Site's meta description is not being shown in Google Search results. Instead our privacy policy is getting indexed.
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We re-launched our new site and put in the re-directs. Our site is https://www.fico.com/en. When I search for "fico" in Google. I see the privacy policy getting indexed as meta descriptions instead of our actual meta description. I have edited the meta description, requested Google to re-index our site. Not sure what to do next? Thanks for your advise.
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Ha! This is a fun one
Ok so you should know, that like many Meta tags - "Description" is just a directive. Google don't _have _to use your Meta description and if they think it's poorly written they will use whatever else they believe to be the top-line leading copy on the page (which is usually something from your body / paragraph content).
So your Meta description reads like this:
"FICO is an analytics company that is helping businesses make better decisions that drive higher levels of growth, profitability and customer satisfaction." - 154 characters, which is inside of the usually recommended 155 character limit. Obviously Google actually use pixel width, but this _should _be OK to be honest
I really hope you don't take this the wrong way but at the open of the description, it reads like slightly broken English. It's actually not that bad, I have probably written one or two worse ones myself once or twice. Also - it's one huge sentence.
I'd write it like this instead:
"FICO is an analytics company that helps businesses make strategic decisions. Our insights drive higher levels of growth, profitability and satisfaction." - 152 characters
My main issue was with the phrase "is helping businesses make better decisions" - doesn't read like real English (just calling it as I see it there, no offence meant!)
Now let's get onto the **technical **side of it because this will really interest you!
Your privacy notice, to a renderless (non-headless, JS-disabled, CSS disabled) crawler looks like the beginning of your content.
Load up your web-page (https://www.fico.com/en). Download and install the "Web Developer" extension for Google Chrome, click the little cog-shaped icon that it adds to your navigation system. Click the "CSS" tab / menu, then click "Disable All Styles".
If you followed my steps accurately, you'll see a page that looks like this:
What looks most prominent there to you? What's under the main, title-like heading? Guess what - it's your privacy notice!
What you should do is have the privacy notice coded at the **BOTTOM **of your source code, then use CSS to move it up 'visually'. That way Google won't get confused and think it's your main content opening up... :')
Hope this helps. Love little ones like this
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Did the previous meta description have FICO in it? If not, they probably grab the first snippet that had FICO in it (your cookie policy). My guess is that is should resolve shortly.
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