Meta Title and Meta Description

The Meta Title takes the form Post Title Separator Site name by default (this can be changed in SEO Settings. Separator is a character such as Dash (-) or Pipe (|).

Meta Description is the start of the blog post content, truncated at 160 characters or less.

While ok for length, this is not usually ideal and doesn't read well.

Although you can replace it with your own typed one, I like to kill two birds with one stone here and create an excerpt. This is useful to have as many themes display the excerpt in post summaries.

It's on the right-hand side.

Write your own excerpt. You are summarizing the essence of this post in 160 characters or less.

As soon as you create your excerpt and update your post, it's automatically used as the meta description.

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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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TheAbiePPlus Premium Plus
@Peterke
Don't think is, Peter.
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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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TheAbiePPlus Premium Plus
@Peterke
Certainly Peter.
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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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