Add HTML meta tags for SEO

Add HTML meta tags for SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) focuses on improving the visibility of a page or website in search engine results. A basic technique of SEO is adding HTML title and meta tags to the page source. These meta tags are used to define description information and other metadata that search web engines and crawlers can use when they create search indexes and collections. When we include content in a page with a web content viewer, we can improve the search engine optimization of the page by adding title and meta tags with values derived from the web content itself.

This support is available with combined cumulative fix 12 for IBM Web Content Manager v7.
By default, the HTML title for a page is defined by the page title in the portal. However, when you add a web content viewer to a page to render web content, we can override the value used for the HTML title. For metadata tags to be included as portlet preferences, set a custom HTML title so that only one portlet can contribute the metadata to the head section.
With the Page Display Title field in the portlet settings for the viewer, we can define an HTML title that better reflects the content on the page. We can even have the viewer pull the title directly from the rendered content.
Although multiple web content viewers on the same page can set meta tag values, this practice does not necessarily result in improved SEO. This issue can be further complicated when multiple viewers set different values for the same meta tag name. When we have multiple viewers on the same page, select the viewer whose content best represents what the page is about. We can then use that viewer to define a new HTML title and any meta tags.
To override the HTML title for a page and set meta tags, complete the following steps.
Select one web content viewer to be the primary viewer on the page. Click Edit Shared Settings, and select a value for the Page Display Title field in the portlet settings for the viewer.
To override the HTML title, select a value other than Use default title. The title value to come directly from the web content rendered by the viewer, select Select from content. This setting uses the value of the Display title field for the content item in WCM.
After saving the changes, the page header is updated with the new title value. For example:
<head>
   <title>Display title of the rendered web content</title>
</head>
Create portlet preferences for each meta tag to add to the page header. Each meta tag is defined by a pair of portlet preferences:

meta.tag.name.suffix identifies the name of the meta tag (for example, keywords).
meta.tag.content.suffix identifies the value of the meta tag.

We can also define a specific attribute for the meta tag with the following portal preference: meta.tag.attribute.suffix.
The suffix portion of each preference is used to associate a name preference with its related value preference. The suffix can be any value while it is unique across the preferences.
There are two ways we can add portlet preferences:

The Manage Portlets portlet of the administration interface. Locate the instance of the web content viewer we want to modify, and select the Configure portlet icon.

xmlaccess.sh. Export the page containing the instance of the web content viewer we want to modify. Edit the exported XML file with the meta tags we want to add, and update the page using the XML file along with the xmlaccess command.

If we do not set a portlet preference for the attribute name, the attribute name "name" is used by default.

Specify the portal preference for the name of the meta tag. The meta tag name takes the following format:
meta.tag.name.suffix=name

To specify an attribute other than the name attribute, define the attribute name with the following format:
meta.tag.attribute.suffix=attribute_name

For example, to add the following meta tag with the name keywords:
<meta name="keywords" content=""/>

Specify the following preference:
meta.tag.name.1=keywords

To add the following meta tag with the http-equiv attribute:
<meta http-equiv="content-language" content="en-US"/>

Specify the following preference:
meta.tag.attribute.1=http-equiv

Specify the portal preference for the value of the meta tag. The value of the meta tag can be specified in three ways:

We can explicitly enter text for the meta tag value.

The meta tag value can be derived from the value of a text element in the rendered web content.

The meta tag value can be derived from properties containing information about the rendered web content.

Depending on how we want to specify the meta tag value, different portlet preferences are required. Only one value can be specified per suffix.

Use preset text

The meta tag value takes the following format:
meta.tag.content.text.suffix=text

The suffix portion must match the suffix value of the associated meta.tag.name.suffix preference. The text portion indicates the text to use for the meta tag value.

Use the value of an element

The meta tag value takes the following format:
meta.tag.content.element.suffix=name_of_element

The suffix portion must match the suffix value of the associated meta.tag.name.suffix preference. The name_of_element portion indicates the name of the element from the web content rendered.

Element Meta tag value
Text component Text of the element
Date component Date of the element
Image component URL of the image
File component URL of the file

Use a property

The meta tag value takes the following format:
meta.tag.content.property.suffix=property

The suffix portion must match the suffix value of the associated meta.tag.name.suffix preference. The property portion indicates the property containing information about the web content rendered. The properties are associated with fields on the rendered content.

Property Meta tag value
AdditionalViewers Name of additional viewers
Authors Display names of the authors of the rendered content
authtemplatename Name of the authoring template of the rendered content
authtemplatetitle Display title of the authoring template of the rendered content
Categories Titles of any categories associated with the rendered content
CreationDate Creation date of the rendered content
Creator Display name of the user who created the rendered content
CurrentStage Name of the current workflow stage of the rendered content
Description Localized description of the rendered content
ExpiryDate Expiration date of the rendered content
ID ID of the rendered content
GeneralDateOne Date from the general date one field
GeneralDateTwo Date from the general date two field
Keywords Keywords associated with the rendered content
LastModifiedDate Date the rendered content was last modified
LastModifier Display name of the user who made the last change to the rendered content
Name Name of the rendered content
Owners Display names of our owners of the rendered content
PublishDate Date the rendered content was published
SitePath Site path of the rendered content
Status Workflow status of the rendered content
Title Localized title of the rendered content
Workflow Name of the workflow of the rendered content

For several of the most common meta tags, default values are predefined. For these meta tags, we can create the portlet preference for only the meta tag name. The meta tag value is provided automatically, without the need for a corresponding name preference. The following meta tags have default values:

Author

The default value is a list of the authors of the rendered content.

Keywords

The default value is list of any keywords associated with the rendered content.

Description

The default value is the localized description of the rendered content.

If we do not want to use the default value, we can set the value using one of the methods previously described.

Optional: If the value of the meta tag requires a scheme attribute, specify the scheme attribute with the meta.tag.scheme.suffix preference. The meta tag scheme attribute takes the following format:
meta.tag.scheme.suffix=attribute_value

For example, to add the following scheme attribute with the value W3CDTF:
<meta name="DC.date" content="2000-01-01T12:00+00:00" scheme="W3CDTF"/>

Specify the following preference:
meta.tag.scheme.1=W3CDTF

The format and scheme used to write date elements and content properties related to date and time information, such as the LastModifiedDate property, depends on the meta tag attribute name. By default, all date and time information is formatted according to the date format defined by the HTTP specification. The format used to write date and time information in other meta tags is the data and time format that is recommended by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) under the scheme named W3CDTF.
Examples

The following examples demonstrate the different ways of specifying portlet preferences and the resulting meta tags in the output.

Set the meta tag value with the user who created the rendered content:
meta.tag.name.1=DC.creator meta.tag.content.property.1=Creator

Result:
<meta name="DC.creator" content="content admin"/>

Set the meta tag value with preset text:
meta.tag.name.1=DC.publisher meta.tag.content.text.1=IBM

Result:
<meta name="DC.publisher" content="IBM"/>

Set multiple meta tag values with the default value for the author and the value of the text element descelement in the rendered content:
meta.tag.name.1=author meta.tag.name.2=description meta.tag.content.element.2=descelement

Result:
<meta name="author" content="content author"/> <meta name="description" content="Information about IBM"/>

Set the meta tag with an http-equiv attribute and a value of the date the rendered content was last modified.
meta.tag.name.1=last-modified meta.tag.attribute.1=http-equiv meta.tag.content.property.1=LastModifiedDate

Result:
<meta http-equiv="last-modified" content="Mon, 01 Aug 2011 13:45:57 GMT"/>

Set the meta tag and with a scheme attribute and a value of the date the rendered content was published.
meta.tag.name.1=DC.date meta.tag.scheme.1=W3CDTF meta.tag.content.property.1=PublishDate

Result:
<meta name="DC.date" content="2011-08-01T08:15:30+02:00" scheme="W3CDTF"/>

Parent Customize web content delivery

Element	Meta tag value
Text component	Text of the element
Date component	Date of the element
Image component	URL of the image
File component	URL of the file

Property	Meta tag value
AdditionalViewers	Name of additional viewers
Authors	Display names of the authors of the rendered content
authtemplatename	Name of the authoring template of the rendered content
authtemplatetitle	Display title of the authoring template of the rendered content
Categories	Titles of any categories associated with the rendered content
CreationDate	Creation date of the rendered content
Creator	Display name of the user who created the rendered content
CurrentStage	Name of the current workflow stage of the rendered content
Description	Localized description of the rendered content
ExpiryDate	Expiration date of the rendered content
ID	ID of the rendered content
GeneralDateOne	Date from the general date one field
GeneralDateTwo	Date from the general date two field
Keywords	Keywords associated with the rendered content
LastModifiedDate	Date the rendered content was last modified
LastModifier	Display name of the user who made the last change to the rendered content
Name	Name of the rendered content
Owners	Display names of our owners of the rendered content
PublishDate	Date the rendered content was published
SitePath	Site path of the rendered content
Status	Workflow status of the rendered content
Title	Localized title of the rendered content
Workflow	Name of the workflow of the rendered content