In this blog post, you will take a look at this new feature. Beginners to Joomla metadata will also learn what metadata is and how to use it.
If you visit the OSMeta Meta Tags screen, you will notice the 320 character limit for the Description length.
We made this change because Google search results now display about 320 characters.
In previous OSMeta versions, this character limit was 160 characters.
What Is Meta Description?
Your Joomla site metadata controls what appears in Google search results when people find your site.
By default, Google shows three things about your site:
- It shows your web-page title.
- It shows your web-page URL.
- It shows your web-page description. This is normally a few lines underneath the title and the URL.
These title and description are known as the meta title and the meta description. The reason they have a different name is that because they are usually hidden in the code of your website. You are unlikely ever look at your site and see meta description.
Why Do I Need OSMeta?
OSMeta is useful because it allows you to edit the meta descriptions for all your content in one place
Yes, Joomla by default allows you to have control over your meta descriptions. Open any of your content for editing. Then click on the Publishing tab. You will see the meta description of the article page on the right-hand side.
However, if you want to update all your meta descriptions, you need to open up every item individually. With OSMeta, you can update meta descriptions for multiple items on one screen.
- Go to Components > OSMeta. You will see an overview of all metadata you have on your site.
This is one single page that allows you to drill down and easily update titles and meta descriptions for all of your content in one go.