If you have a WordPress blog, then there’s a good chance you use a SEO plugin. One of the more popular is AIOSEO, available in both free and paid editions. And it claims to be compatible with Divi, a popular theme and one I’ve used for years. The problem is that AIOSEO and Divi don’t quite play nicely together. Let me explain the trouble with AIOSEO’s “compatibility” with Divi.
What’s the issue?
As a general rule WordPress uses the first lines of your blog as a post excerpt. This is what shows up under the image when you share the link on social media or what you see in a search engine result. However, SEO plugins change this behavior. By default AIOSEO also uses the post excerpt in the meta description, which is what this part of your website’s appearance is called. However, if you use the Divi Builder to build your post, then instead of the first few lines, your excerpt will look like code (usually a square bracket followed by information that’s only legible to the plugin]. And this doesn’t happen just on posts, but also on pages. If you don’t pay a lot of attention to SEO, and let’s be honest, most authors are not SEO experts or even think about it. I know I didn’t until I realized this was happening and wanted to improve my search engine optimization game, then your readers will see your post appears to be gobbledygook and not want to click.
So how do you fix it? I reached out to AIOSEO’s free support through the WordPress.org forums, and they told me to uncheck a hidden setting that’s automatically checked by default and then to check and make sure my meta description said post expert. It did. And when I completed those steps, which again, the average user wouldn’t be familiar with… it still didn’t work.
How I Fixed It
Beneath the space for a featured image there is a line that says “add an excerpt”. If you click there a small box will come up. You can either type in the first 55 words of your post, which is what WordPress is use in this space if another plugin, like AIOSEO doesn’t change its behavior, or you can describe what the post is. For example, in my serial story updates which are members only, I’ll explain that the post is a serial episode and how someone can read it.
By paying attention to the excerpts in your posts and pages, your readers will have a better experience when you share this information online. Since AIOSEO is one of the more recommended SEO plugins, this is a good situation to be aware of.
