Add Description Meta to Gallery <HEAD> and rel=canonical to META pages

Joe Carver · April 19, 2010, 07:16:45 PM

This plugin will add the field <meta name="Description" content="xxx" /> to the <head> of your Image, Category and Album pages where "xxx" will be the information in the description (caption) that you have entered. Search engines will then have more text to read from some of your pages.

Configuration page allows setting your custom text for Home, main Album List, Contact and Search page. Config. also allows option to add pic. owner's name to description for displayimage.php pages.

Note: Meta albums (top rated, last up, search, etc.) are not included - Coppermine 1.5.x discourages search engines from listing those pages.

link rel="canonical"
Meta type picture pages (lastup, most viewed, search, last comment, top rated) now will get:
<link rel="canonical" href="h t t p://your_gallery.url/displayimage.php?album=xxx&pid=yyy " />
in the page <head>. This will help search engines to see which is the important page to list when Coppermine can generate the same image page based on top rated, most viewed, last comments, etc. The "base" image page is then seen as being the most important to list.

See Google Webmaster Help for more information.

Demonstration - Example

Enjoy

Joachim Müller · April 20, 2010, 06:54:11 PM

Quote from: Joe Carver on April 19, 2010, 07:16:45 PM
Coppermine 1.5.x discourages search engines from listing those pages.

Because of the abuse that the meta tags have suffered from in the past most search engines don't take them into account any longer. They are quite irrelevant imo, that's why they don't get populated. I suggest not to over-estimate the impact on search engine ranking that this little plugin will have. In my experience the impact is nearly void.
Content counts instead - real, visible, textual content; not some meta information.

Joe Carver · April 20, 2010, 08:49:50 PM

Perhaps I could been a little more verbose here...

Quote from: Joe Carver on April 19, 2010, 07:16:45 PM
Meta albums are not included - Coppermine 1.5.x discourages search engines from listing those pages.

I meant: Meta albums such as Lastup, Most viewed, etc are tagged with this in the <head>.

Quote<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow" />

(However, I have now just found and fixed a bug in the plugin that would have defeated that meta.)

Quote from: Joachim Müller on April 20, 2010, 06:54:11 PM
Because of the abuse that the meta tags have suffered from in the past most search engines don't take them into account any longer. ....... I suggest not to over-estimate the impact on search engine ranking that this little plugin will have.

I agree - the plugin will not significantly increase search engine rankings.

Quote from: Joachim Müller on April 20, 2010, 06:54:11 PM
They are quite irrelevant imo, that's why they don't get populated.

I kindly disagree given the condition that Google will use the meta description text as the page's/site's description when returning search results. It is what people will see along with the site's link.

Quote from: Joachim Müller on April 20, 2010, 06:54:11 PM
Content counts instead - real, visible, textual content; not some meta information.

I agree 100%!

Before deciding to create (and share) this plugin I used this article as reference.
Changing your site's title and description in search results

QuoteWhile accurate meta descriptions can improve clickthrough, they won't impact your ranking within search results. We frequently prefer to display meta descriptions of pages (when available) because it gives users a clear idea of the URL's content......high-quality descriptions can be displayed in Google's search results, and can go a long way to improving the quality and quantity of your search traffic.

(Intent is to clarify - not argue. Creating and deugging these is enough of a headache!)

Joe Carver · April 21, 2010, 01:59:05 PM

Release of Version 1.1

Bugfix - would overwrite some CPG meta fields
Add function to image pages
Add text area for editing in admin.php

Joe Carver · April 23, 2010, 08:36:57 PM

Release of Version 1.2

Changelog

Add field for meta description info. for all image pages
Changes to avoid showing duplicate content in meta descriptions
Show no meta description when in meta album (robots = nofollow)

Details in changelog.txt. New version attached to first post in topic.

Joe Carver · June 14, 2010, 06:21:22 PM

Release of Version 1.3

Changelog

Add link rel = canonical to META pic. pages to help with search indexing**
Add config. option to add pic. owner to description field (displayimage.php)
Clean up format errors in admin.php

New version now attached to first post. Old versions should be uninstalled and deleted before upgrading.

++++++

** See Google webmaster page about canonical references here Google Webmaster Help

and this thread
Support for Canonical meta tags

grantson · June 21, 2010, 06:02:47 PM

Nice

would it be possible to tweak this to add a custom title to the login.php page?

been trying to use this as an example and figure it out but how this does what it does is way over my head

Joachim Müller · June 21, 2010, 08:53:03 PM

Start a separate thread of your own (or stick to the existing one) instead of spreading your issues over multiple unrelated threads.

Plazik · July 19, 2010, 02:36:37 PM

Hello. Thank you for this plugin. I have a few question:
1. Take for example this page http://photos-by.joe-carver.com/displayimage.php?album=52&pid=1163
This page http://photos-by.joe-carver.com/displayimage.php?pid=1163 is a copy of the previous one. This is not good.
Can you add rel=canonical to one of this page? It is desirable for the second page.

2. You title:

Code Select

Hummingbirds - Hummingbird 5121435 carver - Photography by Joe Carver
You description:

Code Select

Album Hummingbirds Hummingbird_5121435_carver.jpg Joe Carver photograph picture
Can you delete "_" from description?

Joe Carver · July 20, 2010, 12:18:39 AM

Quote from: Plazik on July 19, 2010, 02:36:37 PM
1. Take for example this page http://photos-by.joe-carver.com/displayimage.php?album=52&pid=1163
This page http://photos-by.joe-carver.com/displayimage.php?pid=1163 is a copy of the previous one. This is not good.
Can you add rel=canonical to one of this page? It is desirable for the second page.

Thanks for reminding me about that - I have considered changing the rel=cannonical link but I wanted to get the opinion of the developers first. The only concern that I have for showing the link as pid only is that many of the links (like from thumbnails,php) have the album id in the link. I am not sure if a crawler or visitor would see any links that have the pid only.

So to ask the developers......
With the intent of telling search engines which image page a meta album image page is related to:
Which link would be better to use? displayimage.php?album=123pid=456 or displayimage.php?pid=456
(thanks)

Quote from: Plazik on July 19, 2010, 02:36:37 PM
2. You title:
Code Select Expand
Hummingbirds - Hummingbird 5121435 carver - Photography by Joe Carver
You description:
Code Select Expand
Album Hummingbirds Hummingbird_5121435_carver.jpg Joe Carver photograph picture
Can you delete "_" from description?

That will be in the next release.

Αndré · July 20, 2010, 10:41:12 AM

Quote from: Joe Carver on July 20, 2010, 12:18:39 AM
Which link would be better to use? displayimage.php?album=123pid=456 or displayimage.php?pid=456

displayimage.php?pid=456 as the album may change.

Joe Carver · July 20, 2010, 01:17:49 PM

Thank you Αndré. I think I will make that a config. selection.

Plazik · July 21, 2010, 08:35:09 AM

Quote from: Αndré on July 20, 2010, 10:41:12 AM
displayimage.php?pid=456 as the album may change.

During 2 years I never change the albums. I think the other administrators also never changed their albums.
I always was used links like displayimage.php?album=123pid=456 and newer used displayimage.php?pid=456.
Joe Carver, Сan you add a choice of where to use rel=cannonical? on displayimage.php?album=123pid=456 or displayimage.php?pid=456? It would be wonderful.

Αndré · July 21, 2010, 08:44:48 AM

Quote from: Plazik on July 21, 2010, 08:35:09 AM
During 2 years I never change the albums. I think the other administrators also never changed their albums.

It's possible to move images from one album to another. That's why I suggest to use the link without the album parameter.

Quote from: Plazik on July 21, 2010, 08:35:09 AM
I always was used links like displayimage.php?album=123pid=456 and newer used displayimage.php?pid=456.

Links like displayimage.php?album=123&pid=456 didn't exist in versions prior to cpg1.5.x. In cpg1.4.x you had links like displayimage.php?album=123&pos=456, but they pointed to a position in an album. If you upload just 1 image, a lot of positions may change. That's why displayimage.php?pid=456 always pointed to the same image.

Joe Carver · July 21, 2010, 12:11:10 PM

Quote from: Plazik on July 21, 2010, 08:35:09 AM
....Joe Carver, Сan you add a choice ........

I have already replied. It will be a choice in the plugin configuration. That change will come when I have the time to make it. Making major changes to a cpg1.5.x plugin can take some time and work. I might be able to finish it within the next week or so.

Plazik · July 21, 2010, 07:04:59 PM

Quote from: Αndré on July 21, 2010, 08:44:48 AM
Links like displayimage.php?album=123&pid=456 didn't exist in versions prior to cpg1.5.x. In cpg1.4.x you had links like displayimage.php?album=123&pos=456, but they pointed to a position in an album. If you upload just 1 image, a lot of positions may change. That's why displayimage.php?pid=456 always pointed to the same image.

I understand this.
But why not use only displayimage.php?pid=456 link anywhere?

Αndré · July 21, 2010, 09:29:37 PM

We use the album parameter to determine if the user is viewing a regular album or a meta album. But that discussion doesn't belong in this thread.

Joe Carver · August 23, 2010, 12:57:46 AM

Release of Version 1.4

Changelog

Config to select pid or pid and aid as canonical link
Add more pages with description field

New version attached to first post. To upgrade: Save + Copy your current descriptions, uninstall and delete before uploading the new version.

wbnp · August 28, 2010, 07:52:59 PM

Joe,

Very nice plugin, works great!

I have a suggestion that I think would work very well with papukaija's Facebook Sharer.

Would you consider, as part of your routine, also adding the Facebook image Meta Tag?

Code Select

<link rel="image_src" href="thumbnail_image" / >

Code from:
http://developers.facebook.com/docs/share

This would allow the thumbnail to be displayed on Facebook and would be great even if it was only applied to the Picture Page (displayimage) sub-routine.

Thanks for your time!

My site:
http://www.whyboysneedparents.com/
(VERY early stage of construction - if you need to, click on Home and you can get to normal Coppermine pages.

papukaija · August 28, 2010, 10:23:15 PM

Quote from: wbnp on August 28, 2010, 07:52:59 PM
Would you consider, as part of your routine, also adding the Facebook image Meta Tag?

@Joe:As I wrote to wbnp in the FB plugin topic, I can add that code to my plugin if you think that adding the extra FB code to your plugin isn't a good idea.

coppermine-gallery.com/forum

News:

Add Description Meta to Gallery <HEAD> and rel=canonical to META pages

Joe Carver

Joachim Müller

Joe Carver

Joe Carver

Joe Carver

Joe Carver

grantson

Joachim Müller

Plazik

Joe Carver

Αndré

Joe Carver

Plazik

Αndré

Joe Carver

Plazik

Αndré

Joe Carver

wbnp

papukaija