Can you edit the META Title for Categories & Product pages?

[djcritch]

Can you edit the META Title for Categories & Product pages?

From an SEO perspective i feel it is important to be able edit and add custom Meta title tags to all pages, from what i can see virtemart only lets you add meta description and meta keywords information.

sh404sef is not an option at this time as it does not support VM 2.0 :-(

[jjk]

Just for clarifcation - a 'Title' tag and a 'Meta Title Tag' are not the same.

The Title Tag is expressed as:
<TITLE>Page Title Here</TITLE>
VM2 does that automatically for you. This is the important one for the search engines and for building the SEF url.

The Meta Title Tag is written as:
<META NAME="Title" CONTENT="Page Title Here">
VM2 does not generate that, but in my opinon it is not important. Google ignores the 'Meta Title Tag' anyway.
See here: ("Google understands the following meta tags:")
http://support.google.com/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=79812

[djcritch]

Sorry yes i had meant the <title> tags </title>

I know virtuemart creates title tags automatically but it is sometimes nice to put in a custom title which is not the same as the products name.

[stargazer1682]

I have been trying to find an answer to this as well; as I'm trying to do SEO maintenance on a site and wish to customize the title tag to match a different arrangement of keywords other than the product title.

[marvays]

Yes. SEO is a great weakness of the VM. Necessary needs in the options of SEO settings in administration. Right now I'm dealing with a similar problem. Enter the manufacturer, SKU and title in the title chi. And I certainly don't want a category. I also want to change the title for the category. It would be amazing to configure it in the administration Take it as an idea for the future. I think the product sells good SEO

[jjk]

And I certainly don't want a category. I also want to change the title for the category.

You can add a 'Custom Page Title' in your category settings since years ago. (Note that the forum post above yours dates from 2013)

Why do you think that SEO is a VM weakness? I think it's pretty good.

[marvays]

I think the VM has few rules settings. Yes, I can write everything manually. But when I have 2000 products, it is wrong. There's a lot to improve on SEO It's not a criticism but an idea.

[Charli39]

I am also unable to change title and desc in product categories. I’ve come to the fact that the product categories inherit title and desc from the store’s home page site home page). A change on this page causes a change on all category pages without respecting individual changes in individual categories.

Turning off plugins does not give anything as well as changing the template.

[Studio 42]

I am also unable to change title and desc in product categories. I’ve come to the fact that the product categories inherit title and desc from the store’s home page (not the site home page). A change on this page causes a change on all category pages without respecting individual changes in individual categories.

Turning off plugins does not give anything as well as changing the template.

You have to add or change in Meta Information the "Custom Page Title" in the product or category else the page tile is same as the product or category name

[Rune Rasmussen]

Why do you think that SEO is a VM weakness? I think it's pretty good.

Adding the category name in front of the product name in title tag by default isn't especially good, it takes focus from the product name in search results, and if the category name is long, the total title will be too long for displaying in search results (t.ex. Google recommends 70 chars incl. spaces etc.).

Haven't seen this behaviour elsewhere in Joomla, nor other webshop solutions that I can recall. More common display is 'Product Name - Site Name', same as 'Article Title - Site Name'. If anyone for some odd reason want's to display category name also, it should better be settings for all this (SEO Settings).

Just my 5 cents a few years later ...