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Hi. Do you know if there are any compatibility issues with Yoast? I remember experiencing problems a couple of years ago when Yoast didn’t recognise any Hero image as an image, so the pages were reported as having no images at all and so ranked them poorly. I have 3 newly built sites, all with Site Origin themes, and about to do the SEO on them, so wanted to check with you guys if there are any issues with Yoast or any recommendations you can give for SEO.
many thanks
Tracy
Hi Tracy
Thanks for posting.
The Hero adds images as CSS background images. This isn’t something I’ve looked at recently; if you wanted to test this particular issue, it would only take a few minutes to setup a page with Hero.
At the moment, these are the open Yoast issues:
https://github.com/siteorigin/siteorigin-panels/issues?utf8=%E2%9C%93&q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+yoast
Hi Tracy,
We’ve taken a large number of steps to extend Yoast compatibility and compatibility while using the Classic Editor is very high. As for the Block Editor (ie. Gutenberg), Yoast is currently not compatible with the SiteOrigin Layout Block. We’re looking into possible solutions but due to a number of technical limitations with Yoast, progress has been regretfully slower than we would like.
Please note that Google analyses your site differently to Yoast. This means that while Yoast may not pick on the contents of the SiteOrigin Layout Block, Google will be able to.
Hi Andrew and Alex,
Thank you so much for your replies. Just to clarify that i understand…
I am not using stupid Gutenberg. I am using Site Origin themes (Vantage and Corp most recently) and Bento theme which uses SO. So I am 100% SO !! :) I have installed the ‘classic editor’ plug in on all sites. I have NOT yet installed Yoast as that was my hesitation. I remember from a previous site that I installed Yoast and used it and then discovered that it was not so easy to change SEO plug in without lots of problems so I felt a bit hijacked into continuing with it for that site.
This is why I wanted to check directly with you guys BEFORE I installed it on any of my new sites. Can I ask your opinion please (if you’re allowed to give it?) – do you recommend Yoast or is there another SEO plugin that works better with SO or, better still, have YOU guys developed an SEO plug in that allows meta data to be added. I don’t want the bloat that is reputed to come with Yoast. Your recommendations would be extremely welcome and valued!!
Thanks so much.
Tracy
Thanks for your support and extra information :) I hear you on the question of bloat. Let me ask Alex if he’s tested All in One SEO Pack with Page Builder and the Widgets Bundle. That’s an alternative that comes to mind.
Here is an opinion piece: https://www.wpbeginner.com/opinion/yoast-seo-vs-all-in-one-seo-pack-which-is-the-best-wordpress-seo-plugin/. At a glance, it looks like Yoast came out on top in most of those sections.
Alex, do you know of a more barebones SEO option that we’ve seen used with SO plugins?
Hi Tracy,
I’m not aware of any issues with All in One SEO Pack. The main reason people use Yoast over other plugins is the Content Analysis functionality. If that’s not something you’re interested in, All in One SEO Pack may be your preferred option as it doesn’t feature Content Analysis so it’s definitely lighter in that regard.
I have seen a few users use The SEO Framework which is lighter on settings.
Hi Guys, I thought I’d come back on this thread (hope that’s okay) as it is still related. I’m not going Yoast so nothing further on that. I was deciding between SEOPress and All In One SEO. I’m trying SEOPress on the first of the 4 sites I need to do my SEO on (all SO sites :)
When I add the meta data, and press update, it takes me to the ‘text’ tab instead of the ‘Builder’, and i have to click ‘builder’ and answer yes to copying the data across. Then, it removes the formatting on the Site Origin Hero text, it takes both my H1 and H3 lines to paragraph and I have to reformat it. This is a worry. Do you know of this issue? I’m not sure whether to persevere with SEOPress on the other sites or give All In One SEO a try.
Thank you
Hi :) It’s important that you don’t move your content out of Page Builder if you’d like to continue using Page Builder to manage your content. I’ll take a look at SEOPress in a bit and come back to you.
Thanks for swift reply Andrew. I have no intention of using anything other than PAGE BUILDER and Site Origin. I’m happy to remove SEOPress and start again if needs be. The update once you’ve added the meta data takes it out of Page Builder and puts you in ‘text’ tab so you can see it all at code level. I hope it will do the same for you and you can see. Thanks so much. I just want meta description and title really, not interested in content analysis hence didn’t want Yoast. So if there is any alternative option that you know work well with SO then please advise.
Thanks again.
I can add a description to SEOPress without dropping out of Page Builder. Please, try to see if you can find a working baseline. Temporarily deactivate all plugins except for SEOPress and those authored by SiteOrigin, does the issue persist?
Thanks. I just tried again and deactivated the plug in I thought might be the issue (Amelia Booking), but on decactivating that and others (classic editor, duplicate post, and Black Studio Tiny MCE) – leaving ONLY Livemesh, Page Builder, SEOPress, Site Origin CSS and Site Origin Widgets bundle, I then tried on a page that has not been edited before by SEO Press. On selecting the ‘edit page’ I get the page builder view, scroll down and add my meta data, then click ‘update’ and the page that returns is the one with the 3 tabs (visual, text, builder) and it is on the ‘text’ tab with the code.
Try doing the test with only SEOPress, SiteOrigin plugins and Classic Editor plugin activated. Deactivate Livemesh and all other plugins. Temporarily switch to a default theme like Twenty Sixteen. Does the issue persist?
Okay but before i do that, I have NEVER switched themes for testing before! It took my confidence in you on previous posts to have the guts to deactivate plug ins to test!! So can I ask for the same reassurance that it’s okay to switch themes and I won’t lose any of the customisations I’ve done (all under your guidance or the Amelia plug in additional custom css). I have complete trust in you so if you tell me i’ll lose nothing then I’ll run this test! :)
It’s a routine troubleshooting step. The worst that can happen is widgets at AppearanceWidgets could get shuffled into the Inactive Widgets area at the bottom and might have to be moved back when the test is complete. This rarely happens though. If you wanted to be really cautious you could create a restore point with your host if that’s possible. If not, the plugin Duplicator is handy for taking a backup. That said, this is a normal test, something I’d do myself.
Thanks Andrew. I’ll go troubleshoot what you’ve said and come back to you in a bit.
Chat then :)
HI Andrew, I’m jumping in. I’ve deactivated the plugins you said. Now when I got to themes, do I just use the ‘live preview’ or do I fully activate it and then try another page’s SEO settings? I presume the latter but wanted to check.
You’d want to fully activate Twenty Sixteen or another default theme. Once done and with the plugins deactivated that I mentioned above, you should now have a basic setup. Check the issue, hopefully, you can find a baseline. If the issue persists, try creating a new Page Builder page, insert just a Text widget with some dummy text, does the issue also persist on a new page?
Thanks Andrew. Okay so I did the deactivation and the new theme twenty sixteen. I went to an existing page and the same issue occurred – it takes me out of page builder and into text. I then created a new page, one widget of SO Editor, updated it, went back into the page to add meta title and description, and update – and this kept me in page builder. So where does that leave me? And when can I put it back to the normal theme because this is a live site and it looks terrible now lol!
You can put everything back in place as soon as the test has been completed.
On a page that’s a problem, go to LayoutsImport/Export, download the layout and then upload the file to WeTransfer or Dropbox etc. and send us the link. We’ll take a look. Thanks.
Hi Andrew – sorry I was worried so I put everything back but now that i know everything came back okay I’m happy to undo everything to put it back into test state if that’s what you need. So quick question, if I’m downloading the ‘layouts’ page to send to you, do you want me to do this while it is back in Corp Theme or do i need to put it back to TwentySixteen? Sorry and thank you again.
You can just send a Page Builder layout from any page that is demonstrating the issue. The theme activated won’t impact the layout. Thanks.
Thanks Andrew. I did a quick test to see if it was still doing it and it is so here is the layout downloaded and wetransferred
https://we.tl/t-6VggUzA2K8
Thank you.
Thanks for the layout. I’m, unfortunately, still not able to break the page. I’ve tried updating the Title, Meta description, and Target keywords. At this point, you could consider using another SEO plugin. We could spend more time troubleshooting this with you, even login and test the issue directly. That would ideally need to be under our premium support scope though. We’re limited as to how far we can troubleshoot within our free support scope. Sorry, I don’t have better news for the moment.
Thanks Andrew for your help. I am happy to abandon SEOPress and try another one but I don’t like not knowing what’s causing it, in case it happens with the next one and we’re back to square one. That said, I’ve been waiting for a good reason to get premium with you – though I have to say your free support has been fantastic for the last few years and I’ve not needed it – but I feel like I want to give something back. So this is as good a time as any to jump in and get premium so we can get to the bottom of this one. Also you told me I can have up to 5 sites to be supported and this would be one of those. I’ll come back to you when I’m paid up or do I need to do something else to pick this up?
Hi Andrew – okay I’m now on Premium – woohoo! So what do we do now?
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