Different meta tags appearing in SERP for same landing page
-
Hi all, hoping someone can help.
We have a landing page that ranks quite well for a number of keywords that send us a nice amount of organic traffic.
We understand the importance of Meta tags, as Google will be the users first interaction with our site we want to stand out and be noticed and also show we provide information on their search query.
The problem is this, while we have optimised the title and description tags for the landing page, this is only appearing on specific search results. If you were to search a different keyword, you would still get the same landing page, but the title tag and description would not pull through, it decides to pull through the page name and first few lines of text instead.
Is there anything we can do to sort this issue?
-
As always, Google thinks it knows best. What's new? lol
Good luck!
-
Thanks Ria. The strange thing is, in my opinion, the search queries it is pulling through the meta data for are probably less relevant than the search queries it isn't pulling it through for. It looks like I will have to spend some time optimising and hoping we can get it showing on Google in the next couple of days.
-
This is quite common when Google feels that the specified title and meta description isn't as relevant to the search query (or if they feel that your title and meta description is misleading and irrelevant to the page content). So although it might show your title and meta description for the majority of search queries, they might decide that they can do better and provide a more relevant title and meta description based on the user's search query. Unfortunately when it comes to this, you can't win them all. The important thing is to make sure that your title is optimised and relevant to the content that's on the page as much as possible, and that your meta description is both enticing to the user and also relevant to the content of the page. I've found that, although Google no longer use the meta description as a ranking factor, it's still important to get a couple of your page's keywords in there just to prove relevance.
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
-
Why is Google appending a different website's brand name to the end of SERP title?
I've recently been shown some SERP results where Google is appending a different website's brand name to the end of the SERP title. It's actually rewriting the brand's name to that of the other website. (This is obviously not ideal.) Why would this be? The other website doesn't even stock the same product, so there shouldn't be any confusion there. But even if it did, many websites stock the same products. Just confusing...
Branding | | Ria_1 -
Google+ SERP Visibility For Non Branded Keywords
Hi, I've noticed that a competitors Google+ box is appearing on the right hand side of the Google UK SERPs for a non-branded keyword (open air balustrade). Please see attached image. I've always thought that the Google+ box would only be displayed in the SERPS for branded keywords. How is this Google+ box appearing for non-branded keywords? How can we improve our chances of our Google+ box being shown instead? Many thanks in advance, Lee. vDm914D
Branding | | Webpresence0 -
Pages with High Priority Issues 404 Errors
Hi there, I need some help on how to go about fixing the many 404 errors that i have on the site http://goo.gl/arwlON Many of the 404 errors are images that were on the CDN and now i have not joking 6k 404 errors and a good percentage are the cdn images that I deleted of 3 years work as I did not need them. Would you guys/gals be able to help me on best solution to fixing them? Thank you for your help in advance.
Branding | | blinky510 -
Website Name Before Search String in Google SERP
I'm curious to hear whether it's better to have your company name before the Search String, or after it?When I search for Church Management Software in Google, some results place the company before the string.
Branding | | ChurchCommunityBuilder
**In attached image
(Pink Squares : Company Name)
(Blue Squares : Search String) Please indicate in your response if there is any study, experiment, or evidence to back your answer. Thanks for your help! NameOrStringNameOrString cmsSerp.jpg0 -
How many FaceBook likes do I need to start making a difference?
Just started the social scene. We have a FaceBook page https://www.facebook.com/SMSPro.Safety.Management.System Only about a year old, and until two weeks ago, we had about 8-10 likes. Then I started working on getting likes (please like this page if you can). Question: How many Likes do I need for Google to start counting this as significant? Would also appreciate any comments on FaceBook page to help.
Branding | | manintights280 -
Social Media Icons for trust - have link land them on a social media page or have them stay on the page with like, tweet, +,etc?
An interesting question arises out of a conversation with one of my team. We were talking about FB pages in particular regarding a client and I am for icons that allow for trust without leaving the client's site page (I am from a direct marketing background originally and am against sending them somewhere else). She was pointing out that we had a client who has a FB page and we were not sending them to that page. I explained how I do not like to gain a bit of trust by sending them off site because it is the opportunity to lose a conversion by them becoming distracted. I also thought of a client who has over 100,000 likes, shares, etc. and who still is in the direct sales business at the end of the day; were they better off with a prospective client/customer to send them to their FB page/Twitter page, etc. or should they stay on the commercial site? I still believe that in the bricks and mortar world, I would not have a customer who came in to buy/look at a TV first go down the street to a social club for people who liked my company and then hope they come back and buy. Also, is there an opportunity to close a sale that would not have been closed by virtue of sending them away or to increase the size of the sale (remember, this must be such a sale increase or probability of sale increase as to outweigh the risk of loss of a client who would have bought)? I look forward to your assistance.
Branding | | RobertFisher0 -
Rel=author markup in head tag
Between Google's confusing instruction on implementing rel=author and the volumes of blog posts, I'm sufficiently confused. We have a bunch of writers on our site that we'd like to expose in search and connect with their content. I'd like their bylines to link to their author page rather than to their Google+ profile. So, I'm thinking this is what I need to do: 1. Have writers create a Google+ profile linking to their bio page on our site in the "contributor" section of their Google+ profle 2. Add the link rel=author tag to the of their author bio page like this 3. Link their bylines on each story to their author page like this John Public Is this right? I'm working with an inflexible CMS so I have to go through IT, which means I have to get this right the first time. Any feedback/ corrections/ improvements are much appreciated.
Branding | | Aggie0 -
PPC effecting personalisation and thus future personalised SERP's
I've been thinking about personalisation and PPC.. If you have a PPC campaign and a vistor comes to your site and has a look around, if that user doesn't clear there cache etc then that visit via PPC will start to effect their personalisation search results? It would almost be worth maintaining a high level of PPC spend and counting on personalization bias in SERPs in the longer term.. What do you think about this? Are there any safe guards in place to make sure this bias doesn't happen?
Branding | | robertrRSwalters0