Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
URL Domain Used in Meta Description
-
Today I was asked if using a domain url in your meta description can have a negative impact on your website. This description includes a list of the homepage url, but directs visitors to a different internal page of the website.
My concern fell with directing visitors to a different page of the site, but promoting the homepage in the description/snippet. With Penguin 2.1 release on the 4th, I'm very cautious of my links/urls.
What are your thoughts behind this? What are the possible, if any negative impacts this could have on a site?
This URL does have a brand name as so the Title.
-
I agree! Thank you for your response. I wanted to make sure I gave an appropriate answer.
-
I see, so you mean.
Title tag: SEO Tools @ Moz.com
Description Tag: SEO tools are awesome at Moz.com
SERP URL(Where the result actually points to): Moz.com/ToolsNowadays Google includes your brand name automatically to the end of your title tag(if theres enough space), so it doesn't make any sense to include your URL in the title tag or description.
From an user POV it makes no sense to make a description or title not related to the actual URL. You want everything to relate to THAT URL, so Google ranks and prioritizes the correct one.
-
Yes that was something I explained. And thats not all the description said, it was just an example of how the url would be listed in the description.
I wanted to see how other SEOs would respond. I myself have not done this so I wasn't sure what the right answer would be when I was asked if this was something that could negatively impact the site. Nor have I read much about it. This was brought to my attention by a co-worker whose client has a firm that practices this. I'm curious what others thought and how they would respond.
-
If all the meta description said was "Visit www.blah.com today" then I'd be more worried about it not being interesting or descriptive enough to grab a user's attention.
-
The meta description just includes a listing of the homepage. For instance
Description: Visit www.blah.com today
Title: Savings on Blah | Blah.com
URL:www.blah.com/savings-coupons
Obviously the description doesn't include a hyperlink to a different page, but can list a different URL than what the actual page URL is.
So my question is, can listing a homepage in the description of an internal page have a negative impact on a site? The reason I thought more of Penguin is because Penguin deals with links where an anchor text is overly optimized. So would Google see this tactic as keyword stuffing/over-opitmized if my brand/keyword is in the title and URL?
-
I don't think your question is clear. How would a URL point to another page when they click through from the meta description? The description doesn't allow hyperlinks, so I don't see how putting a URL in there would result in any clicking through.
Also Penguin 2.1 and Penguin in general are link spamming tactics, what you mentioned seems to be about on page optimization, more likely Panda than Penguin.
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
-
How to generate an automatic title and meta description for lots of pages
Hi, I'm working on a big website that will have new pages every month. I would like to find a plug-in or something free to generate automatic title and meta description for futur new pages. Thanks you for your help!
On-Page Optimization | | Maely0 -
City Name in URL structure
I have a client whose site was built when they only served one market, and they now have that city in the majority of their URLs. I'm suggesting we redo the URL structure to remove this location from the main URLs (think homepage, about, etc.) since they have now expanded to three markets. They are seeing a lot of great organic traffic in that original market but are struggling in the new ones they've added so I'm helping to optimize their site. How critical do you think that removing that location from the URL is? I know we would need to implement 301 redirects, but wanted to get thoughts on this.
On-Page Optimization | | maghanlinchpinsales0 -
Multiple domains for the same business
My client purchased over 500 URLs for targeting various customers and ranking for different keywords. It is for the same business though. What is the best strategy to deal with this kind of approach in your opinion. They use different meta data for each of the URLs starting with brand name in meta title. Are there any other points to keep in mind when developing strategy for all those URLs. Is this a good approach?
On-Page Optimization | | alicaomisem1 -
Meta separators
I've been told that pipes are the best separators for title tags. Can anyone tell me the best ones for H1 and H2 tags? Do I go with pipes, commas, hyphens, underscores...?
On-Page Optimization | | Greatmats0 -
Selling Products with a similar meta description
Wondering if anyone can help when selling similar products with very similar meta description and product descriptions in general. Have around 500 products - a lot of products have around 10-20 products which are very similar only different is sizes and a maybe a few lines of text if that. Is this a problem in search engines? How does other ecommerce stores selling similar products solve this problem...
On-Page Optimization | | royRR0 -
Duplicate meta descriptions
Hi all, I'm using Yoast's SEO plugin and when I run a On Page report card here on SEOMOZ it says there are 2 descriptions tags I've been trying to fix this but can't (I'm new!) Anyone any ideas on this? Thanks Elaine
On-Page Optimization | | elaineryan0 -
Hyphens in Domain Name
I have a client who is a business broker. I have just begun working with them, and they are trying to determine the best domain name to use - they have several. business-broker-alabama.com vs businessbrokeralabama.com Which one of these has more value? I know that search engines have somewhat devalued keywords. The first one probably has a little more SEO value, but is going to be a drag in terms of marketing -- saying "business hyphen broker hyphen alabama" is going to get old for them. Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | csmithal0
