Yoast SEO – Advanced SEO with real-time guidance and built-in AI

99 Quality Score

Active Installs

30/30

With 10 million active installs and 27,819 ratings, Yoast is the most widely used SEO plugin in the WordPress ecosystem by a wide margin.

Update Freshness

25/25

Last updated on 2026-09-15 and tested against WordPress 7.1 with a 6.9 minimum and PHP 7.4 requirement, the plugin is clearly and consistently maintained.

User Rating

14/15

A 96 out of 100 from nearly 28,000 reviews reflects broadly positive sentiment, though some of that score is pulled down by users frustrated with upsells and feature gating in recent versions.

Support Health

14/15

26 of 27 support threads resolved (96.3%) indicates responsive, well-staffed support, consistent with the commercial team behind the plugin.

WP Compatibility

15/15

Tested against WordPress 7.1 with PHP 7.4 as the floor and broad coverage of modern SEO needs (schema, XML sitemaps, readability), compatibility is excellent.

Top-rated plugin on PluginCheck

About

Real-time SEO guidance, schema, and AI built in. Help search engines and AI systems understand your content. All AI tools included, no hidden fees.

Active Installs 10M+

Rating ★★★★½ 4.8/5

Last Updated 2026-09-15 6:43am GMT

Requires WordPress 6.9+

Tested Up To 7.1

Requires PHP 7.4+

Security History

20 known vulnerabilities, all patched

2 High 18 Medium

Most recent: July 24, 2026

View details ▸

Yoast SEO <= 28.0 - Authenticated (Author+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via Post Slug (post_name) Medium

July 24, 2026 Patched in ["28.1"] CVE-2026-15425

Yoast SEO <= 26.5 - Insecure Direct Object Reference to Authenticated (Contributor+) Sensitive Information Exposure via 'post_id' Parameter Medium

May 26, 2026 Patched in ["26.6"] CVE-2025-14481

Yoast SEO <= 27.1.1 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'jsonText' Block Attribute Medium

March 21, 2026 Patched in ["27.2"] CVE-2026-3427

Yoast SEO <= 26.8 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting via 'yoast-schema' Block Attribute Medium

February 5, 2026 Patched in ["26.9"] CVE-2026-1293

Yoast SEO <= 22.6 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting Medium

May 14, 2024 Patched in ["22.7"] CVE-2024-4984

Yoast SEO <= 22.5 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting Medium

May 6, 2024 Patched in ["22.6"] CVE-2024-4041

Yoast SEO <= 21.0 - Authenticated (Seo Manager+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting Medium

November 24, 2023 Patched in ["21.1"] CVE-2023-40680

Yoast SEO <= 20.2 - Authenticated (Contributor+) Stored Cross-Site Scripting Medium

March 2, 2023 Patched in ["20.2.1"]

Yoast SEO <= 17.2 - Full Path Disclosure Medium

October 5, 2021 Patched in ["17.3"] CVE-2021-25118

Yoast SEO <= 11.5 - Authenticated Stored Cross Site Scripting Medium

July 9, 2019 Patched in ["11.6-RC5"] CVE-2019-13478

Yoast SEO <= 9.1.0 - Race Condition to Remote Code Execution Medium

November 6, 2018 Patched in ["9.2.0"] CVE-2018-19370

Yoast SEO <= 5.7.1 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting Medium

November 22, 2017 Patched in ["5.8.0"] CVE-2017-16842

Yoast SEO <= 3.4.0 - Authenticated Stored Cross-Site Scripting Medium

August 2, 2016 Patched in ["3.4.1"] CVE-2021-24153

Yoast SEO <= 3.2.5 - Cross-Site Scripting Medium

June 14, 2016 Patched in ["3.3.0"]

Yoast SEO <= 3.2.4 - Sensitive Data Exposure Medium

May 6, 2016 Patched in ["3.2.5"]

Yoast SEO <= 2.0.1 - Reflected Cross-Site Scripting Medium

April 20, 2015 Patched in ["2.1"]

Yoast SEO <= 1.7.3.3 - Blind SQL Injection High

March 11, 2015 Patched in ["1.5.7","1.6.4","1.7.4"] CVE-2015-2292

Yoast SEO <= 1.7.3.3 - Cross-Site Request Forgery High

March 10, 2015 Patched in ["1.5.7","1.6.4","1.7.4"] CVE-2015-2293

Yoast SEO <= 1.4.6 - Missing Authorization Medium

August 1, 2014 Patched in ["1.4.7"]

Yoast SEO <= 2.1.1 - Cross Site Scripting via post_title parameter Medium

October 31, 2012 Patched in ["2.2"] CVE-2012-6692

What It Does

Yoast SEO provides real-time content analysis, readability checks, XML sitemaps, and structured data (schema) directly inside the WordPress editor so you can optimize titles, meta descriptions, and on-page copy without leaving the post screen. The premium tier adds AI-assisted suggestions, internal linking suggestions, and advanced schema controls. It is effectively an all-in-one toolkit for making both traditional search engines and AI-driven discovery systems understand your content.

Who It's For

This plugin is best for small to mid-sized WordPress sites run by content publishers, bloggers, and small businesses that want a guided, opinionated approach to on-page SEO without configuring five separate tools. It suits users who appreciate the green/orange/red traffic-light feedback while writing and who want schema and sitemaps handled out of the box. Larger publishers and SEO agencies also rely on it at scale, given its 10 million active installs.

Who Should Skip It

Developers and SEO power users who prefer a lightweight, dependency-free plugin like Rank Math or a hand-rolled schema setup will find Yoast's UI heavy and its redirects/schemas modules locked behind the premium tier. Single-page sites or portfolios that have nothing meaningful to optimize should skip it entirely, as will sites already running a tightly tuned stack such as SEOPress or a custom headless setup.

The Bottom Line

Yoast SEO remains the default choice for a reason: 10 million installs, a 98.84/100 quality score, near-perfect support resolution, and an opinionated UX that lowers the barrier to good on-page SEO. Its main drawbacks are feature gating behind Premium and a heavier interface than leaner competitors like Rank Math. For most WordPress site owners, it is still the safest, best-supported option available.

Related Plugins

Rank Math SEO 98/100

Pick Rank Math if you want more features (redirection manager, 404 monitor, multiple keyword tracking) included for free in a lighter interface, and you do not mind a younger plugin with a smaller user base.

All in One SEO 96/100

Pick AIOSEO if you want similar guided workflows to Yoast but with stronger built-in local SEO and WooCommerce modules out of the box.

LiteSpeed Cache 92/100

Pick LiteSpeed Cache as a complement rather than a replacement; it handles caching and Core Web Vitals, which indirectly affect SEO rankings.

XML Sitemap Generator for Google 89/100

Pick this only if you need a standalone sitemap generator and want to avoid the bloat of a full SEO suite.

SureRank SEO 87/100

Pick SureRank if you want a newer, simpler, free-first alternative with meta tags and schema, and you do not need Yoast's mature ecosystem of integrations.