How Do I Simply Explain to a Client that Yoast/Rank Math Are Unhelpful?

[eleniwave]

Yoast and Rankmath are akin to a kindergarten teacher who shows toddlers how to trace letters by holding their hand and helping them do it. That is all these seo plugins do.

If you know what you are doing, you get rid of those tools. They are bloat anyways.

[Economy_Proof_7668]

“ do you really want to dictate which scalpel your surgeon uses and when?

[Search_Synergy]

You can always refer clients directly to the official documentation showing that these plugins are content optimization tools, not ranking tools, and their scores do not guarantee SEO success:

* [Yoast’s documentation](https://yoast.com/how-to-yoast-your-post/#:~:text=Yoast%20SEO%20is,the%20end%20result)
* “*Yoast SEO is a tool that aims to help you optimize your content. It gives practical tips on how to improve your content. Think of it as your personal SEO assistant! But that being said, it’s also just a tool. Make sure to re-read your content once you’ve optimized it to ensure you’re happy with the end result!”*
* [Rank Math’s documentation](https://rankmath.com/kb/seo-analysis/#:~:text=Let%E2%80%99s%20clear%20something,traffic%20from%20SEO)
* “*Let’s clear something up before we get into the post. Although the SEO Analyzer will help you fix the most basic issues, you will still need to* ***perform SEO activities to get more traffic continuously.*** *Millions of things play a role in SEO, and it is not possible to configure them with an automated tool. That does not mean that the SEO Analyzer is not important—it absolutely is! But, once you’ve used the SEO analyzer to improve your website, you will still need to keep improving if you expect to get more traffic from SEO.”*

A big issue we face in this industry is that people who don’t understand SEO give blanket credibility to these tools simply because they exist in the SEO ecosystem. They assume the tool is authoritative, even when it’s only checking a handful of surface-level elements.

For example, the number of people who think SEMrush = Google — that its rankings, audits, errors, or keyword numbers are direct reflections of Google — drives me insane. Clients run a scan and suddenly believe the tool automatically knows more than the specialist they hired.

At the end of the day, the only real measurement is results. And for someone who doesn’t understand SEO, there’s often a fixed conflated “expected outcome,” and even when you significantly improve their visibility and grow their online presence, that bar keeps moving. Their expectations don’t align with how SEO actually works, and that’s where most of the frustration comes from.

[donmundoloon]

Do you have good results from content that isn’t “perfect” in the eyes of those tools? If you can show those–especially alongside content that doesn’t rank but “passes”–that’s all the explanation you need.

[BusyBusinessPromos]

I don’t need Yoast I’m better at SEO than the programmer.

[Lunamarvel]

I once went on the SERP for a competitive keyword the client wanted to rank for. Copied every content on the first page and pasted on wordpress as different drafts.

Showed them that most of the top 10 content wasn’t all green on Yoast and still ranked – and then proceeded to explain why and how and what to actually focus on.

Worked for me.

[BryceW]

“Yoast and Rank Math help the average non-SEO person meet certain basic guidelines. But it is just a basic formula. It doesn’t research competition, it doesn’t know what the right amount of content is for this niche, etc.. So I go with what is best for your page/topic/niche based on the SEO research, even if it sometimes doesn’t meet their green light formula.”

[Doongbuggy]

just say that these tools are like turbotax vs a cpa they are fine for basic things but if you can afford it the right professional is worth the $$

[FitGuarantee37]

We built a website for a client, she came back with a pro Yoast subscription and was agitated because the pages weren’t “green”. I explained to her that Yoast can provide guidelines but it’s not the backbone of SEO.

She paid for her website and managed it herself for 6 months and then came back an entirely different person after she got all the pages green herself.

We’re getting things back on track 💪