Beginners Guide to Social Networks Settings for Twitter

Are you looking to get started with the Social Networks features in All in One SEO?

This beginners guide will walk you through the simple steps to use these features for Twitter.

Tutorial Video

Why Use the Social Networks Features?

These days a good presence on social media is just as important as a good presence on search engines.

You maintain this presence using your own Twitter profile, but also through Tweet buttons on your website where visitors can share your content on their Twitter profile.

When your content is shared on Twitter, it may be displayed with a title, description and an image like the example below.

Example of a post shared on Twitter

Your goal is to attract the attention of people as they scroll through their Twitter feed and get them to click on your content and visit your site.

The Social Networks features in All in One SEO mean you can control how your content looks on Twitter, increasing the likelihood that people will see your content and click through to your site.

Now that we know why it’s important, let’s look at how we use All in One SEO to control how our content appears on Twitter.

Enabling Twitter Settings

To get started, click on Social Networks in the All in One SEO menu and then click on the Twitter tab.

Social Networks menu item in All in One SEO

The first setting you’ll see is Enable Twitter Cards. Make sure this is enabled.

Enable Twitter Cards toggle in Twitter Setting

Twitter Card Types

Next, we’ll set the Card Type for our content. Twitter uses this to determine the appearance of your content when it’s shared.

Follow these instructions for Setting the Default Twitter Card Type.

Twitter Image Settings

Next, we’re going to choose which image is used when your content is shared on Twitter. Follow these instructions for Setting the Twitter Image Source.

Once you’ve done that, you can set a default Twitter image which will be used as a fall back if no other image is set. Follow these instructions for Setting the Default Twitter Image.

Home Page Settings for Twitter

Now we’re going to move on to setting the title, description, image and card type for your homepage.

Where you set this will depend on whether your homepage is set to display your latest posts, or is set to a static page. If you’re not sure, just go to Settings » Reading on your site and check the Your homepage displays setting.

If your homepage displays your latest posts, then follow these instructions for Setting the Twitter Social Meta When Your Homepage Displays Your Latest Posts.

If your homepage displays a static page, then follow these instructions for Setting the Twitter Social Meta When Your Homepage Displays a Static Page.

Individual Page/Post Settings

Now that we’ve set the Twitter settings for the homepage, let’s set the title, description and image for an individual post or page.

Follow these instructions for Configuring the Twitter Settings for Your Content.

Are you looking to get started with the Social Networks features in All in One SEO?

This beginners guide will walk you through the simple steps to use these features for Twitter.

Why Use the Social Networks Features?

These days a good presence on social media is just as important as a good presence on search engines.

You maintain this presence using your own Twitter profile, but also through Tweet buttons on your website where visitors can share your content on their Twitter profile.

When your content is shared on Twitter, it may be displayed with a title, description and an image like the example below.

Example of a post shared on Twitter

Your goal is to attract the attention of people as they scroll through their Twitter feed and get them to click on your content and visit your site.

The Social Networks features in All in One SEO mean you can control how your content looks on Twitter, increasing the likelihood that people will see your content and click through to your site.

Now that we know why it's important, let's look at how we use All in One SEO to control how our content appears on Twitter.

Home Page Settings for Twitter

To get started, click on Social Meta in the All in One SEO menu. You'll see that Home Page Settings is the first section.

If you want to use the SEO title and description you've set under All in One SEO » General Settings » Home Page Settings then you can enable the Use AIOSEO Title and Description setting by checking the checkbox. This will hide the Home Title and Home Description fields.

The first field we're going to complete is the Site Name field. Type the name of your site or business in this field.

Next, let's set the title that will appear when your homepage is shared on Twitter. Enter the title for your homepage in the Home Title field.

Next we'll set the description. Enter the description for your homepage in the Home Description field.

Finally, we're going to set an image in the Home Image field that will appear in Twitter when your homepage is shared.

To set your image, click on the Upload Image button and upload an image, or choose an image from your Media Library.

You can also type or paste the URL for an image into the Home Image field.

Twitter Image Settings

Next, we’re going to choose which image is used when your content is shared on Twitter. Follow these instructions for Setting the Twitter Image Source.

Once you've done that, you can set a default Twitter image which will be used as a fall back if no other image is set. Follow these instructions for Setting the Default Twitter Image.

Enable Twitter for Post Types

Next, we'll choose which content we want to use All in One SEO to set the Twitter meta for. Use the check boxes in the Enable Facebook Meta for Post Types setting to choose which content you want to enable Twitter meta for. This setting applies to both Facebook and Twitter.

Twitter Card Type

Next, we'll set the Card Type for our content. Twitter uses this to determine the appearance of your content when it's shared.

Follow these instructions for Setting the Default Twitter Card Type.

Individual Page/Post Settings

Now that we've set the general Twitter settings and the settings for the homepage, let's set the title, description and image for individual post or page.

When you edit a post or page and scroll down to the All in One SEO section and click on the Social Settings tab.

In the Title field, enter the title you want to appear when this post or page is shared on Twitter. If you don't specify a title then All in One SEO will use the SEO title you set on the Main Settings tab of this All in One SEO box. If you haven’t set an SEO title then All in One SEO will use the title of the post or page.

In the Description field, enter the description you want to appear when this post or page is shared on Twitter. If you don't specify a description then All in One SEO will use the SEO description you set on the Main Settings tab of this All in One SEO box.  If you haven’t set an SEO description then All in One SEO will use the Post Excerpt, or the first 1000 characters of the post content if there is no Post Excerpt.

You can use the Custom Twitter Image field to upload an image you want to appear when this post or page is shared on Twitter. You can also paste the URL for an image into the field.

You can use the Twitter Card Type drop down to select a different Card Type for this post or page. This will override the setting in the main Social Meta settings.

That's all! You can now share your post or page on Twitter and it should use the title, description and image you've set.