Social Meta Pro Documentation

• Professional Open Graph metadata for Facebook and other platforms
• X Cards support
• Pinterest helper metadata
• Schema.org JSON-LD structured data for Joomla! articles
• Article-level metadata override support through custom fields
• Global fallback image and social image controls
• Category-based metadata rules
• Canonical URL support
• Robots meta control
• JSON import/export for portable settings
• JoomTheme license activation
• Licensed Joomla! update support

Social Meta Pro is built for:

• Joomla! 6.x
• PHP version supported by Joomla 6
• Joomla! article pages using com_content
• A valid JoomTheme license for updates and support

1. Log in to your Joomla! administrator panel.
2. Go to System → Install → Extensions.
3. Upload the Social Meta Pro ZIP package.
4. After installation, go to System → Manage → Plugins.
5. Search for System - Social Meta Pro.
6. Open the plugin.
7. Set Status to Enabled.
8. Configure the plugin options.
9. Click Save & Close.

For a basic setup:

1. Enable the plugin.
2. Keep Overwrite existing social meta tags enabled if you want Social Meta Pro to control the output.
3. Enable Add canonical link.
4. Enable Use first article image as fallback.
5. Enable Generate X/Twitter tags.
6. Enable Generate Schema.org JSON-LD.
7. Set a global fallback image if your articles may not always have images.
8. Activate your license from the License tab.
9. Save the plugin.

After saving, open an article page on the frontend and check the page source to confirm that social metadata and structured data are being generated.

The Plugin tab contains the main metadata behavior settings.

Overwrite existing social meta tags

When enabled, Social Meta Pro can replace existing social metadata generated by the template or another extension. This helps avoid duplicate or conflicting Open Graph and social tags.

Add canonical link

Adds a canonical URL tag to article pages. Canonical links help search engines understand the preferred URL for the current content.

Use first article image as fallback

When enabled, Social Meta Pro can use the first available Joomla article image as the social sharing image if no custom social image is defined.

Social description maximum length

Controls the maximum length of the generated social description. A common value is around 220 characters.

Site name override

Allows you to define a custom site name for social metadata output. If left empty, the Joomla site name can be used.

Default fallback image

Defines a fallback image used when no article image or custom social image is available.

The Advanced SEO tab provides extra control over title, description and robots metadata.

Custom field for SEO title

Enter the name of a Joomla custom field that should be used as the SEO/social title override.

Custom field for SEO description

Enter the name of a Joomla custom field that should be used as the SEO/social description override.

Robots meta

Controls the robots meta output for article pages. You can use the default setting or define specific robots behavior.

Open Graph type

Defines the Open Graph content type. For Joomla article pages, article is usually the recommended value.

The Social platforms tab controls metadata for X, Facebook and Pinterest.

Generate X/Twitter tags

Enables X Cards metadata output.

X/Twitter card type

Controls the X Card type. The automatic option allows the plugin to choose an appropriate card type based on available content and images.

X/Twitter site account

Enter your website or brand X account, for example:

@joomtheme

X/Twitter creator account

Enter the content creator account if different from the site account.

Facebook App ID

Optional Facebook App ID value for Open Graph metadata.

Facebook admins

Optional Facebook admin ID value.

Generate Pinterest helper tags

Enables optional Pinterest helper metadata for better Pinterest compatibility.

The Schema.org tab controls JSON-LD structured data output.

Generate Schema.org JSON-LD

Enables Schema.org structured data generation for Joomla article pages.

Schema type

Choose the structured data type. Common options include:

Article
NewsArticle
BlogPosting

Publisher name

Defines the publisher name used in structured data.

Publisher logo

Defines the publisher logo used in Schema.org JSON-LD output.

Recommended logo format:

PNG or SVG
Clear background
Readable at small size
Publicly accessible URL

The Images tab controls how Social Meta Pro selects images for social previews.

Custom field for social image

Enter the name of a Joomla custom field that should be used as the social sharing image override.

Image priority

Controls the order used to select the social image. For example, the plugin can use Joomla article images first, then fallback images.

Global image override

Defines a global image that can override other image sources when needed.

Recommended social image size:

1200 x 630 px

This size works well for Facebook, LinkedIn and many other platforms that read Open Graph metadata.

The Category rules tab allows you to create metadata rules based on Joomla article categories.

You can define category-specific values such as:

• Category
• Title suffix
• Category default image
• Schema type
• X/Twitter card type
• Open Graph type
• Robots meta

This is useful when different sections of your website need different social metadata behavior.

Example use cases:

• Blog articles use BlogPosting
• News articles use NewsArticle
• Documentation pages use Article
• A specific category uses a custom default image
• A category uses a custom title suffix

The Import / Export tab allows you to copy plugin settings between Joomla websites using JSON.

Settings JSON override

Paste a valid JSON object to override plugin settings at runtime.

Example:

{
  "twitter_site": "@joomtheme",
  "schema_type": "NewsArticle"
}

This feature is useful for:

• Moving configuration between sites
• Reusing setup presets
• Backing up plugin settings
• Maintaining similar metadata rules across multiple Joomla installations

The License tab is used to activate your JoomTheme license.

License key

Enter your JoomTheme license key.

Purchase email

Enter the email address used during purchase.

Activate License

Activates the license for the current website domain.

Verify License

Checks the current license status.

Deactivate License

Use this before moving the license to another website.

The license panel shows:

• License status
• Current domain
• Support expiration date
• Updates expiration date
• Site URL
• Last checked time

A valid license is required for licensed updates and support.

When your license is active, Joomla can detect available updates through the Joomla Extensions Update system.

To check for updates:

1. Go to System → Update → Extensions.
2. Click Clear Cache if needed.
3. Click Check for Updates.
4. If an update is available, select it and install.

If the update appears but download fails, check:

• License is active
• Purchase email is correct
• Updates period is still valid
• The plugin is enabled
• The site can connect to the update server

For most Joomla websites, this setup is a good starting point:

Overwrite existing social meta tags: Yes
Add canonical link: Yes
Use first article image as fallback: Yes
Social description maximum length: 220
Open Graph type: article
Generate X/Twitter tags: Yes
X/Twitter card type: Automatic
Generate Pinterest helper tags: Optional
Generate Schema.org JSON-LD: Yes
Schema type: Article
Image priority: Joomla article images first

After configuring the plugin, open an article page on your website and inspect the page source.

You should see metadata similar to:

<meta property="og:title" content="Article title">
<meta property="og:description" content="Article description">
<meta property="og:image" content="https://example.com/images/article-image.jpg">
<meta property="og:type" content="article">
<meta name="twitter:card" content="summary_large_image">
<script type="application/ld+json">

You can also test your pages using platform preview/debug tools for Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest and X.

Metadata does not appear

Check that:

• The plugin is enabled
• The page is a Joomla article page
• The article has valid title and description data
• Another extension or template is not removing metadata
• Plugin ordering is correct
• Duplicate metadata appears

Enable:

Overwrite existing social meta tags

If duplicate tags still appear, another extension or template may be generating metadata after Social Meta Pro.

Social image is missing

Check that:

• The article has an image
• A fallback image is configured
• The image URL is publicly accessible
• The image path does not point to a protected admin area
• The image file exists on the server

License activation fails

Check that:

• The license key is correct
• The purchase email is correct
• The plugin is enabled
• Your website can connect to the JoomTheme license server
• The license has not already been activated on another domain
• Update does not appear

Check that:

• The installed version is lower than the available version
• The license is active
• Joomla update cache has been cleared
• The update server is enabled in Joomla
• Your site can reach the update server