asked in
Website Development & Programming
Updated

Either a plugin I'm using has a bug or my theme doesn't work nicely with it. It is adding in duplicate html tags for one of it's features and not adding in any for a different f

Recommend that you remove plugins until the problem resolves. Then add them in one at a time until it returns. You have then located the offending plugin.
Delete that one.

Thank you for replying. I know what plugin it is. I gave some more information about it in one of my other posts here. I just might have to turn it off and try something else.

The problem with messing with the code for a specific plugin is that everything is interrelated. It is quite easy to mess up if you don't fully understand the programming behind the conflict.
I would try something else if there is a conflict.

I agree, if you know what your doing then go ahead, of course if it doesn't work out, just remove what you changed and update....I do that sometimes.

You can edit, but only if you are positive you know what you are doing. One character missing, and you could have a rats-nest of nothing.

Thanks for the reply. Do you know where to find a plugin's specific html code? I've been through all my site's pages in the editor but I can't find the code. I can see it when I inspect my site code with the web browser though.

Hi - yes, if you go to Editor - and then select the most likely PHP file - eg. if it's in your footer, it's likely in your footer.php - if your main page, main.php or content.php or page.php etc - the file names are normally quite descriptive.

However, as Ken has said - be careful.

I would always recommend backing up your site files first, before making any changes - you could do this with a plugin, but my preferred way is to use an FTP program (eg. FileZilla) and download everything from your site onto your local computer.

If you don't want to use FTP, if you are just making changes to a single file - always copy and paste the file contents (Ctrl A and then Ctrl V into a local copy of notepad if you're using a windows PC - I'm not sure of the apple equivalent) - so you always have a copy of the file before you make any changes online.

If you are not familiar with PHP - please google it first - it's not a difficult language to pickup (imho) - but I have been programming for a long time - so I may take it more for granted than others may do.

All the best, Mark

I appreciate your reply. This is where my problem starts. If you look at the code of my site at http://freedomisthedream.com you can see that the Yoast plugin is adding in duplicate Open Graph tags. Hover, I've searched through all my site's PHP pages and cannot find these tags anywhere. That's why I was wondering if there was some other section I don't know about where plugins add in their own code. It's frustrating because it's also not adding in the Twitter Card information at all.

Wesley, I took a look. Are you using JetPack - I noticed it in the code in a few places, JetPack widget, etc.

At one time there was an issue with JetPack and Yoast, but I believe it has been fixed.

WA hosting no longer allows JetPack plugin.

If you are using it, look in particular at the social media and SEO related plugins within JetPack.

Just wondering, if you have JetPack, have you disabled it to see if the double tagging stops. ~Jude

Hi Jude. I did disable all my other plugins and it still did the same thing. Maybe my theme is causing the problem? I didn't know WA doesn't allow Jetpack anymore. That's good information to have lol. I may just have to try other plugins for the social features.

JetPack plugin has a set of about 20 plugins. Some people activate the lot and it can really slow down the loading of the site. If you just have a few activated, it should be okay.

Before changing code, check the settings of all of SEO-related and social media plugins on your site and see if any give you an option to disable adding of Open Graph Metatags.

You may have seen this already, but there's a list of such plugins on this page and it provides other steps to remedy this problem:

http://help.linksalpha.com/networks/troubleshooting/duplicate-opengraph-metatags

~Jude

As Mark says. In WP, left menu, go to:

Plugins > Editor

Then from the top right drop down listing, select a plugin, then Ok.

It will list all the code files for that plugin, not just the php.

~Jude

Well, I got rid of JetPack so that is one thing I don't have to worry about. I think this is a problem with my theme because all three of the plugins that I'm using to add features are being duplicated in the same section. I really like the theme though so I hope they fix it.

Does your theme have support and have you contacted them about this issue? ~Jude

See more comments

Can i edit the html that a plugin adds into my site?

Can i edit the html that a plugin adds into my site?

asked in
Website Development & Programming
Updated

Either a plugin I'm using has a bug or my theme doesn't work nicely with it. It is adding in duplicate html tags for one of it's features and not adding in any for a different f

Recommend that you remove plugins until the problem resolves. Then add them in one at a time until it returns. You have then located the offending plugin.
Delete that one.

Thank you for replying. I know what plugin it is. I gave some more information about it in one of my other posts here. I just might have to turn it off and try something else.

The problem with messing with the code for a specific plugin is that everything is interrelated. It is quite easy to mess up if you don't fully understand the programming behind the conflict.
I would try something else if there is a conflict.

I agree, if you know what your doing then go ahead, of course if it doesn't work out, just remove what you changed and update....I do that sometimes.

You can edit, but only if you are positive you know what you are doing. One character missing, and you could have a rats-nest of nothing.

Thanks for the reply. Do you know where to find a plugin's specific html code? I've been through all my site's pages in the editor but I can't find the code. I can see it when I inspect my site code with the web browser though.

Hi - yes, if you go to Editor - and then select the most likely PHP file - eg. if it's in your footer, it's likely in your footer.php - if your main page, main.php or content.php or page.php etc - the file names are normally quite descriptive.

However, as Ken has said - be careful.

I would always recommend backing up your site files first, before making any changes - you could do this with a plugin, but my preferred way is to use an FTP program (eg. FileZilla) and download everything from your site onto your local computer.

If you don't want to use FTP, if you are just making changes to a single file - always copy and paste the file contents (Ctrl A and then Ctrl V into a local copy of notepad if you're using a windows PC - I'm not sure of the apple equivalent) - so you always have a copy of the file before you make any changes online.

If you are not familiar with PHP - please google it first - it's not a difficult language to pickup (imho) - but I have been programming for a long time - so I may take it more for granted than others may do.

All the best, Mark

I appreciate your reply. This is where my problem starts. If you look at the code of my site at http://freedomisthedream.com you can see that the Yoast plugin is adding in duplicate Open Graph tags. Hover, I've searched through all my site's PHP pages and cannot find these tags anywhere. That's why I was wondering if there was some other section I don't know about where plugins add in their own code. It's frustrating because it's also not adding in the Twitter Card information at all.

Wesley, I took a look. Are you using JetPack - I noticed it in the code in a few places, JetPack widget, etc.

At one time there was an issue with JetPack and Yoast, but I believe it has been fixed.

WA hosting no longer allows JetPack plugin.

If you are using it, look in particular at the social media and SEO related plugins within JetPack.

Just wondering, if you have JetPack, have you disabled it to see if the double tagging stops. ~Jude

Hi Jude. I did disable all my other plugins and it still did the same thing. Maybe my theme is causing the problem? I didn't know WA doesn't allow Jetpack anymore. That's good information to have lol. I may just have to try other plugins for the social features.

JetPack plugin has a set of about 20 plugins. Some people activate the lot and it can really slow down the loading of the site. If you just have a few activated, it should be okay.

Before changing code, check the settings of all of SEO-related and social media plugins on your site and see if any give you an option to disable adding of Open Graph Metatags.

You may have seen this already, but there's a list of such plugins on this page and it provides other steps to remedy this problem:

http://help.linksalpha.com/networks/troubleshooting/duplicate-opengraph-metatags

~Jude

As Mark says. In WP, left menu, go to:

Plugins > Editor

Then from the top right drop down listing, select a plugin, then Ok.

It will list all the code files for that plugin, not just the php.

~Jude

Well, I got rid of JetPack so that is one thing I don't have to worry about. I think this is a problem with my theme because all three of the plugins that I'm using to add features are being duplicated in the same section. I really like the theme though so I hope they fix it.

Does your theme have support and have you contacted them about this issue? ~Jude

See more comments

Login
Create Your Free Wealthy Affiliate Account Today!
icon
4-Steps to Success Class
icon
One Profit Ready Website
icon
Market Research & Analysis Tools
icon
Millionaire Mentorship
icon
Core “Business Start Up” Training
asked in
Search Engine Optimization
Updated

Google Webmaster Tools is telling me that my meta descriptions are short (about 100 characters). I don't know what is causing them to be shortened though. It isn't All In One SE

Just a quick update. It looks like it was some code in my theme that caused my meta descriptions to be short. When I installed WordPress SEO by Yoast a couple weeks ago, it told me it needed to remove some code from my site in order to function properly. After accepting the change and waiting a while for Google to recrawl my pages, the short meta description warnings are gone. All looks to be working well at the moment with Google Webmaster Tools at least.

In the AIO advance settings, have you ticked the box to Autogenerate Description? I do not recommend turning off that setting. Google likes it.

That way you can leave the meta description field blank.

Google will decide what to include in the snippet from your content (based on what terms people are using to search). Also, if you leave it blank, they won't be telling you the description is too short.

Even with autogenerate selected, you can write your description in the meta field instead of leaving it blank. But only when the first few sentences of your content do not provide adequate information for the researcher (to decide to click through to your site).

Use the same keyword from the title inside the description field and write 160 characters (or 912 pixel width). Google will truncate around 5 or so characters - it should not be more than that.

Robert (boomergp08) has written a great article on the best way to use Meta Descriptions. I hope it helps:

https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/boomergp08/blog/google-search-engine-guidelines-how-to-get-good-serp

~Jude

I still have Autogenerate Descriptions checked. I never turned that off. They were still cut short according to Webmaster Tools. I have since entered a few custom titles and descriptions into AIO because I didn't know about the key words when I first started writing my posts. They are still relevant to the original post though. They just include the matching key words now. Even these descriptions are cut off short however (200 characters cut to 100). I selected the option in AIO not to cut off long descriptions too. It's odd. There may be something else doing it?

Thank you for the link though. I had just read another one of his new posts about this subject last week. I really appreciate your help and guidance.

Wesley

Try de-selecting the option in AIO not to cut off long descriptions. I don't have that selected and don't have this issue.

Does Webmaster tools identify exactly which descriptions are cut off?

Because I checked your domain URL via search. (type your domain address in the search bar). The post you made on 13 August - Plan To Freedom Two - does that show the full snippet? I don't see any bolded keywords, but it does appear to be two lines, which is a pretty standard sized search snippet.

~Jude

They are short for all my posts and pages. It seems Google is showing what they want in their snippet anyway so I don't think it's a big problem. I am using Google XML Sitemaps plugin to update my sitemap file. Do you think it could be that? I know AIO can create a sitemap too but does it update it automatically for all new blog posts and site changes also?

If you are using Google XML Sitemaps, that's fine. Go to your AIO Feature settings and make sure that the sitemap feature is de-activated in the AIO plugin. The rest of the AIO plugin wlll continue to do its work.

You don't want or need two plugins creating sitemaps as that could cause an issue.

~Jude

You may just try to make it with in 100 characters,And see if that works........................Ken

See more comments

What could be causing my meta descriptions to be shortened?

What could be causing my meta descriptions to be shortened?

asked in
Search Engine Optimization
Updated

Google Webmaster Tools is telling me that my meta descriptions are short (about 100 characters). I don't know what is causing them to be shortened though. It isn't All In One SE

Just a quick update. It looks like it was some code in my theme that caused my meta descriptions to be short. When I installed WordPress SEO by Yoast a couple weeks ago, it told me it needed to remove some code from my site in order to function properly. After accepting the change and waiting a while for Google to recrawl my pages, the short meta description warnings are gone. All looks to be working well at the moment with Google Webmaster Tools at least.

In the AIO advance settings, have you ticked the box to Autogenerate Description? I do not recommend turning off that setting. Google likes it.

That way you can leave the meta description field blank.

Google will decide what to include in the snippet from your content (based on what terms people are using to search). Also, if you leave it blank, they won't be telling you the description is too short.

Even with autogenerate selected, you can write your description in the meta field instead of leaving it blank. But only when the first few sentences of your content do not provide adequate information for the researcher (to decide to click through to your site).

Use the same keyword from the title inside the description field and write 160 characters (or 912 pixel width). Google will truncate around 5 or so characters - it should not be more than that.

Robert (boomergp08) has written a great article on the best way to use Meta Descriptions. I hope it helps:

https://my.wealthyaffiliate.com/boomergp08/blog/google-search-engine-guidelines-how-to-get-good-serp

~Jude

I still have Autogenerate Descriptions checked. I never turned that off. They were still cut short according to Webmaster Tools. I have since entered a few custom titles and descriptions into AIO because I didn't know about the key words when I first started writing my posts. They are still relevant to the original post though. They just include the matching key words now. Even these descriptions are cut off short however (200 characters cut to 100). I selected the option in AIO not to cut off long descriptions too. It's odd. There may be something else doing it?

Thank you for the link though. I had just read another one of his new posts about this subject last week. I really appreciate your help and guidance.

Wesley

Try de-selecting the option in AIO not to cut off long descriptions. I don't have that selected and don't have this issue.

Does Webmaster tools identify exactly which descriptions are cut off?

Because I checked your domain URL via search. (type your domain address in the search bar). The post you made on 13 August - Plan To Freedom Two - does that show the full snippet? I don't see any bolded keywords, but it does appear to be two lines, which is a pretty standard sized search snippet.

~Jude

They are short for all my posts and pages. It seems Google is showing what they want in their snippet anyway so I don't think it's a big problem. I am using Google XML Sitemaps plugin to update my sitemap file. Do you think it could be that? I know AIO can create a sitemap too but does it update it automatically for all new blog posts and site changes also?

If you are using Google XML Sitemaps, that's fine. Go to your AIO Feature settings and make sure that the sitemap feature is de-activated in the AIO plugin. The rest of the AIO plugin wlll continue to do its work.

You don't want or need two plugins creating sitemaps as that could cause an issue.

~Jude

You may just try to make it with in 100 characters,And see if that works........................Ken

See more comments

Login
Create Your Free Wealthy Affiliate Account Today!
icon
4-Steps to Success Class
icon
One Profit Ready Website
icon
Market Research & Analysis Tools
icon
Millionaire Mentorship
icon
Core “Business Start Up” Training