Get Your Meta Title and Description Right

I often see WA members frustrated that their meta title and description either "don't look right" or are being reported as "far too long" but are unable to edit them.

This training is about how to get them right and where to edit them.

You use your SEO plugin for this.

But it's different depending on which plugin you use.

The two used by virtually all WA members are:

  • All in One SEO and
  • The SEO Framework

Let's look at these separately.

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Peterke Premium Plus
Hi Phil,

I don't understand why you have to choose a "Post Excerpt" in the meta description. I myself do NOT use tags in the meta description and I put my own text in it (different from "Post Content") and no longer than 160 characters... Is that a problem?

Since every post or page gets its own unique meta description, can't it just be typed in? Or am I missing something?

Best regards,
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Peterke Premium Plus
@TheAbiePPlus
That's what I thought too, but maybe that "Post Excerpt" has something special somewhere? I'll wait for Phil's response...

Thank you for your feedback!
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TRSCHUSTER Premium Plus
@Peterke
This is what I do too.
I Type in my own, usually the first 160 characters of my post with keywords included.
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phil1944 Premium
@Peterke
I'll have to go back and check, but I thought I made it clear that you can just type it in, but I use the excerpt to "kill two birds with one stone". Many themes use the excerpt, for example, when displaying a summary of posts (mine certainly do) so I make it a practice to always include an excerpt with a new post. Then if you set your meta description to be the excerpt, it's automatically taken care of for you.
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phil1944 Premium
Also, not many people know about the excerpt "tip" so that's why I mentioned it. Also, as I said, it's my preferred method.
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phil1944 Premium
@Peterke
I've given you a couple of responses, Peter. Thanks for the comment.
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Peterke Premium Plus
@phil1944
Hi Phil,

Still, I don't understand... You make your own excerpt of a maximum of 160 characters and then use the "Post Excerpt" tag.

I immediately type my text... You can't use the same "Post Excerpt" on another page, can you? So you create a "Post Excerpt" with some other text, right?

In fact, you are using an intermediate step that is actually (in my view) superfluous. Maybe I really don't understand, but at least my meta description looks good.

Thanks for your response.
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phil1944 Premium
@TRSCHUSTER
That's perfectly OK. I always create an excerpt for a new post, so setting the meta description to use it makes good sense.
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phil1944 Premium
@Peterke
After I've created a new post, I summarize it in 160 characters or less in the Post Excerpt panel (in the right sidebar under the featured image). That automatically becomes my meta description. It's not superfluous because the post excerpt is used elsewhere. It's saving me a step.
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MTCandela1 Premium Plus
Yeap, Phil! Indeed very helpful! It also helps getting you indexed!
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phil1944 Premium
@MTCandela1
Yes, Maria, getting it right is something the search engines like.
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muslimah Premium
Very well explained, Phil.
Thank you.
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phil1944 Premium
@muslimah
My pleasure, Muslimah.
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mbouteiller Premium Plus
Thank you, Phil. I've been doing the All in One SEO. I'm going to use yours as a check to make sure I've been using it properly. I appreciate you taking the time to write this up with images. Very helpful.

Have a blessed weekend.

Monica
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phil1944 Premium
@mbouteiller
Thank you, Monica. I'm glad you found it useful.
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