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.
Why isn't our complete meta title showing up in the Google SERPS? (cut off half way)
-
We carry a product line, cutless bearings (for use on boats).
For instance, we have one, called the Able, that has the following meta title (and searched by View Page Source to confirm): BOOT 1-3/8" x 2-3/8" x 5-1/2" Johnson Cutless Bearing | BOOT Cutlass
However, if I search for it on on Google by part number or name (boot cutless bearing, boot cutlass bearing), the meta title comes back with whole first part chopped off, only showing this : "x 5-1/2" Johnson Cutless Bearing | BOOT Cutlass - Citimarine ..."
Any idea why?
Here's the url if it will hopefully help: https://citimarinestore.com/en/metallic-inches/156-boot-johnson-cutless-bearing-870352103.html
All the products in the category are doing the same.
Thanks!
-
sometimes people write a meta title on meta description so its too long, there are free plug-ins, if you have a WordPress website where you can write the meta title and the meta description and often it shows if it's red, amber or if it's green, in terms of whether you have written a long enough or too long Meta title meta description
-
sometimes the meta title might be too long, we had this problem with a Bristol company we had to rewrite the meta titles using yoast SEO, to improve the organic seo.
-
Three methods using modules on your existing CMS of implementing the fixes. I use labels A, B & C three different configurations C is the least expensive I think all three of them would add a lot of value however you would be very safe using A or C
A)
**1) all-in-one with canonical **
2) JSON-LD
B)
1) Add a canonical tag to your site
https://addons.prestashop.com/en/url-redirects/22526-canonical-seo.html
2) open graph
3) JSON-LD
or
C )
1) Add a canonical tag to your site
https://addons.prestashop.com/en/url-redirects/22526-canonical-seo.html
2) This module offers structured data/JSON-LD Facebook and Twitter open graph tag redirects Site maps etc. a base SEO suite without a canonical tag found above.
This video is of the all-in-one module without the canonical tag unfortunately but it's the least expensive of the two.
I hope this wasn't confusing I would choose A or C it will really help your site.
All the best,
Tom
-
Very complete information. Thank you very much! I will first try simplifying the meta title, might be a bit too long now. See other competitors with the same meta title, just cutting out some of the later stuff we have.
Will go through this answer more in detail when back in the office tomorrow and see the other suggestions. Thank you once again.
-
I don't know how much it will help but if you remove the MFG prior to the part number it may help a little bit. It's a 30% chance but the reason I bring it up is when I google "MFG#: 870352103." exactly what you have on the page shows me the highlight what I have typed in however the part number is shown in addition but it is not highlighted.
I strongly believe this was done intentionally by Google for a better user experience.
Google tunicates and rewrites descriptions all the time. I don't think to have the part number in the SERPS is considered important to Google
Your meta description is a suggestion to Google. There’s no guarantee that it’ll actually be shown. So, if you don’t see your description, that means Google probably made something up for you. Perhaps it felt the meta description you created didn’t represent the content of the page, or is a duplicate, for instance. Here you’ll find all the possible reasons why your meta description doesn’t show.
very long part numbers are unlikely to give a clear idea of the content of the page, therefore, less likely to be displayed.
- Good descriptions are human-readable and diverse. Page-specific data is a good candidate for programmatic generation. Keep in mind that meta descriptions comprised of long strings of keywords don't give users a clear idea of the page's content, and are less likely to be displayed in place of a regular snippet.
- Use quality descriptions. Finally, make sure your descriptions are truly descriptive. Because the meta descriptions aren't displayed in the pages the user sees, it's easy to let this content slide. But high-quality descriptions can be displayed in Google's search results, and can go a long way to improving the quality and quantity of your search traffic.
- See https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/35624?hl=en
- https://moz.com/blog/how-to-write-meta-descriptions-in-a-changing-world
- https://www.authoritylabs.com/title-tags/
- https://moz.com/learn/seo/meta-description
- https://kb.yoast.com/kb/my-meta-descriptions-arent-showing-up-in-the-search-result-pages/
I would look into implementing JSON-LD /schema on the page so you can edit your product number you can do this with the Screaming Frog it will show you the pixel with because character length is not always the same as the letter "I" use less space than the letter "H"
It is free for up to 500 URLs https://www.screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-spider/
In addition, I have posted your page URL, description and it is still lacking a canonical tag I would add one.
the part number if search for will show up because that's what the user intends on looking for. In addition you do not want Google taking clicks from your website you want people to click on your site in order to find the part number you may want to change your content to make the part numbers a bigger part of the actual page content.
-
Page Url
-
https://citimarinestore.com/en/metallic-inches/156-boot-johnson-cutless-bearing-870352103.html
-
Title
-
BOOT 1-3/8" x 2-3/8" x 5-1/2" Johnson Cutlass Bearing [Length:53]
-
Meta Description
-
DURAMAX BOOT Cutlass Johnson Bearing, Naval Brass. Shaft Diameter: 1 3/8", Outside Diameter: 2 3/8", Length: 5 1/2", Thickness: 1/8". Weight: 1.8 lbs. 870352103 [Length:160]
-
Canonical
-
None
Google "boot cutless bearing, boot cutlass bearing"
https://citimarinestore.com/en/metallic-inches/156-boot-johnson-cutless-bearing-870352103.html
Google "cutless bearing"
https://citimarinestore.com/citiguide/johnson-cutless-bearings-your-complete-guide/
https://citimarinestore.com/en/136-johnson-duramax-cutless-bearings
Googling "870352103"
It could be that it's over 550 pixels
Try using https://metatags.io/ to add Open Graph tags to your products or Facebook twitter and other social media platforms
-
Page Url
-
https://citimarinestore.com/en/metallic-inches/156-boot-johnson-cutless-bearing-870352103.html
-
<title>BOOT 1-3/8" x 2-3/8" x 5-1/2" Johnson Cutlass Bearing</title>
To add JSON-LD
With
https://www.rankranger.com/schema-markup-generator (I used a Image from your page for the photo) https://citimarinestore.com/429-large/boot-johnson-cutless-bearing-870352103.jpg
Tested in https://search.google.com/test/rich-results?id=qjE-Sbw4lhzWGpK4hmYHqA
Add the MPN in JSON-LD****SKU is a retailer's own Stock Keeping Unit, which they use to keep track of inventory. This would be unique to each retailer. MPN is the Manufacturer's Part Number, which in the case of the DURAMAX BOOT Cutlass Johnson Bearing you mention would be 870352103
Hope this helps,
Tom
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
-
What's the best way to noindex pages but still keep backlinks equity?
Hello everyone, Maybe it is a stupid question, but I ask to the experts... What's the best way to noindex pages but still keep backlinks equity from those noindexed pages? For example, let's say I have many pages that look similar to a "main" page which I solely want to appear on Google, so I want to noindex all pages with the exception of that "main" page... but, what if I also want to transfer any possible link equity present on the noindexed pages to the main page? The only solution I have thought is to add a canonical tag pointing to the main page on those noindexed pages... but will that work or cause wreak havoc in some way?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | fablau3 -
Why some websites can rank the keywords they don't have in the page?
Hello guys, Yesterday, I used SEMrush to search for the keyword "branding agency" to see the SERP. The Liquidagency ranks 5th on the first page. So I went to their homepage but saw no exact keywords "branding agency", even in the page source. Also, I didn't see "branding agency" as a top anchor text in the external links to the page (from the report of SEMrush). I am an SEO newbie, can someone explain this to me, please? Thank you.
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Raymondlee0 -
Wrong meta descriptions showing in the SERPS
We recently launched a new site on https, and I'm seeing a few errors in the SERPS with our meta descriptions as our pages are starting to get indexed. We have the correct meta data in our code but it's being output in Google differently. Example: http://imgur.com/ybqxmqg Is this just a glitch on Google's side or is there an obvious issue anyone sees that I'm missing? Thanks guys!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Brian_Owens_10 -
Pagination duplicate title and meta description
Hello, Getting a lot of duplicate title and meta description errors via google webmaster tools. For best SEO practices, do i no-index the page/2's, page/3's...? More importantly, i see how MOZ did it by adding "page 3" to their titles such as http://moz.com/blog?page=3. Is that a better way of doing it? If so, how do i do that on Yoast SEO? Thank you so much!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Shawn1240 -
Why does Google add my domain as a suffix to page title in SERPS?
Hi, If I do a search in Google - for one our products on our site, our site comes up - but it would appear that google is adding our domain name as a suffix to our title in the results... Anyone else seen this? Can I do anything about it? I would prefer it not to appear. Thanks!
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | bjs20100 -
Best way to permanently remove URLs from the Google index?
We have several subdomains we use for testing applications. Even if we block with robots.txt, these subdomains still appear to get indexed (though they show as blocked by robots.txt. I've claimed these subdomains and requested permanent removal, but it appears that after a certain time period (6 months)? Google will re-index (and mark them as blocked by robots.txt). What is the best way to permanently remove these from the index? We can't use login to block because our clients want to be able to view these applications without needing to login. What is the next best solution?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | nicole.healthline0 -
How long does google take to show the results in SERP once the pages are indexed ?
Hi...I am a newbie & trying to optimize the website www.peprismine.com. I have 3 questions - A little background about this : Initially, close to 150 pages were indexed by google. However, we decided to remove close to 100 URLs (as they were quite similar). After the changes, we submitted the NEW sitemap (with close to 50 pages) & google has indexed those URLs in sitemap. 1. My pages were indexed by google few days back. How long does google take to display the URL in SERP once the pages get indexed ? 2. Does google give more preference to websites with more number of pages than those with lesser number of pages to display results in SERP (I have just 50 pages). Does the NUMBER of pages really matter ? 3. Does removal / change of URLs have any negative effect on ranking ? (Many of these URLs were not shown on the 1st page) An answer from SEO experts will be highly appreciated. Thnx !
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | PepMozBot0 -
Any way to find which domains are 301 redirected to competitors' websites?
By looking at the work from an SEO collegue it became clear that his weak linkbuilding graph probably is not the cause for his good rankings for a pretty competitive keyword. (also no social mentions where found) I was wondering what it could be, site structure and other on page optimization factors seems to be ok and I don't think there will be exceptionally good or bad user behavior... Finally I looked at the competitors and found that they have more links, better content en better design, so I got a little stuck. The only reason I can think of is that he is doing 301 redirects (or is rel=canonical tags). Is there a way to trace these redirects back to the source in order to include this important variable in your competitor research? thnx
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | djingel10