Meta tags are pieces of hidden information on web pages that give services such as search engines a wealth of information. Learn more about meta tags.

If your site operates on the content management system Joomla you have several options to configure your meta data:

Global Configuration

Global meta keywords and descriptions can be set in the global configuration page which will be applied to all pages. You must be a super administrator to access this page.

  1. Go to the Site menu, located at the top left of the page.
  2. Click on Global Configuration.
  3. The following box will be at the bottom of the page. Enter the required meta description and meta keywords (separated by commas). Select No on the further options.
  4. Then click Save at the top right of the page.

Joomla Meta Data Settings

This is simple to do but search engines will frown upon global meta tags as it implies there is duplicate content on all of the pages. Search engines want to see original content on each page.

Individual Configuration

A better option is to add the keywords and descriptions to each individual page. When editing an article, to the right hand side there are some additional parameters where you can specify keywords and description for that specific page. Search engines will see that effort has been made to give each page a unique identity and therefore place your website accordingly in it’s results.

  1. When editing an article you will see the below box at the right of the page.
    Joomla Meta Data Information
  2. Within Metadata Information you need to enter your page description and keywords (separated by commas) relevant to the content of the page.
  3. You do not need to enter anything in the Robots and Author fields.
  4. Click Save in the top right of the page to confirm these changes.

If you require any help or wish to learn more, please contact us.

You can also save or print a copy of these instructions for your records:

Joomla! User Guide: Managing Meta Data (Adobe PDF)