In case you are presently using the free version of the Yoast SEO in your WordPress site, you may want to think about the possibility of a wise upgrade to the Premium version. It is a reasonable evaluation of Yoast SEO Premium, its comparison to the free one, the features added such as a redirect manager, internal links suggestions, and schema support, and the question of whether the price is worth it.
Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Yoast SEO:- What you get (A Free Version).
First, it should be mentioned that Yoast SEO’s free version is actually very powerful.
It contains:
- Key focus, meta description, and snippet preview analysis of the on-page search engine
- Readability (passive voice, transition word usage, sentence length)
- XML sitemap creating and simple schema.
- Canonical URL and social media meta tags.
- Simple breadcrumb and robots.txt/.htaccess manipulation (based on version)
The aforementioned features will allow many site owners to maintain strong SEO performance without ever upgrading. Actually, one Reddit reviewer stated it quite succinctly:
- Most users find the free version satisfactory. I did spend the premium since I can optimise for more keywords.
Thus, the question arises on whether the additional features in the Premium version are of enough incremental value to your respective case.
What Yoast SEO Premium Adds: Features Worth Noting.
The following is a list of the extra features that the Yoast SEO Premium (compared to the free version) provides and a brief remark on them.
Operation Free Version Premium Version Adds My Take.
| Feature | Free Version | Premium Version Adds | My Take |
|---|---|---|---|
| Focus keyword support | support 1 keyword/page/post | Support up to 5 focus key phrases and variations.(Yoast) | Efficient when you write lots of material, or when you are aiming at many different variants of the keyword; not so efficient when you have one keyphrase to the page. |
| Redirect manager | No built-in redirect None included (must use separate plugin) | Redirection included (automatic redirection whenever the URL changes, and of various kinds) (OMM) | Really useful when a site is big, and has a lot of posts/pages or where it is usual to change permalinks. |
| Suggestions of internal links | Manual only | Real-time internal link suggestions, orphan content finder. Yoast (Yoast) | Enhances the site structure and interrelationship, particularly useful in blogs or content intensive websites. |
| Highly advanced schema & add-ons | Basic schema only | Adds Local SEO, Video SEO, News SEO, AI improvements, advanced language analysis Yoast(Yoast) | Video site or news site, and these extras could be useful, provided that you have a local business. |
| Task management/support | Self-help documentation | 24/7 support, Google Docs add-on, AI title/meta generation. (Productive Blogging) | Uncomplicated workflow is beneficial in agencies or teams. |
| Price | Free | Approx. US $99/year (per site) (pricing can be different) (Mavlers) | Expense must be paid back in terms of time saved or better SEO results. |
Standout Features In Depth
We will have a closer look at the three features that tend to influence the decision redirect manager, internal linking suggestions and advanced schema.
Redirect Manager
Perhaps the most mentioned justification of upgrading is the built-in redirect manager. You can easily change a permalink or delete pages without having Premium automatically generate a redirect to prevent you from piling up 404 errors, which is damaging to user experience and SEO.
In the event that you already use a robust redirecting tool (e.g., Redirection), and take good care of your site, then this might be less incrementally beneficial. However, it saves time in the case of medium to large websites that require frequent structural revisions.
Internal Linking Recommendations.
Internal linking with quality will aid in dissemination of link equity, corner-stone content and build superior site architecture. Yoast Premium suggests you as you write new content and it also shows you orphaned pages (the pages that lack internal links).
This feature can enhance the performance of your site in terms of link hygiene and SEO health in case you have a lot of posts/pages or have a complicated site structure. In small or novice sites, internal links can be managed without any issues.
Advanced Schema & Add-ons
The schema markup assists search engines to interpret the content improved, and the Yoast SEO Premium also includes additional possibilities (news, video, local) and improved synonymous and word-form and language synonym support.
These features are value addition features in case your site is publishing video and in terms of local search or news-type content. The free version schema might be enough in case you have a simple blog with normal posts.
What Reviewers Say: Pros & Cons
Pros:
- The time-saving and user-friendliness are greatly praised by many users.
- Premium is added to sites that have high volume of content or complex structures.
Mavlers - The most useful additions are commonly mentioned as redirect manager and internal linking tools.
Cons:
- Other critics claim that the extra functionality does not directly enhance rankings and that you can recreate a lot of them using free tools or hand techniques.
- Price is periodic (annual licence) and can be unreasonable unless you are utilizing the features on a regular basis.
- The multiple key words feature is considered by some users to be poorly built.
WebMatros
One of the comments on Reddit that are harsh:
I do not believe Yoast SEO plug-in will assist you to rank better… I suggest you have to use the free version and optimize your site.
My Verdict: Is It Worth It?
In simple terms: Yes but it is only applicable to some cases. The Yoast SEO free version provides you with more than sufficient to deal with sound on-page SEO in most websites. When your site is small, you have few pages, you are comfortable using hand tools to deal with redirects and internal links, then upgrading might not give you the value it requires the cost.
However, if you:
- Publish extensive content (e.g. blogs, tutorials, news)
- Often reorganize URLs or alter permalinks.
- Manage a site that has numerous pages in which internal linking becomes difficult to control.
- Local business, video site or news site, which needs a higher level of schema.
- Manage an agency/team and require efficient workflow + assistance.
then the Yoast SEO Premium would be a valuable expense. The cost can be compensated by the time-saving features and the additional tools.
In brief: upgrade the Yoast SEO process should be grounded on your workflow and level, but not the belief that you will have better positions with the purchase of Premium. Quality content, good links, proper site structure and user experience are still a requirement to the success of SEO. The optimisation of best practices is made more efficient with the help of the plugin, but the essentials are not displaced.
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