• For some strange reason, my site title is showing only as “blog” in google’s search results, and “Hire me for graphic design..” in Yahoo. Obviously this is horrible for SEO and not what I want my site title displaying.

    Can anyone tell me why this may be happening and how I can fix this? I should note that I already have my site title field in the wordpress settings changed to my desired title.

    I should also note that I am using the popular SEO plugin “Platinum SEO”, so this may have something to do with the problem I’m having. Although I have used the plugin before and had no problems. The strange thing is that all of my blog post titles are showing properly in the search engines. It’s only my site’s main index page.

    Very frustrating. Especially since it’s difficult to troubleshoot (have to wait for spiders to pick up site changes).

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 20 total)
  • Did you try disabling the plugin and looking at your front end source code both before and after you disable the plugin to see what the tagline reads here?
    <div id="desc">Your Desired Tagline Here</div>

    Thread Starter needforname

    (@needforname)

    Thanks for the reply Inspired2Write. Where would I find that particular code? Is it in the Index.php?

    Hi NeedforName,

    At this point, you don’t need to look at any files in the back end. Before you disable your plugin, look at your source code from the front end of your site to see what your blog tagline shows. From your browser window, go to ‘View’, and then select ‘Page Source’. When that window opens, then select ‘Edit’ and then ‘Find’. In the text box that appears in that window bottom, then type in your blog tagline, as you entered in your WP admin panel, and see if it comes up. Look for it within the codes I showed you above, and also look for it here:
    <title>Your Blog Name - Your Blog Tagline</title>

    If the tagline is not correct, and doesn’t come up by using that method, then disable the plugin. Then re-save the tagline you saved in your WP Admin dashboard. Clear your browser cache, and then look at the page source again and see what your tagline shows up as.

    If the tagline reads correctly with the plugin disabled, then it’s probably the plugin causing the issue – well at least that would be my first guess.

    That way you should be able to determine what the tagline is showing up as, and without it activated. You might have to temporarily also disable your blog cache to see the change take place right away while you’re testing, but then don’t forget to reactivate your blog cache thereafter.

    Thread Starter needforname

    (@needforname)

    Inspired2Write, very kind of you to offer such an explanatory answer for me. It does appear that the plugin “Platinum SEO” is causing my title problem. Maybe it has something to do with wordpress “loop” as mentioned on the last FAQ on this link:

    http://techblissonline.com/platinum-seo-pack-faq/

    Now I don’t know if I should keep the plugin disabled for good or not. I have been using it since I began my blog. If I turn it off, I loose all the SEO goodies it allows me to ad to every blog post. And if I leave it on, my home page shows wrong. If I knew more about code I would manually control all of my SEO.

    Inspired2Write, very kind of you to offer such an explanatory answer for me.

    Thank you! I’m happy it was of help to you!

    If I turn it off, I loose all the SEO goodies it allows me to ad to every blog post.

    If you’re mainly concerned about seo for each post, a built in feature of 2.9.1 provides you with the ability to add ‘custom fields’ at the bottom of every post if you wish. As an example, you can select to add the following: Meta description, meta keywords, meta title.

    To locate that area, open one of your blog posts, or create a new one, and then scroll down to where you see “Custom Fields”. Then select from the drop down menu what you want. For Meta Keywords, you would select:
    bfa_ata_meta_keywords
    Then, in the text field box to the right of that menu, you would write in your keywords. Here’s the full scoop:
    http://codex.wordpress.org/Using_Custom_Fields

    Then select from the drop down menu what you want. For Meta Keywords, you would select:
    bfa_ata_meta_keywords

    Just for clarification…..that is if your are using the Atahualpa theme….

    bfa_ata tells me that its specific to Bytes for All, Atahualpa
    that option doesn’t come standard with WP

    @inspired2write Keep in mind that the blog tagline has NOTHING to do with the META title tag.

    Just for clarification…..that is if your are using the Atahualpa theme….

    bfa_ata tells me that its specific to Bytes for All, Atahualpa
    that option doesn’t come standard with WP

    Thanks for correcting me on that. I spaced out about that being a feature with Atahualpa, because even if I choose a different template, that still shows up under my wysiwyg.

    @inspired2write Keep in mind that the blog tagline has NOTHING to do with the META title tag.

    Lol – that’s I guess why I shouldn’t stay up so late. It was O-dark-thirty when I did the earlier post about the title tag. Thanks for the correction. 😮

    because even if I choose a different template, that still shows up under my wysiwyg

    really? Must make it’s own DB entries? Does it actually do anything? Like…it lets you select the feature, but your new template doesn’t have any ability to output that I don’t think?

    Just curious now, dunno if you’ve tested that

    Thread Starter needforname

    (@needforname)

    Thanks for the replies. So does anyone know of a fix to allow the “Platinum SEO” plugin to stay in use and fix the site title problem? I would much rather use the plugin if possible.

    If anyone can help me, I can return the favor in graphic design services.

    Thanks.

    I have never used the Platinum SEO plugin, so I can’t comment on what it can or can’t do.

    So does anyone know of a fix to allow the “Platinum SEO” plugin to stay in use and fix the site title problem?

    NeedforName,
    I’m not familiar with that plugin either. In your first post you mentioned that you didn’t have problems with it before. Can you backtrack and determine what you changed or added to your site, which may be affecting it? Maybe another plugin that you have since added is presenting a conflict? Or, did you do an upgrade to WP while that was activated? Just wondering if there is something else that you can identify, that’s perhaps contributing to the problem since it worked for you before.

    Thread Starter needforname

    (@needforname)

    Thanks for responding. I may not have been specific enough. I used the plugin before with other wordpress sites where it worked fine. It’s only my current site it is causing issues with.

    I used the plugin before with other wordpress sites where it worked fine. It’s only my current site it is causing issues with.

    By chance are you on the same server you were before, with the same host? If not, it could be related to how your host’s server configuration is set up. Just a wild guess, and thought I would ask in case your blog was moved from where you had it before.

    RVooDoo….

    really? Must make it’s own DB entries? Does it actually do anything? Like…it lets you select the feature, but your new template doesn’t have any ability to output that I don’t think?
    Just curious now, dunno if you’ve tested that

    No, it doesn’t work. I went in and tested it with meta keywords. From the admin panel it appears to work, but nothing shows up in the front end, or in the source code. I was contemplating reverting back to that theme, so that was why I hadn’t dumped those files, but I didn’t like some of the coding in their template. But again, even with the theme deactivated it still shows up in the admin post area. And, it was purely my space-cadet moment that was thinking it was part of 2.9.1 – lol.

    Would be nice though, if WordPress had made that a stock feature! 😮

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 20 total)
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