Yoast SEO 11.6: HowTo Schema update and UI changes
Yoast SEO 11.6 is out today. Of course, we did the regular round of bug fixing, but the focus of this release is two-fold: a new, much easier to use tabbed interface for the meta box and an updated HowTo structured data content block for WordPress. Find out all about Yoast SEO 11.6!
UX improvements to the meta box
This summer, we’re steadily improving the user interface and user experience of the Yoast SEO meta box. As this is the spot where you probably spend quite some time, we have an obligation to make it easy to use and discover.
After moving the focus keyphrase field to the top of the meta box in Yoast SEO 11.3 and introducing the new mobile snippet preview in Yoast SEO 11.4, you’ll now find a new menu at the top of the box, including a new set of tabs. As of today, this is how the meta box looks in the Classic Editor:
In Yoast SEO 11.6, you’ll notice that we’ve changed the old vertical alignment of menu items to a horizontal one. This makes it easier on the eyes and improves the findability of the features.
In addition, you’ll notice that the old content optimization tab in the meta box is now two tabs: one called SEO and the other Readability. Both have smiley icons that light up showing you the status of that particular post. The naming of the tabs should be self-explanatory, but inside the SEO tab you’ll find the snippet preview and SEO-related checks. The Readability tab has everything related to improving the language of your post.
Look forward to more graphical changes soon!
Revamped HowTo structured data implementation
The free Yoast SEO structured data content blocks for the WordPress block editor make it incredibly easy for you to add specific content with automatically attached Schema structured data. Want to build an FAQ and get those cool new featured snippets from Google? Use our FAQ content block. Want to enhance your how-to guides with valid structured data and build a page without breaking a sweat? Use our HowTo Schema structured data content blocks.
In Yoast SEO 11.6, you’ll see that the new HowTo blocks are nicely following Google’s latest changes. In addition, all the structured data code generated will now also end up in the graph of your website. This tells search engines that your how-to page is connected to the rest of your site. For more information on this, please see the Yoast SEO 11.0 release post or read our Schema documentation.
Schema fixes
The updated HowTo content blocks are the star of this release, but we’ve also fixed several Schema related bugs. For instance, we fixed a bug where the Schema @id for Person turned out to be incorrect on posts when author archives where disabled, or the one where the Schema would contain WebPage instead of CollectionPage for a latest posts homepage and the static posts page type. Another one concerned a bug where the Organization and Article Schema nodes outputted incorrectly when a website didn’t set the name and/or logo of the organization.
Security fix
Yoast SEO 11.6 also fixes a security issue regarding term pages in WordPress. Unfiltered code was allowed in some fields. This, however, does not pose a problem for single user sites. In specific cases, on multisite installs, this might become an issue because of the way user roles function.
Update to Yoast SEO 11.6
Yoast SEO 11.6 brings more structured data enhancements, including a much improved HowTo structured data content block. We’re continuing our work on the Schema standard and hope to have more to show soon. Don’t forget to check out the blocks.
After updated YOAST 11.6 the Meta Box didn’t appear in WordPress. How can I find that Meta Box?
Does the News Article Schema support the ‘datelib’ tag which is a must for me?
Hi Roderick. We don’t support `dateline` in the News SEO plugin. You might be able to extend the plugin Schema yourself. Here’s more information on how to do that: https://developer.yoast.com/blog/features/schema/integration-guidelines/
As soon as I updated to 11.6 I got an error message across the top of my site: Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in /home/wholegre/public_html/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-seo/frontend/schema/class-schema-utils.php on line 25
I deactivated it and reactivated it but it’s still there. Any idea how to fix this? Thank you!
the new interface is so nice and good
I presume the block editor is the Gutenberg? If Gutenberg is being forced upon us, then as much as I’m enthusiastic about Yoast and WordPress, I’ll have to move elsewhere. Believe me I don’t want to, but I tried the block editor. Apart from the the fact it’s infernally complicated (we’re not all web masters), it messed up my whole site. Fortunately I was able to install a disable Gutenberg plugin which set things back to normal. I’m not the only one with this problem. Take a look at the overwhelming negative reviews here. https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/gutenberg/reviews/
I live in hope that a solution will be found. Kindest regards, Sergio.
Please how do I update to the latest 11.6
Will there be option to update on my dashboard or how
Hi
after upgrade to version 11.6, post type schema type is WebPage inested Artice. How to Fix this problem?
Hi Kazem. Are you sure? If I run this page through Google’s structured data test it validates nicely as type Article –> is part of Webpage –> is part of Website. Could you give an example to check?
Is there any plugin for schema update also?
I bought Local SEO from Yoast for my website but still confused how to implement that for multiple locations.
Please help!
My WP says that it has updated to 11.6 but it looks the same. Cleared all the caches but no difference.
Hi Roger. Did you manage to update yet?
Any chances of the new Schema feature coming to Classic Editor? I don’t see it there.
Hi Ashish. Unfortunately, the structured data content blocks are only available in the block editor. The classic does not have the infrastructure for us to do this. Sorry!
Bought Yoast SEO Pro 11.6 just so it could screw up my classic editor and force me to use Gutenberg. Your previous versions worked fine with classic editor now my sites a mess. Time to write an article to our 3 million readers ” Thanks for no warning”
Hi Anna. Sorry to hear that, but I’m not sure what you mean. We don’t force you to use Gutenberg? If you have a Premium account, please contact our support team and explain what’s going on. They’d love to help you: https://yoast.com/help/support/#premium
Could you give the users the option to choose between tabs and accordion?
I appreciate this UI gives you more focus on the task, but I’d rather click once to open the accordion and see everything at a glance than having to click click click click click to jump back and forth between tabs.
I adjust while writing so to me the single view was a lot more useful, but since it’s subject to everyone’s taste, just add it as an option. Please.
Thanks!
Hi Fabien. I understand what you mean. Unfortunately, no interface is perfect for everyone and we try to find common ground for the majority of our users.
My blog crashed after this update ?
Hi Maria. I’m sorry to hear that, can you give me more information on what happened?
Appreciated changes, especially in regard to schema. It’s also great to see UX getting attention as more features are added.
Thanks for the update!
Great to hear, Daniel!
Greatly appreciated the improved UX … thanks!
Thanks, Kenny! Glad you like it.
Sounds like another great update just one quick question. If I have existing Yoast How To blocks on my blog will they update to the new version or do I have to add a new block and transfer the data?
The How To schema will update automatically.
Really, the new interface looks awesome!
Thanks, Shiv!
My website pages and post was gone all on Google in version 11.5.
The only reason I moved from Rank Math to Yoast in my personal blog is because of the way you guys handle schema. At first I was having issue to understand the hooks, but now I love it. So much flexibility, great job folks.
Thanks for the compliment, Harry!
The new interface looks great, I will update as soon as possible.
One question regarding the new snippet preview: Our site gets almost only traffic from desktop computers. Is there a way to select the desktop preview as default?
Dear Yoast team,
I came across this post while googling for a way to enable desktop preview as default.
We have a site about coding and receive mainly desktop traffic so we always have to click the desktop button when writing or changing a post.
We also would appreciate a feature to make desktop preview the default. Would be great to get feedback here from a Yoast representative.
I’m looking for the same function because due to the topic my site has 95% desktop traffic. So after every edit I have to switch the snippet preview manually.
I didn’t find a setting for this. Is there a hook or filter that could be modified?