Changing the Meta Description which appears in Google

[FionaJMD]

After Wednesdays workshop, one of the things I need to get to is to change the meta description which shows on Google when people search (there are other search engines available!)

I have looked on the Zen Tutorials and under changing meta tags it says this

Common Site-Wide
To define site-wide tags such as charset, keywords and description, go to includes/languages/english/YOUR_TEMPLATE_NAME/meta_tags.php and edit that file for keywords, site title, site tagline and site description.

I have gone to includes/languages/english/mytemplate and the meta_tags.php is actually in includes/languages/english and when I open it it says

// page title
define('TITLE', 'Jewellery My Design!');

// Site Tagline
define('SITE_TAGLINE', 'Handmade Sterling Silver and beaded Jewellery');

// Custom Keywords
define('CUSTOM_KEYWORDS', 'bracelets, necklaces, pearls, swarovski crystals, wedding presents, mothers day presents, birthday present, christmas present,
chain mail, maille, wedding accessories');

But in google it lists my categories.  Am I looking in the wrong file?

[Baa]

Google picks up on your categories as well. Has your site been crawled by Google since you made the changes?

This is what I found using web developer for Firefox, this is what it states is in your meta tag information

Content-Type   text/html; charset=iso-8859-1
keywords   Bracelets Necklaces Earrings Commissions Other **Special Offer Page ** Watches Christmas bracelets, necklaces, pearls, swarovski crystals, wedding presents, mothers day presents, birthday present, christmas present, chain mail, maille, wedding accessories
description   Jewellery My Design! : - Bracelets Necklaces Earrings Commissions Other **Special Offer Page ** Watches Christmas bracelets, necklaces, pearls, swarovski crystals, wedding presents, mothers day presents, birthday present, christmas present, chain mail, maille, wedding accessories
imagetoolbar   no
author   The Zen Cart™ Team and others
generator   shopping cart program by Zen Cart™, http://www.zen-cart.com eCommerce

Incidentally, you're webpage took a minute to load and I can't see the images on the home page. It might be temporary (or it might be me) but it might be worth checking your page load time just in case.

[FionaJMD]

Thanks.

I havent made any changes as I dont know which file I need to get to make the changes, because the file I thought I needed, actually say something different to the categories.

I checked the load time of my site and it is 1.1 seconds.

[Baa]

Thanks.

I havent made any changes as I dont know which file I need to get to make the changes, because the file I thought I needed, actually say something different to the categories.

I checked the load time of my site and it is 1.1 seconds.

You've found the right file but the information you were given is in regards to an override folder for your template. Back up your website and once you've created /your template name/ folder in ...includes/languages/english you copy the metatags.php file to that folder and them make your changes.

Load time - like I say it could be me but still can't view images

[seamus]

you need to add your keywords and description here aswell,

same file, line 20 and 21

Code:

// Home Page Only:
  define('HOME_PAGE_META_DESCRIPTION', '');
  define('HOME_PAGE_META_KEYWORDS', '');

just repeat your description and keywords in there.

you dont really need to move the meta_tags.php into its own override folder, you can leave it where it is.

It is best practice to have any modified file in an override folder though (override folder being includes/languages/english/coolgrey/ )

[Baa]

It is best practice to have any modified file in an override folder though (override folder being includes/languages/english/coolgrey/ )

Definitely,  I do it as standard, at least then if I have to modify anything or upgrade the site, as we had in quick succession with all the 1.3.9a to h upgrades, most of the changed files are straight to hand and I don't have to keep details of every changed file.

[seamus]

most of the zen cart file structure has an override system except for modules/pages which doesnt, although its doubtful that anyone would need to change any of the files in there unless there are extra database calls or functions that need added to certain pages. Even then there is a way to add those extra files into modules/ without needing to modify any core files.

Agreed though, anything in templates/ or languages/ should be in a template specific folder, it does make life alot easier when it comes to upgrades and mods