Meta descriptions
-
Hi,
I have placed meta descriptions in a CMS for a client and afterwards checked with the SeoMoz tool "Page elements" that these are embedded correctly. However when checking the SERP for certain pages Google has "composed" the listing from other content than the meta description. What may be the reason, and how to avoid this?
-
True. I've even seem some instances of anchor text being used in descriptions.
-
Det kan hjelpe
But yeah, if it's a decent description (and you seem to be happy with it) I'd look elsewhere for problems first.
-
Hi, there is a DMOZ listing so I could check that, thanks!
-
hi, I'd have to check with the client, but anyway it is in Norwegian so it would probably not help you much! But, the pages in question are not thin on content and are decisively on-topic.
-
Hi Damien,
Not a double post just because I got there first
Would always encourage people to chime in with their own opinions even if it just confirms what was said.
It can help the asker know if an answer is good advice or not
-
Can you post us the URL or is it confidential? It'd be nice to have a look
-
The code I've suggested will only help if it's pulling the description from DMOZ or the Yahoo Directory. Do you have a listing in either? If so is it the same as what is showing?
Even if you do have a listing it doesn't necessarily mean that's where it's getting it from.
As I say, if you've just made the change, wait for a week or so and if your description is long then make it fit into a normal SERPs length snippet.
However it may be that you can't actually do anything to change Google's mind on what it shows for that search term (you may also find the snippet is different depending on what is searched for).
-
hi, thanks but the search to test this was with using the same keywords used for the title-tag and in the meta description and on-site content, so I'm ruling out lack of relevancy here.
-
hi, thanks! The meta description is based on kw research and on page content so relevancy cannot be the issue. Probably they are not using meta-robots and they need to place the code you suggested...?
-
Sorry for double-post! ha
-
Hey,
If you're description isn't as relevant to the keyword you've used to search for your site then search engines may decide to put something more relevant in the description that it has pulled off the page.
To remedy this try and rewrite your description to be more relevant to your targeted keyword.
Hope this helps
DD
-
First give it at least a week or so to update, it doesn't happen immediately.
But, yeah, Google does that sometimes if it finds a chunk of text it thinks is more relevant to the users' search. I've seen this mostly happen on pages with very little text content (image or video heavy pages say) but sometimes it's just because it doesn't think your description is relevant to your page.
I assume that it's from the page and not your DMOZ or YDIR description (if it is either of those add or to your pages). Very small possibility if you've added a different description to a lot of other directories it's being picked up there.
Not too much you can do about it if none of these. Make sure your description is accurate and if it's more than 150 characters try to bring it in under that.
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
-
Meta keywords
should every site have meta keywords or is this not used anymore? I don't use yoast and prefer rank math but there is nowhere to insert it. when I look at moz bar it shows meta keywords as a field so maybe it is important...
On-Page Optimization | | Mosaj0 -
Should I include my company entity in meta description? (for ex. LLC. Inc.)
I'm re-writing my meta descriptions. I'm wondering if I should include the My Company, LLC. in the description or just My Company. Taking out the entity would save about 4 characters.
On-Page Optimization | | IcarusSEO1 -
Meta symbols
Hi Mozzers, Which symbol do you prefer "-" or " | " (Hello Mozzers - Question or Hello Mozzers | Question)? Does it ever matter? Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | AcroSEO0 -
Moz shows page has no meta description but it does
Hi We recently worked on optimising one of our product pages, we created a new meta description, new unique content and a ensured it was optimised for our keyword. Despite all of this its ranking is still significantly lower than competitors eventhough the page authority is as good as theirs. I have just noticed that Moz crawl diagnostics is showing it up as having no meta description - but it does! when you check the source you see:http-equiv="description" content="Buy the robust and reliable Canon imageRUNNER 2525 from Copyfaxes. Learn more about the Canon 2525 before you buy." /> The page is: http://copyfaxes.com/product/2552/Canon-ImageRunner-2525-Digital-Copier I would appreciate any ideas.
On-Page Optimization | | copyfaxes10 -
Will changing order of bullet points in product descriptions add some uniqueness?
We write our own unique product descriptions and have a unique product video for each color variation and multiple unique product images and display seperate user reviews per color variation. We prefer to have seperate product pages for each color variation for several reasons (targeting color searches and user experience seeing all color variations when browsing category pages). Product descriptions of color variations are quite similar.
On-Page Optimization | | lcourse
I was thinking about spinning dynamically order how bullet points of product descriptions are presented to add some more uniqueness. I am not expecting a massive impact, but do you think this increases a bit googles perception of page uniqueness?0 -
Writing Service/Product Descriptions
Hi, I work for a site that allows people to book a variety of different services in different locations (mainly hair and beauty related). The site is still in development so I can't link to it I'm afraid. My colleague is about to start writing these descriptions for each of the beauty salons we have signed up and I thought I'd take the opportunity to check what everyone else thought about these descriptions. As far as I'm concerned, a near perfect example can be found at http://www.toptable.co.uk/fishers-in-the-city We have about 100 words at the most, so I was thinking that as long as we get in the name of the salon, the location (being more descriptive than the general area our services search function allows for) and the USP of each salon - their specialty services. Is there anything else you'd include? Foremost, I want this to be as descriptive as possible to offer more detailed information about the salon. Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | LeahHutcheon0 -
I do not want all my META descriptions to be unique.
Hi, I have maybe 20 categories (new) that I really like to have the same Meta description for all of them. The category names call out the use of their respective products. but, all of these categories are related to a much bigger global initiative. I don't have enough space in the title to discuss the individual terms as well as the broader project, so I would like the META to say something like "Products related to <this thing="" my="" customers="" care="" about="">from</this> However, I am extremely paranoid about adding 20-25 meta descriptions that are identical, because Google. Am I overthinking this and being paranoid about Panguin and Penda?
On-Page Optimization | | reallygoodstuff0 -
Meta keywords and meta news keywords
I've got a question regarding this. So normally Meta keywords it is not relevant and we shouldn't use them, however there are opinions that we can use them as these are signals for other Search Engines. Meta news keywords - are ok to be used in the news sites. what is your opinion on using both of them on a news site? Can this help, or harm? thanks, Irina
On-Page Optimization | | InformMedia0