The excavation of the cultural landscape features of Yao traditional villages is highly significant in promoting the protection of the cultural diversity of ethnic dwellings, identifying which elements of Yao traditional villages need protection, and advancing the revitalization of rural culture and tourism in northern Guangdong’s ethnic areas. Using Nangang Yao Village, a typical Yao village situated in the high mountains of northern Guangdong, as a case study, the study analyzed the connotation, composition, and distinctive features of the cultural landscape of traditional Yao villages through the continuous interaction between people and land. This analysis focused on the system of village sites and cultural landscape elements, the form of dwellings and material decoration styles, the spatial arrangement of settlements, and the cultural landscape associated with national beliefs and rituals. The study revealed that Yao traditional villages in northern Guangdong exhibit a landscape pattern characterized by vertical and three-dimensional settlements in mountainous regions, open rows of houses featuring native and simple decorative materials, a cohesive settlement pattern intertwining bloodlines and geography, and faith-related landscape qualities centered on the Panwang Temple and the Dragon Head Stone.These composite and diverse cultural landscape features have emerged from the interactive coupling of Yao migration history and ethnic beliefs, the mountain environment, the social organization of the Yao Laos system, and ethnic culture. Notably, the traditional social organization of the Yao Laos system, which segments residential units by bloodline and incorporates geographical factors of steep slopes, plays a crucial role in the long-term inheritance of the core cultural landscape features of the Nangang Yao Village settlement.