Duplicate meta tags in Search Console

[charlie663]

Hello,

I have a problem trying to verify adsense in my web. Google Adsense says that i have insufficient content and i think it's due to duplicated content. Looking into Search Console under webmaster tools, i see that i have almost 130 duplicate meta tags and all of them have url's similar to this:

/foro/index.php?topic=338.0
/foro/index.php?topic=338.105
/foro/index.php?topic=338.120
/foro/index.php?topic=338.135
/foro/index.php?topic=338.15
/foro/index.php?topic=338.30
/foro/index.php?topic=338.45
/foro/index.php?topic=338.60
/foro/index.php?topic=338.75
/foro/index.php?topic=338.90

As you can see, each page of a topic has a new url that causes a duplicate meta tag in Google's search console
I tried to desactivate Search Engine Friendly URLs for SMF, but in my version (2.0.11) i can't see this option.


Could anybody help me?

Thanks in advance.

[Kindred]

Google should not be cataloging those as separate pages...  2.0.x uses canonical tags to ensure that google understands that URLs within the same topic are the same page

[charlie663]

Is there any way to check what is wrong?.

Could it be due to meta tags in index.template?. I have a personal theme and maybe it's wrong and cause this...

[Kindred]

well, you do need to look into WHAT "meta tags" -- since that is a generic term that covers a whole host of actual tags....

but, the "meta tag" description, keyword, and everything else *WILL* be the same for every post within a topic...   Since SMF displays the THREAD, not each individual POST.

I suppose that you should check to confirm if the canonical meta tag is being defined....

[ziycon]

Can you check if the 'canonical' meta tag is set in the source of the page and if it's set what value does it have? It should be like:

Code Select Expand

/foro/index.php?topic=338.0

[nend]

I am assuming a theme or manual change has removed the canonical meta tag as SMF tells search engines to not index the extra pages as long as the canonical tag isn't changed in index.template.php.

Do the check ziycon recommended. If you're not seeing any canonical meta tag in the source then my assumption is true.

[charlie663]

Hello,

Thanks everyone. But...can you show me which one is the "canonical" meta tag that SMF uses as default?

Thanks!

[Antes]

Hello,

Thanks everyone. But...can you show me which one is the "canonical" meta tag that SMF uses as default?

Thanks!

Simply visit the page Google saying duplicated and Right Click > View Page Source, it will open a new page showing page's html output there you can see if the page has canonical tag or not. Example for this page;

Code Select Expand

<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=550688.0" />

[charlie663]

Simply visit the page Google saying duplicated and Right Click > View Page Source, it will open a new page showing page's html output there you can see if the page has canonical tag or not. Example for this page;

Code Select Expand

<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=550688.0" />

Thanks Antes,

This is what i see:

First one:

Code Select Expand

<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.clubtesla.es/foro/model-s/internet-data-services-4-anos-gratis-luego-que/" />
Second one:

Code Select Expand

<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.clubtesla.es/foro/model-s/internet-data-services-4-anos-gratis-luego-que/15/" />

As you can see, this "canonical" link are different, but they are in the same topic. Why?

[Kindred]

looks like the pretty-urls might be screwing things up

[charlie663]

looks like the pretty-urls might be screwing things up

Maybe, but i don't think that it's due to that mod. Basically because i had this problem before using it.

Anybody knows how could i solve this?. do you preffer i uninstall this mod and see it again?

[Kindred]

So, I just checked on the default (curve) theme...    and it looks like your theme might be the cause...

using the default theme

Code Select Expand


http://www.clubtesla.es/foro/general/como-es-en-vuestra-comunidad-la-ayuda-a-los-v-e-(vehiculos-electricos)/msg8984/#new
<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.clubtesla.es/foro/general/como-es-en-vuestra-comunidad-la-ayuda-a-los-v-e-(vehiculos-electricos)/" />
http://www.clubtesla.es/foro/general/como-es-en-vuestra-comunidad-la-ayuda-a-los-v-e-(vehiculos-electricos)/msg4208/#msg4208
<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.clubtesla.es/foro/general/como-es-en-vuestra-comunidad-la-ayuda-a-los-v-e-(vehiculos-electricos)/" />

those should be using the same canonical url -- and they are.

[charlie663]

So, I just checked on the default (curve) theme...    and it looks like your theme might be the cause...

using the default theme

Code Select Expand


http://www.clubtesla.es/foro/general/como-es-en-vuestra-comunidad-la-ayuda-a-los-v-e-(vehiculos-electricos)/msg8984/#new
<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.clubtesla.es/foro/general/como-es-en-vuestra-comunidad-la-ayuda-a-los-v-e-(vehiculos-electricos)/" />
http://www.clubtesla.es/foro/general/como-es-en-vuestra-comunidad-la-ayuda-a-los-v-e-(vehiculos-electricos)/msg4208/#msg4208
<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.clubtesla.es/foro/general/como-es-en-vuestra-comunidad-la-ayuda-a-los-v-e-(vehiculos-electricos)/" />

those should be using the same canonical url -- and they are.

Hi Kindred, thanks!

I'll check that. I'm going to compare both index template and i'll try to determinate why is doind that...maybe a replace will solve the problem.
I'll tell you later

[charlie663]

Hello,

Kindred, i have checked it and you saw a topic that only has one page. The problem is when a topic has two or more pages.

Example:

http://www.clubtesla.es/foro/model-s/pedido-s90d-confirmado!/ [nofollow]
Page 1:

Code Select Expand

<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.clubtesla.es/foro/model-s/pedido-s90d-confirmado!/" />
Page 2:

Code Select Expand

<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.clubtesla.es/foro/model-s/pedido-s90d-confirmado!/15/" />

I did this test with curve theme...

[ziycon]

Looks like it's pretty urls that's causing the issue, the '15' at the end of the second url is setting the starting post for the next page, so the second page is starting from post 16 for that topic.

Can you disable pretty urls temporarily and see if the issue still occurs?

[charlie663]

Looks like it's pretty urls that's causing the issue, the '15' at the end of the second url is setting the starting post for the next page, so the second page is starting from post 16 for that topic.

Can you disable pretty urls temporarily and see if the issue still occurs?

Hello,
I think that's no causing the problem...I have disabled pretty urls.
Same topic...Now url is http://www.clubtesla.es/foro/index.php?topic=816.0 [nofollow]

First page:

Code Select Expand

<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.clubtesla.es/foro/index.php?topic=816.0" />
Second page:

Code Select Expand

<link rel="canonical" href="http://www.clubtesla.es/foro/index.php?topic=816.15" />

As you can see, the problem is that topic value is not the same and google's search console identify it as duplicated metatags

I still have disabled pretty urls if you want to check it out.

[ziycon]

With pretty urls disabled can you apply the default theme and see if the issue still occurs?

[nend]

There's nothing wrong with PrettyUrls, this is default SMF behaviour with canonicals.

The problem here is Google is giving a warning that the pages within the topic have the same meta description tag, in which they do.

Solution #1 - Set the fist page as the canonical.
Problems with #1 - Google may not index every individual page of a topic and being forums, the most important content may not be on page 1.

Solution #2 - Add the page # to the meta description.
This is the one that may work, but may need editing of the sources, technically correct way to do this or may be done catching this in the template.

[charlie663]

Solution #2 - Add the page # to the meta description.
This is the one that may work, but may need editing of the sources, technically correct way to do this or may be done catching this in the template.

I think this is the best way. Can you help me with this solution?.
Thanks in advance

[charlie663]

I still with the problem. could someone help me?.

Thanks!

[nend]

Just add something like this to index.template.php for the meta fields. Format as desired, this is just an example.

Code Select Expand

(isset($context['page_info']['num_pages']) && $context['page_info']['current_page'] > 1 ? 'Page: '.$context['page_info']['current_page'] : '')

Output

Code Select Expand

Page: 2

Or this

Code Select Expand


(isset($context['page_info']['num_pages']) && isset($context['page_info']['current_page']) ? 'Page: '.$context['page_info']['current_page'].' of '.$context['page_info']['num_pages'] : '')
Output

Code Select Expand

Page 2 of 5

* edit
Was missing a bracket in the code.