Different meta tags appearing in SERP for same landing page
-
Hi all, hoping someone can help.
We have a landing page that ranks quite well for a number of keywords that send us a nice amount of organic traffic.
We understand the importance of Meta tags, as Google will be the users first interaction with our site we want to stand out and be noticed and also show we provide information on their search query.
The problem is this, while we have optimised the title and description tags for the landing page, this is only appearing on specific search results. If you were to search a different keyword, you would still get the same landing page, but the title tag and description would not pull through, it decides to pull through the page name and first few lines of text instead.
Is there anything we can do to sort this issue?
-
As always, Google thinks it knows best. What's new? lol
Good luck!
-
Thanks Ria. The strange thing is, in my opinion, the search queries it is pulling through the meta data for are probably less relevant than the search queries it isn't pulling it through for. It looks like I will have to spend some time optimising and hoping we can get it showing on Google in the next couple of days.
-
This is quite common when Google feels that the specified title and meta description isn't as relevant to the search query (or if they feel that your title and meta description is misleading and irrelevant to the page content). So although it might show your title and meta description for the majority of search queries, they might decide that they can do better and provide a more relevant title and meta description based on the user's search query. Unfortunately when it comes to this, you can't win them all. The important thing is to make sure that your title is optimised and relevant to the content that's on the page as much as possible, and that your meta description is both enticing to the user and also relevant to the content of the page. I've found that, although Google no longer use the meta description as a ranking factor, it's still important to get a couple of your page's keywords in there just to prove relevance.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Why is Google appending a different website's brand name to the end of SERP title?
I've recently been shown some SERP results where Google is appending a different website's brand name to the end of the SERP title. It's actually rewriting the brand's name to that of the other website. (This is obviously not ideal.) Why would this be? The other website doesn't even stock the same product, so there shouldn't be any confusion there. But even if it did, many websites stock the same products. Just confusing...
Branding | | Ria_1 -
Website Name Before Search String in Google SERP
I'm curious to hear whether it's better to have your company name before the Search String, or after it?When I search for Church Management Software in Google, some results place the company before the string.
Branding | | ChurchCommunityBuilder
**In attached image
(Pink Squares : Company Name)
(Blue Squares : Search String) Please indicate in your response if there is any study, experiment, or evidence to back your answer. Thanks for your help! NameOrStringNameOrString cmsSerp.jpg0 -
Ecommerce specialized portals subdomains or different domains
Hi, I am trying to decide between two different options that can affect branding and seo, I would like to hear opinions about the different options I have. Suppose that I want to open an ecommerce site for sports goods, but I want to have an specialized store for running goods. My example company name is MAZ and the country I am targetting is UK, for my general sports store I will use mazsports.co.uk, the question I have is what should I do for my "running" specialized store, every store will have a diffferent design, its own blog, its own items and its own link build campaigns. These are really different sites, but the ecommerce platform will be the same, the shopping cart could be shared and the same people working on the same warehouse will send the shipments. With this example data I see two options: Use different domains, for example for the running one, mazrunning.co.uk, using maz like the shared brand part on the domain and use a site like maz.co.uk listing the different specializations. Use subdomains for the different specializations, running.mazsports.co.uk. We will work hard to position every site, we will manage every store in its own google webmaster and analytics site, after the two initial sites (one general and one specialization) we will create a few more, maybe 5 or 6 specialized sites. In my sector people search for the specific specializations more than in general so I would not like that Google sees the running.mazsports.co.uk of the example like part of the ecommerce store mazsports.co.uk, I would like that if someone is searching for running material the site that will be shown to them is the specialized one. What should i do in this case? Thanks!
Branding | | tcruces0 -
Facebook page not appearing in search results
Could anyone give a reason as to why a facebook page wouldn't be appearing in search results? - I've setup numerous facebook Pages for businesses and they usually get indexed and start appearing in the SERPs for their respective name/brand name relatively quickly, but have a Page for a business (which has even been quite active recently) and it's nowhere to be seen in Google's results (not even on a search for the complete URL). Any thoughts appreciated, thanks. Greg
Branding | | GregDixson0 -
What EMD Meta Title should we use?
Situation: Recently I encountered a Meta Title issue for my company websites.
Branding | | TT_Vakantiehuizen
This Dutch company has four websites on one server. Three closely related EMD(Exact Match Domain) websites and one overarching website. (Holiday homes rental websites) Vakantiehuizen-Verhuur.nl (overarching)
Vakantiehuizen-Frankrijk.nl (EMD in EN: holidayrentals-France.nl)
Vakantiehuizen-Italie.nl (EMD in EN: Holidayrentals-Italy.nl)
Vakantiehuizen-Spanje.nl (EMD in EN: Holidayrentals-Spain.nl) Question:
What would be a preferable Meta Title for the EMD websites (homepage/subpages)? Keep in mind that the domains are EMD. The homepage will target the most important keywords and should not compete with subpages. Options for the homepage (translated from Dutch to English):
1. Holiday Rentals France | All holiday home rentals in France in a row!
2. Holiday Rentals France | Holidayrentals-France.nl powered by Holiday-Rentals.nl
3. Suggestions? Options for the subpages:
1. Holiday Rentals Normandy | Holidayrentals France
2. Holiday Rentals Normandy | Holidayrentals-France.nl
3. Suggestions? And concerning the keywords in the beginning; is it wise to use both plural and singular terms in the meta title? For Example:
Hotel New York. Best hotels in New York | Company Name0 -
Google Plus for Businesses - Should I add users to Company's Circles (branded page)?
Hi All, I know (or think I know) that one of the easiest ways to gain followers for my brand on G plus is to add people to our company's circles. Naturally, they often add you back. However, what does it mean to people who watch my brand (my G Plus page), the fact that I'm following thousands of people? Should I do it? How does it reflect on us?
Branding | | BeytzNet
Is there a better way to gain followers (specifically for G Plus)? P.S
We obviously have the badge on site but we hardly gain followers that way. Thanks0 -
Two domains for different countries? or one big domain with folders?
I know this might sound as a newbie question or maybe not, here it goes. I've had a client for the past 2 years, and we have accomplish many good things for his local website .com.ve (venezuela). It's been so good that he is opening a branch in Dominican republic .com.do. The content, strategy and even the services are exactly the same, but the owner wants to have different site for each country. Of course he only wants to pay for one domain. I do want to share our success ont the .com.ve with the other domains and he actually owns the "global" domain .com with his brand name. So, what should I reccomend... Develop a second site and start from scratch? Migrate my blog from the .com.ve site to the .com site and give each country a separate folder? /ve /do?. What it's the best scenario for me to have all the traffic we have earned transfer to the global brand and to have separate info for each country... Thank you so much for your answer that I kno would be great. Dan
Branding | | daniel.alvarez0 -
Can anything be done for a single brand page on a corporate site?
I was asked by a friend if there was anyway I could help promote the watch brand that they are responsible for. The brand has only one page on the corporate site. http://gevrilgroup.com/fortis-watches/ My first reaction is that this is impossible to do without creating a stand alone web site and then doing some super cool marketing to get your brand noticed out of the sea of watch manufacturers. My second gut reaction is to stand clear of this request and not get myself tangled in something that will require a lot of resources for someone on a low budget. Any suggestions?
Branding | | irvingw0