Learn how to Fix Duplicate Meta Descriptions and Titles in WordPress.
If you had used Google Webmaster Tools or even an early version of Google Search Console, you might have seen Duplicate Meta Descriptions and Titles error/warning for pagination (subpages of archives) or multiple paginated pages under HTML Improvements in Google Search Console (previously Google Webmaster Tools) of your WordPress site.
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Unfortunately, HTML Improvements feature which was really helpful to identify such meta tag issues has been discontinued by Google Search Console.
But that does not mean, you can have duplicate meta tags on your website. Since Google still recommends “Create unique descriptions for each page on your site”.
There are other tools that can be used to identify duplicate meta tags on your website. Later in this article, we will see how to use these tools.
In this article, I will discuss how you can easily remove Duplicate Meta Descriptions and Titles from your website (that used to appear in Google Search Console).
I will also discuss, why you should consider fixing this problem of duplicate meta tags (meta descriptions and titles). And Do duplicate, short or long Meta tags really hurt the SEO of your site?
Before you learn how to fix Duplicate Meta Descriptions and Titles in WordPress. You must know which pages are having duplicate Meta descriptions and titles, right?
☲ Table of Contents +
Problem: What is Duplicate Meta Descriptions and Titles issue?
Though this feature called HTML Improvements is now not available in Google Search Console, I am keeping this old content to give you an idea – of how it used to look and to impress you that I am into these things since long back 😉
Note: If you’re not interested in historical stuff, you can jump to the next section where I have explained the tools that can be used to detect duplicate meta tags.
To check duplicate Meta-description and Titles status of your site, you need to go to Google Search Console:
Dashboard > Search Appearance > HTML Improvements
Under HTML Improvements tab you’ll see the following:
1. Meta description HTMT improvements
- Duplicate meta descriptions
- Long meta descriptions
- Short meta descriptions
2. Title tag
- Duplicate title tags
- Long title tags
- Short title tags
3. Non-indexable content
If there is no page that requires HTML improvement, you will see something like the screenshot below:
In case, there are some pages having duplicate, long or short Meta descriptions and/or titles.
Then, you will see a number of pages against Duplicate meta descriptions, Long meta descriptions, Short meta descriptions, Title tag, Non-indexable content as shown in the screenshot below:
Generally, websites based on CMS like WordPress witness Duplicate Meta Descriptions and Titles for pagination or multiple pages.
You can access the pages with Duplicate, Long or Short Meta descriptions, and Title tags by clicking the text. (for example – Duplicate meta descriptions, Short meta descriptions, etc.)
On the next screen, you will see the duplicate, long or short Meta Description and/or Title itself and the links of affected pages.
Tools to Find Duplicate Meta Tags
There are a few tools that you can use to check duplicate meta tags on a website.
#1 Method: Meta Tags Analyzer
Backstory
I wrote this article back in the days when Google Webmaster Tools (GWT) used to show duplicate meta tags under HTML Improvements tab (as shown in screenshots above).
Many of our readers implemented the solution mentioned in this article, but GWT/GSC did not reflect the change with immediate effect. Maybe GWT/GSC had to fetch/crawl those pages again at a periodic interval and only then the status gets updated in GWT.
Many readers raised concern that the status remains unchanged in GWT/GSC even after implementing the solution (read old comments below).
I suggested that if they have implemented the fix correctly they can check the meta tags manually and wait for it gets updated in GWT/GSC.
I believe several readers did that. But what about those who couldn’t check the meta tags manually?
So I come up with this online tool called Meta Tags Analyser to easily analyze meta-tags of webpages.
Since GCS has discontinued the HTML Improvements feature to check meta-tag issues, you can use a meta tags analyser to check the same.
Step by steps process to check duplicate meta tags:
- Go to this Meta Tags Analyzer tool.
- Copy the paginated page(s) URLs of your website (or other suspected urls).
- Enter the URLs in the input box (or paste the copied urls).
- Click ‘Check’ button below the input box.
- It will take a few moments to show the result.
- The result consists of a summary, meta tags-wise, and a detailed report.
- Going through the result will give an idea about the pages (urls) with duplicate meta tags, long & short meta-tags, and even the missing meta tags.
- Once you know the affected URLs, you can implement the solution accordingly.
#2 Method: Screaming Frog SEO Spider
ScreamingFrog SEO Spider is one of the robust desktop tools that are used for website audits. You can use it to check duplicate meta tags on your website.
Since it is a desktop tool, you need to download and install it on your computer in order to use it.
ScreamingFrog SEO Spider comes in two versions – paid and free.
The free version offers limited features with a crawl limit of 500 URLs. If that limit fulfills your requirement, you’re good to go with the free version itself.
Steps to find duplicate meta tags using ScreamingFrog SEO Spider:
- Download and install ScreamingFrog SEO Spider.
- Open/launch SEO Spider by clicking the icon on your computer.
- Enter your website url in URL input box at top of the SEO Spider app.
- Hit Start button next to URL input box.
- Once crawling is started, you’ll start seeing the result of crawled pages.
- SEO Spider will take some time to complete the crawling of your website depending on the size of website (more pages means more time to be taken by the crawler).
- Once crawling is done, you’ll see ‘Completed 100%’ and ‘0 remaining’ at the right bottom of SEO Spider.
- Now, click Page Titles tab just below the URL input box to check meta title tags/ page title issues/status. You’ll see all the page title issues like missing, duplicate, long and short page titles (meta title tags) under Overview on the right pane as shown in screenshot below.
- Similarly, click Meta Description tab to check meta description issues/status. This time, you’ll see all meta description issues like Missing, Duplicate, long and short meta descriptions under Overview on the right pane as shown in the image below.
Effect of Duplicate Meta-tags on SEO & Why You should fix this
Earlier, meta tags issues used to appear under the tab named –HTML Improvements (in GSC/GWT) thatitself explained that your website requires the HTML improvements suggested under that tab.
Further, they (Google Search Console team) also stated under HTML Improvements that
‘Addressing the following may help your site’s user experience and performance.’
Sadly, HTML Improvements feature has been deprecated.
But that does not mean you can afford to have meta tags issues like duplicate, long or short meta tags on your important pages.
Because Google still recommends “Create unique descriptions for each page on your site”
In addition to that, you may like to listen to the advice of Matt Cutts, an ex-Googler.
While answering a question related to the need for unique Meta descriptions for web pages, Matt said
“You can either have a unique meta-description or you may choose to have no meta-description.But I wouldn’t have duplicate meta-description.“
Hence, it can safely be concluded that all important web pagesof your site should have auniqueMeta description and Title. And duplicate meta-descriptions are not good for SEO of the webpages.
Therefore, it should be a priority fix for your site’s SEO and user experience as well.
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Reason: Why does This issue Occur?
Alright! the webpages of your site haveduplicate meta tags – either duplicatemeta-descriptions or titles or both.
But,what could be the possible reasons for that?
I mean why is it there in the first place, right?
Well, either you have set up duplicate meta-descriptions (and/or titles) manually – statically in the code.
Or there are duplicate meta-tags due to CMS/platform or a plugin you’re using for your website.
The same applies to long and short meta-tags as well.
Generally, websites based on CMS like WordPress witness Duplicate Meta Descriptions and Titles for pagination or multiple pages.
Let’s see the case of WordPress.
Reasons for Duplicate Meta Descriptions and Titles in WordPress
If you’re using WordPress, you probably are managing Meta Descriptions and Meta titles of webpages via aWordPress SEO plugin. And if I am not wrong, Yoast SEO plugin is the most popular WordPress SEO plugin out there.
Duplicate Meta Tags in Paginated Pages
Duplicate Meta Descriptions
InYoast SEO plugin, you can set homepage Meta description underSearch Appearance > General > Homepage settings.
But the problem is, once you entered a Meta description for homepage (let’s say for https://technumero.com/), this will set the same Meta description for all the paginated pages:
https://technumero.com/page/2/
https://technumero.com/page/3/
https://technumero.com/page/4/
etc.
This will lead to start showing duplicate meta descriptions for paginated pages in the site audit tools.
Duplicate Title Tags (Meta Titles)
Also, there may be duplicate Meta Title tags if you use afixed textlike ‘TechNumero – Unfolding Technologies’ instead of using a title template on homepageTitle template.
Similarly, duplicate meta-tags may occur while usingRank Math or All in One SEO PackWordPress plugin.
Duplicate Meta Tags in Posts/Pages:
The duplicate meta tags in posts/pages can be caused by
- Manually entering the same meta tags in more than one post/page.
- Entering ‘fixed text’ instead of meta template in SEO plugin.
So what’s the solution? Let’s see, how can we fix duplicate Meta descriptions and Titles in WordPress.
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Solution: How to fix Duplicate Meta Descriptions and Titles in WordPress
The duplicate meta tags on posts/pages can be avoided by entering unique meta tags in SEO plugin meta-tag fields of individual posts/pages.
Now I’ll explain how you can fix duplicate tags for pagination or multiple posts/pages using the two most popular WordPress plugins.
#1 Solution using Yoast SEO plugin
1.1 Fixing Duplicate Meta Descriptions
Method 1:(recommended solution for a static homepage and latest posts both)
- Go to WP Dashboard > Yoast SEO > Search Appearance > General > Homepage settings.
- Enter Meta Description text, like – This is an example of test meta description for your homepage.
- Then append the meta description text with a variable called page. You can do that by entering
%%page%%at the end of the meta description text as shown below. - Adding
%%page%%template tag at the end of Meta description will solve the problem of duplicate Meta Descriptions for pagination or multiple paginated pages.
Method 2: (not recommended in most cases)
For the implementation of this method, excerpt support should be enabled on your WordPress site.
Use a Meta Description template instead of fixed text. This method is suitable when you’re using a static page as homepage of your WordPress site.
In that case, you can use %%excerpt%% %%sep%% %%page%% template in Meta Description template. Also, you need to set an excerpt for the static page that you’re using as a homepage.
1.2 Fixing Duplicate Meta Title (Title Tags)
- Go to WP Dashboard > Yoast SEO > Search Appearance > General > Homepage settings.
- Enter SEO Title text, like – This is an example of a test SEO Title for your homepage.
- Then append the SEO title text with the page variable. You can do that by entering
%%page%%at the end of the meta description text as shown below. - This will fix duplicate meta title (title tags) for paginated pages of your website.
#2 Fix using RankMath plugin
2.1 Fixing Duplicate Meta Descriptions
- Navigate to WordPress Dashboard > Rank Math> Titles & Meta > Homepage settings.
- Enter Meta Description text, like – This is test meta description for homepage.
- Now append the meta description text with a variable called page. You can do that by entering
%%page%%at the end of the meta description text as shown below. - Doing this will fix the problem of duplicate meta Descriptions for paginated pages.
2.2 Fixing Duplicate Meta Title Tags
- As explained above for homepage meta description in Rank Math, this time you need to append the Homepage Title with
%%page%%variable as shown in screenshot below. And you’re good to go.
Conclusion
Meta tags are important for good On-Page SEO of your site. But the correct use of Meta-tags is even more important.
That’s why you should try implementing all the HTML improvements (of Google Search Console) on your website.
Whether it’s duplicate Meta descriptions or titles, long/short Meta descriptions or titles, all of them should be fixed for better user experience and performance of your website.
Hope this article helps you to fix Duplicate Meta Descriptions and Titles in WordPress.
What other method(s) do you use to remove Duplicate Meta Descriptions and Titles for pagination or paginate pages?
If you have a question regarding this? Post that via comments. I will be happy to answer.
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