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paulsra · 01-05-2009, 01:23 AM

Hi Everyone,

I have recently used the Google Content Analysis from the Webmaster tools and found that my site was displaying "duplicate meta descriptions" on 109 pages.
These pages are the "pages.php?page=127‎" and are displaying the "site description" that i set in main settings.

On other page results such as "pages.php?page=12" the snippet from google results show the first few lines on content from that page.

As i understand, this shouldnt effect page rank but I would like to give the reader a better understanding of the page result that is returned.

So, i have three questions:

1, why do some pages show actual snippets from the content, and others the site description?
2, Am i right about the effect on page rank?
3, Is there someting i can do about it?
thanks very much.

BTW, HAPPY NEW YEAR!

***Eric Barnes*** · 01-05-2009, 12:13 PM

This is going to change in v4.1 as we have added new meta fields for the pages. But it is only released as a beta now. I am not an seo expert but I do not believe this will affect page rank. Possibly it may prevent some pages from being indexed. Not sure though.

paulsra · 01-15-2009, 03:30 AM

OK, is there any way around that, ie:can i manually add the "page description" for any given "pages.php" that is served up?

thanks

**Lhotch** · 01-15-2009, 10:45 AM

Im not really following the issue here.

The layout.tpl.php template gets the following from the sites main settings....

<meta name="Keywords" content="{$sitekeywords}" />
<meta name="Description" content="{$sitedescription}" />

and this data, as far as I recall is consistant for almost all pages of the site except for the categories which use the category name as the description.

If your that worried about your page rank and feel its tied into these duplicate page descriptions then you could undertake a massive effort to to use smarty logic to check the page your on and apply a unique description.

paulsra · 01-15-2009, 06:23 PM

1, google has gone to the trouble of letting people know when they have "duplicate meta description". This alone must affect pr negatively.

2, If i have a page thats all about how to make a fast corner with a dirt bike and the meta description reads "sell your dirtbike here for only $10....", im bound to have less click throughs.

I thought there might be a way of manually creating this description not nessasarily dynamically, actually, probabally better if its not so i choose which part of the content to display.

can i remove the <meta name="Description" content="{$sitedescription}" /> for the pages.php only, and mabee add the <meta name..... somewhere in the pages actual content?
im not really sure what im talking about in this last paragraph, just thinking with my fingers.

01-05-2009, 01:23 AM	#1
paulsra Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: victoria, Australia Posts: 179 Rep Power: 9	Google "duplicate meta descriptions" problem Hi Everyone, I have recently used the Google Content Analysis from the Webmaster tools and found that my site was displaying "duplicate meta descriptions" on 109 pages. These pages are the "pages.php?page=127‎" and are displaying the "site description" that i set in main settings. On other page results such as "pages.php?page=12" the snippet from google results show the first few lines on content from that page. As i understand, this shouldnt effect page rank but I would like to give the reader a better understanding of the page result that is returned. So, i have three questions: 1, why do some pages show actual snippets from the content, and others the site description? 2, Am i right about the effect on page rank? 3, Is there someting i can do about it? thanks very much. BTW, HAPPY NEW YEAR! Last edited by paulsra; 01-05-2009 at 01:26 AM.

01-05-2009, 12:13 PM	#2
*Eric Barnes* 68 Classifieds Staff Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Belmont, NC Posts: 4,444 Rep Power: 101	This is going to change in v4.1 as we have added new meta fields for the pages. But it is only released as a beta now. I am not an seo expert but I do not believe this will affect page rank. Possibly it may prevent some pages from being indexed. Not sure though. __________________ Eric Barnes 68 Classifieds Developer Please do not send me a private message asking for support. Instead use these open forums or our ticket system. Customer Area \| Issue Tracker \| Documentation \| 68C Mods \| Submit a Ticket \| Twitter

01-15-2009, 10:45 AM	#4
Lhotch Moderator Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 3,866 Rep Power: 94	Im not really following the issue here. The layout.tpl.php template gets the following from the sites main settings.... <meta name="Keywords" content="{$sitekeywords}" /> <meta name="Description" content="{$sitedescription}" /> and this data, as far as I recall is consistant for almost all pages of the site except for the categories which use the category name as the description. If your that worried about your page rank and feel its tied into these duplicate page descriptions then you could undertake a massive effort to to use smarty logic to check the page your on and apply a unique description. __________________ Larry. (Please note: I am not a 68C employee. I am a customer and volunteer who helps with questions where I can and the forums spam free) Set your site apart from the competition with one of my modules...... Google Map Module \| You Tube Module \| Google Calendar Module \| Event Calendar Module 68 Classifieds Important Links Customer Area \| Issue Tracker \| Knowledge Base \| User Manuals

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01-15-2009, 03:30 AM	#3
paulsra Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: victoria, Australia Posts: 179 Rep Power: 9	OK, is there any way around that, ie:can i manually add the "page description" for any given "pages.php" that is served up? thanks

01-15-2009, 06:23 PM	#5
paulsra Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: victoria, Australia Posts: 179 Rep Power: 9	1, google has gone to the trouble of letting people know when they have "duplicate meta description". This alone must affect pr negatively. 2, If i have a page thats all about how to make a fast corner with a dirt bike and the meta description reads "sell your dirtbike here for only $10....", im bound to have less click throughs. I thought there might be a way of manually creating this description not nessasarily dynamically, actually, probabally better if its not so i choose which part of the content to display. can i remove the <meta name="Description" content="{$sitedescription}" /> for the pages.php only, and mabee add the <meta name..... somewhere in the pages actual content? im not really sure what im talking about in this last paragraph, just thinking with my fingers.