Allowing Yoast SEO plugin to track me

3 comments

1. For reference the file that handles the tracking and usage statistics for Yoast SEO is located at,

   path/to/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-seo/admin/class-tracking.php

   I have linked to the GitHub repository file in question for further inspection upon which you can see somewhat, relatively, harmless collection of data.

   However what you determine as “harmless” is case dependent because the opposite could be true if you are storing any sensitive data within the descriptive headers of plugin or themes that may be intended for internal use only.

   What information does Yoast SEO gather about your installed themes,

   'name' => $theme_data->display( 'Name', false, false ),
   'theme_uri' => $theme_data->display( 'ThemeURI', false, false ),
   'version' => $theme_data->display( 'Version', false, false ),
   'author' => $theme_data->display( 'Author', false, false ),
   'author_uri'=> $theme_data->display( 'AuthorURI', false, false ),
   

   …and your installed plugins,

   'version' => $plugin_info['Version'],
   'name' => $plugin_info['Name'],
   'plugin_uri' => $plugin_info['PluginURI'],
   'author' => $plugin_info['AuthorName'],
   'author_uri' => $plugin_info['AuthorURI'],
   

   …and your site,

   'site' => array(
   'hash' => $options['hash'],
   'url' => site_url(),
   'name' => get_bloginfo( 'name' ),
   'version' => get_bloginfo( 'version' ),
   'multisite' => is_multisite(),
   'users' => count( get_users() ),
   'lang' => get_locale(),
   ),
   'pts' => $pts,
   'comments' => array(
   'total' => $comments_count->total_comments,
   'approved' => $comments_count->approved,
   'spam' => $comments_count->spam,
   'pings' => $wpdb->get_var( "SELECT COUNT(comment_ID) FROM $wpdb->comments WHERE comment_type = 'pingback'" ),
   ),
   

   Determine if any of that information bothers you being in the hands of another before deciding whether or not to share tracking statistics.

   The tracking script runs once per week as per this transient.

   set_transient( 'yoast_tracking_cache', true, 7 * 60 * 60 * 24 );
   

   Will that slow down your site? No. If it does, your problems are bigger than the tracking script then 😉

   The benefits of providing tracking statistics is that the information sent upstream back to the developer can be used to improve the plugin and its compatibility with other plugins and themes overall making for a better all round plugin.

   Its common practice.

   The potential downside to this is that the developer knows what themes and plugins you have installed, also, a collective of other site details as shown above.

   As much as this information can be used for developmental purposes, it could also be used for marketing purposes, not so much directly, but indirectly. Is that a bad thing? Not necessarily if the intention is good for which you’d have to place some faith in Yoast not wanting to stake his reputation over something as trivial.

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2. As you can read in the settings page your data is used for the future development of the plugin. I don’t know what exactly the data is used for but maybe to avoid compability problems between different plugins and to integrate the plugin nicely with different themes.

   To maintain a plugin as big as WordPress SEO, we need to know what we’re dealing: what kinds of other plugins our users are using, what themes, etc. Please allow us to track that data from your install. It will not track any user details, so your security and privacy are safe with us.

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3. Every site owner should be this concerned about the information that they share with any third party. But there are a few important considerations that we must take in to account:

   • What we’re sharing. Well documented and outlined above by @userabuser
   • Why we’re sharing. Clearly stated by Yoast and quoted above by @Nicklas
   • Performance impact.
   • The trust factor. How well do we trust the person/company that we’re sharing information with.

   So from the answers we know exactly what we’re sharing. It appears to me at least to be very reasonable and basic metrics about the site. And importantly it does not include any personal identification, so our users are safe.

   We’re being asked for this information to help in the improvement and future development of a great plugin.

   Considering the quality of code that typically comes from this developer I’d not be overly concerned about the impact.

   As far as the trust factor, well to be honest I can’t think of many more highly respected and trusted WordPress developers.

   So weight your own answers to these questions and make a decision that suits you.

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