Smart Excerpts

smart-excerpts

<?php
/*
 * This asks first for a Yoast SEO meta description,
 * If that's not present, then it asks for the excerpt of the post,
 * If that's not present, then it strips the content 
 * In this case, I have an excerpt length setting in the Customizer
 * Both the excerpt and content stripping, also strip shortcodes
 * @author       Matt Cromwell <reachme@mattcromwell.com>
 * @copyright    Copyright (c) 2014, Matt Cromwell
 * @license      http://opensource.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.php GNU Public License
 */
   
//Definitions
$yoastdesc = get_post_meta(get_the_ID(), '_yoast_wpseo_metadesc', true);
$excerptlength = get_theme_mod('excerpt_length', 25);
$excerpt = get_the_excerpt();
$content = get_the_content();
$screenreader = '<a href="' . get_permalink() . '"><span class="screen-reader-text">' . get_the_title( ) . '</span>Read More &hellip;</a>';

//Check for Yoast meta description first					
if(!empty($yoastdesc)) {
	
	//Trim it according the the excerpt length and include Twenty Fifteen's screenreader markup
	$trimyoast = wp_trim_words($yoastdesc, $excerptlength, $screenreader);
	echo $trimyoast;
	
	//If that fails, check for a manual excerpt
	} elseif(has_excerpt() == true) {
		
		//Trim that according to the excerpt length 
		//and include Twenty Fifteen's screenreader markup
		$trimexcerpt = wp_trim_words( $excerpt , $excerptlength, $screenreader  );
		
		//There's almost no chance there's shortcodes in there, 
		//but let's be careful and strip 'em out anyway
		echo strip_shortcodes($trimexcerpt); 
	
	//If both of those fail, grab the content of the post itself	
	} else {
		//Trim the content according to the excerpt length 
		//and include Twenty Fifteen's screenreader markup
		$trimmed_content = wp_trim_words( $content, $excerptlength, $screenreader );
		
		//Shortcodes are VERY likely here, so strip 'em out
		echo strip_shortcodes($trimmed_content);						
	}
?>

Hi @swissspidy,

Not sure why I just saw this comment, sorry for the multiple-month-long delay!

The idea is that I want to make sure the BEST excerpt is used whenever possible. In my workflow (and many writers/bloggers I know) they curate the Yoast Meta Description very carefully, which most often means it's the best description of what the post is about. So, if there is a Meta Description, that should appear as the excerpt in my archive page.

This whole script is used in my 2015 child theme, where I've added settings to set the excerpt length to whatever you like, that's why the $excerptlength is there, it pulls that word count from the settings in the Customizer.

Lastly, the screen-reader-text is markup from TwentyFifteen. I haven't tested it fully, but it's intended to make the excerpts more accessible for screenreaders.

Most of this is explained in far better detail in my article I wrote up about this:
https://www.mattcromwell.com/smart-excerpts-in-wordpress-themes/

I will say additionally that I just today stumbled on the wp_html_excerpt function, which will allow me to replace wp_trim_words completely and will be much cleaner. Just not sure when I'll implement that exactly yet...