F2C Metadata plugin

The F2C Metadata plugin can be used to automaticaly write Meta keywords meta descriptions & title for the created Joomla article. The input can be custom (dynamically) defined using Smarty templating.

Download, install & activate

Download the plugin here and install like a regular Joomla extension. Follow the instructions as displayed or this article to get automated meta tags!.

After installation go to the Jooma plug-in manager and activate (publish) the plugin (image 2). Please note that Form2Content custom plugins are a TYPE of plugin on their own (image 1). They are only activated when using F2C so have no effect on the performance of your website.

Create a Meta keyword & Meta description template(s)

Since it is possible to have more than one F2C Content type we have opted to use templates for the formatting of the meta tags. Create and upload 3 templates via the Form2Content Template Manager (image 3 & 4) for each content type, the name syntax is:

metadata_keywords_contenttype_X.tpl
metadata_description_contenttype_X.tpl
title_contenttype_X.tpl
alias_contenttype_XX.tpl

Where X is the F2C Content Type ID for which the templates are.

Within each template you can use ALL the usual F2C Template parameters to generate the content of the meta tags (see examples below).

Useful template parameters

Meta keywords consist of a comma seperated list of keywords. To make life easy we have added the {$< FIELDNAME >_CSV} template parameter for the Multi-select list field type.

Also don't forget to use the TEXT output of the Sigle select list, {$< FIELDNAME >_TEXT}.

Another useful Smarty option is truncating. This way you can stay within the Google settings of max. 155 characters for your meta description.

Example template code

This is some code I used on my safari website for generating the meta tags:

Meta keyword template: metadata_keywords_contenttype_8.tpl

{$JOOMLA_TITLE}, {$ACCOMMODATION_TYPE_TEXT}, {$COUNTRY_TEXT}, {$COUNTRY_REGION}, {$LODGE_CHAIN}, {foreach from=$NATIONAL_PARKS_VALUES key=k item=i name=parken}{$i}{if $smarty.foreach.parken.last}{else}, {/if}{/foreach}

Meta description template: metadata_description_contenttype_8.tpl

{$INTRODUCTION|truncate:150}