Yoast SEO 11.9: More fixes and enhancements

Are you ready for another exciting release to round up the Yoast SEO 11 cycle? Because we are! In Yoast SEO 11.9, we have improvements for Schema and security, we have bug fixes and updates for Local and News SEO!

Improving Schema once again

With the closing of the Yoast SEO 11 releases we’ve yet again improved Schema in the plugins! The Yoast WooCommerce SEO plugin had a bug showing invalid Schema when a product used the placeholder image, so we fixed that. We’ve also improved Schema output in the News SEO plugin.

With Yoast SEO 12.0 around the corner, you might fear that we think we’re done with Schema output in the Yoast SEO plugins. Fortunately, this is not the case! We’ll continue to improve and work on Schema in future releases as well.

Curious for more Schema? Looking for a way to extend our Schema implementation? Why don’t you dive into our Schema documentation?

Tightening the security of the plugins

Somehow security is something people find not very interesting. But you do lock up your house when you leave it because you don’t want anyone to steal your tv, right? Updating to the latest version of a plugin is essentially locking your website to make sure no one can get in. A criminal does not need an open door, an open window or even thin glass won’t stop them. It’s the same with software: they don’t need a password to maybe do malicious things to your website. That’s why we always give high priority to possible security issues in our plugins. For this release, the incomparable Juliette Reinders -Folmer — helped us improve the security of the plugins to make sure there won’t be possible malicious data.

Local SEO improvements

We’ve updated our Local SEO plugin, because Google went from two different API keys to just one. New users of the Local SEO plugin will see a field in the API key tab where they can enter their API key. Existing users can add their API keys the regular way, but we encourage you to use the new API key.

Local SEO now also gives you notifications when you have set an API key in a constant in your wp-config.php file. In addition, we fixed a bug that caused the map settings tab to show an empty panel without an API key present. It now shows a notification.

News SEO improvements

We gave the News SEO plugin quite some love this release! The add-on now has its own tab in the Yoast SEO meta box.

We’ve also fixed a bug where the @type in the schema output would be NewsArticle instead of Article for articles which were excluded from the news sitemap. And we’ve fixed a bug where news article pages and custom post types included in the news sitemap, would not receive an author in the schema output.

Bug fixes in Yoast SEO 11.9

In Yoast SEO for WordPress, we’ve fixed a bug where the image from the configuration wizard notification was missing an empty alt attribute. No need to read that sentence again, we’ll explain what this means! In absence of an alt attribute, screen readers will try to announce something to you. This means in most cases the screen readers will try to announce a part of the image URL, which is far from ideal. Decorative images need an empty alt and that’s what this fixes!

Another bug we squashed concerned missing translations from the meta box, sidebar, configuration wizard and the help center. We love our translators and it’s much easier to read the information in your native language.

Bug fixes in Yoast SEO Premium

In Yoast SEO Premium, we’ve fixed a bug where multiple redirects would be created when editing taxonomies on a multisite environment. In addition, the social preview forms no longer appears on taxonomies twice. We love social media, but there’s no need to let you fill in those forms multiple times.

Update to Yoast SEO 11.9

That’s it! We’re very proud to deliver the last release of the Yoast SEO 11 cycle. Don’t forget to update!

Coming up next!


38 Responses to Yoast SEO 11.9: More fixes and enhancements

  1. SEO School Kolkata
    SEO School Kolkata  • 5 years ago

    Yoast is a very nice WordPress plugin for SEO. I like it. I use it on my every website but I use the free version because i’m a startup and cannot afford to buy the premium version of it. So, thanks Yoast.

  2. lewisitor
    lewisitor  • 5 years ago

    Just updated my Yoast PRemium plugin, I can’t find the Focus Keyphrase Section and even the Keywords and Related Keyphrase section after the update.

  3. katie122
    katie122  • 5 years ago

    My website uses yoast seo 11.3 and suddenly it working (i am not able to find the snippet, even after enabling it in the screen option). Should i upgrade to 11.9 ?

  4. pvsrikanth
    pvsrikanth  • 5 years ago

    Thanks for providing latest updates of yoast seo plugin.

  5. Louis T.
    Louis T.  • 5 years ago

    The update is not working properly. and my WordPress getting stuck on yoast Why?

  6. Shahed
    Shahed  • 5 years ago

    Hi, I am using your latest Yoast SEO plugin, but the issue is when I audit my site audit reports told me that there is no sitemap.xml. But I rechecked that it working fine on Yoast XML. So can you explain to me this issue?

  7. Sneha
    Sneha  • 5 years ago

    Wonderful, Yoast SEO is the best forever

  8. Sara
    Sara  • 5 years ago

    Dear,

    I recently created a website using WordPress & tried to update SEO title & Description by using YOAST SEO Plugin. But, there is no advanced setting in my dashboard. Could you please check? I am attaching the screenshot for your reference. I need your Support Urgently.

  9. Blogger Pesawaran
    Blogger Pesawaran  • 5 years ago

    hi Hanneke,

    Is the Yoast plugin available for Blogspot? I want my site to have thousands of visitors.

  10. Sadheesh
    Sadheesh  • 5 years ago

    Thanks, Yoast. The performance is improving when I get updates and fixes. Keep going on.

  11. Atul Gaur
    Atul Gaur  • 5 years ago

    facebook and twitter profiles have gone missing from google serp profiles but other profiles are appearing. Is it because of the update

  12. Sheyla
    Sheyla  • 5 years ago

    I like most changes but please make the advanced settings an extra tab again. It makes so much more sense than in the accordeon.

  13. Share Textures
    Share Textures  • 5 years ago

    I was using another SEO plugin in wordpress for years. I always see YOAST but I didn’t try it before. I try it and I love it. All my websites (10+) are using YOAST right now. Thanks for quality plugin.

    • Hanneke
      Hanneke  • 5 years ago

      That’s great to hear! Thanks for your kind words :)

      Hanneke

  14. Barcelona Guide
    Barcelona Guide  • 5 years ago

    Ever since we switched to Yoast our rankings have improved. Great to see the plugin keeping up with trends and offering continuous updates.

    • Hanneke
      Hanneke  • 5 years ago

      That’s awesome!

      Hanneke

  15. Rexkent
    Rexkent  • 5 years ago

    So how about the Schema, I don’t see anything on it.

    • Hanneke
      Hanneke  • 5 years ago

      What do you mean exactly?

  16. Atul Gaur
    Atul Gaur  • 5 years ago

    Yoast should think to redesign the snippet preview to show 600 px width of SEO post title. Even the latest plugin shows 66 characters which leads to may characters being hidden in the SERP

    • Hanneke
      Hanneke  • 5 years ago

      Hi Atul,

      It’s not the width of the snippet preview, but Google testing different font sizes. Some people see a bigger font in the Google SERPS. We’re waiting until Google has decided that a certain size will stay, so we can adapt.

      Hanneke

  17. Shelly Khanna
    Shelly Khanna  • 5 years ago

    Using Yoast for the last two years. Would say this is one of the best tools

    • Hanneke
      Hanneke  • 5 years ago

      That’s great to hear Shelly, thank you!

  18. lover200055564
    lover200055564  • 5 years ago

    When I update it there’s problem can one help me please?

  19. Latest Techno
    Latest Techno  • 5 years ago

    Wonderful, Yoast SEO is the best forever

    • Hanneke
      Hanneke  • 5 years ago

      Thanks!

  20. findwaterfirst
    findwaterfirst  • 5 years ago

    I just bought yoast premium and downloaded to my wordpress site. It’s not installing.

    • Hanneke
      Hanneke  • 5 years ago

      Did you give the installation guide a read already? https://yoast.com/help/installation-guide-of-wordpress-seo-premium/

      If it still does not work you could contact our support team anytime!

    • Aviral D.
      Aviral D.  • 5 years ago

      I recommend you to please download the plugin again to upload it and make sure you always upload the zip file of the plugin in your WordPress.

      If still, it is not installing, then please contact the Yoast Support Team at support@yoast.com from your registered email id only.

      You should also upload screenshots (if required) in your email; it would help them to resolve your issue fast.

  21. Ahmed
    Ahmed  • 5 years ago

    Thanks Yoast!!!!

    • Hanneke
      Hanneke  • 5 years ago

      You’re welcome!

  22. Bernhard Rief
    Bernhard Rief  • 5 years ago

    The Update to 11.9 is not working! Why? Our website is down!!!!!

    • Hanneke
      Hanneke  • 5 years ago

      uh oh! Did you check our support page already? https://yoast.com/help/support/#premium

      • Dayanna V
        Dayanna V  • 5 years ago

        Likewise. After installing the newest update, WordPress informed me that the site was experiencing a fatal error. Cannot get view anything on the site, and cannot access anything via the dashboard either.

  23. Shola ThankGod
    Shola ThankGod  • 5 years ago

    I love Yoast, it really helps in optimizing of sites. These updates are awesome but the Yoast premium is kind of expensive. Many newbies won’t get the opportunity to purchase it. Thanks for your great work Yoast.

    • SEO School Kolkata
      SEO School Kolkata  • 5 years ago

      yes, exactly. we all love Yoast.