Plug-ins add additional features on the website. Eay Meta comes with several plugins and you can find them on the "Plug-in Manager". Enable those that you would like to use.
1 - Plugin "System - Easy Meta"
This plugin adds predefined tags to the code of pages and puts schemas into the <HTML> tag.
Options
Tags position
You are able to select the position of the tags where they will be added.
- standard position - the system follows the queue of adding meta data.
- after <head> tag - the tags will be added immediately after open <HEAD> tag.
- after <title> tag - the tags will be added immediately after the <TITLE> tag.
Schemas
The schemas describe element in the HTML code. The browser needs these schemas to learn more about tags that are in the code. So, we need to put a link to OpenGraph or Facebook schemas in the HTML tag.
You can add that data by selecting one of the options - "Yes" or "No", and the system will put following string to the code of web page.
prefix="og: http://ogp.me/ns# fb: http://ogp.me/ns/fb# article: http://ogp.me/ns/article# blog: http://ogp.me/ns/blog#"
The HTML tag becomes something like that
<html prefix="og: http://ogp.me/ns# fb: http://ogp.me/ns/fb# article: http://ogp.me/ns/article# blog: http://ogp.me/ns/blog#" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en-gb" lang="en-gb" dir="ltr" >
2 - Plugin "System - Easy Meta URLs"
This plugin collects URLs automatically and stores them to the extension.
Options
Collection type
This option sets the way used for collection URLs.
- Full - collects all links.
- Strict - collects links that are connected with a menu item. This option is recommended.
New link state
With this option, you give the status of the new links (published or unpublished), collected by the system. So, if you select "published," all new URIs will be active.
Autoupdate state
This option set status of URL options "Auto-Update". If you select "On" all new URIs will be stored with active auto-update functionality.
3 - Plugin "System - Easy Meta - Tags"
This plugin collects data from Joomla! extensions and generates OpenGraph, Twitter Card or SEO tags.
Example:
If you want to generate "og:title" tag, enable the option "Open Graph Title." The system will get a title from an article and will add/update the tag.
Parameters
- Default Image - the system will generate meta tag that points to default image if it is missing an intro image in the item options.
- Generate Meta Description - the system will generate meta description from item description, if there are no predefined one.
- Extract Image - the system will parse the item description and will use the first image in the meta tag that points to a picture of an article.
- Auto-update Period - specify a period in days in which the system will check the meta tags for changes. If you leave this option blank, the system will check for changes every time when someone open a page.
How to set a picture that will be used when someone shares an article?
If you want to provide an image that will be used when someone clicks on the button "Like" or "Send", you have to add Open Graph image ( og:image ) tag to URI of that article. Follow next steps:
- Go to "Manage URLs"
- Find the URI of the article. If missing, create it.
- Click on "Image" that is in the slide "Open Graph Basic".
- Enter a link to the image in field "Content" and save.
To generate Open Graph image automatically, you should follow next steps:
- Enable the plugin "System - Easy Meta Tags"
- Set "Yes" for option "Open Graph Image" in the plugin "System - Easy Meta Tags"
- Open the article in "Article Manager".
- Select a picture using options "Images and Links". Easy Meta will use these pictures to generate Open Graph image tag.