I am using the GeneratePress and I am kinda obsessed with reducing the number of plugins so I am always trying to find a substitute for them.
When it comes to SEO Plugins, I think that you can keep things as simple as possible by using SLIM SEO
If you think that even a simple and lightweight plugin like SLIM SEO is too much for you, you might want to go take the coding route.
Table of Contents
Original Code
This is a code provided by Tom from GeneratePress. it outputs a meta title and meta description that can be read by search engines.
You just have to add the code to your functions.php file.
add_action( 'wp_head', function() {
if ( is_singular() ) {
$meta_title = get_post_meta( get_the_ID(), 'meta_title', true );
$meta_desc = get_post_meta( get_the_ID(), 'meta_description', true );
if ( $meta_title ) {
printf( '<meta name="title" content="%s">', $meta_title );
}
if ( $meta_desc ) {
printf( '<meta name="description" content="%s">', $meta_desc );
}
}
} );You can use Advanced Custom Fields to create those two fields if you don’t want to complicate yourself.
But that still requires a plugin.
First Step: Meta Title and Meta Description without a Plugin
Add the following code to your functions.php file
add_action( 'wp_head', function() {
if ( is_singular() ) {
$post_id = get_the_ID();
// Set meta title to post title if custom meta title is not set
$meta_title = get_post_meta( $post_id, 'meta_title', true );
if ( ! $meta_title ) {
$meta_title = get_the_title( $post_id );
}
// Set meta description to first 160 characters of post content, stripped of HTML tags, if custom meta description is not set
$meta_desc = get_post_meta( $post_id, 'meta_description', true );
if ( ! $meta_desc ) {
$post_content = get_post_field( 'post_content', $post_id );
$meta_desc = mb_substr( wp_strip_all_tags( $post_content ), 0, 160 );
}
// Replace newline characters with spaces
$meta_desc = str_replace( "\n", " ", $meta_desc );
// Replace multiple spaces with a single space
$meta_desc = preg_replace( '/\s+/', ' ', $meta_desc );
// Output meta title and meta description
if ( $meta_title ) {
printf( '<meta name="title" content="%s">', $meta_title );
echo "\n"; // Add a line break
}
if ( $meta_desc ) {
printf( '<meta name="description" content="%s">', $meta_desc );
echo "\n"; // Add a line break
}
}
} );
This code:
- Outputs the custom meta title
- Outputs the custom meta description
- Outputs the post title if there is a custom meta title
- Outputs the first 160 characters if there is a custom meta description
- Display meta titles and meta descriptions in different lines
Second Step: Creating Custom Fields
To use that code, keep in mind that you have to create two custom fields:
| #1 | Meta Title |
| #2 | Meta Description |
Here is another code snippet that can create both custom fields at the end of your posts.
function add_seo_custom_fields() {
add_meta_box(
'seo_custom_fields', // Unique ID
'SEO', // Box title
'render_seo_custom_fields', // Content callback, must be of type callable
'post', // Post type
'normal', // Context
'high' // Priority
);
}
add_action( 'add_meta_boxes', 'add_seo_custom_fields' );
function render_seo_custom_fields( $post ) {
$meta_title = get_post_meta( $post->ID, 'meta_title', true );
$meta_description = get_post_meta( $post->ID, 'meta_description', true );
wp_nonce_field( basename( __FILE__ ), 'seo_custom_fields_nonce' );
?>
<p>
<label for="meta_title"><strong>Meta Title:</strong></label><br>
<input type="text" name="meta_title" id="meta_title" maxlength="60" value="<?php echo esc_attr( $meta_title ); ?>" style="width: 100%">
</p>
<p>
<label for="meta_description"><strong>Meta Description:</strong></label><br>
<textarea name="meta_description" id="meta_description" maxlength="160" style="width: 100%"><?php echo esc_textarea( $meta_description ); ?></textarea>
</p>
<?php
}
function save_seo_custom_fields( $post_id ) {
$is_autosave = wp_is_post_autosave( $post_id );
$is_revision = wp_is_post_revision( $post_id );
$is_valid_nonce = ( isset( $_POST[ 'seo_custom_fields_nonce' ] ) && wp_verify_nonce( $_POST[ 'seo_custom_fields_nonce' ], basename( __FILE__ ) ) ) ? 'true' : 'false';
if ( $is_autosave || $is_revision || !$is_valid_nonce ) {
return;
}
if ( isset( $_POST[ 'meta_title' ] ) ) {
update_post_meta( $post_id, 'meta_title', sanitize_text_field( $_POST[ 'meta_title' ] ) );
}
if ( isset( $_POST[ 'meta_description' ] ) ) {
update_post_meta( $post_id, 'meta_description', sanitize_text_field( $_POST[ 'meta_description' ] ) );
}
}
add_action( 'save_post', 'save_seo_custom_fields' );
Third Step: Adding SEO Columns
If you want to check the meta titles and meta descriptions in the admin post lists section, add this code to your functions.php file.
//Adding SEO Custom Columns
function seo_custom_columns( $columns ) {
$columns['meta_title'] = 'Meta Title';
$columns['meta_description'] = 'Meta Description';
return $columns;
}
add_filter( 'manage_posts_columns', 'seo_custom_columns' );
function seo_custom_columns_content( $column, $post_id ) {
switch ( $column ) {
case 'meta_title':
$meta_title = get_post_meta( $post_id, 'meta_title', true );
echo esc_html( $meta_title );
break;
case 'meta_description':
$meta_description = get_post_meta( $post_id, 'meta_description', true );
echo esc_html( $meta_description );
break;
}
}
add_action( 'manage_posts_custom_column', 'seo_custom_columns_content', 10, 2 );Keep this Mind
Test these codes on a copy of your site (staging site) and make sure they do what they are meant to do.
I have used them and they work for me but all sites are different so play with them in a local environment first, check the source code, and verify that the code works in a third-party tool like MetaTags.io
If you have the skills, modify the codes and make those functions better if possible.
Other Resources
You might want to check some of these resources
