New Yoast SEO Wordpress Plugin - Using Passive Voice In Copy?

[allydr]

Hi all, we wondered if anyone is using the updated version of Yoast's SEO plugin for Wordpress?

We use it on our Woocommerce website (along with the Woocommerce extension) and the latest version seems to have focussed on moving the writing style on. To avoid using passive voice.

https://kb.yoast.com/kb/passive-voice/

We're struggling a bit to get this right, it seems to be quite a change to our current style...so we're wondering if anyone else has been looking at this and feeling like they are getting it right? Or if anyone has any resources good for helping to write more in this way?

How important do people think this is?

Many thanks,

James & Ally

[Diamond.Dog]

Wait wha..

As long of content makes sense and isn't written for fooling the bot, isn't that sufficient? We are now being told how to write? I dunno, sometimes.. it feels things are being taken too far.

I keep going back to the analogy of restaurants for SEO. Imagine a page is the dish and this dish can be presented in many ways and different individuals might prepare it in different ways, but all ingredients must be used. Some might put in more pepper and some won't..

The point is, what gets the restaurant and its food noticed isn't just the mechanical approach you took to making the recipe. It's much more, the presentation, the taste, the experience..and that's what users should focus all of their time on.

I dunno, maybe i'm thinking too much. Hey, a discussion is a discussion right?

[allydr]

Hi Diamond Dog, yes...we feel like we're with you really. How important is trying not to write in passive voice really?

We're going to have a play with putting the effort into doing it for a few products and we can see what the effect it has.

[badgergravling]

In terms of Search Engine Optimisation, I haven't seen any categorical proof that active or passive tone will make a big difference.

When it comes to writing style, the use of an active voice is encouraged in journalism, copywriting etc. It's much more effective at encouraging users to take action (i.e. buying a product for example).

Whether or not that should be included in the Yoast plugin depends on personal preference. Personally I use the comprehension scores and anything grammatical as a rough guide, but nothing more than that. Especially when WP still insists on American spelling checks, and most of the subjects I write about tend to use fairly niche technical terms which will be flagged up every time they appear as a spelling mistake, and as potentially too complex for everyone.

I'd say it's always worth testing on a couple of products if you're unsure. Personally I would try and phrase as much as possible in an active voice anyway (Especially any Call To Action), but if, for example, I wanted to echo Wikipedia or a scholarly academic article, I might choose to go more passive...

Any automated checker will only ever be a reasonable guide - and I say that as a big fan of the Yoast plugin - there should always be human judgement applied to whatever is recommended...