Back

5 reasons why Yoast green dots dont necessarily mean rankings

Yoast is the preferred choice when it comes to SEO plugins, and it makes sense. Green dots, however, do not indicate rankings, and we will examine why!

1- Your keywords don’t match your users intent

Conduct keyword research! Understanding user search behavior and purpose is crucial! See what ranks for your keyword. A video, blog, or static page? Do results have bullet points? What questions do the pieces answer?

There are 4 main types of search intent and each will yield different results; 

  • Information searches – How to, when, where.
  • Investigative searches – reviews, services, ‘VS/OR’
  • Transactional searches – buy, cheap, sale
  • Direct searches – name, company, specific page

These are the 4 basic search intentions, however people also conduct earlier broader searches with less precise phrases that provide a variety of results. Many users use these terms early in their search journey and are less likely to convert.

Google will provide an explanation of technical search engine optimization (SEO) and its significance if we conduct a navigational search for “Technical SEO.” Google will, however, provide a list of things you need to know in order to optimize a website if we conduct an instructional search for “How to technically optimise a page for SEO.” We can see bullet points, numerous references to “factors,” and publications with the answer to the query on this results page. An investigative search for “Technical SEO Services” will yield a list of businesses offering this service.

You must comprehend the intent of your users and the kind of information that Google is most likely to display if you want to achieve excellent results.

image here

You’ve made sure the term appears in the alt tag, metadata, header, and green dot, etc.Fantastic! However, you are not matching the goal of the user and the phrase you are using has a lower conversion rate.

2 – Not every page needs to be optimised 

You don’t always need to optimize your pages. You wouldn’t want sites like “Contact us,” “Privacy policies,” “About Us,” and “Archive pages” to be ranking, so why is it necessary to stuff a keyword in there just to make sure you get a green dot?

Asking yourself “does this page need to rank?” will help you avoid making hasty adjustments just to acquire that coveted green dot. “Will this page elicit interaction from my users and could it result in a conversion?” Which keyword would I optimize this page for, and would the content align with the purpose of my users?

Google seeks out stuff that is pertinent to the user’s goal. Therefore, just because your contact us page has a green dot does not imply that it is relevant or will rank. Conversely, if the page isn’t relevant for the term you optimized it for, you risk having a very high bounce rate, which means users are abandoning the site before they’ve had a chance to get what they were looking for.

3 – Semantic/synonyms and related terms are more important than ever before!

The idea remains the same, even though Yoast is now far more advanced in terms of keywords, semantic phrases, and closely related terms: make sure your primary keyword appears in every main page element.

Semantic keywords help Google determine which queries your page is most relevant to rank for and how relevant it is overall. By connecting the phrases you employ, Google will be able to create a more comprehensive understanding of the content you are offering and its value, which will improve its ranking for the most relevant terms. If all you do is concentrate on or employ the focus term, you may be losing out on ranks elsewhere and making it more challenging for Google to comprehend how to use your content.

Google introduced an upgrade to the Hummingbird Algorithm in 2013. Google had previously searched for the keywords on the page. For instance, Google would recognize that an article you published on dairy farming was about dairy farming if you used the term repeatedly in the text.

The algorithm update significantly altered Google’s perception of every page! Google could now comprehend the content of the page rather than only searching for mentions of the keywords. In addition to searching for the focus phrase, Google was also seeking for additional terms related to the subject.

Dairy farming, cows, agriculture, job descriptions, production, and industry are a few examples.

Google is now able to view a page much like a human would and it is trying to understand the overall topic and no longer just looking for the repetition of the focus term.

4 – Image Alt Text should describe your image

What is an Alt tag? It is a tag that allows An Alt tag: what is it? It’s a tag that tells Google and screen readers what the image is displaying.

Fantastic if your term flows smoothly into the image description! However, keyword stuffing may result by putting your keyphrase inexplicably in the alt tag of each image on the page. Instead than using the same term over and over in every image, the alt text should describe the image.

Yoast recommends adding the key phrase to the alt tags of all pertinent photos in order to obtain the green dot. This is not the purpose of an alt tag, and in fact, doing so can make your SEO approach less effective overall! is added to the alt tags of all relevant images. This is not the role of an alt tag and actually this could cause more issues within your SEO strategy than it does good! 

5 – Always write for humans first!

Any query posed by the user will always have an appropriate response, or the information they need will be provided.

It’s nice to have your keyword appear in your header tags, meta title, and description, as well as in your URL! But does the information you provide truly address the query? Sometimes we write for green dots for so long that we lose sight of the real material we are writing.

With increasing sophistication, Google can now read and comprehend the content on the page. Google rankings are no longer achieved by merely adding one key term to the pertinent sections.

All Yoast does for SEO is what spellcheck does for everyday language, to put it simply. It evaluates the strength of your SEO text, making recommendations and edits as you go. But Yoast makes sure your page is optimized with an outdated Keyword Density algorithm. The majority of the time, optimization calls for considerably more than just keyword placement. Thus, try not to worry too much about making sure that every dot is green!

If you need guidance, our expert SEO staff can assist. Send us an email at seo@jimddot.com.

Jethro Ademola
Jethro Ademola
https://jimddot.com

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *