Google Local Result - wrong decription
-
A client's description in their Google Places result is incorrect. It looks as though it may have been cached several months ago with incorrect data.
Note: By description I am referring to the text that appears directly under the URL and directly above the "places page" link on a results page, not the local listing "description".
Any suggestions as to how this can be fixed? All the information on their local page is correct. The website's meta-description is correct. The organic results listing has the correct description. Any tips would be awesome.
Thanks,
Jason -
Under normal circumstances, the meta descriptions will change quite dynamically as Google crawls your site. It also changes dynamically depending on the query.
But, I've head and read that in certain Google local searches, you can throw these expectations out the window. I found this especially disheartening thread over at Google Places support forum where other users are experiencing similar frustrations.
Apparently Google Local caches their snippets differently, and at this time there seems to be no valid solution for correcting it.
If anyone stumbling upon this thread has come across a solution, please share in the comments.
-
Thanks Miriam - any further tips would be greatly appreciated.
-
Hi Jason,
If that is the source of the snippet, then the business is more or less stuck with waiting for Google to update its cache. How frequently Google does this for a given site is dependent on many factors. I'm the Local SEO Associate here in Q&A but I'm going to ask one of our excellent traditional SEOs to stop by to speak to you about the cache. Hang in there!
Miriam
-
Can you send me a private message with your url and the description you keep getting?
-
By incorrect, I mean that the content has the wrong information about the business. It looks like it is serving up a very old meta description tag.
-
I believe it is pulling in an old description meta tag that was on the homepage months ago. The description tag was updated ages ago - though I can't seem to get Google to re-cache it....
-
That's the description of my super ugly website lol. Anyway, that description was pulled from my website, and I've only been able to get text from my website to be generated there. Is there someplace on your website that would be issuing the content that you don't like? My header, which I've requested my developer change for a long time, gets pulled in every so often. It reads something like:
Cars, Trucks, Vehicles, Chevy, Toyota, Bozeman Cars, Bozeman Trucks
I would open up your code, and try do a search for some of the words you are looking for. You might find it hidden somewhere.
-
Hi Jason,
Thank you for coming to Q&A to ask your question. Can you please define precisely what you mean by 'incorrect'? It doesn't match what?
At any rate, first step for you is to do a search in the Google for the text of the description to see if you can find out where it is coming from (someplace on the site, from a third party site) etc. Google takes its text from more than one place, so discovering the origin of what you are seeing is going to be your first move. Please come back and update us on what you find.
Miriam
-
Yes, the text in the circled area is the text I need to update. Thanks for posting the image.
-
Do you mean the area circled in the file I attached?
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
-
Best way to manage multiple Google My Business accounts as a marketing agency?
As marketing agency we have for each client a Google My Business account. This means that we have more than 100 Google My Business accounts. We know that GA has a limit of 100 analytics accounts (free version), but is there a limit in Google My Business too? For now, we have created multiple accounts that own different Google My Business accounts of our clients. Can I just change all the different e-mail accounts of our marketing agency and change it to one? So we can manage all the Google My Business accounts of our clients in one e-mail account?
Image & Video Optimization | | conversal0 -
Blocking Google From Accessing Our Images - SEO Impact
We recently discovered that we were blocking Google from crawling our cdn, cdn.yournextshoes.com, where all our images are hosted. Unfortunately this went on for several months, and I wonder if this could explain our horrible SEO performance. Basically, I would like to know if this has impacted just our performance in Google Images (obviously our images have not been picked up by Google Images), or if our regular SEO has been impacted as well.Right now we're just receiving around 13% of our traffic from search, so we're trying to find out why Google does not like us.
Image & Video Optimization | | Jantaro0 -
Thoughts on Google's New NAP Dispaly on Google+ Local
Hi, Do you think ACTION needs to happen based on Google's new NAP formatting change? They are changing Suite or STE to #. So for example 265 Racine Dr #100 Wilmington, NC 28403 Even if you enter in Suite they change it to pound. I am wondering the thoughts of the community of the following: 1. Do you think Google knows that STE, Suite, and # are all the same 2. Do you feel that we need to change ALL online local business listings and our website to match this change. 3. Here is the letter from Google on the matter FROM GOOGLE: Thanks for informing us about your address appearing differently on your local Google+ page than it does on your dashboard. After looking further, we've determined that 240 Stockton St #300 San Francisco, CA 94108 is an appropriate way for your listing to be displayed. Note that the address on your page might be different from what you've input into your dashboard. Our processes might alter user-input addresses to make them more standardized and easier for users to access. Thanks for understanding. Best, Nathan
Image & Video Optimization | | WebBizIdeas
The Google Team0 -
Local SEO: Google Places and Google+
Hello, I'm a little confused by Google+ for business. I set up a Google Places page in 2010 and recently changed my address to incorporate my suite number and to spell out "Street" instead of abbreviating. I'm planning on carefully changing all citations to match. Next I started a Google+ page for my business. But I couldn't fill out the address and ended up requesting a postcard for verification to continue. The postcard was sent to the right address but no suite number. I'll still get the postcard, but I can't finish my page yet. Also, I don't know if I have to re-verify my Places page with the slight changes. Am I on the right track?
Image & Video Optimization | | BobGW0 -
Practice Name vs. Dr. Name in Local Search
I wanted to get some opinions on an interesting situation for local search. Many doctors and dentists are found in one of two ways online: Their name and title, e.g. Dr. James A. Smith, MD Their practice name, e.g Smith Plastic Surgery, P.C Often sites like Healthgrades are providing data on the doctor him or herself, and the information can be tough to switch out. At the same time, there's a tendancy on the Dr's part to want to be listed as their practice name. Their site is often set up that way. How are you handling this kind of setup? Have you found a way to reliably associate (and format) a practice and doctor's name in a listing, in such a way that doesn't violate Google's quality guidelines? I know the drill for handling a doctor within a hospital, but this is a slightly different situation...
Image & Video Optimization | | BedeFahey0 -
Local Seo Help!
Hi everyone, Google Places is going to be the death of me. I have asked a few questions on this topic before but nothing seems to work. Here are some of my problems/concerns: It keeps deleting my description!? Have you seen this before? The "more about this place" section has not been updated since I claimed the listing over 3 months ago. The website it lists at the top of that section is our old website address which no longer works. The site was through a site builder and the company will not forward the domain to the new site. Are there any companies or services that can help build a great profile and help increase my rankings? I am starting to think this is over my head. Do I delete the page and start over? Any advice? Please! Company Website: http://www.petmedicalcenter.com Google Places: http://maps.google.com/maps/place?hl=en&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.&biw=1523&bih=863&um=1&ie=UTF-8&q=pet+medical+center+of+las+vegas&fb=1&gl=us&hq=pet+medical+center+of&hnear=0x80beb782a4f57dd1:0x3accd5e6d5b379a3,Las+Vegas,+NV&cid=13431404354265657899&ei=EQolTpqREdSlsQKMlPXXCw&sa=X&oi=local_result&ct=placepage-link&resnum=1&ved=0CCMQ4gkwAA FYI: I have added a lot of links between when I signed up for SEOmoz and the linkscape has not be updated in over a month an a half. I really appreciate your help! -Brant
Image & Video Optimization | | PMC-3120870 -
Google Maps Service Areas
Hi, is there a limit on the number of service areas I can choose for my Google place/map listing.? For optimization purposes should I include the whole state, or each specific city. My keyword for google maps is not very competitive and I want to cover a few different states , I have the time to put specific cities just not sure if there is a restriction on number of service areas. Cheers
Image & Video Optimization | | pablogalante0 -
Google base penality?
our google base klicks went down from 100 to 2.3 clicks per day. there has nothig changes. we did tests over tests, there is really nothing wrong. is there a way to find out if there is apenality?
Image & Video Optimization | | kynop0
