WordPress, Yoast SEO & LinkedIn
Recently while replying to a topic in a LinkedIn Group dedicated to WordPress issues, I ran across a question that essentially prompted this article regarding Yoast SEO plugin and the WordPress media library.The LinkedIn user was basically asking how important it is to completely fill out every form that the Yoast SEO plugin created within his WordPress media library. While there were a lot of great answers, point of view and comments, I wanted to point out that great SEO is not as simple as filling out a form, or installing a useful WordPress plugin like Yoast SEO— No matter how fantastic!
To me, SEO is a complete state of mind when creating content and you should certainly develop your own natural style when adding articles or other pages with content to your website.
If you need professional guidance, you may consider picking my brain.
[hr style=”3″]
Original Question From LinkedIn
I administer a WP site for one of my clients that uses Yoast SEO plugin. I’m not very knowledgeable in SEO and noticed that every file in WP’s media folder is SEO-enabled by the Yoast plugin. How important is it to fill all these in for each and every file in the media library (photos, videos, pdfs, etc.)? Do the web bots find these and use them for SEO rankings? Thanks.
Posted Reply From LinkedIn
While you are specifically mentioning the Yoast plugin, don’t forget that their are often hidden SEO opportunities in other types of documents such as Microsoft Word, and Adobe .pdf. Each of these file types have the ability for meta description (and keywords) While I haven’t used keywords on any file types or web pages in years, and years, a great, relevant meta description for all media types cannot hurt you.
Who knows what Google will consider important one day to the next? The bottom line is that Google likes to know “everything”…
It’s one reason why structured data tags are important in modern SEO. If you are primarily concerned about images, it’s a given that alt text should be descriptive and relevant. Then it’s important that the image name is like “red-widget-1-side-view.jpg” instead of image01.jpg.
Not having great image names affects SEO (on-page) efforts. This is primarily for accessibility. Some web browsers are text only, used by those with visual impairments. “Image01.jpg” could be anything! Sure it takes extra time, but in my opinion it’s worth it. It shows you are detail-oriented, which Google likes. I believe that more often than not, Google considers it’s search results like a personal recommendation, Almost like they are “vouching” for you via your website. Of course they want to vouch for someone that shows careful consideration when building and marketing their websites.
By the way— Yoast SEO doesn’t steer you wrong at all. There are other SEO plugins you can use to accomplish your goals, but Yoast makes in very plain on how not to screw up. I do use other plugins depending on the individual site’s requirements.
Hope this helps!
SEO Conclusion
Looking back on this comment, I wish I would have phrased things a little better, added a few things and improved my insight somewhat (for SEO!) Of course the reason I wanted to post this comment as an article on my website is because it shows when I think about SEO, it’s on a larger scale than many, and goes beyond just using a great plugin for seo such as Yoast SEO. It has some good advice that could potentially be seen and applied by other Web Designers and any bit of knowledge we can acquire as a group certainly makes our lives easier. The collaborative nature of the web and sites like LinkedIn are so valuable in sharing information, that those with tips should be tipping, and those that need help should be asking!
[hr style=”3″]
I really enjoy writing about SEO, WordPress, and sharing my
nineteen almost 20 years of experience in web design, content creation, web concepts, business development and more with those on the web!
I hope if you have questions about the WordPress Yoast SEO plugin and the WordPress media library, you found this info useful. Can you do me a favor? If you did— simply share it!
Agree? Disagree? I invite you to leave a comment.