If you go into the General Settings area of the All In One SEO Pack Plugin Options within your WordPress dashboard, scroll down until you see a subsection saying “Advanced Settings” you will see something like the image below. I always have Autogenerate Description checked.
What this does is have the All In One use the first 160 character spaces of your content as the Meta Description. At the very beginning of my content, approximately 90% of the time, I write in such a way where the first 140 - 160 character spaces is what I want my description to be.
I do this for two reasons. 1, so the All In One SEO Pack will use this content automatically for my Meta Description Tag which in most cases will have my target keyword and 2, to further entice my readers to continue reading by expanding on the Meta Description itself.
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When I create my content in this way I do not have to type in my Meta Title Tag, because the All In One uses the title of my page or post, and I do not have to type in my Meta Description Tag. Naturally I pay no attention to the Meta Keywords Tag, since Google doesn’t either.
Have you ever noticed in the “All Pages” and the “All Posts” areas within your WordPress dashboard, what is shown in the above image? When it says “No Value” under SEO Title, SEO Description & SEO Keywords, all that means is you are letting the All In One do it for you.
You will notice that my first 3 rows say “No Value” because those 3 Posts I am letting the All In One automatically fill in my Meta Tags. In the 4rh row I retyped my Title, because I added a keyword to it, retyped my Description, and added one keyword in the Meta Keywords Tag.
Again in the General Settings area of the All In One SEO Pack Plugin Options within your WordPress dashboard, and just below the “Advanced Settings” area where Autogenerate Description is located, you will see the settings for the use of keywords, see below image.
Even though Google and the other search engines do not use the Meta Keywords Tag anymore, you can set the All In One to display your Post Tags there. I am not sure if this is necessary to rank for your Post Tags or not, but I check this box just in case. Google will rank your Post Tags.
What are Post Tags? They are in essence keywords used to find specific posts. Just like here in WA. If you type, “Earn Money For Comments” in the search bar at the top of this screen, the training I created with that keyword tag will appear among other blog and tutorial results.
As you can see in the above image of a Google search of my NASCAR post, I am ranking in Google for my NASCAR Superstore Tag, yet that is not my target keyword. So Post Tags are important and that is why I check the Use Tags for META keywords in the Keyword Settings.
NEXT UP = Why you should not mind if your Meta Description is not used by Google
Very useful tutorial, thank you!
One question I have regarding Meta Title - Is it okay to change or add to the visual title after publishing (leaving the Meta Title unchanged)? An example of this would be "Best........for 2020" where I might change it to 2021 next year.
I'm particularly concerned with posts that are ranked 1st page on Google , so don't want to ruin the ranking.
Or does WP automatically change the Meta Title?
Reply
Leave the ones already published as they are and moving forward make sure to create your titles differently if you intend to use a date. This is what I am doing for a recent review I wrote.
For posts you know that will have a date in the title which you would like to update each year, make your Title your keyword. Then add the date in the Meta Title Tag.
Example
I did a review of WA a couple of months ago using the keyword "The Honest Wealthy Affiliate Review" as my title. I then saved the draft version of my review to solidify that title.
Later on I added a date in the Title Meta Tag by re-typing "The Honest Wealthy Affiliate Review" and then adding the extra text "- With Complaints 2020" which I can change each year.
The title you create at the top of your content will automatically be your post title and your Meta Title visible on your website and in search results. Adding a date must only be done in the Meta Title.
This added text will only appear in Google search results. It is not part of the saved original title. As you can see in the 2 screenshots below one is what my title looks like on my website and on Google.
Wow, thanks for taking the time to write such a detailed and thorough response!
That really is helpful and I'll make sure to follow it to the letter.
So basically I should publish with the "generic" permanent title and then change the meta title at a later time with any bits that I will be updating - if I'm reading that right.
I really appreciate the time you've taken here Robert.
Thank you again.
Adrian.
Great post! I wasn't aware that there was an option to auto-generate a meta description in All In One plugin. So it does really make sense for Google to fill in the meta description.
Each time someone searches for a keyword and lands on your site, a different description shows up in the results. And this helps with ranking?
I'll have to experiment with it. That's what I want. More traffic and clicks! Thank you.
All the best, stay safe!
Peter
The first thing I'll do after reading through your training is to switch on Auto generate. Thank you for your training around this.
I have several sites where my SEO us Yoast, but my gardening site is still with All in One. I had no idea that you could set it to autogenerate.
Jim
