Does using Yoast variables for meta content overwrite any pages that already have custom meta content?
-
The question is about the Yoast plugin for WP sites. Let's say I have a site with 200 pages and custom meta descriptions / title tags already in place for the top 30 pages. If I use the Yoast variable tool to complete meta content for the remaining pages (and make my Moz issue tracker look happier), will that only affect the pages without custom meta descriptions or will it overwrite even the pages with the custom meta content that I want?
In this situation, I do want to keep the meta content that is already in place on select pages.
Thanks!
Zack
-
Amazing. Thanks so much, Nigel. Very helpful!
-
Hi Zack
With Yoast and Woo the shortcodes are difficult to find as they are specific to Woo. The product description one I used for my client was:
Shop %%title%% %%page%% %%sep%% part of the %%currentyear%% %%ct_product_cat%% collection, with free delivery on all items at Sitename!
This would give for example:
Shop 'Yello Widget', part of the '2018' 'widget category' collection with free delivery on all items at 'sitename'
Then title:
%%title%% %%page%% %%sep%% %%ct_product_cat%% Sitename
For the non Ecomm pages I would actually write them myself as there would only be a few but if I was pushed:
%%page%% %%sep%% Sitename
The problem here is that it might be too short.
I hope that helps
Regards Nigel
-
Thank you Sean. This didn't exactly answer my question (Nigel did below!), but this is still great information and useful context.
Much appreciated.
-
This is great. Thank you Nigel. This answers my question perfectly. The client I'm thinking of also has a Woo store and has a very similar situation.
Bonus question Do you have a favorite variable you use for meta descriptions for ECommerce pages and non EComm pages?
-
Hi Zack
If you add default variables for post Meta title and description this will effectively add Meta for all those posts and pages where you didn't. If you added any custom Meta then that will stay the same.
I had a client who had 467 products in his Woo store without Meta descriptions - a little magic and boom! they all had one. Those that were custom written stayed the same.
Simple process with a simple yes/no answer!
I hope that helps!
Regards Nigel.
-
I had to make several hundred pages for a video tube at one point. And what I did to expedite the process is use the clone post/page plugin. Then I created a clone with 3 things.
The first thing was the templating for the meta description and title for each video**(naturally I did that with Yoast)**. The second thing I did was create a short code with php to place the page title in several areas using simply [template]. Then for the final automation aspect, I appeased the alt tag necessity with a js script to dynamically add alt tags with the page title on all images.
I don't know what the outcome of the said feature your describing is, however the way you would accomplish your desired end result is by adding a bunch of generic meta title/descriptions with the bulk editor feature of yoast. Naturally skup over the 30 pages, you'll simply need to make a template one time then copy it to clipboard and paste paste paste like a madman! Wont even 5 minutes with 200 pages.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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
-
Which Is More Important? Building a web page for customer reviews or a careers page?
Hello, I am wondering which would be more important to have on a website a customer review page or a careers page? And as far an SEO advantage which is more important and why?
On-Page Optimization | | Nicks1230 -
Use of '&' in meta title
Hi, I know that use of '&' would be helpful to save space and also add more keyword variation to the title tag. But just want to make sure if it matters if I use '&' in most of my title tags? And also is it common to use more than & in one title? Would the following title be different in Google's perspective regardless of the title length? I am thinking they are all targeting the keywords 'fruit cake' and 'fruit bread', but the first one is the best. buy fruit cake & bread buy fruit cake & fruit bread buy fruit cake and fruit bread Thanks in advance.
On-Page Optimization | | russellbrown0 -
Meta Title, Meta Description in Mobile Version
Hello all! We all know that having a responsive theme, with the same URL as the desktop version is what search engines prefer to best index our sites. But how is it when it comes to Meta Titles and Meta Description. Should we use different Metas for mobile visitors? Regards!
On-Page Optimization | | NelsonF0 -
My Meta Description changes when i use different keyword in google search.
Hello everyone, I have a question for the community. I have a website with several articles and news that i manage. I set specific meta descriptions for every page but when i search in google it gives me back different meta descriptions depending on the keyword that i use to search. What i notice is that google looks in my page for the most relevant part of the text that combines with my keyword and gives me back that result. I thought that this only happen when i have an empty meta description. Anyone felt the same ? Best Ricardo www.meuportalfinanceiro.pt
On-Page Optimization | | Adclick0 -
Can I use the same text in my meta description as I put in my post excerpt?
Hi, I'm just trying to understand the right way to optimise my blog posts and this is likely a dumb question... but to what extent should the text in my meta description differ from the text in my post excerpts? cheers, Andrew
On-Page Optimization | | seowhiskey0 -
Why is the seomoz showing it crawled 3 pages when i only have 2 pages?
I had seomoz crawl my site. I only have 2 pages. The site url is www.autoinsurancefremontca.com.
On-Page Optimization | | Greenpeak0 -
Negatives to using custom sub domain?
So - being photographers, we have our main website, but also, we use a hosted service for all our client galleries (www.zenfolio.com) So, in effect, we have two websites: Our main informational website Our client gallery/proofing website The client gallery has back links to our main website - so, when people are viewing their gallery, they can easily get back to our main site. We also have thrown a few of our preferred keywords in there for SEO purposes. The gallery has thousands of pages which link back to the main site. So.. the client gallery URL can either be: http://ourbusinessname.zenfolio.com OR we can have it so it uses our own domain, such as: http://gallery.ourbusinessname.com The question is, which domain name will benefit the back links more? Our custom subdomain (which links to our main domain) or, using the Zenfolio domain (which is external to our site). Or, is there no real difference either way? Or.. do I make no sense?
On-Page Optimization | | blitzna100 -
Why some pages are not indexed?
I have a furniture´s ecommerce. When searching for "site: movstore.com.br" returned 1080 results, but if I search for "site: movstore.com.br / Product" returned 1020 results. I mean, that 1080 indexed pages, 1020 are products pages and the other 60 pages are irrelevant. Where are the category pages? "site: movstore.com.br / Categories" - 0 results
On-Page Optimization | | maisempresas
"site: movstore.com.br / Departments" - 0 results
"site: movstore.com.br / Marks" - 0 results What might be happening?0