Category Page not Displaying Meta Description

We are sorry to hear that Yoast SEO isn’t generating the meta description for you. We understand you have added the %%excerpt%% template variable in the SEO → Search Appearance → Taxonomies (tab) → meta description fields for all the taxonomies but Yoast SEO isn’t generating any meta description for you on the categories pages on your site. Let’s see what’s going on here.

The %%excerpt%% template variable won’t work on categories meta description for you since a category is an archive page instead of an individual page. So, if you have categories description defined and if you’d like to use it in the meta description, you can use the %%category_description%% template variable instead.

That said, you can find the list of all available template variables and more information about them here https://yoast.com/help/list-available-snippet-variables-yoast-seo/.

Thanks for the quick response. So where should I include the %%category_description%% variable exactly? In the “Category” section of taxonomies or somewhere else?

Thanks!!

You’d place the relevant template variable %%category_description%% wherever you’d like to show the category description value. If you’d like to use the category description field’s value in the meta description, you’ll need to use the relevant template variable in the Yoast SEO meta description field.

Now I’m even more confused ?? I would like all the category pages like the one below:

https://www.coolspringsfamilychiropractic.com/category/blog/

To automatically generate a title and meta description.

1. What variable template should I use for both?

2. Where exactly in the dashboard should I place this?

Thanks a ton!

Hi,

We can’t advise what specific variables you should use for your title and meta description templates, but we can refer you to this article on our SEO blog on what elements you should consider for the title and meta description for your posts and pages — https://yoast.com/page-titles-seo/ & https://yoast.com/meta-descriptions/

You would input the template variables in the WP admin dashboard > SEO (sidebar) > Search Appearance > Taxonomies > Categories section. You can learn more about it here — https://yoast.com/wordpress/plugins/seo/variables/

Hi,

Thanks for that. The last support person said category pages are not actual pages and are archive pages.

I basically want the tile and meta description to be automatically populated for all category pages by Yoast.

What and where should I insert these variables is my original question.

Thanks

Hi,

What my colleague meant was that the %%excerpt%% variable won’t work for category archives since the excerpt is meant for posts and pages (excerpt – replaced with the post/page excerpt).

Yes, we understand you would like for the title and meta description to be automatically populated, and you can do this by going to your WP admin dashboard > SEO (sidebar) > Search Appearance > Taxonomies > Categories section and adding the relevant variables for the title and meta description. Once you save the changes, you should expect that the title and meta description field would automatically populate with the snippet variables you’ve defined.

For the complete list of variables you would like to set for all of your category archive pages, you can refer here — https://yoast.com/help/list-available-snippet-variables-yoast-seo/

I just added in the variable here:

And still not seeing anything show up in description on this page:

https://www.coolspringsfamilychiropractic.com/category/blog/

Hi @zshah512,

Thanks for sending more details. Can you let us know what text you expected to appear for the “Blog” category’s description.

Just to explain a bit more, you have to manually edit a category and then add text in the “Description” field in order for any text to appear when using the %%category_description%% variable. If you leave a category’s description blank, the variable will not display any text.

For example, when you edit the “Blog” category (Posts > Categories), can you confirm that there is text in the “Description” field? If so, can you send us a link to a screenshot?

Hi Priscilla,

I’m expecting an excerpt appear in the description. Like the way posts and pages have an excerpt automatically generated for the meta description.

I went into posts > categories > Blog and it already has the variable %%category_description%% in there.

How come nothing appears for this page in the meta description is what I’m confused about:

https://www.coolspringsfamilychiropractic.com/category/blog/

Here’s the screenshot:

We apologies for all the confusion. Let us explain how the %%category_description%% template variable works.

The %%category_description%% template variable outputs the description you specify in the category description field. If you don’t have any description set for a category (you can edit a category to add the description), there won’t be anything in the relevant category meta description field.

We understand you want to automatically output the excerpt in the categories meta description like you do on the posts or pages. We are afraid to say that it won’t work for categories since categories aren’t individual page but an archive page that holds multiple posts on it. So, the %%excerpt%% template variable has no idea from where the excerpt content it should pick.

We hope that clarifies your query better now!

We are going ahead and marking this issue as resolved due to inactivity. If you require any further assistance please create a new issue.