Meta description for /*/page/XX

[Sonya*]

I have figured out that there is no meta description for the links with /page/XXX at the end

• topics http://www.example.com/forums/topic/17589-whatever/page/XXX
• article comments http://www.example.com/articles/category/article/page/XXX
• blog entry http://www.example.com/blogs/entry/17589-whatever/page/XXX
• and so on

Quote

• Meta description tags: Google sometimes uses <meta> tag content to generate snippets, if we think they give users a more accurate description than can be taken directly from the page content.

I have lot of pages where Sign in... and menu structure is taken into description by Google instead of the content of the page. It looks messy in search results and does not attract users to click. 

[Maxxius]

If I'm correct the 3.4.x branch had other pages indexed too. Everything was like. First page had 'Page 1 of 3' and the first post text. Page number 2 had 'Page 2 of 3' and the first post text of the second page.

[Gauravk]

Search Engine Optimization should be the top priority for IPB and every site owner. I have seen tons of valuable topic not showing in search due to this cause.

Usually speaking or suggesting anything here gets the gun pointed on your head, so I always silently reading and waiting.

Hope someone reading this either fix the core or offer some plugin or app to deal for time being - for any cost.

Forums "NOT NECESSARILY" will have supersonic content on page 1, it might be on page 6 or 12, then what happens....?

[AlexWebsites]

Maybe @bfarber or @Matt can chime in on what the strategy is with not having a meta description on secondary pages is. There is also no og:description tags on secondary pages either.

I would also take a look at the OG tags for secondary pages. The og:title should match the page title tag, so if you are on page 2, should be:

<meta property="og:title" content="Topic name - Page 2">

same with url, the first page url is always referenced in secondary pages instead of something like:

<meta property="og:url" content="https://www.yoursite.com/forums/topic/1234-topic-name/page/2/">

Currently 1st and all secondary pages have the same OG title and url tags.

 

[bfarber]

On 8/4/2019 at 5:19 AM, Gauravk said:

I have seen tons of valuable topic not showing in search due to this cause.

No, you haven't. Search engines do not require a meta description tag in order to index a page - they never have, and over the years have only de-emphasized the importance of this tag, not relied upon it more heavily.

Now, of course, it's possible that topics are not being indexed but should be in random cases and we can take a look at that, but I can unequivocally tell you that it is not because there isn't a meta description tag on the second page of a topic.

21 hours ago, AlexWebsites said:

Maybe @bfarber or @Matt can chime in on what the strategy is with not having a meta description on secondary pages is. There is also no og:description tags on secondary pages either.

I would also take a look at the OG tags for secondary pages. The og:title should match the page title tag, so if you are on page 2, should be:

<meta property="og:title" content="Topic name - Page 2">

same with url, the first page url is always referenced in secondary pages instead of something like:

<meta property="og:url" content="https://www.yoursite.com/forums/topic/1234-topic-name/page/2/">

Currently 1st and all secondary pages have the same OG title and url tags.

 

We can take a look - thanks for bringing this up. 🙂

[AlexWebsites]

On 8/5/2019 at 8:10 AM, bfarber said:

We can take a look - thanks for bringing this up. 🙂

I guess this never made it to 4.5 ☹️

[SeNioR-]

On 6/22/2020 at 3:36 AM, AlexWebsites said:

I guess this never made it to 4.5 ☹️

The description should not be set the same for each page, that's why IPS didn't add a meta description tag on other pages, it's only on the first page (main).

Google itself can choose the most valuable description for each page from user posts, and it does. From an SEO point of view, this is the better solution.

Edited June 5, 2021 by SeNioR-

[AlexWebsites]

2 hours ago, SeNioR- said:

The description should not be set the same for each page

Yes I'm aware of this. Not making it into 4.5 were the og:title and og:url on secondary pages. They always reference the first page.

[Bocar]

On 6/6/2019 at 11:55 AM, Sonya* said:

topics http://www.example.com/forums/topic/17589-whatever/page/XXX

Hello.

 

Can we have fisrt post of the page on meta description of each topic page ?

First page already have a meta description but not other pages.

 

Thank you.