Here’s the good news — you don’t need to be an SEO expert to use Yoast. You just need to know what each setting is for, and which ones you can safely ignore.

One thing to understand before we start: if your website is built with Showit, Yoast only works on the WordPress side — your blog. It won’t optimise your Showit pages, and it won’t magically improve your rankings. Think of it as a quality-control checklist. It helps you publish posts that are easier for Google to understand and easier for your ideal clients to find.

Why this matters for interior designers

Your blog attracts people who are already searching for design advice. Posts like “How to Choose a Sofa” or “Coastal Bathroom Ideas” introduce potential clients to your work before they’ve ever heard your name. Yoast helps Google understand what each post is about — and nudges you toward good writing habits along the way.

The Yoast SEO Settings

1. SEO Title

The blue headline people see in Google. Describe your article clearly and put your main keyword near the beginning. Write it to earn the click — not just the ranking.

2. Meta Description

The short summary underneath your title in search results. It isn’t a ranking factor, but a good one persuades more people to click. One or two sentences on what the reader will learn.

3. Focus Keyphrase

The most misunderstood setting in Yoast. Your Focus Keyphrase is never sent to Google — it’s only used by Yoast to check your own consistency. Choose one phrase per post, like “coastal living room ideas”, and Yoast will tell you whether you’ve actually used it.

4. URL Slug

Short, descriptive, easy to read. “/coastal-living-room-ideas” beats a long string of dates and numbers every time.

5. SEO Analysis

Yoast checks whether your keyword appears in your title, introduction, URL and image alt text. Treat it as a checklist — not a test you need to pass with a perfect score.

6. Readability

Sentence length, paragraph length, structure. The goal is content a busy reader can scan. If a suggestion makes your writing sound robotic, trust your own judgement.

7. Internal Links

One of the most valuable habits you can build. Link your posts to your Services, Portfolio, About and Contact pages — and to related blog posts. It helps visitors find their way around, and helps Google understand how your content connects.

8. External Links

Where it makes sense, link to trustworthy sources. It builds credibility and gives your reader somewhere useful to go next.

9. Image Alt Text

Describe each image clearly — “Modern coastal living room with oak flooring and linen sofa”, not “image1”. Good alt text improves accessibility and tells search engines what they’re looking at.

10. Cornerstone Content

Written a comprehensive guide you want to rank? Mark it as Cornerstone Content. Yoast will remind you to link back to it from future posts, which strengthens it over time.

11. XML Sitemap

Yoast automatically builds a sitemap of your blog so search engines can find your posts. Connect it to Google Search Console once, and it largely looks after itself.

12. Schema

Technical information added behind the scenes. Yoast tells search engines your content is a blog post, who published it, and a few other useful details — automatically. Most people never need to touch it.

13. Canonical URL

Prevents duplicate-content issues by pointing search engines to the original version of a page. Leave the default setting alone.

14. Social Preview

Before you hit publish, check how your post will look when it’s shared on Facebook or LinkedIn. Choose a title, description and image that reflect your brand.

A quick example

Say you’ve written “10 Timeless Living Room Ideas”. Your Focus Keyphrase is “timeless living room ideas”. Use it in your SEO Title. Write a Meta Description that earns the click. Keep the slug clean. Add descriptive alt text to every image. Link to your Services and Portfolio pages. Then run through the SEO Analysis as a final check before you publish.

That’s it. Ten minutes at the end of each post.

Common mistakes to avoid

• Chasing green lights instead of writing something genuinely helpful.
• Targeting multiple keywords in one post — one is enough.
• Forgetting internal links to your key Showit pages.
• Leaving the meta description blank.
• Vague alt text like “image1”.

Final thoughts

Yoast won’t replace a thoughtful content strategy — but it will help you optimise every post. Focus on writing helpful articles for your ideal clients, choose one clear keyword per post, and let Yoast handle the final checks before you publish.

Every Maeten Collection includes a full SEO Guide that covers how to setup your SEO foundations in Showit