How to hide everything that you don’t want from Yoast

Despite the new kids on the block, I still think Yoast is the best SEO plugin for WordPress today, but it has its little things that are annoying.

And maybe the most annoying thing is the bunch of windows, pointers, bookmarks and other flattering ads that show up as soon as you install them, when there are updates, encouraging you to upgrade to the premium version, you know, that horror of notifications.

Add to that the help center, full of ads, and the many features it adds without asking, and I think you’ll agree that there are things it can do without.

Well, let’s put some order in the universe, and keep using all the potential of Yoast and its analysis and readability engines, which well configured is still the absolute king of SEO for WordPress, but removing all those annoying ads and elements, even the ads in the administration bar.

Hide notifications from Yoast with code

This trick is to add the following code to the end of your active child theme’s functions.php file, or add it to your customizations plugin:

/* Deactivate all notifications from Yoast */
/* Hide HTML commentaries from Yoast */
    add_action('get_header',function() { ob_start(function ($o) {
    return preg_replace('/\n?<.*?Yoast SEO plugin.*?>/mi','',$o); }); });
    add_action('wp_head',function() { ob_end_flush(); }, 999);
    
    
    /* Hide notifications from Yoast SEO */
    function hide_yoast_notices() {
     remove_action('admin_notices', array(Yoast_Notification_Center::get(), 'display_notifications'));
     remove_action('all_admin_notices', array(Yoast_Notification_Center::get(), 'display_notifications'));
    }
    add_action('admin_init', 'hide_yoast_notices');
    
    
    /* Low priority Yoast SEO button */
    function hide_yoast_button() {
     return 'low';
    }
    add_filter('wpseo_metabox_prio', 'hide_yoast_button');
    
    
    /* Hide screen after update Yoast */
    function hide_yoast_after_update_screen($option) {
     if (is_array($option)) { 
     $option['seen_about'] = true; 
     }
     return $option;
    }
    add_filter('option_wpseo', 'hide_yoast_after_update_screen');
    
    
    /* Hide Yoast icon in admin bar */
    function hide_yoast_bar($wp_admin_bar) {
     $wp_admin_bar->remove_node('wpseo-menu');
    }
    add_action('admin_bar_menu', 'hide_yoast_bar', 99);Code language: PHP (php)

When you save the changes you will have got rid of most of those annoying messages and notices from Yoast.

Hide notifications from Yoast with a plugin

If you prefer, there is a plugin that allows you to remove at will, not only the Yoast plugin ads, but also many of its ads and even widgets, features, just about everything.

It is called Hide SEO Bloat and it is an outrage the amount of things it allows to remove from Yoast.

As soon as you install it and activate it, it shows up as a submenu of Yoast’s, which is great to identify it quickly, and even if you don’t go through your settings you’ll notice what it does, because by default it hides almost everything extra from Yoast.

However, you can set it up to your liking, and there’s a lot to check, but leave your WordPress as you want, free of practically everything you don’t want from Yoast.

Here you have some examples:

Come on, almost a must, don’t you think?

I hope I have helped you get rid of everything that is left over in Yoast, so you don’t have any more complaints and you can take advantage of all its potential, which is a lot and good.

Read this post in Spanish: Cómo ocultar todo lo que sobra de Yoast