Meta Description and Keywords Not Working Right

michele · Post by **michele** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:03 pm

The HTML Meta Tags option under Advanced Option on the entry Editing screen; to get it to be applied to the pages, do I have to do anything?

I am filling out the form fields under my entries, yet if I view the source of an individual entry's page, they are not there.

Example would be yesterday's entry: http://www.blogaboutcrafts.com/index.ph ... 10/16.html

I thought maybe the information wasn't being saved, but when I go to the edit screen for the entry, the information is there.

Any ideas?

judebert · Post by **judebert** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:22 pm

I don't have that option, so I suspect you're using a plugin or custom fields.

If it's a plugin, it sounds like the plugin is busted. Let us know which one and we'll try to fix it.

If it's a custom field, you'll need to edit your index.tpl and add metatags there. Unfortunately, there's no way to turn a string into an array in Smarty, so you'd need to define multiple custom fields if you want multiple meta tags.

michele · Post by **michele** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:27 pm

Custom field? HAhahahaha - yeah sure. I'm still trying to figure out how to use all the things this software came with, much less create my own stuff.

I guess the plugin is HTML META-Tags version 0.4. It says it's for single entry pages - I have all of my pages as single entries.

mgroeninger · Post by **mgroeninger** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:36 pm

The plugin is working fine on my test install. Can you let me know:
What are your entries in "HTML Tags for keywords" in the plugins configuration?
What keywords or description are you using for the entry?
What version of Serendipity are you using?

mgroeninger · Post by **mgroeninger** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:42 pm

Ok, actually I don't think i need any of that info...

The meta information will only show up for a single entry display:
http://www.blogaboutcrafts.com/index.ph ... Today.html

The link you used above is for all the entries on a single day...
(You don't want meta information from posts on that page because it may not apply to all the posts on a given day.)

If you have general meta information I believe you can put it in your template, or I think the "HTML-Code inside head (HTML-Head Nugget)" plugin might work better.

michele · Post by **michele** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 9:43 pm

HTML Tags for keywords: b, strong

Meta Description: A few small business suggestions for crafters and others who are in the early days of their business.

Meta Keywords: business ideas, craft business

I think it's version 1.0.1; I downloaded it about 2 weeks ago.

judebert · Post by **judebert** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:06 pm

Simulpost! Bump for visibility!

And while I'm happy to give you a chuckle, the Extended Properties of Entries plugin has a configuration for "Custom Fields".

michele · Post by **michele** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:15 pm

Oh, OK I didn't realize I was essentually creating 2 different pages of the same content - the list of entries for each date (1 in my case) and the actual entry.

So does that mean when the SE spiders come to visit they are going to see 2 pages with the same content?

judebert · Post by **judebert** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:29 pm

Nope. What you're really creating is a single page with all the entry data. The "frontpage" holds a list of the recent entries, but only shows the entry body, not the extended body. (You can configure how many entries to show from your Admin page.) It's also got a few extra divs and things to help format the list.

The archive page for a particular date also holds all the entries for that date. Once again, it only shows the entry body, not the extended body. And it's got different headers and containers indicating that this is a summary page.

If you want to make a different content for the frontpage, you might consider installing the Static Pages plugin.

We also had a contestant in the Ambatchdotcom SEO contest. If she's around, she may be able to give you a more definitive answer.

michele · Post by **michele** » Tue Oct 17, 2006 10:36 pm

Entry body - Is that what is shown as an introduction/first paragraph or 2 to the entries when more than 1 entry is listed per page? I've been wondering how blog software decides where to end the teasers.

Extended body - Is that where the rest of the entry should be?

I have been putting the entire entry in the Entry Body. Do I need to be splitting them?

If I understand your last response, because I am putting all of the entry in the Entry body; I am inadvertantly creating 2 pages with the same content?

Sorry for what are probably blogging 101 questions - this is all new to me.

judebert · Post by **judebert** » Wed Oct 18, 2006 4:44 am

I'm afraid my last response may have been a bit opaque. I'll try to be more clear.

Yes, the entry body is the first paragraph bit, when more than 1 entry is listed. That is how it decides where to end the teasers.

Yes, the extended body is where the rest would go. It's also the bit that the "Split Long Entries" plugin works on.

No, you're not really creating two identical pages, even if you have no extended body. Each new entry creates one new page, which contains its entry body, extended body, and all the comments made to it.

There are also at least two summary pages: the frontpage (which lists all recent entries, but only includes their entry bodies), and the archive page (which lists all entries on a particular date). However, these pages have additional content (different from the single-entry page), and missing content (different from the single-entry page) so the HTML content is different. Google won't penalize you for this small duplication.

Of course, I'm not the ultimate authority on Google. Our SEO contest contestant might be able to discuss Google penalties with more authority than I.

michele · Post by **michele** » Fri Oct 20, 2006 12:33 am

Sounds like I need to split up my posts a bit.

Thank you for the clarification.