Yoast SEO 20.0 introduces a new admin interface

Yoast SEO version 20.0 was released today with a new admin settings interface that also reorganizes the menu into four main sections: General, Content Types, Categories & Tags, and Advanced.

In this update, the plugin did not add any new features and settings, but rather moved them around to better match user workflows. The new sidebar menu should result in fewer clicks to access the most used settings.

Individual settings pages also sport the new design, which is lighter and brighter than previous screens. With so many settings to relearn, Yoast SEO also added quick search to help users find settings pages faster.

“We felt that the default WordPress admin design was no longer suitable for us,” said Yoast founder Joost de Valk. “Our product team was eager to take our experience to the next level. The WordPress interface was holding us back a bit, as the admin interface outside of Gutenberg hasn’t progressed in years.

Reaction to the new design has been mostly positive, although some users are don’t want on plugins build their own user interface in the administration. If all plugins did this, the WordPress admin would become a wild buffet of disparate interfaces that would add cognitive load to site management.

“It was…surprising, so I’ll reserve real judgment until I use it for a while,” WordPress developer Jon Brown said. “The first impression was ‘this requires an advanced mode which hides all unnecessary banner images and text and just reverts to a list with toggles.’ It’s pretty, but it’s overwhelming.

The Yoast SEO plugin and new settings UI works with WordPress version 6.0 or higher. Users who find it difficult to adapt to the new settings pages can consult the Yoast SEO documentation, which contains a video and a guide for navigating the new interface.