Meta Description for ALL my Posts is Being Overwritten!
-
Every single one of my posts meta descriptions are being overritten with the same meta description!
I use Yoast and have proper meta descriptions in my posts, but something seems to be overriding them.
Any idea what could be causing this?
Thank you!!!
- Mike
-
Hey Mike. Not to fret, this is actually a common silly mistake in theme development. The meta description shouldn't be set in WordPress theme because that is handled in the wp_head function. This function is where Yoast, and other plugins, hook into to deliver all the SEO optimized meta and header tags.
-
This is wrong, but right. This is a theme problem. The blog description is a description for the blog website as a whole, and not a description for the page. In Wordpress, you should not set a meta description explicitly in the theme file. That's the job of the wp_head, especially if you are using an SEO plugin to manage your descriptions. It's a common mistake that is easily remedied as evidenced by his reply.
-
The string 'get_bloginfo('description')' spawns the blog description stored in wordpress under settings. But that shoud'nt cause issues with different setup descriptions per page while using a SEO plugin on wordpress. It's more of a theme issue i think because normally that shoud'nt happen.
I woud'nt worry alot about it either; google tends to ignore the description sometimes too and focusses on the actual content on page.
-
Thanks for all the responses!
I did remove the code and it seems to have solved the problem. Now I just don't know if any other different issues could have popped up from removing that code. So the problem seems to be fixed - I'm just sitting a bit in the unknown in terms of if the change had any other unwanted repurcussions.
- Mike
-
Yes and by removing that shortcode you completely remove the description from the blog. But a description is'nt something google takes into account alot now these days. It can actively read the content on your website or page, and align that within search. I mean i have sites that are completely ignored due to the description tag.
It's like meta name keywords all over again.
@Naturalsociety, if you switch the theme to something temporarily, does it appear back again? If so; you have a theme issue.
-
Sounds like a WordPress issue. I suspect there is a meta description defined in your theme file. Check that isn't the case.
It will look like this or very similar:
get_bloginfo('description')
Get rid of the whole meta tag that contains this php code.
If you are unsure how to find this, it will most likely be in your theme's header file. You can find this by going to the theme's folder and look for header.php.
You can also do this through the WordPress Dashboard > Appearance > Theme Editor. On the right hand side select the "Theme Header".
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
No: 'noindex' detected in 'robots' meta tag
I'm getting an error in Search Console that pages on my site show No: 'noindex' detected in 'robots' meta tag. However, when I inspect the pages html, it does not show noindex. In fact, it shows index, follow. Majority of pages show the error and are not indexed by Google...Not sure why this is happening. Unfortunately I can't post images on here but I've linked some url's below. The page below in search console shows the error above... https://mixeddigitaleduconsulting.com/ As does this one. https://mixeddigitaleduconsulting.com/independent-school-marketing-communications/ However, this page does not have the error and is indexed by Google. The meta robots tag looks identical. https://mixeddigitaleduconsulting.com/blog/leadership-team/jill-goodman/ Any and all help is appreciated.
Technical SEO | | Sean_White_Consult0 -
Meta descriptions for specific categories/tags not showing?
Hi -- I'm really confused as to why only certain blog categories are not able to be crawled for their descriptions when their source codes look identical to other, crawlable pages on the same site? Specifically, Moz/other tools are not able to pull a meta description from the page http://www.koonz.com/category/videos/premises-liability-videos (and a few others) - while the source code looks almost identical to http://www.koonz.com/category/videos/federal-torts-claims-act-videos ?? Can anyone shed some light into possible issues for me? Thanks in advance!
Technical SEO | | jessicamcdaniel0 -
Duplication in Meta Titles
Hi,
Technical SEO | | ChrisHolgate
In order to appease the Moz crawler we recently changed over 10,000 URL's in order to make our Meta Page Title less than 55 characters as it suggested. Unfortunately our rankings dropped dramatically pretty much overnight so I am getting the feeling that perhaps our titles are now just a little too concise and need elaborating on just a touch. Our competitors that rank well seem to use a small amount of keyword repetition. For example, whereas we may have:
Brother DCP-197C Inkjet Cartridges They will have:
Brother DCP-197C Inkjet Cartridges. Cheap Brother DCP-197C Ink. What are your opinions of the fact that: a) Their Title is over the 55 character figure that is suggested for displaying correctly in the SERPs.
b) The words Brother and DCP-197C are repeated in the title. The fact their title appears to be working better is almost enough to sway me but the competitors title just looks a little too spammy for me to make a sitewide change without asking some second opinions first. Cheers all!0 -
Meta Title Tags - Quick question!
Hi all, Our category Meta Title Tags are a little woeful and so I'm in the process of rewriting them. Let's say you have a product for sale.... some inkjet cartridges for a Canon BJ10V printer for example. In an effort to keep things concise I was thinking that for this category I should have the meta title set simply as: 'Canon BJ10V Inkjet Cartridges' and perhaps our company name after this text (and a pipe delimiter) This takes us just under 50 characters which is ideal but doesn't include any real keyword variation and will result in the company name being duplicated at the tail of the title tag on 6,000 odd pages. A large number of my competitors have title tags along the lines of: 'Canon BJ10V Cheap Inkjet Cartridges for Canon BJ-10V Ink Printers' I understand the reasoning behind this but does the variation of keywords compensate for the fact that the title looks spammy (to both humans and Search Engines). What would you do? Keep it clean and concise or stuff the title full of keywords. In the event of the former would you include the company name in each title in the knowledge they would be well under 50 characters without? Thanks for your help.
Technical SEO | | ChrisHolgate1 -
Meta description tag problems according to an seo tool
hi, my site is www.in2town.co.uk I am using an seo tool to check on my site and how to improve the seo. The tool is here. http://www.juxseo.com/report/view/51ebf9deab900 for some reason it has brought up errors, it claims i have not got a meta description even though i have and have doubled checked in my source code the errors it has brought up is as follows, and i would like to know if this is a fault of the seo tool or am i doing something wrong Does the description tag exist?0/1 <a id="sub_toggle_12" class="sub_toggle contract_sub"></a>Hide Info Description Tag: Explanation: The meta description tag does not help your rankings but it is your opportunity to encourage prospects to click. The meta description should describe the content of your web page, include a strong call to action, and include your keyword. Action: Make sure you are using the meta description tag. It is found in the section of your page. checkboxIs there only one description tag?0/2<a id="sub_toggle_13" class="sub_toggle expand_sub"></a>More InfocheckboxIs your description less than 156 characters?0/1<a id="sub_toggle_14" class="sub_toggle expand_sub"></a>More InfocheckboxIs your keyword in the description tag?0/3 <a id="sub_toggle_15" class="sub_toggle expand_sub"></a>More Info it also says about the canocial tag which it claims i have more than one Is the canonical tag optmized? Is there only one canonical tag?0/4 <a id="sub_toggle_10" class="sub_toggle contract_sub"></a>Hide Info Explanation: You only need one of these to direct a search engine. Don't muddy the waters. Action: Make sure you only have one canonical tag. This only applies if you use the canonical tag. any help and advice would be greatregards
Technical SEO | | ClaireH-1848860 -
Blog Comments and Forum Posts
Hi, After recent update from Google i.e penguin update. Do Blog comments and Forum Signatures work? Or will they harm my site. Suppose i have a health related blog, and i engage in making comments in technology related blog and forum. Do i am potentially prone to hit a penality? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
Technical SEO | | Indexxess0 -
Related post script for non wordpress sites
Guys am looking for a related posts script or tool that can read my site map or and post related articles under each of my articles. There are plugins like yarrp, linkwithin but they are for wordpress. I need something i can you use with a normal html website.
Technical SEO | | Emeka0 -
Is the same content posted under different international TLDs a problem?
Dear all, I have a site which owns .be, .cn, .biz, .com.mx, .de, .us, .info, .net, .org and all run from the same server and have no difference in content i.e. .com.mx/our-services is the same as .com/our-services Google webmaster help created a video that said multiple international TLDs, same content 'should be ok' - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ets7nHOV1Yo - however, I would like confirmation from practitioners! What is the best practice in this case? Considering none of the content is customised, should I create root level redirects to our .com, or leave as is? Thanks! Christian watch?v=Ets7nHOV1Yo
Technical SEO | | ChristianMKTG0