We use Yoast’s SEO plugin on almost every website we make. I’m very familiar with it and like how easy it is to use. I’m not saying there aren’t better options (like RankMath), just that it’s our preferred SEO plugin.

It’s been a consistent and beneficial tool for almost 15 years making it one of the most popular plugins out there. Search engine optimization isn’t an easy field to jump into, believe me. With a tool like Yoast SEO, you don’t necessarily need to do the specifics, because Yoast does that for you. For anyone interested in SEO who uses WordPress, it’s not just an advanced tool for experts, it’s a perfect stepping stone for beginners. Learning as you go has been their style since day one and it continues into 2024.

Yoast SEO was not some one-and-done project. Like SEO itself, it continues to receive significant updates every year. From technical SEO to basic keyword focus for simple pages, it’s been leveling up content for years, and they’re not done yet. Like countless other companies, Yoast SEO is now using AI to improve its product and features. It’s not exactly a unique choice these days, but it’s just one of several that they plan to roll out over the next year.

Here’s a sneak peek at what Yoast SEO has in store for 2024.

Yoast SEO in Review

The major update for the beginning of 2024 was rolled out in late February. With Yoast SEO’s February changelog announcement came several updates and revelations, most of which involved artificial intelligence. That’s not exactly a gamble these days, but it’s interesting to note just how much they’ve integrated generative AI into their system, but we’ll get to that later.

Yoast SEO isn’t just popular, it’s basically a trendsetter considering how proudly they boast that they’re the #1 SEO plugin on the WordPress market. So expect other SEO tools to follow, but Yoast is using generative AI to boost just about every aspect of the content they create.

It’s actually interesting to note that Yoast experts said that SEO is not in danger from AI in December 2023, because ultimately it’s just a tool. The more capable Yoast becomes, though, that seems like it could be a bit naive. It looks like AI has very much “taken over,” but that’s a great thing for website owners.

Here are just a few ways that Yoast SEO’s 2024 updates are going to make your life easier:

  • Improved Generative AI for Meta Descriptions and Titles
    • That means more clicks and traffic!
  • Improved Translation Features for Languages Other than English
    • That means more potential markets!
  • Improved Structured Data
    • That means better pages and content!
  • New AI Capabilities
    • That means…we don’t know yet!

Along with the usual set of bug fixes, this is the biggest news so far this year for Yoast SEO. The updates that come with this 22.1 release are going to be reflected in all of its major products.

So let’s take a look at how Yoast SEO Premium and Yoast SEO for Shopify are utilizing these AI upgrades.

Yoast SEO Premium

If you’re a WordPress site owner with $99 lying around, you need to be using Yoast SEO Premium. No, this is not some thinly veiled ad. Yoast SEO Premium is not the only plugin on the market, but it’s one we’ve used on dozens of our client’s websites. It’s simple, approachable, extremely beneficial, and its UI perfectly integrates with your WordPress dashboard.

What’s not to like? They even have a free model for those who want to try it!

That being said, those free users won’t experience the best updates Yoast is getting this year. As we mentioned before those AI enhancements are being used to generate content - hence generative AI. For anyone looking to click a button to generate a meta description or title, then Premium has you covered, and it looks like the data from which they generate those has improved this year.

Not only that, thanks to those new AI capabilities, Yoast SEO Premium is now offered in 17 different languages. Each one offers a seamless experience that’s going to benefit users just as much as the website owners.

That’s not too shabby for just the first couple of months of the year. For Shopify store owners, things have also gotten more interesting.

Yoast SEO for Shopify

Shopify owners are going to have to shell out a little more than $99 to experience this product. Yoast SEO for Shopify offers store owners the same benefits as Premium, but with even more potential for success. The best way AI integrates into the Yoast SEO for Shopify system is by getting real-time feedback on your content. Immediate reviews of the content you create let you hone and optimize until you get the exact results you want.

You’ll have the same capabilities but even more benefits when it comes to schema. Every website is concerned about rankings, but for Shopify stores, it’s basically life or death. Being able to immediately generate the best structure data increases the possibility of your store getting seen over someone else’s. Their new AI features also help store owners create templates for different content types, with each one being tailor-made for the audience it's targeted at.

The Future of Yoast SEO

Yoast SEO is used globally and by millions and millions of users. It’s considered one of the biggest SEO tools on the planet, and the success of its clients reflects that. It also doesn’t hurt that it’s fairly affordable, even for small businesses. Like several other companies I’ve written about this year, the main theme of Yoast SEO in 2024 is obviously AI.

For website or Shopify store owners, entire pages of content at the click of a button are just too good to pass up. It saves time, it saves money, and you better believe it’s going to save you some headaches. Admittedly, there is a reason why Yoast said AI isn’t exactly replacing SEO experts. It’s unrefined, and so is much of the content it generates, but it’s getting better. Already, one of the major issues Yoast SEO addresses is keyword stuffing, which shows they know what content your website needs.

Who knows what they have left in store for this year? Yoast SEO users can’t wait to find out.