Nov 23, 2008
05:11

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SEO meta tags under Cakephp 1.2

Setting your pages meta tag keywords and description is simple under CakePHP 1.2, all one needs is the Html Helper's meta() function. Probably the easiest way is to see how its done is with an example, this code is added to your view files :-

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  1. echo $html->meta('keywords', 'your keywords goes here', array('type' => 'keywords'), false);
  2. echo $html->meta('description', 'your description goes here', array('type' => 'description'), false);

In my original article on meta tags I ended up setting a variable in the view and checking for the variables in the default layout file. I had tried the $html->meta() function originally but couldn't get it to work and didn't have time to figure things out.

It wasn't till I was trying to get some javascript code to output into the head section from a view using the $this->addScript() function that I realized I didn't have the echo $scripts_for_layout line in the default.ctp layout.

Not sure when or how I deleted it but in the words of Homer Simpson all I can say is DOH.

Update: 2 Dec 2008, I see an example of meta() function is now documented in the CakePHP book, please refer to this page Inserting-Well-Formatted-elements

Filed under: Cakephp  Tags: Seo
 

16 Responses to “SEO meta tags under Cakephp 1.2”

1. ben
Oct 20, 2009

Thanks fellow developer, I'm on a time crunch and this was a little piece of treasure in the form of a blog post that came up on google. You rock!

2. Chris C2
Feb 04, 2010

So would I take it that we would write this into the View?

3. Brett Wilton
Feb 08, 2010

@Chris C2 Yes that is correct Chris you can place the code in your view or set a variable in the view which is passed to the layout which runs the meta code

4. Diego
Mar 01, 2010

Thanks, was very useful...

5. GMAmin2010
May 11, 2010

Thanks for all the tips. but till now i have....

6. GMAmin2010
May 11, 2010

Thanks.

7. Chris Pierce
Dec 01, 2010

note that in 1.3 you would do echo $html->meta('keywords', 'your keywords goes here', array('type' => 'keywords', 'inline' => false));

8. vangel
Dec 07, 2010

simple and great post. exactly what I was looking for and since i found you in my first jfgi that means it works ;)

9. lybin
Dec 21, 2010

Thx

10. karthik
Jan 11, 2011

good post. Thx.

11. karthik
Jan 11, 2011

oops.. It didn't work for me. I am using cakephp 1.3.3 Fortunately i got the solution for the problem. In your view or controller file add :- 

$this->set('description_for_layout', 'Enter your description here');
Then, in the header part of default.ctp, put this code.. 
<meta name='description' content='<?php echo $description_for_layout;?>' />
Thats it :) Enjoy Coding.

12. karthik
Jan 11, 2011

continued... 

<meta name='description' content='<?php echo $description_for_layout; ?>' />
Enjoy Coding :)

13. karthik
Jan 11, 2011

hm!. The tags are getting truncated from the comments.

14. magnolia
May 03, 2011

Thanks a lot, with karthik's update for the 1.3 version, it's exactly what I was looking for!

15. Angad
Jun 27, 2011

Same here. Was having problems with this because of updated syntax in 1.3. use array("inline" => false) as 3rd arg instead of a fourth arg as false.

16. Adam Ring
Sep 17, 2011

Thanks for this little snippet - have added your blog to my personal list.

 
Sorry, comments have been closed for this post.
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1DESCRIBE `posts`17171
2DESCRIBE `comments`11111
3DESCRIBE `tags`221
4DESCRIBE `categories`220
5DESCRIBE `posts_tags`221
6DESCRIBE `categories_posts`221
7SELECT `Post`.`id`, `Post`.`url`, `Post`.`title`, `Post`.`icon`, `Post`.`metadesc`, `Post`.`metakeys`, `Post`.`categories`, `Post`.`tease`, `Post`.`body`, `Post`.`private_body`, `Post`.`created`, `Post`.`modified`, `Post`.`status`, `Post`.`allow_comments`, `Post`.`tags`, `Post`.`hitcount`, `Post`.`hitcount_rss` FROM `posts` AS `Post` WHERE `Post`.`url` = 'seo-meta-tags-under-cakephp-1-2' LIMIT 1111
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11UPDATE `posts` AS `Post` SET `Post`.`hitcount` = Post.hitcount + 1 WHERE `Post`.`id` = 6010