Adding Meta tags to head sections

  • I’m now ready to add meta descriptions and keywords to my WordPress pages (2024 theme / WP 6.4.30) and am looking as plugins like “All in one” and Yoast, etc… which seem to offer lots of features I don’t really need (imo). All I want is to add a meta Description, Keywords for the whole site, and perhaps a custom Title for each page such as “Sitename – Welcome”, “Sitename– Biography”,”Sitename – Portfolio”, etc..).

    I’m reading how-to’s on doing this manually by editing certain php files. But I’m wondering if there’s a recommended basic plugin that can do only these kinds of edits?

    The old html/css website I just recreated using WordPress already has all the meta tag info needed and I just want to repeat the same meta info in this WordPress version.

    Is here a simple plugin that can do this or should I learn to do it manually?

    Thank you for any help.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)

  • Add Meta Tag Without a Plugin

    1. Step 1: Open the header. php File. …
    2. Step 2: Copy and Customize the Meta Tags. Next, copy the generic keyword meta tag below and paste it under the opening <head> tag: …
    3. Step 3 (Optional): Use a Conditional Tag Query. How about the meta tags for a single WordPress post?
    Thread Starter rpmtl22

    (@rpmtl22)

    Thank you Rafsan for responding.

    I already found those instructions (with more detail) via Google:

    https://wpengine.com/resources/how-to-add-meta-tags-wordpress/#Method_2_Add_Meta_Tag_Without_a_Plugin

    But with the Twenty Twenty-Four theme there’s appears to only be one “header.php” file that’s buried inside wp-includes\theme-compat\ that has “This file is here for backward compatibility with old themes and will be removed in a future version.” in its comments. Is that the “header.php” file you’re referring to??

    The “Dashboard > Appearance > Theme File Editor” referenced in multiple articles has moved to “Tools > Theme File Editor” and there’s no access to editing a header.php file. It does allow editing the Functions.php file in which there are no parts that resemble the “Head” section of the Header.

    I’m still looking for a way to add meta info to the Head section of the pages. Those BIG SEO plugins just seem like “overkill” for what should be a small task.

    Thread Starter rpmtl22

    (@rpmtl22)

    Found out that WordPress does not natively support traditional metatags so plugins seem the only sensible route. I ended up using Meta Tag Manager by Pixelite which did what I need. If this was a commercial website I might have chosen something with more SEO features .. but all I wanted was the same description and keywords the previous HTML/CSS version of the site used and was always well represented on search engines.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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