[Plugin: WordPress SEO by Yoast] Empty/Duplicate Meta Description tag

  • Resolved katart17

    (@katart17)


    13 years, 11 months ago

    I’ve noticed in my document <head> tag that I am seeing two meta description tags and the first one is empty. Any ideas why this would happen?

    Also, some of the items in the Clean Head section are not being removed. WLW Manifest, Next/Previous

    Thanks,
    Dan

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)

  • I kind of have a similar problem.

    In the heads section, I find a double entry for
    <meta name="description" content="xxx

    and another one with
    <meta name='description' content=yyy

    The first “description” contains

    –> in category archives: The blogs slogan, as entered in WP general settings page
    –> in articles: The excerpt of the article, as entered in the separate box on the articles edit page.

    In Google, none of the entries made in WordPress SEO show up. In my opinion, this is a huge flaw.

    Yoast, could you please look into this?

    Kind regards,

    Thomas

    Plugin Contributor joostdevalk

    (@joostdevalk)

    Thomas, I bet your theme has a description in the header.php, if it does, remove it.

    Joost,

    thank you for responding – and for responding enormously quick!

    Removing the description section in header.php did not do the trick. Or is there still anything “suspicios” in this code?

    Kind regards,
    Thomas

    <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "https://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
<html xmlns="https://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" <?php language_attributes(); ?>>
<head profile="https://gmpg.org/xfn/11">
<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="<?php bloginfo('html_type'); ?>; charset=<?php bloginfo('charset'); ?>" />
<title><?php wp_title(''); echo ' - ' . get_bloginfo('name'); ?> </title>

<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="<?php bloginfo('stylesheet_url'); ?>" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="screen" href="<?php bloginfo('template_url'); ?>/styles/style_<?php echo get_option('prinz_style'); ?>.css" />
<link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" media="print" href="<?php bloginfo('template_url'); ?>/styles/print.css" />

<style type="text/css">
.ui-tabs-panel {background: #<?php echo get_option('prinz_tabsbg'); ?>!important;}
.ui-tabs-selected .ui-tabs {background: #<?php echo get_option('prinz_tabsbg'); ?>!important;border-bottom:1px solid #<?php echo get_option('prinz_tabsbg'); ?>!important;}
.feature {background: #<?php echo get_option('prinz_featuredbg'); ?>!important;}
</style>

<!-- WP HEAD STARTS -->
<?php wp_head(); ?>
<!-- WP HEAD ENDS -->
<link rel="alternate" type="application/rss+xml" title="<?php bloginfo('name'); ?> RSS Feed" href="<?php bloginfo('rss2_url'); ?>" />
<link rel="pingback" href="<?php bloginfo('pingback_url'); ?>" />
</head>
<body <?php body_class(); ?>>
<div id="page" class="clearfloat">

<!-- LOGO/HEADER BLOCK STARTS HERE -->
  <div id="logo" class="clearfloat" onclick="location.href='<?php echo get_settings('home'); ?>';" style="cursor: pointer;">

    <?php $prinz_logo = get_option('prinz_logo');
   if ($prinz_logo == "true") { ?>
    <img style="border:none;" src="<?php header_image(); ?>" width="<?php echo HEADER_IMAGE_WIDTH; ?>" height="<?php echo HEADER_IMAGE_HEIGHT; ?>" alt="<?php bloginfo('name'); ?> - <?php bloginfo('description'); ?>" title="<?php bloginfo('name'); ?> - <?php bloginfo('description'); ?>" border="none" />
    <?php } else { ?>

    <div class="blogtitle" ><a href="<?php echo get_option('home'); ?>/">
      <?php bloginfo('name'); ?>
      </a></div>

    <?php } ?>

  </div>
<!-- LOGO/HEADER BLOCK ENDS HERE -->
  <div class="searchcontainer">
    <?php include (TEMPLATEPATH . '/searchform.php'); ?>
  </div>

<!-- MAIN NAVIGATION BLOCK STARTS HERE -->
<?php
if (get_option('prinz_wpmenuon') == "true") { //the primary horizontal custom WordPress menu ?>
<div id="wp_nav_menu_primary">
	<?php wp_nav_menu( array( 'sort_column' => 'menu_order', 'container_class' => 'menu-header', 'theme_location' => 'primary' ) ); ?>
</div>
<?php } ?>

<?php
if (get_option('prinz_wpmenusecondaryon') == "true") { //the secondray horizontal custom WordPress menu ?>
<div id="wp_nav_menu_secondary">
	<?php wp_nav_menu( array( 'sort_column' => 'menu_order', 'container_class' => 'menu-header', 'theme_location' => 'secondary' ) ); ?>
</div>
<?php } ?>

<?php
if (get_option('prinz_defaultpages') == "") { // the default horizontal page menu ?>
<ul id="nav" class="clearfloat">
  <li><a href="<?php echo get_option('home'); ?>/" class="on">Home</a></li>
  <?php $expages = get_option('prinz_expages'); wp_list_pages('exclude='.$expages.'&title_li='); ?>
</ul>
<?php } ?>

<?php
if (get_option('prinz_defaultcats') == "") { // the default horizontal categories menu ?>
<ul id="catnav" class="clearfloat">
  <?php $excats = get_option('prinz_excats'); wp_list_categories('exclude='.$excats.'&title_li='); ?>
</ul>
<?php } ?>
<!-- MAIN NAVIGATION BLOCK ENDS HERE -->
<!-- YOAST BREADCRUMP STARTS HERE -->
<?php if ( function_exists('yoast_breadcrumb') ) {
	yoast_breadcrumb('<p id="breadcrumbs">','</p>');
} ?>
    Plugin Contributor joostdevalk

    (@joostdevalk)

    Are you running another SEO plugin or any other plugin that might add a description to your site? My plugin really only outputs it once ??

    I have imported all settings from Headspace2. Headspace2 plugin is still present, but deactivated. Could it actually interfere without being activated?

    Kind regards,
    Thomas

    Plugin Contributor joostdevalk

    (@joostdevalk)

    Nope that’s not it. Bet it’s another active plugin, you wouldn’t happen to have a facebook plugin or something else that tries to be smart?

    Bingo, Joost!

    Deactivated wordbooker – duplicate meta name description gone away.

    How did you guess this? Why would a facebook plugin try and want to add its own description-tag? Any idea?

    And does anybody know how to teach wordbooker to behave well in this respect?

    Kind regards, thank you very much for being GREAT help!

    Thomas

    Plugin Contributor joostdevalk

    (@joostdevalk)

    Sigh yeah well, some people think they’re smart and really aren’t ?? Glad this fixed it.

    The behaviour of wordbooker is adressed in this post:
    https://www.ads-software.com/support/topic/plugin-wordbooker-meta-description-tag?replies=3

    To put it in a nutshell: Wordbooker contains an option to switch off this behaviour.

    Plugin Contributor joostdevalk

    (@joostdevalk)

    Ah thanks for the info.

    According to Attracta my site has – 44 pages of “duplicate meta Tag descriptions”

    I am using dream (weaver) WP theme…the only SEO plugin I am using is Yoast WordPress SEO…..

    My site, (example) https://www.romantic-washington-destinations.com/washington-state-cities-towns/northeast-washington-state-cities-towns/

    (when pages load, it shows at the top of the tap if you put your pointer on it) shows “meta title description” as follows:

    “northeast washington state cities & towns romantic washington state destinationsromantic washington state destinations”

    EXACTLY like that.

    It is totally wrong!

    When it (meta title) should be; romantic washington destinations/ washington state cities & towns/ northeast washington state cities & towns”

    Actually, The phrase, “Washington State Romantic Destinations” is my Header of my “Site Title” in WP General settings…..

    If I “force rewrite” of title in Titles in WordPress SEO….it only shows as the metas ttile; “Romantic Washington State Destinations”…Which is STILL wrong! (see above of correct meta)

    Can anyone explain to me why this is occurring and HOW to fix it for 44 pages of my site

    Thanks Stephan

    this is update of the prior question on “Duplicate Meta Description Tags”

    If you view “source code” for the page: https://www.romantic-washington-destinations.com/washington-state-cities-towns/northeast-washington-state-cities-towns/

    this what it says:

    <title>Northeast Washington State Cities & Towns | | Romantic Washington State DestinationsRomantic Washington State Destinations</title>

    ALSO…this in the source code also:

    <!– This site is optimized with the Yoast WordPress SEO plugin v0.3.5 – https://yoast.com/wordpress/seo/ –>
    <!– Admin only notice: this page doesn’t show a meta description because it doesn’t have one, either write it for this page specifically or go into the SEO -> Titles menu and set up a template. –>

    Does this have anything to do with my duplicate meta descriptions?

    Thanks Stephan

    Plugin Contributor joostdevalk

    (@joostdevalk)

    Please open a new thread for your issue, and paste the code from your theme’s header.php in it.

    Thanks for the solution had the same problem.

    The removal of the extra description in the header did it for me.
    Using the Magazinum Theme from WPzoom.

    My site title is coming like twice ABC | ABC

    [Code moderated as per the Forum Rules. Please use the pastebin]

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 15 total)
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