.

To be honest, I’m not a fan of any seo plugin or seo analysis tools. You can do a far better job if you ignore what they suggest.

Well I am working through a SEO course (Fresh Bananas) and I understood Google looks for keywords. I also understand you should make them into Long Tail ones too. I dont have one keyword phrase, I have them on every product and every page.

 

[fisicx]

Yes google does look for keywords. But it looks for supporting content as well. It then looks at how that keyword fits into the whole site. So rather than focus on a keyword/phrase on each page you use categories and feeder pages to guide google (and customers) to products. This means your keywords are spread across multiple pages. You don't need Yoast to tell you what keywords you need on a product page, it's obvious what should be there. What Yoast doesn't tell you is how you then include these keywords on other pages, this is the key to good on-site seo: Internal navigation. Get the keywords/phrases in lots of places all pointing to the money page. In other words it's not the keywords on the page that matter, it's how you tell google which pages are important.

 

[Deleted member 335660]

Yoast does not tell you what keywords you should use it just tells you if they exist and match up with words in the title and descriptions of the page, category or product you are working on.

So you decide what the keyword phrase is for a particular product, page or category and then it tests your use across the whole element.

 

[SEO Lady]

I have been told that focus keyphrase in Yoast seo no longer plays any role in seo ranking, I don’t need to enter it any more. Is that correct? What are the most important factor for on-page seo in 2022? Many thanks.

The same on-page factors that I used back in 2004

 

[Deleted member 335660]

Last night I was reading, and I quote "In a nutshell, a well SEO'd web page should have the keywords in the Meta Description." He also goes on to say that people often fail to right good Descriptions with the keywords in. He also says you need to drill down to get focussed keywords in order to beat the more powerful competitors

My point all along is that Yoast is great at helping you do this. You may not need to actually type in the focus keyword space, but you still need them.

 

[fisicx]

Totally agree with Ray. But as I said, you have to make sure those keywords are on multiple pages. No point in having a link that says ‘read more’. The link should tell google where that link goes to. Think about the whole site not individual pages. It means you could have a page with dozens of focus keywords.

 

[NickGrogan]

I have some pages that rank well for certain keywords.

The keywords don't appear on the pages.

They're not in the title, the content, the image alt tags, the meta tags or anywhere else.

 

[fisicx]

I have some pages that rank well for certain keywords.

The keywords don't appear on the pages.

They're not in the title, the content, the image alt tags, the meta tags or anywhere else.

We did a test here umpteen years ago to test this exact scenario. We got pages to rank for a keyword without it appearing anywhere on the page. I’ve still got pages ranking for keyphrases that aren’t on the page.

 

[Ozzy]

Throwing an alternative here for @Trevor Andrews how I have used Yoast, purely on my wife's shop running with Woocommerce. It just came as a recommended addon that installed with the theme so I just along with it and gave it a go.
Personally I found it really useful for each product and category page on her site, for writing the page descriptions on page and meta tags, and the page title. It helped me structure that content, and it worked. Her site started getting good listings on Google for her products and subsequently getting orders.

Yes the perfect solution is building a network of pages around your site that lead into the final purchase, but that wasn't viable for me - I did my wife's website in my limited spare time and Yoast made the SEO work easier for me and it achieved results we were happy with.

 

[fisicx]

One of the big annoyances with Wordpress is the inability to write your own page titles and descriptions. If you could do this just about all seo plugins would become redundant as that’s all most people use them for. All the analysis might have some value but it’s the editing facility that gives them their usefulness.

Why doesn’t Wordpress add the editing option? I suspect the answer is money. Big popular plugins like Yoast will have a lot of say in the future of WP as they are part of the core development team.

 

[WebshopMechanic]

I think Yoast does give people who now nothing about SEO or who have a very basic understanding, a steer in the right direction. Will it get you ranked 1st? Unlikely, unless it's an extremely low competition search term but it is better than nothing at all.

SEO is not a dark art but an acquired skill. Anybody can do it but it does involve hard work to create good content, research and some trial and error. However, once you have a formula that works (and there are a few), you can get results across any industry.

In my experience, to rank for 'money terms' with decent search volume, Yoast will probably not get you there. As @NickGrogan said, content is the main factor. Technical SEO aside, content quality and authority are the main thing you need to get results.

I've ranked lots of site pages 1st by optimising the s**t out of the 'money page' with great content, headings, meta, structure, etc, and then built a network of high quality content around it to build authority. This is a hub-and-spoke model. It works and that's without links.

Of course, you still need to do your research for each hub so you can build topical authority within a subject.

 

[Deleted member 335660]

Totally agree with Ray. But as I said, you have to make sure those keywords are on multiple pages. No point in having a link that says ‘read more’. The link should tell google where that link goes to. Think about the whole site not individual pages. It means you could have a page with dozens of focus keywords.

Well Yoast prompts you to complete every page, product, post even categories so I am working my way through.

 

[Deleted member 335660]

I think Yoast does give people who now nothing about SEO or who have a very basic understanding, a steer in the right direction. Will it get you ranked 1st? Unlikely, unless it's an extremely low competition search term but it is better than nothing at all.

SEO is not a dark art but an acquired skill. Anybody can do it but it does involve hard work to create good content, research and some trial and error. However, once you have a formula that works (and there are a few), you can get results across any industry.

In my experience, to rank for 'money terms' with decent search volume, Yoast will probably not get you there. As @NickGrogan said, content is the main factor. Technical SEO aside, content quality and authority are the main thing you need to get results.

I've ranked lots of site pages 1st by optimising the s**t out of the 'money page' with great content, headings, meta, structure, etc, and then built a network of high quality content around it to build authority. This is a hub-and-spoke model. It works and that's without links.

Of course, you still need to do your research for each hub so you can build topical authority within a subject.

Yes I am a beginner and Yoast has been a great help. Our site is for gifts and our title is All About Gifts so we get a high local rating. I am now doing an SEO course and hopefully getting a better understanding. I focussed on Home Fragrance first as this is our best seller and started to get orders from all over the world.

Yes I have heard content and authority is important so we are pushing the international brands we sell and writing more blog posts on how to use them etc.

 

[fisicx]

Well Yoast prompts you to complete every page, product, post even categories so I am working my way through.

Yes, but the relationships between the pages is more important. Internal navigation is (and always has been) a key ranking signal. As you work through each page you need to look at how it works with the rest of the site.

Consider also that whilst the products are the money pages, categories are better for seo. I’d be putting more effort into categories than product pages.

 

[SEODEV#338055]

I have been told that focus keyphrase in Yoast seo no longer plays any role in seo ranking, I don’t need to enter it any more. Is that correct? What are the most important factor for on-page seo in 2022? Many thanks.

Some great replies to this thread alongside some truly ridiculous ones

Yoast is a very useful free SEO tool, with a premium version

@fisicx doesn't like Yoast, and only posts negative comments about it, so bear that in mind with everything he says about Yoast

Inputting the focus keyphrase (which should have significant search volume) is very useful because it neatly organises your high quality content into a way that can be categorised by users and search engines and ultimately - FOUND

SEO = Search Engine Optimisation. That means a search engine, which uses a computer algo, can understand content and index it appropriately

All Yoast does is help you to get indexed, it's not the be all and end all of SEO, but as a free high-grade SEO tool I hardly think it deserves some of the wanton vitriol herein accorded to it

Yoast has also recently integrated focus keyword with search volume tools, which require sign-up to access, the only thing I don't like here is there's only a select group available, would be good to have the full range

 

[Deleted member 335660]

Yes, but the relationships between the pages is more important. Internal navigation is (and always has been) a key ranking signal. As you work through each page you need to look at how it works with the rest of the site.

Consider also that whilst the products are the money pages, categories are better for seo. I’d be putting more effort into categories than product pages.

Yes, just spent hour with Ray Field and did not appreciate importance of "category page", I had been focussing on getting "product" pages right.

 

[rf-harris]

I prefer using Rank Math over Yoast. BTW you don't have to must use focus keyword.