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Duplicate Meta and Title Tags in WP. Need Help!

by Spacevt
6 replies
  • WEB DESIGN
    • |
Hello,

I recently changed up my website to make it more user-friendly by changing the theme and changing the link structure to shorten the links. I DID NOT create duplicate pages I just changed the permalink structure here (just to clarify).

What I did is change the link structure from:

/%category%/%postname%/

to

/%postname%/

In doing so ive been getting flagged in Webmaster tools as having duplicate meta descriptions and title tags. The problem here is that there is no "other webpage" out there. They are the same page with a different link structure.

I use the Yoast SEO plug in and it automatically sets the canocial URL to whatever is the current permalink structure of your published page is. I have also 301 redirected all of the pages that are showing up as duplicate content and the redirect for all of them work fine so im confused as to why I keep getting this message.

I went through and made all of these changes a few days ago and now for the third time as of today, im getting the same message. I need help with this quick before I start getting penalized.

ANY HELP IS GREATLY APPRECIATED!
#duplicate #meta #tags #title
  • Profile picture of the author Earnie Boyd
    I was about to suggest a 301 redirect and then re-read your post before doing the reply. Does the redirect actually work? Use the developer tools in the web browser, Chrome or Firefox and go to the /%category%/%postname%/; the tool should be able to tell you if the 301 message is applied to the redirect.
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    Earnie Boyd
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  • Profile picture of the author Spacevt
    Hey Earnie,

    Yes, I have tested the links by copy and pasting in the URL into the browser, clicking a link with anchor text that has the old url format, and also in webmaster tools, it will tell you if the 301 redirect is not working correctly so far as I can tell they work.

    Im actually using a wordpress plugin called simple 301 redirect. It is in fact, very simple. You just enter the request url and then the redirect url and click save.

    I was thinking that it would take some time for the old urls to be de-indexed in google, however since I got the message today and the SERPs are showing the new URL im at a complete loss here.
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    -SpaceVT-
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    Having duplicate meta tags has NOTHING to do with redirects (working or not).

    It is something in your theme's header.php file and one of the (SEO) plugins you are using. Most likely, both the theme and the plugin create their own meta description and title tags.

    Did you, by any chance check out your own source code to see what actually is in your code???

    They teach it in the kindergarten: right-click > View Source... etc.
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  • Profile picture of the author Istvan Horvath
    Whether you have twice this
    <title>something here</title>, for example, when reading the source code.
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