Yoast SEO has long been a go-to plugin for WordPress users looking to improve their site’s search visibility. It’s packed with features, from keyword optimization to metadata management—but a lot of users don’t realize that simply installing it isn’t enough. Like many tools, Yoast SEO needs to be properly configured to deliver real results.
A new integration with a plugin called Progress Planner aims to address this issue by helping users get more out of Yoast SEO—especially those who may not have fully completed the initial setup or who aren’t sure where to start with optimization tasks.
What is Progress Planner?
Progress Planner is a WordPress plugin developed by the same team behind Yoast SEO. Its main purpose is to help users maintain and optimize their websites through structured, easy-to-follow tasks. The latest version (1.2) introduces integration with Yoast SEO, offering tailored guidance for improving SEO setup and performance.
The idea behind the integration is pretty straightforward: many website owners install Yoast SEO (sometimes it’s even pre-installed by hosts or agencies), but don’t take full advantage of its features. Progress Planner tries to close that gap.
How the Integration Works
With the Yoast SEO integration, Progress Planner includes a feature that reviews whether the key setup steps in Yoast have been completed. It does this through an assistant—named Ravi—who suggests tasks to help improve your configuration.
These recommendations are often small but meaningful. For example, if you’re the only author on your website, Progress Planner will suggest disabling the author archive pages in Yoast, since they duplicate content found elsewhere on your site. It also points out related steps, like disabling author-specific RSS feeds, which are likely unnecessary in a single-author setup.
What’s helpful about this approach is that it doesn’t just flag issues—it walks you through them. Ravi highlights what you need to do, why it matters, and where to make the change, which can be useful if you’re not deeply familiar with WordPress settings or SEO best practices.
Why Yoast?
Yoast SEO was the natural first choice for Progress Planner’s integration, given the shared development team and its popularity within the WordPress ecosystem. It’s one of the most widely used SEO plugins, and it plays a central role in how many websites manage their search performance.
However, its impact depends heavily on proper configuration—something that often gets overlooked. Progress Planner’s integration provides a structured way to revisit those settings and make sure the plugin is doing what it’s supposed to.
More to Come
The Progress Planner team has indicated that this is just the beginning, with more integrations and features in the works. The broader goal seems to be helping WordPress users stay on top of website optimization, not just for SEO but for performance and maintenance more generally.
This kind of tool could be especially useful for site owners who want to improve their website incrementally, without having to dive deep into technical documentation or SEO theory. It’s less about replacing Yoast, and more about helping users actually use it effectively.
