1 billion downloads: The people and stories behind Yoast SEO

1 milliard downloads of Yoast SEO. That’s a milestone value celebrating.

But rearward that figure are the group who made it possible: the bloggers who wanted additional group to discover their content, the businesses operating to develop online, the agencies assisting their clients succeed, and the countless group who merely wanted a small assistance alongside SEO.

Over the years, Yoast SEO has been part of millions of these journeys. Some group have been using it for additional than a decade, during others have lone lately discovered it. So, as we commemorate 1 milliard downloads, we wanted to comprehend from the group rearward the figure and appearance rear at what Yoast SEO has meant to them.

This milestone belongs to you. Thank you for being part of the journey.

What our users told us

We lately rolled out a abbreviated study to our users, asking them to portion how Yoast SEO has been part of their SEO journey. (If you’re a Yoast user, you may have equal received it in your inbox.) We heard from group at extremely distinct stages from a WordPress agency that has been using Yoast since its first days to group who discovered it additional recently.

Here are a few of the stories they shared alongside us.

More than a decade of making SEO accessible

One participant is part of a WordPress agency in Montreal that has been using Yoast SEO for additional than a decade. The agency installs Yoast SEO by default for its clients and says it has helped create SEO additional accessible:

“As a pioneering WordPress agency based in Montreal, Canada, we’ve been using Yoast since its inception and instal it by default for all our clients. Yoast played a key function in raising awareness and making the SEO scheme for a WordPress project additional accessible.”

Their favorite feature? The Yoast SEO Meta Box.

Building a website alongside confidence

Another participant started using Yoast SEO small than a twelvemonth ago, following construction an author website and looking for assistance alongside SEO. They particularly appreciated the setup procedure and the direction built into the plugin:

“The easy-to-follow setup steps, alongside alongside the built-in features to let you cognize if the SEO for your webpage checks all the boxes, have allowed me to build it alongside confidence.”

The traffic-light feedback was a particular favorite, giving them a uncomplicated way to comprehend how their SEO and readability were shaping up as they built their site.

Making SEO accessible to non-experts

A third participant came to Yoast SEO during rebuilding a website anywhere the SEO activity had to be handled by group who weren’t SEO experts. For them, the value was straightforward: understanding what needed to be done and being capable to do it.

“It had to be done by non-SEO experts so the capability to comprehend what to do and afterward do it meant Yoast SEO had to be useful. It is useful. Very helpful and our endeavor has improved since of it.”

They additionally appreciated item that goes beyond the acquainted green, orange, and red indicators. Yoast’s direction and articles helped them comprehend that SEO isn’t continually concerning making everything green, a viewpoint that made the tool awareness additional akin a trusted guide than a checklist.

And these aren’t the lone stories….

The stories shared by our users are fair a small glance into how Yoast SEO has been part of people’s journeys. Over the years, we’ve heard from many additional website owners, satisfied creators, and agencies who have shared their experiences alongside us. Here are a few words from them:

• “Yoast has continually been our go-to SEO resolution for our website and client website projects for complete a decade.” — Mark Baldwin, Director at Baldwin Digital
• “Yoast is now our most precious app. It saves our squad a lot of period penning SEO-optimized content.” — Andrea Oswald, Managing Director at Age Suit Germany
• “Yoast has helped us dispersed the term to everyone we activity alongside concerning how crucial SEO is.” — Dan Atrill, Director at DJA Online Services Limited
• “Yoast has been an enormous assistance alongside assisting us concentration our satisfied about the correct keywords, changing our location construction and giving nudges whenever item needs improving.” — Jon, cakebakerecipes
• “This has helped me enhance the traffic on my website by 10 folds, but we started ranking on the 1st leaf of Google on the bulk of our searches.” — Sunny Choudhary, PortraitFlip

These are fair a few of the experiences group have shared alongside us. You can peruse additional on our testimonials page.

And during we’re grateful for all benevolent word, we’re likewise thankful to everyone who has shared feedback, asked questions, or helped us enhance Yoast SEO alongside the way. You’ve all played a part in getting us to 1 milliard downloads.

So, why do group use Yoast SEO?

Looking at these stories, a few things remain out. People use Yoast SEO for distinct reasons, but there’s a average thread: it helps create SEO easier to comprehend and easier to do.

For some, it’s a way to study the basics and get a small direction as they build their website. For others, it’s a acquainted part of their day-to-day workflow, assisting them optimize satisfied without having to be an SEO expert.

A few themes arrive up again and again:

• It makes SEO additional approachable. You don’t need to be an SEO expert to comprehend what needs notice on your pages.
• It gives you direction during you work. The feedback in the publishing company helps you place areas for betterment as you create or update content.
• It takes attention of crucial specialized SEO. Things akin XML sitemaps, canonical URLs, organized data, and redirects can be handled without having to oversee everything yourself.
• It helps group study alongside the way. Yoast’s analysis, articles, documentation, and another instructional resources have helped many users improved comprehend SEO itself.

And perchance that’s among the most meaningful things concerning reaching 1 milliard downloads: Yoast SEO has been used by group at extremely distinct stages of their SEO journey. Some needed a starting point, several needed a assisting hand, and others have been using it as part of their workflow for years.

But we wondered: if we asked AI what group think concerning Yoast SEO, would it arrive up alongside the identical themes?

We additionally asked AI what group think concerning Yoast SEO

We couldn’t oppose asking AI, too. So we gave Gemini, Claude, Grok, and Perplexity the identical two questions: Why do group affection the Yoast SEO plugin? and What are people’s reviews of Yoast SEO?

Their answers were different, but a few acquainted themes kept popping up: making SEO easier to understand, providing helpful guidance, and handling the specialized stuff.

In another words, the AI established many of the identical things our users told us themselves. We won’t let the robots obtain all the credit, though. The genuine stories are motionless the finest part.

SEO for everyone: Thank you for being part of 1 milliard downloads

A milliard downloads is a huge number, but what makes this milestone particular is the group rearward it. Every download represents person operating on a website, creating item new, learning concerning SEO, expanding a business, or merely trying to assistance additional group discover their content.

Over the years, you’ve used Yoast SEO in countless distinct ways. You’ve shared your experiences, asked questions, stated us feedback, and helped us enhance the product. Some of you have been alongside us for additional than a decade, during others have lone fair started their SEO journey.

And that’s what SEO for everyone method to us. Not fair making SEO tools accessible to everyone, but assisting group at all phase awareness that SEO is item they can comprehend and use.

So, whether you were download figure one or location among the milliard that followed, appreciate you. Thank you for trusting Yoast SEO, for learning alongside us, and for being part of our journey.

Here’s to the next milliard — and to making SEO for everyone.