The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • My Q&A
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. SEO and Digital Marketing Q&A Forum
    2. Categories
    3. Intermediate & Advanced SEO
    4. Mobile Meta Descriptions?

    Mobile Meta Descriptions?

    Intermediate & Advanced SEO
    4 2 119
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • jayoliverwright
      jayoliverwright last edited by

      Hi Guys,

      We have two different versions of each page for both desktop and mobile example:

      http://tinyurl.com/zkxlxax

      http://tinyurl.com/zelqcbv

      We want to create meta descriptions for both versions. However in the CMS (http://www.mantistech.com.au/ecommerce_website_package.aspx)  it only allows one meta description. Example: http://s21.postimg.org/ar8bzrh3r/screenshot_1804.jpg

      Does anyone know anyway around this? To add two different meta descriptions and tell Google which one to use based on device type.

      Thanks.

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • Mobilio
        Mobilio last edited by

        You can't add two meta descriptions and there isn't workaround. Seems as CMS limitation.

        BUT! There is something much more scary - you have lot of duplicate content because you have two versions of each page. You can fix it with adding on mobile version canonical to the desktop version. And you must put rel="alternate" media="only screen and (max-width: 640px)" on desktop with link to mobile version. Everything is described very clear here:
        https://developers.google.com/webmasters/mobile-sites/mobile-seo/separate-urls

        jayoliverwright 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
        • jayoliverwright
          jayoliverwright @Mobilio last edited by

          Thanks Peter!

          In the google developer guidelines it mentions:

          On the desktop page, add a special link rel=”alternate” tag pointing to the corresponding mobile URL. This helps Googlebot discover the location of your site’s mobile pages.

          On the mobile page, add a link rel=”canonical” tag pointing to the corresponding desktop URL.

          On this CMS there seems to be one version of each page then it creates two versions: mobile + desktop.

          It mentions you need both, one on the desktop and one on the mobile version.

          So i guess the only solution would be adding the annotations to the sitemap, which would manually need to be done for every new page? I wonder if there're any tools which can help with this.

          Mobilio 1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • Mobilio
            Mobilio @jayoliverwright last edited by

            Sitemap is little bit tricky. There isn't free tool that make sitemaps with desktop/mobile annotations. That's why you need to talk with CMS authors and they to make plugin for it. Or outsource to 3rd party.

            Same is with desktop/mobile linking. It's much better if they make this change.

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • 1 / 1
            • First post
              Last post
            • New meta description limit?
              Alick300
              Alick300
              0
              2
              193

            • Has anyone ever seen Google truncating the beginning of a meta description on a mobile device?
              accpar
              accpar
              0
              5
              258

            • Capitalization of first letter of each word in meta description. Catches more attention, but may this lead to google ignoring the meta description then more frequently?
              bozzie311
              bozzie311
              1
              5
              3.2k

            • What is better for Meta description ??
              BradsDeals
              BradsDeals
              0
              9
              199

            • Structured Data + Meta Descriptions
              Everett
              Everett
              0
              5
              1.3k

            • Duplicate meta descriptions
              Andy-Halliday
              Andy-Halliday
              0
              6
              7.2k

            • Is it a bad idea to use our meta description as a short description of a product on that product page?
              DennisSeymour
              DennisSeymour
              0
              3
              162

            • If there are regional subdomains, and using same meta description format, will Google change the meta description on its own?
              MoosaHemani
              MoosaHemani
              0
              2
              255

            Get started with Moz Pro!

            Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

            Start my free trial
            Products
            • Moz Pro
            • Moz Local
            • Moz API
            • Moz Data
            • STAT
            • Product Updates
            Moz Solutions
            • SMB Solutions
            • Agency Solutions
            • Enterprise Solutions
            • Digital Marketers
            Free SEO Tools
            • Domain Authority Checker
            • Link Explorer
            • Keyword Explorer
            • Competitive Research
            • Brand Authority Checker
            • Local Citation Checker
            • MozBar Extension
            • MozCast
            Resources
            • Blog
            • SEO Learning Center
            • Help Hub
            • Beginner's Guide to SEO
            • How-to Guides
            • Moz Academy
            • API Docs
            About Moz
            • About
            • Team
            • Careers
            • Contact
            Why Moz
            • Case Studies
            • Testimonials
            Get Involved
            • Become an Affiliate
            • MozCon
            • Webinars
            • Practical Marketer Series
            • MozPod
            Connect with us

            Contact the Help team

            Join our newsletter
            Moz logo
            © 2021 - 2026 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
            • Accessibility
            • Terms of Use
            • Privacy