Different Categories, Same Meta Description?
-
I've heard that having duplicate meta descriptions is bad for SEO and can even be the cause of penalties.
However, a duplicate meta description would make sense for different categories on many sites. So I'm wondering what the best solution is for a case like this?
One of my sites has around 150 topics, and each topic page is exactly the same, aside from including only things that are related to that specific topic. So why would I want to create 150 different meta descriptions? Not only is it time consuming, and nearly impossible to create 150 unique descriptions for the same type of content, but it also serves no purpose for visitors coming from the search engines.
A logical approach would be to use the same meta description and just switch out the topics in the description... but then all of those descriptions would be 95% the same - and I imagine Google might see that as spam.
So... suggestions?
-
assuming use of wordpress here, if you use the seo plugin YOAST and then go to your categories one-by-one you can edit the descriptions and titles, removing your issue. you can also have the plugin do the work to some extent by exchanging category names into your meta tags but they obviously aren't as good as handwritten descriptions.
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
-
How google treats my two different domains with the same content ?
I have two internet stores for two different markets but in the same language (English), the same content and the same url (only domains different). They are in different servers one in USA another in UK. Example: sample.com (global) and sample.uk (for UK).
On-Page Optimization | | VaidasLinen
Currently sample.com (7 years old) is doing better but not very very well, sample.uk (2 years old) is rated poorly. My question is if it's possible that google will rank both stores well in the future ? Thanks Vaidas0 -
Schema and Rich Snippets What's the difference?
Sorry if this is a daft question but... what is the difference between Rich snippets and Schema markup? Are they one and the same? They seem to be used interchaneably and I'm confused. If someone could give a brief sentence or two about the differences between them that would be great. Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | AL123al1 -
Two different domains with the same content
Hi all, I just figured out that my client has two different domains with the same content, so the site will be penalized by Google: www.piensapiensa.es www.piensapiensa.com Should I do a 301 redirection from one domain to the other one using the htaccess file as usual chosing one of them as canonical? redirect 301 piensapiensa.es www.piensapiensa.com? Thanks.
On-Page Optimization | | juanmiguelcr0 -
What are all those meta name= and link rel= on the cnn home page source?
I usually use Description, title and keywords tag. I keep seeing these meta name = "classification" or "distribution" and also link rel =stylesheet" and "pingback" etc. Please tell me how important this is for SEO. It would be great to be pointed to the right page. Also, is there a wordpress pluggin to just fill in and have these be populated on the front end? Thank You
On-Page Optimization | | waspmobile0 -
Optimizing E-Commerce Category Pages For SEO
Hey, Does anyone have any tips for optimizing e-commerce category pages? Looking to add content to each category page but not sure where to put the content i.e. above the footer? Above the search results? In the left hand nav bar? Have a landing page which they click through to see search results? If anyone has any good examples or tips it would be much appreciated. cheers David
On-Page Optimization | | DavidLenehan0 -
Non-linked product short descriptions bad on ecommerce sites?
Hi, I have a question regarding SEO for ecommerce: Do you guys think it could be a bad thing to display non-linked short product descriptions of products on the home page and category pages? Can that cause cannibalism between different pages and non-optimal keyword targeting? I have a shop of which it's homepage tend to rank for some unintended phrases. Thank you, E
On-Page Optimization | | mrlolalot0 -
3 Different Home Page URL's Being Indexed?
Hello Everyone! I own a dog supplies eCom site on the x-cart platform. I recently upgraded to 4.4 version about 3 weeks ago and am noticing 3 different home page URL's getting indexed and ranked: /
On-Page Optimization | | k9byron
/home.php
/home.php?cat= I dont know why this is happening and I dont claim to be an expert SEO but know this cant be good! I am seeing high rankings on certain terms for all 3 URL's. Has anyone seen this before and can anyone give me any feedback on this and how it may be effecting my sites ranking in the future? Thanks in advance!
Byron-0 -
100 Words per category
These are the numbers of words I have heard mentioned as being "good enough" for the categories of ecommerce pages. Even at a stretch 50 words maximum. What are peoples opinions on the volume of words required ?
On-Page Optimization | | onlinemediadirect0