public function prepareMetaDescriptionForPersist($meta_description="", $excerpt)
    {
        if ($meta_description == "") return $excerpt;

        $meta_description = html_entity_decode($meta_description);
        $meta_description = strip_tags($meta_description);
        $meta_description = filter_var($meta_description, FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING);

        // remove the encoded blank chars
        $meta_description = str_replace("\xc2\xa0",'',$meta_description);

        $meta_description = trim($meta_description);
        return $meta_description;
    }