Company Overview
Yoast was founded in 2010 by Joost de Valk and Marieke van de Rakt in Wijchen, Netherlands. Yoast is the most popular WordPress SEO plugin company, with its core product Yoast SEO achieving over 5 million active installations. The company helps website owners and content creators worldwide optimize their search engine rankings, making SEO accessible and actionable for everyone.
Related providers: Yoast SEO Services
Product Portfolio
| Product | Description |
|---|---|
| Yoast SEO (Free) | Core SEO plugin with title optimization, XML sitemaps, readability analysis |
| Yoast SEO Premium | Advanced features including redirect management, internal linking suggestions, Social Preview, related keywords |
| Yoast SEO Local | Local SEO plugin for brick-and-mortar stores and multi-location businesses |
| Yoast SEO for Shopify | SEO app designed specifically for the Shopify e-commerce platform |
| Yoast News | SEO plugin for news publishers, supporting Google News standards |
| Yoast Video SEO | Video SEO plugin optimizing video content for search engine visibility |
| Yoast Academy | Online SEO training platform offering structured courses and certifications |
Core Strengths
Market-Leading WordPress SEO Plugin: 5M+ active installations, ranked #1 in the WordPress SEO category
Comprehensive Readability Analysis: Built-in content readability checks based on the Flesch Reading Ease score, helping creators improve content quality
Automated Technical SEO: Auto-generated XML sitemaps, canonical URL management, structured data markup, Open Graph tags — all handled automatically
Social Media Preview: Real-time preview of how content appears on Google Search, Facebook, Twitter, and other platforms
SEO Education: Yoast Academy provides systematic SEO training from beginner to advanced levels, empowering users to optimize their own websites
Key Milestones
- 2010: Yoast was founded by Joost de Valk and Marieke van de Rakt in Wijchen, Netherlands
- 2012: Launched Yoast SEO plugin, quickly becoming WordPress's most popular SEO tool
- 2015: Released Yoast SEO Premium with redirect management and Social Preview
- 2018: Launched Yoast Academy online training platform, expanding into SEO education
- 2020: Introduced Yoast SEO for Shopify, extending SEO capabilities to e-commerce
- 2022: Released Yoast News and Yoast Video SEO for specialized content types
- 2026: Yoast SEO continues to lead the WordPress SEO market with 5M+ installations
Market Position
Yoast is the undisputed leader in the WordPress SEO plugin market. Key competitors include:
- Rank Math — Feature-rich WordPress SEO plugin with rapid growth and AI-powered SEO suggestions
- All in One SEO (AIOSEO) — Established WordPress SEO plugin, beginner-friendly with simple configuration
- SEOPress — Lightweight WordPress SEO plugin with good value and privacy focus
- The SEO Framework — Automated SEO plugin, works out of the box with no manual configuration
- Squirrly SEO — WordPress SEO plugin focused on content marketing and SEO writing guidance
- SmartCrawl — WPMU DEV's WordPress SEO plugin with site inspection and sync optimization
