How to Perform On-Page Optimisation on a WordPress Post with Yoast

Before opening Yoast, confirm the primary keyword for this page. From your keyword research spreadsheet, identify: • Primary keyword: the one phrase this page should rank for (e.g. 'digital marketing course Trivandrum') • Ensure this keyword is not already used as the focus keyword on another page (keyword cannibalisation) Each page targets ONE searcher intent. Each keyword bucket from your research maps to ONE page. If two pages target the same keyword — one will hurt the other. Open the post/page in WordPress Admin → Posts/Pages → Edit.

Scroll to the bottom of the WordPress editor → Find the Yoast SEO panel. Click 'SEO' tab → Find 'Focus keyphrase' field → Enter your primary keyword exactly as people search for it. Example: 'digital marketing course Trivandrum' (not 'digital marketing Trivandrum course') Yoast will immediately analyse the content and show a traffic light: • Green dot = Good • Orange dot = Needs improvement • Red dot = Problem to fix Your goal: get all dots to green or orange before publishing.

In the Yoast panel → SEO tab → Click 'Edit snippet' → Edit the SEO Title field. SEO Title rules: • Include the primary keyword in the first 60 characters • Keep total length under 70 characters (preview bar shows if it is too long) • Make it compelling — this is what appears in Google search results • Add a separator and your brand name at the end: 'Digital Marketing Course Trivandrum | Unlearn Academy' Avoid: duplicate titles (same as H1), generic titles (just brand name), or keyword-stuffed titles.

Still in the snippet editor → Edit the Meta Description field. Meta description rules: • Under 155 characters • Include the primary keyword naturally • Write as a sentence, not a keyword list • Include a benefit or CTA: 'Enrol now', 'See all 200+ outcomes', 'Free consultation' Example: ✓ 'Learn digital marketing in Trivandrum with real client projects. 200+ placed graduates. Enrol at Unlearn Academy — Kazhakootam campus.' ✗ 'Digital marketing course, digital marketing training, Trivandrum, Kerala, best course' Meta descriptions do not directly affect rankings but they strongly affect click-through rate (CTR). A better description = more clicks = more traffic from the same ranking.

Scroll through the Yoast SEO analysis — all items shown with coloured dots. Fix all red dots first, then orange. Common Yoast checks and how to fix them: • 'Keyphrase in introduction' (Red) — add the keyword naturally in the first paragraph • 'Keyphrase in title' (Red) — edit the SEO title to include the keyword • 'Keyphrase in meta description' (Orange) — edit the meta description • 'Keyphrase in subheading' (Orange) — add the keyword to at least one H2 or H3 • 'Text length' (Red) — content is too short; aim for minimum 600 words for most pages • 'Internal links' (Orange) — add at least 2 internal links to related pages • 'Outbound links' (Orange) — add at least 1 link to an external authoritative source • 'Image alt attributes' (Orange) — add alt text to images mentioning the keyword

Click the 'Readability' tab in Yoast panel. Key readability checks: • 'Sentence length' — keep most sentences under 20 words. Long sentences = higher bounce rate. • 'Paragraph length' — maximum 150 words per paragraph. Shorter is better. • 'Subheading distribution' — add a subheading every 250–300 words • 'Passive voice' — under 10% of sentences in passive voice • 'Transition words' — use words like 'first', 'then', 'however', 'because' to guide readers Readability affects both user experience AND SEO. Google measures how long people stay on the page — well-structured, readable content keeps people reading.

In the WordPress editor → Find the 'Permalink' section (usually top right or in the sidebar). URL slug rules: • Include the primary keyword • Use hyphens between words • Remove stop words (a, the, and, of, in) to keep it short • Example: 'digital-marketing-course-trivandrum' not 'the-best-digital-marketing-course-in-trivandrum-kerala' If you are editing an existing page: changing the URL slug will break existing links and backlinks. Only change it if the current URL has zero keywords and the page has no external links pointing to it. If in doubt — leave the URL as is and just optimise the on-page content. Click 'Update' or 'Publish'.