> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.get-ryze.ai/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Switching from Yoast

> How to move from Yoast SEO to Ryze, what Yoast handles that must be preserved, and the settings to record before deactivating.

Yoast is a WordPress plugin that manages on-page SEO settings. Ryze is an external agent that audits, fixes, and produces content across platforms.

They are not equivalents, and the migration has one genuine risk: Yoast **stores data in your site** that disappears if you deactivate it carelessly.

## What Yoast does

* Title and meta description templates and per-post overrides
* Canonical URL control
* `noindex` / `nofollow` directives
* XML sitemap generation
* Schema markup output
* Breadcrumbs
* Redirect management (Premium)

Several of these are structural. If Yoast stops emitting them, the pages change.

## The risk

<Note>
  Do not deactivate Yoast before confirming what replaces each function. Titles, meta descriptions, canonicals, and sitemaps all stop being emitted, which can affect indexation.
</Note>

## Before deactivating

**1. Export your Yoast settings.** Yoast includes an export tool. Do this first.

**2. Record per-post overrides.** Custom titles and meta descriptions written individually are real work. Export them — Yoast stores them as post meta, and several export plugins can extract them.

**3. Record `noindex` settings.** Pages deliberately excluded — thin archives, tag pages, internal search — will become indexable if the directive disappears.

**4. Record canonical overrides.** Any non-default canonical is deliberate and must be preserved.

**5. Export redirects** if you use Yoast Premium. Losing these breaks previously-migrated URLs.

**6. Note your sitemap URL.** Yoast generates `/sitemap_index.xml`. If it stops, submit whatever replaces it in Search Console.

## What replaces what

| Yoast function         | after switching                                                       |
| ---------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Title / meta templates | WordPress theme, another plugin, or Ryze-shipped values               |
| Sitemap                | WordPress core generates a basic one; verify it                       |
| Canonicals             | WordPress core handles standard cases; custom ones must be re-applied |
| Schema                 | Must be replaced — core does not emit product or article schema       |
| Redirects              | Must be replaced before deactivating Premium                          |

Ryze audits and ships on-page fixes to WordPress via the [WordPress integration](/integrations/wordpress), but it is not a drop-in plugin replacement for every Yoast function.

## The safer sequence

1. Connect Ryze and run an audit **while Yoast is still active**
2. Confirm what Ryze reports and what it will manage
3. Establish replacements for schema, sitemap, and redirects
4. Deactivate Yoast
5. Re-crawl and compare against the pre-switch audit
6. Watch Search Console → Pages for two weeks

## Related

* [WordPress integration](/integrations/wordpress)
* [Technical audit](/ecommerce/technical-audit)