[Plugin: WordPress SEO by Yoast] The keyword doesn't appear in the first paragraph of the copy.

I may have found the issue/fix.. at least in my case.

It doesn’t recognize the Focus Keyword in the first paragraph when it contains a class in the P tag. If remove the class I get a green icon.

Quick test- it seems any attribute/value in the P tag will cause this.

Confirmed — exactly the same for me. But I still don’t know: should we even be worried about this, or is it just a peculiar quirk of the plugin? It seems likely to me that Google probably doesn’t care if you insert attributes or values into your P tags, and the only reason to do it this way is so that we can “feel good” for getting a green light.

We have this problem as well. The keyword most certainly is in the first paragraph of copy. I wonder if the plugin is looking at the photo caption as the first paragraph?!? I can’t figure out any way to make that silly light green either. So frustrating.

Yes, not an issue affecting validity or how your content renders- but all my client knows is “that green light isn’t on!”