27.1-RC2

Changes compared to: 27.1-RC1

Non user facing:

• Updates the icon and shortlink to be up to date. #23004

27.0

= 27.0 =

Release date: 2026-02-17

Yoast SEO 27.0 brings more enhancements and bugfixes. Find more information about our software releases and updates here.

Enhancements

• Adds html-react-parser dependency for improved HTML string handling in React components.
• Adds images array to FAQ and How-to blocks attributes for explicit image handling.
• Migrates FAQ block's question/answer fields from array-based formats to HTML strings for better compatibility with WordPress components.
• Migrates How-to block's step name/text fields from array-based formats to HTML strings for better compatibility with WordPress components.
• Updates the design for the search appearance mode switcher.

Bugfixes

• Fixes a bug where inline link icon was missing when editing a sync pattern in the block editor with WordPress 6.9.
• Fixes a bug where the AI Optimize buttons remained active even when another button had been pressed.
• Fixes a bug where the subheading distribution assessment threw an error when there was some text with no subheadings plus a block containing a subheading (like the Yoast Table of contents block).

Other

• Changes the AI Generator Generate 5 more button design and preview background.
• Modernizes how translations of the plugin work by removing the unneeded load_plugin_textdomain() calls.
• Restores the suggestions title and Generate 5 more button when the suggestions are loading.
• Updates the name of the Yoast SEO AI+ card on the plans page.

27.1-RC1

Changes compared to: 27.0

Enhancements:

• Introduces the Schema aggregation feature. #22973
• Introduces a more robust HTML processing and highlighting approach for the transition words assessment. #22279

Bugfixes:

• Fixes a bug where Slovak two-part transition words wasn't recognized when running the readability analysis. #22279
• Fixes a bug where sentences containing transition words failed to be highlighted in transition words assessment when they contained elements excluded from the analysis such as <code>. #22279

Non user facing:

• Code quality & consistency #22985
• Code quality & consistency #22986
• Modernize codebase #22987
• Updated dev dependencies #22988
• Fixes PHPCS. #22999
• Code quality #22995
• Avoids exposing endpoints related to post types that are flagged as noindex. #22996
• Filters out posts that are flagged as robots_noindex. #22996
• Avoids opening a new page when the user clicks on the Enable Schema aggregation endpoint button in the feature introduction modal. #22996
• Fixes various code style issues. #22992
• Adds some miscellaneous unit tests. #22970
• Adds a notification in the Alert centre when indexables are disabled. #22969
• Adds some missing unit tests for Schema pieces repositories. #22968
• Fixes some missing @Covers annotations #22968
• Adds integration tests for the schema pieces repositories. #22965
• Fixes a bug where pages were never retrieved in case the user had indexables disabled. #22965
• Adds some test for the Site_Schema_Response_Header_Integration class. #22962
• Adds unit tests for the schema xml renderer. #22955
• Adds unit tests to cover filtering logic. #22900
• Adds an integration test to make sure the XML route displays the correct value. #22897
• Makes sure that plugins that integrate with the schema API are properly represented in the schema aggregator. #22879
• Adds tests for the cache integrations. #22870
• Adds tests for the Config and Aggregator_Config infrastructure. #22831
• Adds additional checks to make sure we don't add transients we don't need to #22821
• Adds a link to the robots.txt to add the XML endpoint when the schema aggregation feature is enabled. #22820
• Adds tests for the some infrastructure classes. #22814
• Adds tests for the enhancement config infrastructure. #22805
• Adds unit tests for the schema xml renderer. #22955
• Re-instates the Schema pieces de-duplication and properties merging logic. #22949
• Removes some filtering. #22948
• Fixes filtering for schema with multiple types. #22942
• Adds an introduction modal presenting the new Schema aggregator feature. #22929
• Refactors the elements-context map to be a class. #22916
• Adds unit and integration tests. #22914
• Adds a version marker in the response. #22906
• Adds unit tests to cover filtering logic. #22900
• Adds a link to the robots.txt to add the XML endpoint when the schema aggregation feature is enabled. #22820
• Gitignore the Claude folder, to make devs' life easier. #22989
• Adds tests for the commands + handlers. #22803
• Changes the output format to JSONL instead of JSON. #22801
• Adds tests for the schema enhancers. #22800
• Adds tests for the XML cache manager. #22799
• Adds a customisable schema pieces filtering logic and a default filtering strategy. #22790
• Adds tests for the cache manager. #22789
• Adds tests for the domain folders. #22787
• Changes the caching behavior to be inline with having a post type based filtering system. #22786
• Adds ability to differentiate the per page max based on post type. #22771
• Makes sure the Woo schema is added to the aggregration. #22763
• Adds a non indexable fallback for the XML schema endpoints. #22748
• Introduces a query-based fallback approach to be used when the user has deactivated the indexables creation. #22728
• Adds an xml file to make the schema aggregation endpoints discoverable. #22696
• Adds meta information to the schema aggregation endpoint. #22716
• Adds a toggle for the Schema aggregator feature #22711
• Writes a timestamp the first time the feature is enabled. #22711
• Changes the repository to be post type based. #22707
• Adds extra data to some schema pieces. #22685
• Filters posts to be used to generate the schema. #22678
• Deduplicates schema pieces on the basis of the @id property value. #22678
• Unifies properties of instances of the same schema piece. #22678
• Add a caching layer for the NL web response. #22675
• Uses the Meta_Tag_Context_Memoizer class to fetch the schema pieces data. #22669
• Introduces a route and CLI command for the schema aggregation endpoint. #22660
• Modernize codebase #22981
• Introduces the Code_Generator class to isolate a WordPress dependency. #22931
• Fixes an unreleased regression where AI Optimize button width affected the highlight and other buttons in the analysis. #22994
• Fixes a bug where schema piece enhancers were never applied. #22860
• Changes the size of the social image preview box. #22911
• Releases a new version of the JavaScript package yoastseo. #22971
• Update dev dependencies #22980
• Fixes WP tests for WP trunk. #22975
• Code consistency #22982
• Modernize codebase #22983
• Modernize codebase #22984

27.0-RC2

Changes compared to: 27.0-RC1

Other:

• Unblocks recent improvements in how WooCommerce handles permalinks of products assigned to multiple categories. #22930

27.0-RC1

Changes compared to: 26.9

Enhancements:

• Migrates FAQ block's question/answer fields from array-based formats to HTML strings for better compatibility with WordPress components. #22887
• Migrates How-to block's step name/text fields from array-based formats to HTML strings for better compatibility with WordPress components. #22887
• Updates the design for the search appearance mode switcher. #22890
• Adds images array to FAQ and How-to blocks attributes for explicit image handling. #22887
• Adds html-react-parser dependency for improved HTML string handling in React components. #22887

Bugfixes:

• Fixes a bug where the AI Optimize buttons remained active even when another button had been pressed. #22908
• Fixes a bug where the subheading distribution assessment threw an error when there was some text with no subheadings plus a block containing a subheading (like the Yoast Table of contents block). #22882
• Fixes a bug where inline link icon was missing when editing a sync pattern in the block editor with WordPress 6.9. #22924

Other:

• Changes the AI Generator Generate 5 more button design and preview background. #22864
• Restores the suggestions title and Generate 5 more button when the suggestions are loading. #22864
• Modernizes how translations of the plugin work by removing the unneeded load_plugin_textdomain() calls. #22245
• Updates the name of the Yoast SEO AI+ card on the plans page. #22918

Non user facing:

• Adds integration tests for analytics adapter. #22888
• Adjusts the Jest config files in the @yoast/search-metadata-previews and js packages to ensure the correct Parse5 version is used tests. #22898
• Adds a deprecated message for the now unneeded wpseo_load_textdomain method. #22901
• Updates the start script in package.json of apps/content-analysis-api to include the --experimental-require-module flag, enabling experimental module loading features when starting the application. #22909
• Adds a .nvmrc file inside apps/content-analysis-api specifying Node.js version 22 for the project. #22909
• Increases the security of the AI callback verification method. #22883

26.9

= 26.9 =

Release date: 2026-02-03

Yoast SEO 26.9 brings more enhancements and bugfixes. Find more information about our software releases and updates here.

Other

• Ensures no deprecated props are used for WordPress components ToggleControl and TextControl for How-to block.
• Improves performance in large sites with lots of inbound links by adding appropriate database indices.
• Improves the general security of the plugin via sanitization and escaping.
• Replaces deprecated standard WordPress components with their modern variants.
• WooCommerce introduced a new logic for permalinks in version 10.5. Since this update could result in mismatching Yoast SEO metadata (such as Schema.org data), this version of Yoast SEO temporarily restores the old behavior. Note that for users of Yoast WooCommerce SEO the new permanent link structure will apply.
• Sets the minimum supported WordPress version to 6.8.
• Updates the OAuth2 Client library for improved compatibility with PHP 8.5.

26.9-RC3

Changes compared to: 26.9-RC2

Other:

• Restores legacy Woo behavior of handling permalinks. #22923

26.9-RC2

Changes compared to: 26.9-RC1

Other:

• Improves the general security of the plugin via sanitization and escaping. #22904

26.8

= 26.8 =

Release date: 2026-01-20

Yoast SEO 26.8 brings more enhancements and bugfixes. Find more information about our software releases and updates here.

Enhancements

• Adds a schema settings page to allow users more control over the Yoast Schema Framework API.
• Implements a new, easy-to-use design for the site features settings.

Bugfixes

• Fixes a bug where inserting Yoast blocks via Content blocks collapsible was not possible when editing in template-locked mode inside Block Editor.
• Fixes a bug where the alert for signing up to the newsletter didn't support rtl direction for buttons and inputs in RTL languages.
• Fixes a bug where the assessments highlighting feature did not work when editing in template-locked mode in the Block Editor.
• Fixes a bug where the Search and Social appearance modals looked off on WordPress 7.0 or with Gutenberg 22.3.0.
• Fixes a bug where WordPress link classes were not being recognized when Yoast SEO was active. Props to benoitchantre.

Other

• Adds an opt-in notification for the task list feature on the general page.
• Improves the translatability of some tasks' title in the task list.
• Replaces Yoast product logos with new designs across the plugin’s interface.
• Updates the product URL inside the marker presenter for Yoast SEO and Yoast SEO Premium.

26.9-RC1

Changes compared to: 26.8

Other:

• Ensures no deprecated props are used for WordPress components ToggleControl and TextControl for How-to block. #22877
• Update dependency for improved compatibility with PHP 8.5 #22894
• Sets the minimum supported WordPress version to 6.8. #22876
• Replaces deprecated standard WordPress components with their modern variants. #22871
• Improves performance in large sites with lots of inbound links by adding appropriate database indices. #22861

Non user facing:

• Code consistency #22895
• Creates an endpoint that allows tracking of first interactions with Yoast features. #22867
• Improves the code for the block editor integration. #22886
• Releases new JavaScript package versions. #22862
• Gets the correct AI Optimize content blocks in template-locked mode in the Block Editor. #22823
• Changes the issue templates from MD files to YAML for better issues creation. #22495