While working on a WordPress site recently, I ran into a frustrating issue: duplicate meta descriptions showing up in the source code of every page. The site was built with the famous Avada theme and using Yoast SEO — both reputable tools, but apparently not playing nicely together.
If you’re here, chances are you’re facing something similar. Here’s exactly what caused it and how I fixed it.
Table of Contents
The Issue: Two Meta Descriptions = One Confused Google
After optimizing the site content and double-checking Yoast settings, I noticed something strange when viewing the page source. Every page had two meta description tags, which is bad for SEO and could confuse search engines during indexing.
I immediately suspected a plugin conflict — but it turned out to be a theme setting.
The Culprit: Avada’s Open Graph Meta Tag Setting
Avada comes with its own built-in SEO options, including the ability to add Open Graph and meta description tags. That’s great if you’re not using a dedicated SEO plugin — but in this case, it was conflicting with Yoast, which was already generating all those tags.
As a result, both Avada and Yoast were trying to add the same meta info — leading to duplication.
The Fix: Disable Meta Tags in Avada
Here’s the quick fix that solved it for me:
- Go to your WordPress Dashboard
- Navigate to: Avada → Options → Advanced ⇒ Features,
- Find the setting: “Description and Open Graph Meta Tags”
- Switch it OFF
This tells Avada to stop injecting its own meta and Open Graph tags, allowing Yoast to take full control of the SEO output.
What I Learned
If you’re using Yoast SEO, RankMath, or another dedicated SEO plugin, always check if your theme also offers built-in SEO features. These can overlap and cause conflicts like:
- Duplicate meta tags
- Social sharing issues
- Inaccurate previews on platforms like Facebook or LinkedIn
Avoid letting multiple tools do the same job — it leads to messy code and unpredictable results.
TL;DR
- Problem: Duplicate meta descriptions showing up
- Setup: Avada theme + Yoast SEO
- Solution: Turn off “Description and Open Graph Meta Tags” in Avada SEO options
Need Help Fixing WordPress or SEO Issues Like This?
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