Meta keywords shown in Google SERPS as site description
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I'm seeing Google display meta-keywords in the SERP description for some sites (at least a half dozen that I've checked).
I BELIEVE IT IS AN AJAX ISSUE BECAUSE:
- The sites all use AJAX to display content. So the meta-keywords are in the header, and the javascript that displays the content. Non-AJAX parts of the site display properly in Google SERPS
- The meta-keywords don't visibly appear anywhere on the page. When I turn off images and Javascript in Chrome I don't see any hidden keyword text.
I BELIEVE IT IS A GOOGLE-SPECIFIC ISSUE BECAUSE:
- Each site displays properly in Bing and Yahoo SERPS - the meta-description is the description. However, (as expected) I see the same strange meta-keyword activity in Aol search
- In Screaming Frog's SERP preview I see the meta-description as the description.
Google has been ignoring met-keywords for years. Any idea why it's appearing in the SERPS for these AJAX powered sites?
I found one other person who saw that Google may be reading and displaying their content in AJAX even though that content is meant to appear on a different "page".
No one on that Google Forum seemed to understand the person's problem. The only reason I get it is because now I'm seeing it with my own eyes.
I know the Moz community can do better, so i'm posting about it here.
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The code.
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I need to keep that private, Max.
Am I missing something with my analysis? What would you go and check?
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Can you give some examples, e.g. websites for which it's happening?
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