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Metatag - Defaults - Main Screen

1. Go To Metatag Main Screen

Go to the Metatag Defaults screen at Admin menu > Configuration > Search and Metadata > Metatag.

Metatag - Defaults - Form Components - Open Node Settings

2. Examine Node Settings

Let's start by taking a look at the Node settings.

Click on the Node link in the list. The fieldset will open up and you'll see quite a bit in there. The list you see are settings that the Node entity type has inherited from the Global settings.

If you're wondering, the text inside of the square brackets are Tokens.

Tokens, are very helpful.

Metatag - Defaults - Form Components - Click Node Override Link

3. Explore Overrides

You may be wondering if you can change these for nodes.

The answer is yes.

Click the Override link to get into the settings.

Metatag - Defaults - Form Components - Global Node Metatag Settings

4. Don't Panic

There is a LOT of stuff here. That's true even with all the fieldsets closed.

It can be pretty daunting.

The good news is, all of the Metatag settings for all of the entity types, as well as what you have directly on individual nodes, uses this same exact form - so, no surprises there.

Do you have to fill everything out?

No. You only fill out what you need. In fact, for most users, the Basic settings are going to be all that's needed.

Metatag - Defaults - Form Components - Advanced Tags

5. Advanced Tag Settings

The Advanced settings include some really interesting things, including:

  • Search bot behavior settings
  • Source information
  • Google News settings
  • Shortlink URLs (if you're using a URL shortening service)
  • Content Ratings

...and much more

 

Metatag - Defaults - Form Components - Open Graph Settings

6. Open Graph Settings

The Open Graph settings are vast.

In a very small nutshell, this how you get your web site to play nicely with social media.

Within these settings, you will find metadata for:

  • Content Type and Title
  • Geographic Addresses
  • Media metadata (such as image, video, audio and document sizes, authors, etc)

...and much more.

There is so much that can be done with Metatag. While Web Services can help introduce you to some things that may be helpful for you, there will definitely be some cases where you'll have to roll up your sleeves and do some exploring.

If you come to Open Lab, the exploration can be a lot of fun.