I’m Getting the exact same issue.
Definitely started happening recently.
I noticed it so far for the following focus key phrases:
– contact us
– lower back pain
I understand that “contact us” has a function word in it (“us”). However, I don’t see anything like that in “lower back pain”. For that key phrase, Yoast only picks up “pain” as the focus key phrase, which messes with my SEO.
Just like for kentaiwan98, If I place “” around the focus key phrase it now accepts the whole phrase and….according to the Yoast plugin, it improves my SEO rating.
Can Support confirm that putting “” around key phrases does NOT effect SEO in a negative way?
