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Steve Jones
Java Web Development Techdegree Student 78 PointsHow to add the Dynamic Meta Title and Meta Description on each page through PHP code?
I have over 20 pages PHP website and would like to add meta title and description; I can do this manually at all without PHP variables, but still I want to know how can I add them unique meta title and description on every page.
I have something like this code:
<title><?php echo $pageTitle; ?></title>
<meta name="description" content="<?php echo $pageDescription; ?>">
But I can only make it unique this on one page, not other pages. So, I have to create new variables for each page, I am confused here, please help me out!.
4 Answers
Julien riera
14,665 PointsYour header.php must echo variables. I guess that misses here. Dont put any value, only echo $pageTitle.
Then, You set your $pageTitle (and description if it depends on the page) value at the top of the page. In your contact.php file it means just before your include.
When you include the header.php, it will call the variables declared above to set variables value in it. Normally.
Sorry, I reply from a cell phone right now.
Steve Jones
Java Web Development Techdegree Student 78 Points@Julian Riera, I don't know how to reply you directly, so I am updating my code here.
In index.php file, I have written this code:
<?php
$PageTitle = 'This is my page title';
$PageDescription = 'This is my page description';
?>
and then adding the variables into header.php in title and meta description (using include(includes/header.php)), however the problem is, I can only do this for one page, I don't want to mess up with the single title and description which cause the duplicate content penalty by the google, how can I make it unique to all?
Julien riera
14,665 PointsTo be honest, that's what I would have done :
- create the header.php which contains the echo $pageTitle and $pageDescription php code.
- create the variable $pageTitle at the top of each page and set the value (e.g "home" - "about" - etc)
- include the header.php under the statement above. (thus for each page but header.php of course)
Steve Jones
Java Web Development Techdegree Student 78 PointsI got it, thanks, now it works. One question, what is the benefit here for our website. I mean, we can add manually meta description and title without using php code for each page?
Julien riera
14,665 PointsTo me, the purpose is to make students like us understand a better way to update a website as you can affect several pages modifying one piece of code.
That's how I get it.
Steve Jones
Java Web Development Techdegree Student 78 PointsThank you now I understood.
Julien riera
14,665 PointsJulien riera
14,665 PointsI guess the anwser is hardly providable without a bit more code. ($pageTitle & $pageDescription for instance)
My first insight would be to take in consideration the "selected" status of a page.