[Plugin: WordPress SEO by Yoast] delete meta description

Stefan’s solution worked for me – clicked “Fix”, scrolled down and clicked “Save,” and the red error message went away.

I’ve been having this issue for a month. Website is: https://holdfree.com

I’ve tried everything,

• the description has been removed from the header (since the beginning since I knew I was going to use this plugin).
• Tried the most recent upgrade.
• Clicked fix it and save settings
• Changed file permission to 777, clicked fix it and then save setings (then changed settings back to normal)

I’m truly at a loss.

P.S. I really like this plugin and have used it on other websites using this SAME template (https://inappcare.com) so I really can’t figure out why this is doing what its doing.

Here’s what worked for me:

Find your header.php file and delete the following line:

<meta name=”description” content=”<?php bloginfo(‘description’); ?>”>

Then find the header.php.wpseobak file and delete that entire file.

Go to your SEO plugin dashboard and click fix, it should work.

I don’t know if this is the correct way to do it but it worked for me. Backup your files before you delete or modify just in case.

Delete code…really?

C’mon man…unless you know wtf you’re doing…better to just comment out the code and see if it works!

You should never modify the theme’s files without a Child Theme environment because;
– Your modifications will erase when the theme updates,
– You will compromise the theme,
– Debugging becomes a whole lot harder.

Guys, if you require support with your own issues, please create your own threads.

I have the same problem with the Magazine 3 theme.

Within that theme it is possible to switch the Magazine 3 SEO part off and rely e.g. on Yoast WordPress SEO which I did.

The header.php of the theme contains meta name description tags. However, those are not active in practice and will not be included if Magazine 3 SEO is switched off.

Nevertheless Youst WordPress SEO continues to give the meta name description error.

Hi Yoast! I really love your plugin!

This is the message I get from your general settins plugin:

Tu tema contiene una meta descripcion, lo que impide que WordPress Seo funcione adecuadamente, por favor borra la siguiente linea, o presiona reparar:
<meta name=”description” content=”<?php pbt_metaDesc(); ?>” />

It’s in Spanish. It means that your theme contains a meta description, which it don’t let wordpress seo work correctly, please delete next line or press repair:

I’ve click repair but nothing. I deleted manualy from the header but still appears.

I would appreciate your answer.
Best regards and congratulations for your work

Hey guys,

I figured out what was causing the issue for me. I have the Cherry framework with a child theme on top. Both of them use a header.php file.

Here’s the steps I took to fix the issue:
1) I deleted the line from my theme’s header.php file. Note that I did not use the Fix It link and I’m not sure if that will work in this scenario.
2) I deleted the line from the parent theme’s header.php file (it was in both places).
3) Hit “Save Setting” on the Yoast settings dashboard. Problem solved.

Looks like maybe the “Fix It” link doesn’t edit parent theme header.php files, but it still recognizes when the line exists.

Props to Yoast for at least getting that message to appear based on a check for it. I can’t imagine how many people might give up if they weren’t given some sort of error.

I hope this helps!
Matt

Yes, jayredliner’s fix worked here.

Now why didn’t Yoast find this and fix it???

Because it’s not that simple ??

Will re-visit this code in a month or two.

Why does YOAST SEO have a problem with a <meta name=”description”… tag?

What is the rationale behind the error message?

@all – there are more threads on this topics. I looked into it and discovered there were several issues with the code which have now been fixed in the development version. Hopefully the fixes will be released publicly in the next version of the plugin.
For more information, have a look at the pull-request.

@shazamimages – the WP SEO plugin will add a <meta> description tag. Having two is bad for SEO.

@jrf – I believe that YOAST will not add a <meta name=”description… tag by default. You would have to set that up. That is why I am wondering why it has a problem with another theme/plugin that might be adding the tag.

@shazamimages I do think you’re right about it not adding a meta description tag by default, but the whole point of the plugin is to make a site optimized for search engines.
As soon as someone would either enter something in a SEO Meta template and/or on the Description field of any single post, things would start to break SEO-wise if there is another meta tag present.

Your theme contains a meta description, which blocks WordPress SEO from working properly

So the warning message, though it might seem more alarming than necessary, is in actual fact quite correct.

@jrf – Yes, but “working properly” is very ambiguous.

A better message might be

Your theme contains a meta description, which blocks WordPress SEO from adding one.