{"id":7355,"date":"2025-08-20T14:40:01","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T21:40:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/?p=7355"},"modified":"2025-08-20T14:49:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T21:49:14","slug":"why-would-someone-say-that-the-yoast-plugin-has-gone-woke","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/7355\/why-would-someone-say-that-the-yoast-plugin-has-gone-woke\/","title":{"rendered":"Why would\u00a0someone\u00a0say that the Yoast\u00a0plugin\u00a0has gone &#8220;woke&#8221;?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/yoast-plugin-went-far-left-woke-review.jpg\">    <picture>\n                <img src=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/yoast-plugin-went-far-left-woke-review.jpg\"\n             srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/yoast-plugin-went-far-left-woke-review.jpg 836w, https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/yoast-plugin-went-far-left-woke-review-300x208.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/yoast-plugin-went-far-left-woke-review-768x534.jpg 768w\"             sizes=\"(max-width: 600px) 100vw, (max-width: 1200px) 75vw, 1200px\"\n             width=\"836\"\n             height=\"581\"\n             alt=\"yoast-plugin-went-far-left-woke-review\"\n             loading=\"lazy\"             decoding=\"async\"\n             class=\"wp-image-7356\" >\n    <\/picture>\n    <\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Via \u201c<em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/ask-david\">Ask David<\/a><\/em>\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cI am looking for a website builder with SEO built-in, so we\u2019re choosing UltimateWB. But I came across a review for a popular WordPress SEO plugin, Yoast SEO, and the reviewer says they\u2019re cancelling their Yoast Premium subscription because Yoast went far left and is \u2018putting out on the internet offensive content,\u2019 promoting \u2018woke crap.\u2019 I couldn\u2019t find anything about this online. Any idea why? P.S. To me, being \u2018woke\u2019 means being respectful of others who harm no one.\u201d<br>-Curious George<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Full Yoast SEO plugin review excerpt, via <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/support\/topic\/i-have-left-because-they-went-far-left\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">WordPress<\/a>:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>\u201cI have left because they went far left. DON\u2019T choose Yoast if you don\u2019t want your money supporting a totally WOKE company. Some of the stuff they are putting on the internet is offensive. I am cancelling my Yoast Premium subscription and uninstalling Yoast after many years. There are similar SEO plugins that don\u2019t promote woke crap.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Welcome to <a href=\"http:\/\/https;\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\">UltimateWB<\/a> and built-in SEO! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The term \u201cwoke\u201d is highly subjective and typically reflects a user\u2019s perception of a company\u2019s social or political alignment. In the case of Yoast, this label is most often linked to a few key features and decisions in the plugin:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Inclusive Language Analysis<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2020, Yoast SEO introduced <strong>Inclusive Language Analysis<\/strong> as part of its content analysis tool. This feature helps users identify and replace words that might be considered non-inclusive or outdated. Examples include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>\u201cmankind\u201d \u2192 \u201chumankind\u201d<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>\u201cpoliceman\u201d \u2192 \u201cpolice officer\u201d<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Intent:<\/strong> Yoast designed this feature to help content creators write for a broader, more diverse audience and make content more accessible.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Controversy:<\/strong> Some users feel that a technical SEO plugin should stick to optimization guidance and not provide suggestions based on social or linguistic norms. To them, this \u201copinionated\u201d feature represents a form of corporate social activism, which they interpret as \u201cwoke.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Recent AI Feature Integration<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Yoast has also introduced <strong>AI-powered features<\/strong>, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>AI Optimize:<\/strong> Suggestions to improve existing content<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>AI Generate:<\/strong> Assistance creating titles and meta descriptions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>A recent bug involving these AI features stirred additional criticism. Internal markers used by the AI tools (<code>data-start<\/code> and <code>data-end<\/code>) were accidentally published in the site\u2019s HTML.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Intent:<\/strong> These markers were only intended as internal notes and were not meant to appear on live pages. Yoast confirmed this was a bug, not a tracking or surveillance feature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Criticism:<\/strong> Some users viewed this bug as another form of overreach, questioning whether it could affect SEO or control AI content. For reviewers already sensitive to perceived \u201cwoke\u201d initiatives, this bug may reinforce the narrative that Yoast is pushing unwanted or intrusive functionality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>In Summary<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The reviewer\u2019s \u201cwoke\u201d accusation appears rooted primarily in <strong>the inclusive language feature<\/strong>, which some see as social or political guidance rather than SEO. The recent AI features and the associated bug may have reinforced their perception of Yoast as a company promoting content they personally find objectionable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this case, \u201cwoke\u201d is used by the reviewer to describe features and decisions they interpret as socially or politically driven, rather than neutral technical SEO recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You can skip the $118.80\/year for the Yoast SEO premium plugin &#8211; learn more about&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/\">UltimateWB<\/a>! <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Don&#8217;t want to design your own website? We also offer&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/web-design-packages\">web design packages<\/a>&nbsp;if you would like your website designed and built for you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Got a techy\/website question? Whether it\u2019s about UltimateWB or another website builder, web hosting, or other aspects of websites, just send in your question in the&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/ask-david\">\u201cAsk David!\u201d form<\/a>. We will email you when the answer is posted on the UltimateWB \u201cAsk David!\u201d section.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Via \u201cAsk David\u201d: \u201cI am looking for a website builder with SEO built-in, so we\u2019re choosing UltimateWB. But I came across a review for a popular WordPress SEO plugin, Yoast SEO, and the reviewer says they\u2019re cancelling their Yoast Premium &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/7355\/why-would-someone-say-that-the-yoast-plugin-has-gone-woke\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1034,621],"tags":[5474,5469,2964,5471,5475,5476,5470,1758,3201,4746,77,5473,109,1081,2992,5472,4133],"class_list":["post-7355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ask-david","category-technology-in-the-news","tag-ai-content","tag-ai-seo-features","tag-content-optimization","tag-inclusive-language","tag-plugin-controversy","tag-seo-news","tag-seo-plugins","tag-seo-tools","tag-technical-seo","tag-ultimatewb","tag-website-builder","tag-woke","tag-wordpress","tag-wordpress-plugin","tag-wordpress-seo","tag-yoast-review","tag-yoast-seo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7355"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7355"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7362,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7355\/revisions\/7362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ultimatewb.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}