We're evolving to serve you better! This current forum has transitioned to read-only mode. For new discussions, support, and engagement, we've moved to GitHub Discussions.

Meta description tag in the categories

October 22, 2020 at 5:31 pm #4253

[anonymous]

Hi, I hope you are well here.

I’d like to know why the categories don’t include the description meta tag when the site/tag page is set to noindex.

Every page must contain a meta description no matter if it is set as index or noindex.

Is there a reason not to do it or is it just something the team missed by mistake?

October 22, 2020 at 5:59 pm #4254

Bob

[anonymous] wrote:

Every page must contain a meta description

Well, I see things rather differently.
The noindex meta tag prevents the page from being included in the index; meta description is not used by search engines for indexing but to display information in the search results.
So, when a page is noindexed the meta description tag is redundant.

By the way, very often you may find that the meta description in the search results is completely different than the one you defined, it’s because Google decides what best describes the content of your site. So I wouldn’t pay much attention to this tag.

October 23, 2020 at 11:30 am #4267

[anonymous]

Hi Bob thanks for responding

Okay, I get it, your arguments are valid. Beyond the search engines and from the point of view of accessibility and a “correct” HTML structure, what effect would it have not to include this meta tag?

Something else about the tags. Instead of indexing or not indexing the set of tags, it would be good to be able to choose the tags that you want to index and which ones not to index individually.

October 23, 2020 at 1:13 pm #4271

Bob

What kind of validator indicates that the HTML without the description meta tag is invalid?

[anonymous] wrote:

t would be good to be able to choose the tags that you want to index and which ones not to index individually.

Good idea.

October 23, 2020 at 9:29 pm #4281

[anonymous]

[anonymous] wrote:

What kind of validator indicates that the HTML without the description meta tag is invalid?

It wasn’t an affirmation, I was just asking you