How To Add Meta Data In WordPress Posts

In this article see how to add meta data with HTML tags in posts on your WordPress site to display additional information in search engines

By Claudio Pires
Updated on September 9, 2023
How To Add Meta Data In WordPress Posts

Would you like to learn how to display post meta data in WordPress blog posts? Post meta data are relevant information about your blog post, such as published date, category, author name, etc. This information can help visitors understand the post better and can also help increase page views by helping to navigate your website more easily. In this article, see how to add meta data with HTML tags in posts on your WordPress site to display additional information in search engines.

Meta Data Essential for WordPress SEO

These are famous meta-titles, meta-descriptions, and keywords. Nowadays, more than the quality of website content is needed. With nearly thousands of websites available, users rarely have the opportunity to visit them all and end up clicking on the first three results, which are the most popular ones. 

Indeed, a good SEO can attract more traffic to your website. The blog’s title is a self-description, helping readers understand the blog. Therefore, this is the most essential item on this list.

How To Display Posts Meta Data in WordPress?

The location of the post meta data varies by theme. Some may show it before the post title, others after the title, and others right after the content. However, only a few post meta sections can mess up the layout. The ideal situation is where you display only information you deem necessary. Now let’s see how you can customize and add post meta. So, this guide will use the best WordPress SEO plugin, Yoast SEO

Step 1- Enable Advanced Settings in Yoast SEO

 By default, you will have several tools in Yoast SEO. However, we strongly recommend manually enabling some advanced settings to get the most out of this plugin. Meta title and meta description are allowed, but meta keywords need to be enabled using the advanced settings said later (we’ll show you how to do this later in this guide).

To enable advanced settings in your WordPress dashboard, navigate to SEO > Dashboard. Select the Resources tab from there and find the Advanced Settings page option. So now, set this option by clicking the Enable button. This action will prompt you to refresh the page, after which you can see the advanced options.

 Step 2- Add Meta Title in WordPress

First, to add meta titles or SEO titles to your posts, go to:

  1. Posts > All Posts and select which posts you want to add meta titles.
  2. Open the post on the edit page and scroll down to the Yoast SEO section. In this section, you will see a preview of the template (snippet) displayed in search engines. This has been automatically generated for each publication.
  3. Click Edit Template. New fields will appear. The first field, SEO Title, is the meta title for this post.
  4. Enter an appropriate title in this field. Yoast will help you color the bar below the title, where green means the title size is optimal.

Step 3- Add Meta Description in WordPress

The meta description in WordPress can be added to the same section used to add the meta title. Below the SEO Title field are two additional fields, Slug and Meta Description. Just enter a short, engaging description of your message. And again, Yoast will let you know if the size is right, thanks to the color bar. In the meta description, make sure to add relevant words that have also been added to the post. At the end, close the Template Editor and save the changes by clicking the Update button.

Step 4- Add Keywords

Unlike meta titles and meta descriptions, add meta keywords manually in Yoast SEO. To do this:

  1. Go to SEO > Title and Meta data and select the More option. The plugin will ask if you want to use meta keyword tags.
  2. Enable this option.
  3. Saving your settings, the first part is done.

You must follow the same path to add meta keywords to a post. So, select the post from Posts > All Posts, scroll to the bottom of the page in the Yoast plugin section, and just below the preview example, you will see the Focus Keyword field.

Here, you need to add up to ten words, all separated by commas. And, of course, apply good SEO practices here by choosing keywords that describe your article and have a presence there. Therefore, as mentioned, Google has stated that meta keywords are not a factor in its page ranking algorithm. Other search engines are even less specific on this topic, meaning your rates may increase depending on the reader’s search engine.

Conclusion About WordPress Posts Meta Data

To provide search engines with as much information as possible about your WordPress site, you can add generic meta tags in your WordPress theme’s header. You can also use a meta tag plugin to create and manage global meta tags and custom meta tags for your posts and pages. So, choose the method that works best for you and your website.

Therefore, we hope this article on how to add meta data with HTML tags in posts on your WordPress site to display additional information in search engines has helped you.

Claudio Pires

Claudio Pires is the co-founder of Visualmodo, a renowned company in web development and design. With over 15 years of experience, Claudio has honed his skills in content creation, web development support, and senior web designer. A trilingual expert fluent in English, Portuguese, and Spanish, he brings a global perspective to his work. Beyond his professional endeavors, Claudio is an active YouTuber, sharing his insights and expertise with a broader audience. Based in Brazil, Claudio continues to push the boundaries of web design and digital content, making him a pivotal figure in the industry.