Does Google still use Meta descriptions?
-
I've noticed that Google is not using my Meta description in the SERP results but rather text from my page, it seems to be a similar situation with a couple of the other sites in the same search results. Does anyone know why this would be?
-
Hi there!
<dl>
<dd>Google will not always show your meta description, the likelihood of your meta description appearing in the search results increases incredibly when your meta description contains the sought for keyword though, which is why the focus keyword functionality checks for the appearance of the focus keyword in the description.</dd>
</dl>
Google’s own Matt Cutts put together a great video that dissects how snippets work and how they pull from various parts of the page when they deem it necessary.
More on this topic here: https://moz.com/blog/why-wont-google-use-my-meta-description
-
Hi there
Piggybacking a bit on Logan's response here - while not a ranking factor, I would make sure that if you do utilize meta descriptions (which I recommend), make sure you're enticing searcher's to click through and using it as a "first point of sale". If you have a great meta description that not only speaks to the content but also speak to the searcher's intent. Doing so will do wonders.
Hope this helps as well! Good luck!
Patrick -
Thank you that's really helpful I think in this case it may be too short so will review them.
-
When Google overrides your title tag or meta description, it usually means they don't think what you've provided will be useful for the reader. It could be over-optimized, keyword stuffed, too long, too short, or not relevant to the content on the page. I'd recommend going back through your descriptions and making some adjustments to see if they'll update what shows in search results.
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
-
Google Six Pack Meta Descriptions
Anyone know of some good resources on the way to control the meta descriptions in the Google six pack for a branded search. Google appears to often bypass the meta description and pull random text from the page. We have tested this by adding the brand name to the meta description and this appears to help but doesn't always sort the issue. You often get the same results with the site comand. It not really an SEO issue more a branding one. Anyone get any ideas or resources they can point me at?
Technical SEO | | highwayfive0 -
Google + and Google Knoladge Graph
I am trying to get things to match up for the company brand websearch and the Google + page and we have had it for years now The knowledge graph on Google is showing the map, address and name (shown in attached image), but is not linked to a G+ page, as when i click the "Are you the business owner?" its is trying to make me create a new G+ business page. Anyone have any ideas on this? Also does the wiki name have to be exact for it to show? As for phone number would that be coming from the DNS record as that is nowhere in the markup rich snippet or normal markup Thanks in advance LC9cWdG
Technical SEO | | David-McGawn0 -
Website is not indexed in Google
Hi Guys, I have a problem with a website from a customer. His website is not indexed in Google (except for the homepage). I could not find anything that can possibly be the cause. I already checked the robots.txt, sitemap, and plugins on the website. In the HTML code i also couldn't find anything which makes indexing harder than usual. This is the website i am talking about: http://www.xxxx.nl/ (Dutch) The only thing that i am guessing now is the Google sandbox, but even that is quite unlikely. I hope you guys discover something i could not find! Thanks in advance 🙂
Technical SEO | | B.Great0 -
How do I get out of google bomb?
Hi all, I have a website named bijouxroom.com; and I was in the 7th page for the search term takı in google; and 2nd page for online takı. Now, I see that in one day my results seem to be on the 13th and 10th page in google respectively. I made too much anchor text for takı and online takı. What shall I do to gain my positions back? Thanks in advance. Regards,
Technical SEO | | ozererim0 -
Nofollow links appear to be still included in SEOMOZ crawl and Google
I have added the nofollow tag to links throughout my site to hide duplicate content from Google but these pages are still being shown in my SEOMOZ crawl. I also fetched an example page with the Googlebot within Webmaster tools and it showed all nofollow links. An example is http://www.adventurepeaks.com/news All News tags have nofollow but each tag is appearing in my SEOMOZ crawl report as duplicate content. Any suggestions on whether this is a problem or if i have applied the tag incorrectly? Many thanks in advance
Technical SEO | | adventure340 -
Is it ok to just use the end of the url when using a Rel Cononical Link?
Hi, I am working with an account and the previous SEO used a Rel Canonical link that just uses the end of the url. Instead of the full url When I look it up on the web I see most people are using the full url. Is that the proper way to do it or does is suffice to just use the end of the url? Wanted to check before I take the time to change them all. -Kent
Technical SEO | | KentH0 -
How do you add a description to the Meta Description area to Tag Pages in Wordpress? This way I do not get the errors: "Missing Meta Description Tag" from SEOMoz Bot? Thanks!
I tried to add descriptions to my tags in Wordpress (well actually one to test), but I still keep getting the "Missing Meta Description Tag" error. Any suggestions on how to fix this in Wordpress? Thanks!
Technical SEO | | jhblogger0