Yoast SEO: the optimal settings

Install it from Plugins > Add New Plugin (search for Yoast SEO). The settings live under Yoast SEO > Settings, in four groups: General, Content types, Categories & tags and Advanced.

First-time configuration

Yoast opens a short wizard after you activate it. Run it: it fills in most of the "Site representation" values below and indexes your existing pages so Yoast can work faster. Say no to usage tracking.

General > Site features

Feature	Our choice	Why
SEO analysis and Readability analysis	On	The traffic lights under each page. Treat them as a checklist, not a score to chase.
Cornerstone content	On	Lets you mark your most important pages so Yoast nudges you to link to them.
Text link counter	On	Shows how many internal links point to each page. Pages nobody links to are hard for Google to find.
XML sitemaps	On	Your sitemap is at yoursite.com/sitemap_index.xml. It lists only the pages you allow in search results.
Admin bar menu, REST API endpoint	On	Defaults; harmless and handy.
Usage tracking	Off	Not needed.
Link suggestions, IndexNow, AI title and description suggestions	Premium only	Nice to have, not required. Bing picks up changes from your sitemap without IndexNow.

General > Site basics and Site representation

Setting	Our choice	Why
Website name	Your business name, exactly as customers know it	Google can show it above your result instead of the domain. An empty site title makes titles read "Page -".
Title separator	| or -	Purely visual. Pick one and never change it.
Organization or Person	Organization, with name and logo (square, at least 112 x 112 pixels)	This becomes structured data that helps Google build a knowledge panel for your business. Use the same name you use on Google Business Profile.
Other profiles	Your real social pages	Links your site and your profiles together as one business.

Content types

Setting	Our choice	Why
Pages and Posts: Show in search results	On	These are the pages you want found.
SEO title template	%%title%% %%page%% %%sep%% %%sitename%% (the default)	Gives every page a sensible title even before you write a custom one.
Meta description template	Leave empty	Write a real description for each important page instead; a template produces the same sentence everywhere.
Projects (added by Divi): Show in search results	Off, unless you use Divi Projects	Divi adds a Projects post type that most sites never use. Hiding it keeps empty archives out of Google.

Categories & tags

Setting	Our choice	Why
Categories: Show in search results	On	A category page with a short introduction can rank for a topic.
Tags: Show in search results	Off, if you use many tags	Dozens of thin tag pages with two posts each look like duplicate content.
Format archives	Off	Divi does not use post formats.

Advanced

Setting	Our choice	Why
Author archives	Disabled	On a business site the author archive repeats the blog, and its address shows your login name. Turning it off works together with the Kadence author settings.
Date archives	Disabled	Pages like /2026/10/ add nothing for searchers.
Media pages (Enable media pages)	Off	WordPress creates a separate page for every uploaded image. With this off, those addresses go straight to the image file and never show up in Google as thin pages.
Breadcrumbs	On	Adds breadcrumb structured data. To show breadcrumbs on the page in Divi, add a Yoast Breadcrumbs block or the Home » Yoast SEO Settings shortcode in a Divi Text or Code module.
Crawl optimization	Premium in current versions	Removes extra feed and link tags. Useful on large sites; skip it on a normal business site.
RSS	Default	Adds a "This post first appeared on" line to your feed, which helps when scrapers copy your posts.

On every page you publish

1. Focus keyphrase: the words a customer would type, for example emergency plumber Tucson. One page per keyphrase.
2. SEO title: under about 60 characters, keyphrase near the start.
3. Meta description: one or two plain sentences (about 120 to 155 characters) that make someone want to click. Google may rewrite it, but a good one is often kept.
4. One H1 per page, then H2 and H3 headings in order. In Divi, check the heading level in each module's text settings.
5. Link to the page from at least one other page on your site.

Tell Google and Bing about your site

1. Add your site to Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. The verification code can go in Yoast SEO > Settings > General > Site connections.
2. Submit https://yoursite.com/sitemap_index.xml as your sitemap in both.
3. Before launch, make sure Settings > Reading > Discourage search engines from indexing this site is unticked. It is the most common reason a new site never shows up.