MetaDescription not working

[grantglendinnin]

Completely confused, haven't touched the design side of things in a while and have noticed (accidentally albeit) that the 'meta description' is not being added to section pages where no meta description has been added on the Details tab.

Here's an example page, Sterling Barbecues

The 'global' keywords (GlbMetaKeywords) is showing, GlbMetaDescription isn't.

Here is the code used for generating the Meta tags, I have compared it with the original, factory layout and it seems identical.

   <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1" />
   <meta http-equiv="MSThemeCompatible" content="yes" />
<actinic:block if="%28%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22PageType%22%20%2f%3e%20%21%3d%20%22Section%22%20AND%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22PageType%22%20%2f%3e%20%21%3d%20%22Brochure%22%29%20OR%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22IsStoreFrontPage%22%20%2f%3e" >
   <actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22GlbMetaKeywords%22%20%2f%3e%20%21%3d%20%22%22" >
		<meta name="keywords" content="<actinic:variable name="GlbMetaKeywords" />" />
   </actinic:block>
   <actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22GlbMetaDescription%22%20%2f%3e%20%21%3d%20%22%22" >
		<meta name="description" content="<actinic:variable name="GlbMetaDescription" />" />
   </actinic:block>
</actinic:block>
<actinic:block if="%28%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22PageType%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20%22Section%22%20OR%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22PageType%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20%22Brochure%22%29%20AND%20%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22IsStoreFrontPage%22%20%2f%3e%20%3d%3d%20FALSE" >
	<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22MetaKeywords%22%20%2f%3e%20%21%3d%20%22%22" >
		<meta name="keywords" content="<actinic:variable name="MetaKeywords" />" />
	</actinic:block>
	<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22MetaDescription%22%20%2f%3e%20%21%3d%20%22%22" >
		<meta name="description" content="<actinic:variable name="MetaDescription" />" />
	</actinic:block>
</actinic:block>

Any other ideas what this may be?

Cheers,
Grant

[Rich Brady]

Hey Grant, I noticed this on a clients site the other day, albeit their keywords. I had to add a block in, but I was certain that there used to be done as standard.

[animal dreams]

Don't usually use include parent meta tags but tried on my test site and it definitely leaves out the description. Obviously a bug that has slipped everyone's notice.

[grantglendinnin]

Don't usually use include parent meta tags but tried on my test site and it definitely leaves out the description. Obviously a bug that has slipped everyone's notice.

Worked fine when the site first launched...never looked at it since tbh. Checked all variables and checked the database and everything seems OK compared to a default install. Hmm...

[Krithika]

Hello all

Thank you for bringing this issue to our attention. I have reported a bug for this and let the team know as well.

[grantglendinnin]

Hi Krithika

Do Actinic have a temporary fix in the meantime?

Cheers
Grant

[brucet]

Just to clarify this point. I'm not sure about v7 and before, but there were some SEO changes made in v8 which I specified, and certainly from v8 onwards the meta description tag was not intended to be inherited.

The meta description should be unique for each page, and be a plain English description of what the page is about. Having a single generic description that appears on every page of the site is not a great idea. It's probably better for a page to have no meta description at all than to have one that is not optimised for its own content.

TBH the meta keywords tag is the one that is not behaving as specified, but what I specified for that was a bit complicated, and something simpler was adopted. Since that tag is of virtually no value and almost completely ignored by the search engines that matter, I don't think it's a problem. (The jury's out on Bing ATM because it's quite new, but if it proves to be doing anything radically different, we will respond to that).

I hope this helps

[Rich Brady]

Bruce, from what I've read, Keywords are going become more important across the board...

[grantglendinnin]

It's probably better for a page to have no meta description at all than to have one that is not optimised for its own content.

TBH the meta keywords tag is....of virtually no value and almost completely ignored by the search engines that matter, I don't think it's a problem.

Well, that's debatable really. Until all the major search engines and social engines remove all references to 'meta keywords' and 'meta descriptions' from their systems, I'd rather have a working ecommerce solution that does as it's told

[brucet]

Bruce, from what I've read, Keywords are going become more important across the board...

I'd be interested to know where you read that.

Most search engines deprioritised the keywords tag a long time ago because of keyword spamming. I can't see them going back, because the same thing will happen. They have found other parameters that are much harder to subvert.

Nevertheless most people - including me - still like to use the keywords tag just in case, and that's fine. It is and will continue to be fully supported by our software.

[Rich Brady]

I'll try and dig it out...

[brucet]

You cannot make the meta description inherit from a section to its subsections, but you can make the meta description of the Online Catalogue page show for any pages whose own description field is blank. This will not interfere with inheritance of the meta keywords.

To do this, open the 'Standard Meta Tags' layout in the Library in Advanced view, and paste the following code between lines 17 and 18 (assuming the layout is at its factory default; it should end up between two </actinic:block> tags):

<actinic:block if="%3cactinic%3avariable%20name%3d%22MetaDescription%22%20%2f%3e%20%20%3d%3d%20%22%22">
<meta name="description" content="<actinic:variable name="GlbMetaDescription" />" />

</actinic:block>

[TheInkDepot]

Hi all

All my meta data has disappeared when you view page source via browser

I'm running V8.5.2 - the site is here http://www.theguitargrotto.co.uk

I'd really appreciate some help tracking down this problem.

Many thanks in advance

Neil

[grantglendinnin]

As indicated in the other thread you have open, have you checked in the Design>Library>Layouts under 'Meta Tags' layout, and check both 'Standard Meta Tags' layout and 'MetaTags' selector values.

[TheInkDepot]

When I go to Design>Library>Layouts 'Meta Tags' layout, isnt there?

Am I missing something...apart from a brain