Is there a way to extend the Meta Keyword field as it seems to be cutting off after 255 chars?

Hi Bod

Not really. The column type of MetaKeywords in MySQL is varchar, which has a 255 character limit.
Extending would mean changing the column type = messing around with core files.

Personally, I don't rate the importance of meta keywords too highly, so I wouldn't go out of my way trying to increase the field length, but that is just me :)

Well I have one p*ssed off client and to be honest I don't blame him, keywords have their place, admittedly not as important as they once were but still....limiting the field to a 255 VarChar is just plain daft, sigh. Yet more SS nonsense...getting to the end of my patience with some of these 'features' tbh....

You could create your own Text field in Page.php then include in with the relevant tags around it in the Head of the template, then use is as an alternative to the built in meta-tags.

Seems in 2.3 the best way to achieve a more verbose keyword structure is to keep the keyword field blank and just input the keyword Meta tag plus keywords into the Custom Meta Tags Field instead.

Shame no one from SS saw this post in time to reply with that suggestion, but that's the answer that offers the least pain and remains unaffected by future upgrades or patches (unless the Custom function gets dropped in a future edition that is) for now until the keyword field VarChar is changed.

I'm running into this problem as well. My client spent a good amount of time inputting keywords, only to find out it removed all but 255 characters after he saved the page. This seems like something that was overlooked by the SilverStripe team. This field should have a Text datatype. It's obvious this field type was the original intention because of the large size of the textarea.

This seems like something that was overlooked by the SilverStripe team..

Well apart from reading this thread I would have thought MetaKeywords greater then 255 characters was an edge case rather then the norm?. Maybe I just haven't cared too much for SEO to worry about it

Ok so lets improve on what we have currently but deciding the best way to go about this -

a) Make it a Text Field - would result in a (small) DB overhead for a (small?) group of users benefit. Is > 255 really needed for everysite or is it just this one.

b) Make the MetaKeywords box smaller to convey they should only have 255. No need for a DB table change. Will stop confusion, give a user a good indication.

c) Leave it as it is.

I think making it a Text DBField is worth any tiny tiny DB overhead. What do you guys think? If no complaints then I will change it for the next 2.4 release.

Hi Willr,

I think it would be a good call if it's do-able, a lot of sites I come across would use a keyword range larger than 255 chars. I stick to around 500 ish myself (maybe a bit more for meta desc) with our own CMS's with a small js count down script so clients know when they are getting to the end and not wishing to brag but our clients enjoy a good rating in G & Y and verbose keywords would be just one (small but investable) part of a comprehensive approach to SEO we take.