Meta description issue on Google
-
Hello,
I have a small issue on Google with our Meta Description tag not always being properly displayed.
If you search for the term: Globe Car (in two words), everything is being displayed properly: http://screencast.com/t/YQCUkJnk
Now do the same search for the term GlobeCar (in one word) and the meta tag set into our homepage seems to be totallly ignored and Google is now displaying something that is generated from out of their hat: http://screencast.com/t/K0KeeRGSgspV
Anyone has an idea what would cause this?
Thanks!
-
For the "globe car" keyword, google shows the result from your meta description.
But for "globecar" keyword, I think it's showing the result from your G+ business listing page. It should be happening for Structured Data (schema) or as it's your brand name.
-
Hi,
I recently answered a question just like this here. This also includes a link to a video by Matt Cutts in regards to this topic.
The key here is that Google will take the "search words" and try to general results that are the most applicable to that search. In many cases that means they generate their own descriptions.
This is a huge task and Google does a very good job with most searches, however I have never seen a perfect search engine. In your case Globe Car and GlobeCar are 2 different keywords sets to Google. For very popular terms like WordPress and Word Press, Google has learned to treat them the same, but it can't do this for every word or set of words.
I hope this helps,
Don
-
"1. Focus Your META Description
Let's say that, for some reason, we really wanted that SEOmoz blog post to rank for "January 19". One solution is to make sure that phrase appears in our META description for the relevant page. If Google can find the matching copy in your description, they're more likely to use the tag as is. It's also just a good exercise – figuring out what your core target keywords are and targeting them naturally in your META description (don't just make it a list of keywords, of course) will help you focus your overall on-page SEO efforts."
https://moz.com/blog/why-wont-google-use-my-meta-descriptionAnd i didn't see GlobeCar in your meta description. That's why on one keyword Google didn't display your meta description and show something from code that contain GlobeCar. Also in title you have "Globe Auto", domain is different and this will confuse user so they didn't display original description.
I forgot also this one:
https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35624?hl=en
"Google will sometimes use the meta description of a page in search results snippets, if we think it gives users a more accurate description than would be possible purely from the on-page content."
seems that they think that your description is different than on-page content.
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
-
We need a bit of help from someone to fix the following issues causing speed issues on our website.
Hi We need a bit of help from someone to fix the following issues causing speed issues on our website.Does anyone know of someone that can help? Reduce server response time Optimize images Eliminate render-blocking JavaScript and CSS in above-the-fold content Avoid landing page redirects Leverage browser caching Minify CSS Minify JavaScript Minify HTML
Technical SEO | | Bev.Aquaspresso0 -
Google displaying different meta descriptions for the same URL but different keyword
Hi All, A quick question that may even have a quick answer: Why would Google display a different meta description for the same URL for a different keyword? For example I enter 2 of our similar keywords into Google: KEYWORD A | META DESCRIPTION A DISPLAYED | URL A KEYWORD B | META DESCRIPTION B DISPLAYED | URL A Thanks in advance
Technical SEO | | SO_UK0 -
How can my homepage have 2 meta descriptions?
Hi all, When googling our company, I see our main page pop up with 2 different meta descriptions, depending on the search query. The situation
Technical SEO | | NHA_DistanceLearning
The search query 'nha' (on google.nl) returns the main page with a meta description that looks like a random grab from the code by Google itself, starting with 'Ik volg een cursus bij de NHA...' The search query 'nha.nl' (on google.nl) returns the main page with the proper meta description, starting with 'Aanbieder van thuisstudies met onder meer MBO-opleidingen...'. So yeah, I'd like to have the main page only appear with the proper meta description, the latter one. We did have a redirect issue (duplicate homepages) a few weeks ago and programming fixed it. Could this have something to do with a redirect? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks!0 -
Why has Google stopped indexing my content?
Mystery of the day! Back on December 28th, there was a 404 on the sitemap for my website. This lasted 2 days before I noticed and fixed. Since then, Google has not indexed my content. However, the majority of content prior to that date still shows up in the index. The website is http://www.indieshuffle.com/. Clues: Google reports no current issues in Webmaster tools Two reconsideration requests have returned "no manual action taken" When new posts are detected as "submitted" in the sitemap, they take 2-3 days to "index" Once "indexed," they cannot be found in search results unless I include url:indieshuffle.com The sitelinks that used to pop up under a basic search for "Indie Shuffle" are now gone I am using Yoast's SEO tool for Wordpress (and have been for years) Before December 28th, I was doing 90k impressions / 4.5k clicks After December 28th, I'm now doing 8k impressions / 1.3k clicks Ultimately, I'm at a loss for a possible explanation. Running an SEOMoz audit comes up with warnings about rel=canonical and a few broken links (which I've fixed in reaction to the report). I know these things often correct themselves, but two months have passed now, and it continues to get progressively worse. Thanks, Jason
Technical SEO | | indieshuffle0 -
Duplicate Meta Descriptions From Pages That Don't Exist
Hi Guys I am hoping someone can help me out here. I have had a new site built with a unique theme and using wordpress as the CMS. Everything was going fine but after checking webmaster tools today I noticed something that I just cannot get my head around. Basically I am getting warnings of Duplicate page warnings on a couple of things. 1 of which i think i can understand but do not know how to get the warning to go. Firstly I get this warning of duplicate meta desciption url 1: / url 2: /about/who-we-are I understand this as the who-we-are page is set as the homepage through the wordpress reading settings. But is there a way to make the dup meta description warning disappear The second one I am getting is the following: /services/57/ /services/ Both urls lead to the same place although I have never created the services/57/ page the services/57/ page does not show on the xml sitemap but Google obviously see it because it is a warning in webmaster tools. If I press edit on services/57/ page it just goes to edit the /services/ page/ is there a way I can remove the /57/ page safely or a method to ensure Google at least does not see this. Probably a silly question but I cannot find a real comprehensive answer to sorting this. Thanks in advance
Technical SEO | | southcoasthost0 -
Google plus
With a single Google search, you can see regular search results, along with all sorts of results that are tailored to you -- pages shared with you by your friends, Google+ posts from people you know. **Does pages shared by friends ** Does this mean pages shared by friends on Google plus ?
Technical SEO | | seoug_20050 -
How to tell google about the changes
Hello All this is my first question here. we have recently changed our website design and backend. so the problem now is in google it is showing the old url's and when ever a client come from google he is prasented with a 404 error page if this happenes many times. will google penalise our site ? if yes. how to prevent this from happen. waiting for some replies.. thanks
Technical SEO | | idreams1 -
How do I put something below description in the SERPs of Google?
How do I put something below description, the search box within the website, and map in SERPs of Google? For example, when I enter ‘mit’ as the keyword in Google, the description of MIT is shown more. Many thanks in advance.
Technical SEO | | OSO0