by Over the years, it’s become harder for people to find good content online and judge its trustworthiness. Luckily, some developments aim to solve this critical issue. In Yoast SEO 18.4, we’re launching a new integration with an innovative new service called WordProof. WordProof offers a way to add timestamps to your content and add those to the blockchain to prove ownership.
Update: We are investigating an issue with this release and are in the process of rolling back the changes. An updated version of Yoast SEO will be available as soon as possible. Thanks for your understanding.
Towards a trusted web
When the web was launched all those years ago, it was thought that it was an invention meant to do good. It was free and open, and everyone got the same chance to shape their ideals. As a result, we saw many innovations that truly brought humanity to the next level. But at the same time, trouble was brewing.
Bad actors also got free reign to do whatever they wanted. Without regulation, the web is just there for anyone to drop whatever they want. Over the years, we saw this being exploited to an extreme degree — from massive misinformation campaigns to the toppling of governments. The web is no longer the stress-free zone it once was.
On the web, trust is a huge factor. Even Google is looking to promote the most trustworthy, authoritative content out there and tuned their systems to take something called E-A-T — Expertise, Authoritativeness and Trustworthiness — into account when it makes sense. As the world becomes increasingly complex, we’ll see search engines focus on trustworthiness even more.
What is WordProof?
WordProof is a Dutch blockchain startup focusing on protecting your content by adding it to the blockchain. WordProof automatically adds a unique fingerprint to your content, making it virtually unstealable. It helps fight against fake news and copyright issues while increasing the trust in the content you put out — all with a very transparent solution.
WordProof has won numerous European awards for valuable blockchain solutions. For those wanting to know more, we talked to WordProof about what makes their solution so valuable.
How does WordProof in Yoast SEO 18.4 work?
WordProof already has a WordPress plugin that gives you a lot more control over your timestamps and usage, but with the integration in Yoast SEO 18.4, we make it easier to get started. It is limited, though, to ten timestamps a month and only on the privacy page of your site — and the terms and conditions page if you use WooCommerce SEO. This helps readers verify the trustworthiness of that critical page.
Activate the WordProof integration in the integrations settings, log in or set up an account and find the Timestamp with WordProof part in the sidebar of the post editor. Check the box titled Timestamp this page to start the process. You will get a success message, and the content is good to go.
Whenever you make edits to the page, you can timestamp it again to add those changes to the record. Everyone can check when your privacy page was created and when you edited it.
Yoast SEO helps
At Yoast, we care deeply about the web and are always looking to improve it. We want to help our users succeed online. Our content tools help you write the best content on your topic out there. Our Schema structured data implementation makes sure that Google can check and verify who you say you are. Those are just a couple of examples.
But in Yoast SEO 18.4, we’re taking it to another level. We’re introducing a way to prove the ownership of your content by adding that proof to the blockchain via the WordProof service. At the moment, it’s focused at your privacy page as this is one of the most important pages on your site.
Update now to Yoast SEO 18.4
Yoast SEO 18.4 comes with an interesting new feature powered by WordProof. The integration offers an innovative way to increase the perceived trust in your content by adding proof via the blockchain.
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Edwin is a strategic content specialist. Before joining Yoast, he spent years honing his skill at The Netherlands’ leading web design magazine.
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