Sommething wrong/blocking in overall_header.html

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dcz
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Sommething wrong/blocking in overall_header.html

Post by dcz »

Hello,

in 3.1.0-RC1 (and before), we can find :

Code: Select all

<meta name="keywords" content="" />
<meta name="description" content="" />
in prosilver's overall_header.html

I think this should be removed as is it useless and does not allow overall_header_head_append event to set these meta.

++

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PayBas
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Re: Sommething wrong/blocking in overall_header.html

Post by PayBas »

Keywords can be considered dead.

Not sure about description. We already have an ACP option for description, but it's not used in the html description meta tag. There's probably a reason for this. Would have to dig through old discussions.

dcz
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Re: Sommething wrong/blocking in overall_header.html

Post by dcz »

I do not argue about usefulness of meta tags in SEO since there is none, but there are practical uses (site submission auto complete in third party site, google snipets in SERPs, etc ...) even though they are mostly cosmetic, they can find some actual use.

Then, I even less argue with phpBB not implementing meta tags, but I really can't find any reason to put some empty ones, especially since it's blocking ext to do so themselves.

And note that if meta tag won't help in SERPS, they can hurt if for example you are using the exact same keywords and description on all pages (number one mistake with meta tags). I guess that empty tags won't hurt, but that's also for sure the only possible effect if any, hurting.

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NeilUK
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Re: Sommething wrong/blocking in overall_header.html

Post by NeilUK »

Meta description for SEO is considered essential but keywords as PayBas said have been dead for years now. At the moment there is no penalty from google for having meta keywords but no benefit either. However I did read that Google may at some point penalise sites for having them if "keyword stuffing" doesn't stop.

But they did also say it was unlikely that they would actually penalise but they keep the option open. Meta description is very important for SEO page ranking. By the same token having repeating SEO titles on different pages is considered very bad form!
"Life Is What Happens To You When You Are Busy Making Other Plans" - John Lennon

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DarkBeing
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Re: Sommething wrong/blocking in overall_header.html

Post by DarkBeing »

If my memory serves me right someone mentioned in another topic, that the description meta tag was supposed to be filled out by the forum owner himself and therefor is empty. If it was also somewhere mentioned that there was no acp-option for it to prevent an acp overkill. But don't quote me on this.

keith10456
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Re: Sommething wrong/blocking in overall_header.html

Post by keith10456 »

dcz wrote:Hello,

in 3.1.0-RC1 (and before), we can find :

Code: Select all

<meta name="keywords" content="" />
<meta name="description" content="" />
in prosilver's overall_header.html

I think this should be removed as is it useless and does not allow overall_header_head_append event to set these meta.

++
Unless I'm misunderstanding it would be better to leave it in place and have phpBB allow (enable) the option of appending the meta data per the Extension. This way each page Description would apply to the content that's on the page.

dcz
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Re: Sommething wrong/blocking in overall_header.html

Post by dcz »

DarkBeing wrote:If my memory serves me right someone mentioned in another topic, that the description meta tag was supposed to be filled out by the forum owner himself and therefor is empty. If it was also somewhere mentioned that there was no acp-option for it to prevent an acp overkill. But don't quote me on this.
This is exactly what not to do. Use the same content for meta for each page. It's pretty much the same as using the same title on all pages, a bullet in the foot.

There are two ways to properly deal with this, either phpBB provides with dynamic (based on actual page content) meta tags, or phpBB removes the empty tags (which also allow ext to set some with no extra work).

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Pony99CA
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Re: Sommething wrong/blocking in overall_header.html

Post by Pony99CA »

It's fairly simple (but maybe not so simple to code). Description tags on forum pages should have the forum title; on topic pages, they should have the topic title; and on the Board index, they should have the board's description. Other pages (Member List, Search, etc.) would have similar Descriptions.

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dcz
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Re: Sommething wrong/blocking in overall_header.html

Post by dcz »

Going down that path, you may as well use forum descriptions and topic content together with titles to build respective meta descriptions. But that's not the point. I'm not asking for what already exists (here for example) and I would not even mind phpBB to add dynamic meta tags in core, but rather requesting for what looks a left over to be removed.

Because as it is now, it is blocking the possibility for an extension to set meta keywords/description without altering phpBB, AND the only effect the current setup can have on SEO is, if any (no drama here, it's most likely none) negative (since it's repeated on every pages).

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PayBas
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Re: Sommething wrong/blocking in overall_header.html

Post by PayBas »

dcz wrote:Going down that path, you may as well use forum descriptions and topic content together with titles to build respective meta descriptions. But that's not the point. I'm not asking for what already exists (here for example) and I would not even mind phpBB to add dynamic meta tags in core, but rather requesting for what looks a left over to be removed.

Because as it is now, it is blocking the possibility for an extension to set meta keywords/description without altering phpBB, AND the only effect the current setup can have on SEO is, if any (no drama here, it's most likely none) negative (since it's repeated on every pages).
I tend to agree. We could do something like this:

Code: Select all

<!-- IF META_DESCRIPTION --><meta name="description" content="{META_DESCRIPTION}" /><!-- ENDIF -->
We don't even need to define it. But just by including it in the header it will be trivial for extensions to define META_DESCRIPTION and use it.

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