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metacraft

Switching from SEO Lite Pro

MetaCraft copies SEO Lite's per-entry data once, then SEO Lite can be removed. MetaCraft never edits templates or SEO Lite data, so every step can be undone until you uninstall SEO Lite.

  1. Work on a staging copy of the site and database.
  2. Configure MetaCraft first: Settings → General (title format, separator, base URL), Social, Structured data, Advanced (trailing slashes), and turn on the channels SEO Lite was used on.
  3. Dry run the import: Settings → Advanced → Import from SEO Lite…, or php system/ee/eecli.php metacraft:import-seolite (add --site=2 on other sites). This changes nothing. It lists what would be copied:
    • Conflicts: the entry already has a different MetaCraft value. MetaCraft's value is kept.
    • Skips: e.g. a canonical that isn't a valid URL.
    • Adjustments: SEO Lite titles that already end in your site name have that suffix removed. Titles that already contain your branding are imported as "exact", so the site name isn't added twice.
  4. Run the import (the CP button, or the same command with --apply). Only empty MetaCraft fields are written. Channels with imported data are enabled and get the SEO tab. Running it again is safe.
  5. Compare output side by side. Make a scratch template group with a copy of your page template, using {exp:metacraft:head} in place of {exp:seo_lite …} (this project's metacraft_test group is an example). View a few pages of each type in both versions and compare the <head> source.
  6. Swap the tag in the shared head (layout or partial): add {exp:metacraft:head} and remove {exp:seo_lite …} and any hard-coded <title>, description, canonical or og: tags.
  7. Check the Overview: it should not list any templates that may output duplicate tags.
  8. Deploy, repeat steps 3–4 on production, then (after a quiet period) uninstall SEO Lite.