Long title problem
-
I'm getting an incredible number of 4xx errors and long titles from a small website (northstarpad.com); over 13k 4xx errors and almost 20k "title element is too long". The number keeps climbing, but the site shouldn't have more than a couple hundred pages. When I look at the 4xx errors they are clearly being generated by some program since they have multiple and repeating keywords.
Here's an example:
I looked at the ftp files and plugins and couldn't see anything that could cause it, but I'm a beginner so no surprise there. Any suggestions where to look or how to fix this?
-
Thanks!
-
I can point you towards the best places online to find wordpress developers;
- https://clarity.fm/browse/technology/wordpress
- https://www.odesk.com/o/profiles/browse/skill/wordpress/
- http://premium.wpmudev.org/blog/find-wordpress-developer-designer/
Try those!
-
Hello Dan,
I've sent your message to a few web developers who apparently don't have a clue. Any suggestions on someone who could fix this?
Thanks!
-
Thanks a bunch Dan! I'm still clearly a neophyte, but am learning as I go so I appreciate your detailed responses. I'll get someone to work on the URLs right away.
It's also good to know Screaming Frog's limitations for the freebie.
-
I just wanted to clarify that the SEO plugin has nothing to do with this, and also turning all in one on/off will probably not fix anything.
Either you may have the free version of Screaming Frog which limits to 500 URLs, or you may need to adjust crawl settings - my crawl definitely was heading towards the 57k
-
The root of your issue is that there are links that are coded incorrectly
--> http://screencast.com/t/ndeKw3PL
which is resulting in infinite crawling of pages that do not really exist, and thus the same duplicate/long title tags.
For example this page is a good URL: http://northstarpad.com/category/business-portrait-metro-detroit/
But as shown in my screenshot the "Pet Photography" image links to: http://northstarpad.com/category/business-portrait-metro-detroit/pet-photography// which is a bad URL and NOT http://northstarpad.com/pet-photography/ which is where it should link.
Essentially your links should be "absolute" URLs (which show the full file path) not "relative"
--> http://screencast.com/t/koL5QX9B
You'll need to pass this to a web dev who knows how to edit your WordPress theme files.
-
I crawled the site with Screaming Frog and it only showed 475 pages instead of the 57k+ from Moz, and none of them had 404 errors. Is it possible that Moz is crawling our WordPress pages? I looked in our settings for a way to exclude that URL, but couldn't see where to do it.
We'll also try deleting/reinstalling the All in One SEO pack to see if that helps.
-
Thanks a bunch Nakul! I'll let you know if any of your suggestions help me find the problem.
-
Looks like a problem with Wordpress. Are you using any SEO Plugins like Yoast or something ? I'd suggest reaching out to your Wordpress Guy and have them look into it. It's clearly an issue, and needs to be fixed. You can also download Screaming Frog SEO Spider and crawl your website with it to see where Google is finding these links from. It could also be an issue with your Theme or Permalinks. These are the only areas I can think of. You are using the latest version of Wordpress, so you are good from that point of view. So has to be a Plugin, Theme or your Permalinks settings.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
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.
Related Questions
-
I hope someone can help me with page indexing problem
I have a problem with all video pages on www.tadibrothers.com.
Technical SEO | | TadiBrothers
I can not understand why google do not index all the video pages?
I never blocked them with the robots.txt file, there are no noindex/nofollow tags on the pages. The only video page that I found in search results is the main video category page: https://www.tadibrothers.com/videos and 1 video page out of 150 videos: https://www.tadibrothers.com/video/front-side-rear-view-cameras-for-backup-camera-systems I hope someone can point me to the right way0 -
Wrong title tag
Hi, need help. I notice Google always , on all my pages (about 30), index wrong title tag. If I try to use "my-keywords-here | my_company_name" Google always index "my_company_name: my-keywords-here" and can't figure why is that :(
Technical SEO | | MirkoL
The problem is always only with "my-keywords-here | my_company_name".
If I use "my-keywords-here - my_company_name" or "my-keywords-here my_company_name" (without sign | ) everything is fine
Is anybody having any reasonable explanation?
Is anybody having Joomla page with "my-keywords-here | my_company_name" in the title and have indexed by Google like that? one example is www.ferometal-prerada.hr Thank you1 -
Duplicate Title Tag
We are getting a Duplicate Title Tag error on our pages but we have different titles and the differences are being seen by Google. We are using the code <%@ Page Title="School Lunch Software Pricing || EZ School Apps"%> Any ideas?
Technical SEO | | EZParentCenter0 -
Meta description tag problems according to an seo tool
hi, my site is www.in2town.co.uk I am using an seo tool to check on my site and how to improve the seo. The tool is here. http://www.juxseo.com/report/view/51ebf9deab900 for some reason it has brought up errors, it claims i have not got a meta description even though i have and have doubled checked in my source code the errors it has brought up is as follows, and i would like to know if this is a fault of the seo tool or am i doing something wrong Does the description tag exist?0/1 <a id="sub_toggle_12" class="sub_toggle contract_sub"></a>Hide Info Description Tag: Explanation: The meta description tag does not help your rankings but it is your opportunity to encourage prospects to click. The meta description should describe the content of your web page, include a strong call to action, and include your keyword. Action: Make sure you are using the meta description tag. It is found in the section of your page. checkboxIs there only one description tag?0/2<a id="sub_toggle_13" class="sub_toggle expand_sub"></a>More InfocheckboxIs your description less than 156 characters?0/1<a id="sub_toggle_14" class="sub_toggle expand_sub"></a>More InfocheckboxIs your keyword in the description tag?0/3 <a id="sub_toggle_15" class="sub_toggle expand_sub"></a>More Info it also says about the canocial tag which it claims i have more than one Is the canonical tag optmized? Is there only one canonical tag?0/4 <a id="sub_toggle_10" class="sub_toggle contract_sub"></a>Hide Info Explanation: You only need one of these to direct a search engine. Don't muddy the waters. Action: Make sure you only have one canonical tag. This only applies if you use the canonical tag. any help and advice would be greatregards
Technical SEO | | ClaireH-1848860 -
Long URL
I am using seomoz software as a trial, it has crawled my site and a report is telling me that the URL for my forum is to long: <dl> <dt>Title</dt> <dd>Healthy Living Community</dd> <dt>Meta Description</dt> <dd>Healthy life discussion forum chatting about all aspects of healthy living including nutrition, fitness, motivation and much more.</dd> <dt>Meta Robots</dt> <dd>noodp, noydir</dd> <dt>Meta Refresh</dt> <dd>Not present/empty</dd> <dd> 1 Warning Long URL (> 115 characters) Found about 17 hours ago <dl> <dt>Number of characters</dt> <dd>135 (over by 21)</dd> <dt>Description</dt> <dd>A good URL is descriptive and concise. Although not a high priority, we recommend a URL that is shorter than 75 characters.</dd> </dl> </dd> <dd> URL: http://www.goodhealthword.com/forum/reprogramming-health/welcome-to-the-forum-for-discussing-the-4-steps-for-reprogramming-ones-health/ The problem is when I check the page via edit or in the admin section of wordpress, the url is a s follows: http://www.goodhealthword.com/forum/ My question is where is I cannot see where this long url is located, it appears to be a valid page but I cant find it. Thanks Pete </dd> </dl>
Technical SEO | | petemarko0 -
Title and description tags
Hi everyone! What is the maximum length a title tag should be and what range should a seo description be for best practice?
Technical SEO | | PeterM220 -
Duplicate Page title - PHP Experts!
After running a crawl diagnostics i was surprised to see 336 duplicate page titles. But i am wondering if it is true or not. Most of them are not a page at all but a .php variation. for example: The following are all the same page, but a different limit on viewing listings. Limiting your view to 5, 10, 15, 20, 25 as you choose. .com/?lang=en&limit=5 .com/?lang=en&limit=5&limitstart=10
Technical SEO | | nahopkin
.com/?lang=en&limit=5&limitstart=15
.com/?lang=en&limit=5&limitstart=20
.com/?lang=en&limit=5&limitstart=25 Same type of things are going on all over the site causing 228 duplicate content errors and the already mentioned 336 duplicate pages. But is "crawl diagnostic telling the truth" or is it just some php thing? I am not a php expert so any input would be much appreciated. What should i do?0 -
Page title vs page element
Hello! I'm new to SEO as my question would imply. Can someone show me the difference between a page title and a page element? Thank you!
Technical SEO | | atrenary1