Metatag ------- This module allows you to automatically provide structured metadata, aka "meta tags", about your website and web pages. In the context of search engine optimization, providing an extensive set of meta tags may help improve your site's & pages' ranking, thus may aid with achieving a more prominent display of your content within search engine results. Additionally, using meta tags can help control the summary content that is used within social networks when visitors link to your site, particularly the Open Graph submodule for use with Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, etc (see below). This version of the module only works with Drupal 7.40 and newer. For additional information, see the online documentation: https://www.drupal.org/docs/7/modules/metatag Features -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The primary features include: * The current supported basic meta tags are ABSTRACT, DESCRIPTION, CANONICAL, GENERATOR, GEO.PLACENAME, GEO.POSITION, GEO.REGION, ICBM IMAGE_SRC, KEYWORDS, PUBLISHER, REFRESH, REVISIT-AFTER, RIGHTS, ROBOTS, SHORTLINK, and the page's TITLE tag. * Multi-lingual support using the Entity Translation module. * Translation support using the Internationalization (i18n) module of the global configurations, the values for all three submodules (Metatag:Context, Metatag:Panels, Metatag:Views), and the final meta tags being output. * Full support for entity revisions and workflows based upon revision editing, including compatibility with the Revisioning and Workbench Moderation modules. * Automatically extracts URLs from image fields, no need for extra modules. * String-based meta tags may be automatically trimmed to a certain length, and the lengths may be easily customized to accommodate changes in search engine algorithms. * A custom pager string may be added to meta tags by inserting the token [current-page:pager] into e.g. page titles, description tags, etc. The replacement string may be customized from the settings page. * Per-path control over meta tags using the "Metatag: Context" submodule (requires the Context module). * Integration with the Views module allowing meta tags to be controlled for individual Views pages, with each display in the view able to have different meta tags, by using the "Metatag: Views" submodule. * Integration with the Panels module allowing meta tags to be controlled for individual Panels pages, by using the "Metatag: Panels" submodule. * The fifteen Dublin Core Basic Element Set 1.1 meta tags may be added by enabling the "Metatag: Dublin Core" submodule. * Forty additional Dublin Core meta tags may be added by enabling the "Metatag: Dublin Core Advanced" submodule. * The Open Graph Protocol meta tags, as used by Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn and other sites, may be added by enabling the "Metatag: Open Graph" submodule. * Twenty six additional Open Graph Protocol meta tags are provided for describing products in the "Metatag: Open Graph Products" submodule. * The Twitter Cards meta tags may be added by enabling the "Metatag: Twitter Cards" submodule. * Certain meta tags used by Google+ may be added by enabling the "Metatag: Google+" submodule. * Facebook's fb:app_id, fb:admins and fb:pages meta tags may be added by enabling the "Metatag: Facebook" submodule. These are useful for sites which are using Facebook widgets or are building custom integration with Facebook's APIs, but they are not needed by most sites and have no bearing on the Open Graph meta tags. * The App Links meta tags may be added by enabling the Metatag: App Links submodule. * Site verification meta tags can be added, e.g. as used by the Google search engine to confirm ownership of the site; see the "Metatag: Verification" submodule. * The Metatag: Mobile & UI Adjustments submodule adds the MobileOptimized, HandheldFriendly, viewport, cleartype, theme-color, format-detection, apple-mobile-web-app-capable, apple-mobile-web-app-status-bar-style, the android-app and ios-app alternative link meta tags, and the Android manifest tag. * The hreflang meta tags are available via the Metatag:hreflang submodule. * Support for meta tags specific to Google Custom Search Appliance are available in the "Metatag: Google Custom Search Engine (CSE)" submodule. * A variety of favicon sizes and styles can be added to the global configuration using the Metatag: Favicons submodule. * An API allowing for additional meta tags to be added, beyond what is provided by this module - see metatag.api.php for full details. * Support for the Migrate module for migrating data from another system - see metatag.migrate.inc for full details. * Support for the Feeds module for importing data from external data sources or file uploads. * Support for the Search API module for indexing of keywords. * Integrates with Devel_Generate, part of the Devel module, to automatically generate meta tags for generated nodes, via the Metatag:Devel submodule. * Integrates with Workbench Moderation (v1) allowing meta tags on nodes to be managed through the workflow process; this custom support is not needed in Workbench Moderation v3 so the extra logic is automatically ignored. * The Transliteration module (see below) is highly recommended when using image meta tags, e.g. og:image, to ensure that filenames are HTML-safe. * Adds an extra item to the "Flush all caches" menu for the Admin Menu module, allowing for a quick way to clear the Metatag module's custom caches. * A custom pane, called "Node form meta tags", is available for adding the meta tags fieldset when the node_edit page is customized using Panels; the Metatag: Panels submodule does not need to be enabled in order for this to work. * Several advanced options may be controlled via the Settings page. * An import script is provided in the Metatag:Importer submodule for sites that need to import data from Metatags Quick, Nodewords (Drupal 6 only), or Page Title. * If the Media module (v2) is installed, the Media WYSIWYG submodule will be used to automatically filter out Media's embed codes. Configuration -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. On the People Permissions administration page ("Administer >> People >> Permissions") you need to assign: - The "Administer meta tags" permission to the roles that are allowed to access the meta tags admin pages to control the site defaults. - The "Edit meta tags" permission to the roles that are allowed to change meta tags on each individual page (node, term, etc). 2. The main administrative page controls the site-wide defaults, both global settings and defaults per entity (node, term, etc), in addition to those assigned specifically for the front page: admin/config/search/metatags 3. The list of supported entity types (nodes, taxonomy terms, etc) and bundles (content types, vocabularies, etc) may be controlled from the Settings page: admin/config/search/metatags/settings 4. In order to provide a specific configuration per entity bundle (content type, vocabulary, etc), click "Add default meta tags". 5. Each supported entity object (nodes, terms, users) will have a set of meta tag fields available for customization on their respective edit page, these will inherit their values from the defaults assigned in #2 above. Any values that are not overridden per object will automatically update should the defaults be updated. 6. As the meta tags are output using Tokens, it may be necessary to customize the token display for the site's entities (content types, vocabularies, etc). To do this go to e.g., admin/structure/types/manage/article/display, in the "Custom Display Settings" section ensure that "Tokens" is checked (save the form if necessary), then to customize the tokens go to: admin/structure/types/manage/article/display/token Internationalization with the Translation (core) and Entity Translation modules -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The module works with the core Translation module, allowing the meta tags for a specific entity (node, term, etc) to be tied to a specific language. It also supports the Entity Translation module, which may work better thank the basic Translation module depending upon the site's desired functionality. This integration means that content creators can customize an entity's meta tags for each language supported on the site, and that the correct meta tags should always be displayed for each locale. Internationalization with the i18n modules -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Using the String Translation (i18n_string) submodule of the Internationalization (i18n) module package it is possible to translate meta tags: * All default configurations (admin/config/search/metatag) are translatable. When a configuration is created or updated it will pass the values to the i18n_string system. Additionally it is possible to bulk update them via the string translation page (admin/config/regional/translate/i18n_string). * Meta tags for all submodules (Metatag:Context, Metatag:Panels, Metatag:Views) are translatable. Similar to the default configurations, these meta tags are made available when they are created and/or update, and may also be bulk updated. * Meta tags from entities (nodes, terms, etc) are not directly translatable. * The final output meta tags are passed through the translation system when the page is being loaded. It is not possible to use the strings bulk updater to spool all pages on the site, to do so it would be necessary to spool the page using a separate script or tool. Additionally, certain variables are available for translation using the Variable Translation submodule of the i18n package: * metatag_pager_string - The custom pager string. Internationalization with the Smartling module -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Smartling translation service may be used with the Metatag module provide an improved UX around the meta tag translation process. In order to do this, the Smartling Interface Translation (smartling_interface_translation) module must be enabled. For further details see the module's project page: https://www.drupal.org/project/smartling Search API integration -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Entity meta tag values can be made searchable using the Search API module (https://www.drupal.org/project/search_api). 1. Select "Meta tags" under "Data alterations" in the filters for the index: admin/config/search/search_api/index/INDEX NAME/workflow 2. Meta tag fields will now appear under "Fields" and can be enabled there: admin/config/search/search_api/index/INDEX NAME/fields Fine tuning & suggestions -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * There are many options available on the settings page to control how Metatag works: admin/config/search/metatags/settings * It is possible to "disable" the meta tags provided by Drupal core, i.e. "generator", "canonical URL" and "shortlink", though it may not be completely obvious. Metatag takes over the display of these tags, thus any changes made to them in Metatag will supercede Drupal's normal output. To hide a tag, all that is necessary is to clear the default value for that tag, e.g. on the global settings for nodes, which will result in the tag not being output for those pages. * When using Features to export Metatag configurations, it is suggested to override all of the default configurations and then disable the default configurations via the advanced settings page; doing so will avoid potential conflicts of the same configurations being loaded by both the Metatag module and the new Features-based modules. * Using fields to automatically fill in values for image meta tags is the recommended way of inserting images - the module will automatically extract the URL from the value. However, by default this forces social networks, search engines and certain browsers to download the original version of the image, which could be multiple megabytes. The alternative is to use the Imagecache_Token module to instead load meta tags via a specific image style. As an example, in order to load an image from a node field named "field_meta_tag_image" using the "seo_thumbnail" style, the following token would be used: [node:field_meta_tag_image:seo_thumbnail:uri] or [node:field_meta_tag_image:seo_thumbnail] (They give the same results) Additionally, dimensions of the image may be obtained from the following: [node:field_meta_tag_image:seo_thumbnail:width] [node:field_meta_tag_image:seo_thumbnail:height] Developers -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Full API documentation is available in metatag.api.php. It is not necessary to control Metatag via the entity API, any entity that has view modes defined and is not a configuration entity is automatically suitable for use. The meta tags for a given entity object (node, etc) can be obtained as follows: $metatags = metatags_get_entity_metatags($entity_id, $entity_type, $langcode); The result will be a nested array of meta tag structures ready for either output via drupal_render(), or examining to identify the actual text values. Troubleshooting / known issues -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- * When using custom page template files, e.g., page--front.tpl.php, it is important to ensure that the following code is present in the template file: or Without one of these being present the meta tags will not be displayed. * An alternative method to fixing the missing-tags problem is to change the page region used to output the meta tags. The region used may be controlled from the settings page, it is recommended to test different options to identify the one that works best for a specific site. * Versions of Drupal older than v7.17 were missing necessary functionality for taxonomy term pages to work correctly. * Using Metatag with values assigned for the page title and the Page Title module simultaneously can cause conflicts and unexpected results. It is strongly recommended to convert the Page Title settings to Metatag and just uninstall Page Title entirely. See https://www.drupal.org/node/2774833 for further details. * When customizing the meta tags for user pages, it is strongly recommended to not use the [current-user] tokens, these pertain to the person *viewing* the page and not e.g., the person who authored a page. * Certain browser plugins, e.g., on Chrome, can cause the page title to be displayed with additional double quotes, e.g., instead of: The page title | My cool site it will show: "The page title | My cool site" The solution is to remove the browser plugin - the page's actual output is not affected, it is just a problem in the browser. * Drupal core versions before v7.33 had a bug which caused validation problems in the Open Graph output if the RDF module was also enabled. The solution is to update to core v7.33 or newer. * If the Administration Language (admin_language) module is installed, it is recommended to disable the "Force language neutral aliases" setting on the Admin Language settings page, i.e. set the "admin_language_force_neutral" variable to FALSE. Failing to do so can lead to data loss in Metatag. * If Entity Token is installed (a dependency for Rules, Commerce and others) it is possible that the token browser may not work correctly and may either timeout or give an error instead of a browsable list of tokens. This is a limitation of the token browser. Related modules -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some modules are available that extend Metatag with additional or complimentary functionality: * Schema.org Metatag https://www.drupal.org/project/schema_metatag Extensive solution for adding schema.org / JSON-LD support to Metatag. * Transliteration https://drupal.org/project/transliteration Tidies up filenames for uploaded files, e.g. it can remove commas from filenames that could otherwise break certain meta tags. * Imagecache Token https://www.drupal.org/project/imagecache_token Use tokens to load images via image styles, rather than forcing meta tags to use the original image. * Alternative hreflang https://www.drupal.org/project/hreflang An alternative to the Metatag:hreflang module. Automatically outputs meta tags on every page for each language/locale available on the site. Also does not provide any way of overriding the values or setting the x-default value. * Domain Meta Tags https://drupal.org/project/domain_meta Integrates with the Domain Access module, so each site of a multi-domain install can separately control their meta tags. * Select or Other https://drupal.org/project/select_or_other Enhances the user experience of the metatag_google_plus and metatag_opengraph submodules by allowing the creation of custom itemtype and og:types values. * Node Form Panes https://drupal.org/project/node_form_panes Create custom node-edit forms and control the location of the Metatag fields. * Textimage https://drupal.org/project/textimage Supports using Textimage's custom tokens in meta tag fields. * Field Multiple Limit https://drupal.org/project/field_multiple_limit Allows control over how many items are output in a multi-item field, useful with meta tags that only allow for one item but which are assigned from fields which accept multiple items, e.g. og:audio and og:video. * Real-time SEO for Drupal https://www.drupal.org/project/yoast_seo Uses the YoastSEO.js library and service (https://yoast.com/) to provide realtime feedback on the meta tags. * Parse.ly Publishing Analytics https://www.drupal.org/project/parsely Automatically generates meta tags for the Parse.ly service. * Metatag Cxense https://www.drupal.org/project/metatag_cxense Adds support for the Cxense meta tags used by their DMP and Insight services. Credits / contact -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Currently maintained by Damien McKenna [1] and Dave Reid [2]; all initial development was by Dave Reid. Ongoing development is sponsored by Mediacurrent [3] and Lullabot [4]. All initial development was sponsored by Acquia [5] and Palantir.net [6]. The best way to contact the authors is to submit an issue, be it a support request, a feature request or a bug report, in the project issue queue: https://www.drupal.org/project/issues/metatag References -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1: https://www.drupal.org/u/damienmckenna 2: https://www.drupal.org/u/dave-reid 3: https://www.mediacurrent.com/ 4: https://www.lullabot.com/ 5: https://www.acquia.com/ 6: https://www.palantir.net/