Category Description Purposes

WP doesn’t use them by default, and no search engine can see them if they aren’t used

Some themes may use them in a category archive page

some plugins may use them (yoast’s SEO plugin for instance, allows you to use them if you like)

Hey Rev,

Wow, that was quick! How ’bout Yoast’s WordPress SEO? Just installed it, and am working on setting it up, which is what prompted my question.

Regards,

Diana

Hey Rev,

Jeez, how did I miss the “Yoast” in your answer? OK then, that particular question is answered.

I’m going to go through the plugin (and instructions for setting it up) to find out how to enable these. Must have missed it on my first pass.

Thanks again for your quick response.

Regards,

Diana

You can output the category description without using a Plugin. You simply need to echo the category_description() template tag.

Here’s a bit of what I use:

if ( category_description() ) {
	echo category_description();
} else {
	echo 'Posts filed under ';
	echo single_cat_title();
}

Great for use on a category archive page, for example.

Hey Chip,

Thanks for the code. I’m a bit of a newb though. Could you tell me where this would go?

And not just which document, but where in the document – like
before________ and after _________

Appreciate your help.

Regards,

Diana

That would be completely subjective…

The code @chip gave there just outputs the category description…

If you wanted to use it somehow, the placement would depend entirely on what you wanted the code to do, or where you wanted the description to appear.

Hey Rev,

If I’m using Yoast’s WP SEO, do I need to worry about placing code anywhere?

Regards,

Diana

It would go anywhere that you want to output the Category description.

I use it in my “Loop header” – that is, before I call the Loop, so that it displays above the Category posts.

You might also use it in a sidebar, or anywhere else that you want to display the Category description.

If I’m using Yoast’s WP SEO, do I need to worry about placing code anywhere?

That depends: do you want to display the category description?

Hey Chip,

Thanks for the quick response. I’ll play with this. If I have to. Still waiting to see what the Rev says.

Regards,

Diana

Hey Chip,

Oh, now I see.

Well that’s a good question. How ’bout this one. If Yoast’s plugin provides for Google to see the category description as part of the SEO, and I also show the category description on my page, will Google count this as duplicate content?

Regards,

Diana

Well that’s a good question. How ’bout this one. If Yoast’s plugin provides for Google to see the category description as part of the SEO, and I also show the category description on my page, will Google count this as duplicate content?

I’m not an SEO expert, but I would assume that no, Google would *not* consider that to be “duplicate” content.

If you google around, you will see that Google isn’t as picky as many people think with duplicate content.

People go out of their way sometimes trying to block category archives, etc, to avoid duplicate content. Google doesn’t care about that

Thanks guys. Sure do appreciate all your help.

Best regards,

Diana