If you operate a WordPress site for business reasons you should be careful choosing your method for adding Meta Tags, because eventually, if your Meta Tags are not portable, you are going to invest time and/or money moving them.
Problem
The latest WordPress documentation says:
To add meta tags to your site, simply add them to the header.php template file in your WordPress Theme, specifically in the head section near the link for the style sheet.
That works fine until you change your blog to a new theme. The meta tags do not follow you to the next theme. So you will need to re-edit the header.php file. Worse, if you forget to edit the file, it may not be obvious at first. Your search engine rankings may go down if the Google, Yahoo, or Bing search engines cannot verify your site – an activity they do from time to time. But it could you a long time to trace this back to the missing meta tags, and meanwhile your site is losing Web traffic, which means you are losing money.
Not good.
Solution
Use a WordPress Meta Tag Plugin.
The best way to find a WordPress Meta Tag Plugin is to search for it in the WordPress Administrative Console under menu item Plugins and sub-menu item Add New. I am using Meta Tag Manager WordPress Plugin from netweblogic. Just download it, install it, and activate it according to the instructions. It shows up as a menu item under “Settings” in the Admin Dashboard. Click on menu item Settings and sub-menu item Meta Tag Manager and it pops right up.
Add new tags and save the changes.
You are done.
Double Check Your Work
Finally, make sure the tags are really showing up. Navigate to your blog, and use the browser “view page source” capability to view the source of the page. Make sure the meta tags are included.
By: Samuel Mela
About the Author:
Sam Mela is a web designer in Ohio. View his other articles at http://www.sammela.com.
