undefined
Skip to content
Moz logo Menu open Menu close
  • Products
    • Moz Pro
    • Moz Pro Home
    • Moz Local
    • Moz Local Home
    • STAT
    • Moz API
    • Moz API Home
    • Compare SEO Products
    • Moz Data
  • Free SEO Tools
    • Domain Analysis
    • Keyword Explorer
    • Link Explorer
    • Competitive Research
    • MozBar
    • More Free SEO Tools
  • Learn SEO
    • Beginner's Guide to SEO
    • SEO Learning Center
    • Moz Academy
    • SEO Q&A
    • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
  • Blog
  • Why Moz
    • Agency Solutions
    • Enterprise Solutions
    • Small Business Solutions
    • Case Studies
    • The Moz Story
    • New Releases
  • Log in
  • Log out
  • Products
    • Moz Pro

      Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

    • Moz Local

      Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

    • STAT

      SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

    • Moz API

      Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

    • Compare SEO Products

      See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

    • Moz Data

      Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
    Moz Pro

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

    Learn more
  • Free SEO Tools
    • Domain Analysis

      Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

    • Keyword Explorer

      Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

    • Link Explorer

      Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

    • Competitive Research

      Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

    • MozBar

      See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

    • More Free SEO Tools

      Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
    Moz Pro

    NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

    Learn more
  • Learn SEO
    • Beginner's Guide to SEO

      The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

    • SEO Learning Center

      Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

    • On-Demand Webinars

      Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

    • How-To Guides

      Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

    • Moz Academy

      Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

    • MozCon

      Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

    Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
    Moz API

    Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

    Find your plan
  • Blog
  • Why Moz
    • Small Business Solutions

      Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

    • Agency Solutions

      Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

    • Enterprise Solutions

      Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

    • The Moz Story

      Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

    • Case Studies

      Explore how Moz drives ROI with a proven track record of success.

    • New Releases

      Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

    Surface actionable competitive intel
    New Feature

    Surface actionable competitive intel

    Learn More
  • Log in
    • Moz Pro
    • Moz Local
    • Moz Local Dashboard
    • Moz API
    • Moz API Dashboard
    • Moz Academy
  • Avatar
    • Moz Home
    • Notifications
    • Account & Billing
    • Manage Users
    • Community Profile
    • My Q&A
    • My Videos
    • Log Out

The Moz Q&A Forum

  • Forum
  • Questions
  • Users
  • Ask the Community

Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

  1. Home
  2. SEO Tactics
  3. Technical SEO
  4. SEO plugin by Yoast messing up my title/meta description

Moz Q&A is closed.

After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

SEO plugin by Yoast messing up my title/meta description

Technical SEO
2
11
9.7k
Loading More Posts
  • Oldest to Newest
  • Newest to Oldest
  • Most Votes
Reply
  • Reply as question
Log in to reply
This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
  • danielpett
    danielpett last edited by Nov 30, 2012, 7:57 AM

    Hey guys,

    I'm having some issues with my wordpress blog, and I believe SEO plugin by Yoast could be the one causing it.

    I have set a title for my wordpress blog, and a tagline. This was set in dashboard > settings > general

    Under "titles and metas" > home in the plugin it says, title: %%sitename%% %%page%% %%sep%% %%sitedesc%%, and meta description is blank.

    The reports on seomoz says my title is title+meta description - making it to long (to many characters).

    What could be the issue here?

    Thanks in advance!

    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
    • Marcus_Miller
      Marcus_Miller @danielpett last edited by Nov 30, 2012, 10:23 AM Nov 30, 2012, 10:23 AM

      You too man!

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • danielpett
        danielpett @danielpett last edited by Nov 30, 2012, 10:19 AM Nov 30, 2012, 10:19 AM

        That did the trick! Thanks for the support.

        Have a great weekend.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Marcus_Miller
          Marcus_Miller @danielpett last edited by Nov 30, 2012, 10:13 AM Nov 30, 2012, 10:13 AM

          In Google Chrome:

          1. Right click on the page in question and select: View page source

          2. Search for <title></em> to see your title</p> <p>3. Search for <em><span><meta </span><span>name</span><span>="</span><span>description</span><span>"</span></em> to see your description</p> <p>Shout if you get stuck!</p> <p>Cheers<br />Marcus </p></title>

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
          • danielpett
            danielpett @danielpett last edited by Nov 30, 2012, 10:09 AM Nov 30, 2012, 10:09 AM

            Awesome, thanks Marcus!

            Just one last thing, where can I in an easy way see what my title and meta description/title is? To see if it works.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • Marcus_Miller
              Marcus_Miller @danielpett last edited by Nov 30, 2012, 10:10 AM Nov 30, 2012, 9:55 AM

              If you are using the SEO plugin it allows various variables in the title templates. So, to use the page / post title and the site name you would use:

              %%title%% | %%sitename%%

              To use the title and the site description you would use:

              %%title%% | %%sitedesc%%

              If you wanted title, site name, site description

              %%title%% | %%sitename%% | %%sitedesc%%

              If you go to the help tag under the Titles & Meta's section you can get a full list of these variables you can get to customise your template titles.

              But, the plugin also allows you to customise on a page by page basis in the page / post settings which is also really useful.

              Hope that helps!
              Marcus

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
              • danielpett
                danielpett @danielpett last edited by Nov 30, 2012, 9:53 AM Nov 30, 2012, 9:53 AM

                In the plugin this code is put in the title template box: %%sitename%% %%page%% %%sep%% %%sitedesc%%

                Maybe this is the reason why title and tag line/meta description is put as title? The "%%sitedesc%%" should perhaps be put in the Meta description template beneath?

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • danielpett
                  danielpett @danielpett last edited by Nov 30, 2012, 9:50 AM Nov 30, 2012, 9:50 AM

                  I tried disabling, and what I got now was an empty title. What does that tell me?

                  That's the problem, part of the title should be in the meta description (as it is put under "tag line" in wordpress settings > general.

                  Put the tagline is shown right after the title in the title.

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • Marcus_Miller
                    Marcus_Miller @danielpett last edited by Nov 30, 2012, 9:47 AM Nov 30, 2012, 9:47 AM

                    Hey, page title looks fine, no meta description though by the look of things?

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • danielpett
                      danielpett @Marcus_Miller last edited by Nov 30, 2012, 9:44 AM Nov 30, 2012, 9:44 AM

                      Marcus,

                      First of all, thanks for the reply!

                      I will try to disable the plugin and see what happens.

                      Where do need a link? Here is to the blog in question blogg.loveday.se (don't know if it is of any use though, as it is in swedish).

                      Marcus_Miller danielpett 8 Replies Last reply Nov 30, 2012, 10:23 AM Reply Quote 0
                      • Marcus_Miller
                        Marcus_Miller last edited by Nov 30, 2012, 8:28 AM Nov 30, 2012, 8:28 AM

                        Hey Daniel

                        Hard to say without a link but the first thing I would do would be to disable the plugin and see if that puts things right. If that does not work, the plugin may have some incompatibilities with your theme or your theme may have some problems itself.

                        The Yoast plugin has some configuration that allows you to force the rewriting of the titles so you can check to see if that is enabled on the titles and metas page (and try turning it on / off).

                        Ultimately, this is likely a theme conflict and many themes have their own SEO settings that may need to be disabled or removed so I would look there firfst.

                        Can you post a link?

                        Marcus

                        danielpett 1 Reply Last reply Nov 30, 2012, 9:44 AM Reply Quote 0
                        • 1 / 1
                        1 out of 11
                        • First post
                          1/11
                          Last post

                        Got a burning SEO question?

                        Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                        Start my free trial


                        Browse Questions

                        Explore more categories

                        • Moz Tools

                          Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

                        • SEO Tactics

                          Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

                        • Community

                          Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

                        • Digital Marketing

                          Chat about tactics outside of SEO

                        • Research & Trends

                          Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

                        • Support

                          Connect on product support and feature requests.

                        • See all categories

                        Related Questions

                        • bendyman

                          Problem with Yoast not seeing any of this website's text/content

                          Hi, My client has a new WordPress site http://www.londonavsolutions.co.uk/ and they have installed the Yoast Premium SEO plug-in. They are having issues with getting the lights to go green and the main problem is that on most pages Yoast does not see any words/content – although there are plenty of words on the pages. Other tools can see the words, however Yoast is struggling to find any and gives the following message:- Bad SEO score. The text contains 0 words. This is far below the recommended minimum of 300 words. Add more content that is relevant for the topic. Readability - You have far too little content. Please add some content to enable a good analysis. They have contacted the website developer who says that there is nothing wrong, but they are frustrated that they cannot use the Yoast tools themselves because of this issue, plus Yoast are offering no support with the issue. I hope that one of you guys has seen this problem before, or can spot a problem with the way the site has been built and can perhaps shed some light on the problem. I didn't build the site myself so won't be offended if you spot problems with it. Thanks in advance, Ben

                          Technical SEO | Sep 12, 2016, 12:41 PM | bendyman
                          0
                        • A_Q

                          Can you force Google to use meta description?

                          Is it possible to force Google to use only the Meta description put in place for a page and not gather additional text from the page?

                          Technical SEO | May 24, 2016, 4:31 AM | A_Q
                          0
                        • patilhimanshu

                          Can OG titles be used as a substitute for Meta titles

                          We use og (open graph) titles in lieu of meta titles. Is there any downside to using just one. Should we be using both og and meta titles on our page. Appreciate any insight. Himanshu

                          Technical SEO | Dec 15, 2015, 10:49 PM | patilhimanshu
                          0
                        • ChristianRubio

                          Title Tag vs. H1 / H2

                          OK, Title tag, no problem, it's the SEO juice, appears on SERP, etc.  Got it. But I'm reading up on H1 and getting conflicting bits of information ... Only use H1 once? H1 is crucial for SERP Use H1s for subheads Google almost never looks past H2 for relevance So say I've got a blog post with three sections ... do I use H1 three times (or does Google think you're playing them ...) Or do I create a "big" H1 subhead and then use H2s? Or just use all H2s because H1s are scary?  🙂 I frequently use subheads, it would seem weird to me to have one a font size bigger than another, but of course I can adjust that in settings ... Thoughts? Lisa

                          Technical SEO | Jan 9, 2015, 11:19 AM | ChristianRubio
                          0
                        • mathamatix

                          Phone number in Meta Description - Is it a good idea?

                          Is it a best practice to place your company's phone number in the meta description for a page? Are there any rules as to what is acceptable for meta tags? One of our competitors recently started doing this but for some reason I think it might be against Google's guidelines. They (competitor) is also engaging in web spam, plagiarizing our content,  and other black hat techniques so I'm leery of anything they do.

                          Technical SEO | Aug 6, 2014, 12:16 PM | mathamatix
                          0
                        • Highlandgael

                          Wordpress Pods and Wordpress SEO by Yoast

                          Hi I am optimising a new site that has been built in Wordpress using Pods.  The Yoast Wordpress SEO plugin is not recognising any content on the site - has anyone any ideas on how to get around this - does it matter - is it the plugin that is at fault rahter than the set up of the site?

                          Technical SEO | Aug 14, 2013, 4:50 PM | Highlandgael
                          1
                        • Branden_S

                          Page titles in browser not matching WP page title

                          I have an issue with a few page titles not matching the title I have In WordPress.  I have 2 pages, blog & creative gallery, that show the homepage title, which is causing duplicate title errors.  This has been going on for 5 weeks, so its not an a crawl issue.  Any ideas what could cause this? To clarify, I have the page title set in WP, and I checked "Disable PSP title format on this page/post:"...but this page is still showing the homepage title.  Is there an additional title setting for a page in WP?

                          Technical SEO | Jun 18, 2013, 6:28 PM | Branden_S
                          0
                        • vivadata

                          Yoast SEO Plugin and Theme Conflict - Meta Tags

                          I have installed yoast seo plugin and a theme that I purchased.
                          I have added site title and meta description for the index page through yoast seo plugin see here http://screencast.com/t/AdjMynym8Tm however this does not work as can be seen on the test site
                          http://importingtips.com/test/ does anyone have any advice? Thanks

                          Technical SEO | May 13, 2013, 10:59 PM | vivadata
                          0

                        Get started with Moz Pro!

                        Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                        Start my free trial
                        Products
                        • Moz Pro
                        • Moz Local
                        • Moz API
                        • Moz Data
                        • STAT
                        • Product Updates
                        Moz Solutions
                        • SMB Solutions
                        • Agency Solutions
                        • Enterprise Solutions
                        Free SEO Tools
                        • Domain Authority Checker
                        • Link Explorer
                        • Keyword Explorer
                        • Competitive Research
                        • Brand Authority Checker
                        • Local Citation Checker
                        • MozBar Extension
                        • MozCast
                        Resources
                        • Blog
                        • SEO Learning Center
                        • Help Hub
                        • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                        • How-to Guides
                        • Moz Academy
                        • API Docs
                        About Moz
                        • About
                        • Team
                        • Careers
                        • Contact
                        Why Moz
                        • Case Studies
                        • Testimonials
                        Get Involved
                        • Become an Affiliate
                        • MozCon
                        • Webinars
                        • Practical Marketer Series
                        • MozPod
                        Connect with us

                        Contact the Help team

                        Join our newsletter
                        Moz logo
                        © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                        • Accessibility
                        • Terms of Use
                        • Privacy

                        Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.