The Shark Tank

The Yoast 11.2 update allows a user to include an image, avatar, or logo in the structured data graph. There is also a new filter that allows you to disable link indexation. In addition, Yoast revealed that it will no longer support versions of WordPress below 5.2.

Structured Data

Structured data markups allow search engines to present your content as a rich result. Structured data is how Google classifies your page and content and provides information about the specific page.

When developing structured data on the back-end of your webpage, there are three syntaxes in which search engines will support: JSON-LD, Microdata, microformats, and two common vocabularies: schema.org and microformats.org. Although most search engines will use schema.org when determining their results page, developers.google.com will allow you to learn about Google Search behavior.

Google has a tool to help you monitor your pages. This tool will indicate what rich result types were found on the page, as well as errors or suggestions for your structured data. This can come in handy when trying to improve your SEO rankings. It is important to check this often as Google’s algorithm changes 500-600 times a year.

Importance of Images

In addition to schema, images can help enhance your SEO rankings. An image of a person or organization may help the image appear on relevant queries, thus increasing traffic to your website. An image will help readers understand your article better.

With this new update, you should try to add pictures to every article you write online to make them more alluring. The placement of the image is key. Place it near relevant text for the keyword that is being optimized, as this will rank higher on the search engine. Images that you create are best to use since they are unique.

*An example of a search engine results page (SERP)

When uploading an image, be sure that you name it with your specific keyword focus. Then, you can choose the format (JPEG, PNG, or WebP) depending on what browser or device the majority of your audience uses. The crucial aspect of image structured data is the title and alternative text (image attributes) as these aspects will make your image crawlable and indexable.

Link indexation

Yoast included a new way to disable link indexation. This is beneficial as it will hide pages like your 404 page from being displayed in search results. However, it is important to get your site indexed so it will appear in a user’s SERP (search engine results page). You can improve your indexation rate by using authority pages, including the page in your sitemap, and sharing the page on high traffic sites, such as social media channels. Indexing is crucial in your SEO efforts, so you should be careful with what you index into Google.

Stay Up to Date on the Evolution of Yoast

Over the past 6 months, Yoast has made numerous updates. We will keep track of Yoast’s improvements and share the next big update. In the meantime, utilize images in your structured data and disable indexation for broken links to improve your SEO results.