All in One SEO and meta description tag

[Y2E]

Hi all,

I've been experimenting and have some up against a bit of a stumbling block.

I want to use the meta description tag and the All in One SEO plugin for Wordpress takes care of this. Or tries to.

AIO SEO has an entry area for the home page description meta tag and for the rest of the pages, it spruces one up dynamically from the content of that page. All is good? So far.

I set it all up, let AIO SEO do its thing, then pull up each page in my browser and look at the source code to make sure the meta description tag is there. All going well - home page meta description tag shows exactly what I entered in the box and the meta description tag for all other pages seems to be working well too.

One slight problem. Google seems to be blind to the tags generated by AIO SEO. If not for all pages, then at least for the main home page.

Experiment ran to confirm this. Removed AIO SEO meta description tag for home page and hard coded my own into index.php of the site. Rinse - Google shows the proper description for main site URL on search results page for the site. Removed the hard coded meta description tag and let AIO SEO do its thing again and we're back to square one. While source code confirms that the AIO SEO inserted meta description tag for home page is alive and well, Google doesn't seem to like it.

So, has anyone else experienced this? Does anyone else use All In One SEO for Wordpress, but does not experience the above issue with home page only meta tags?

Thanks

P.S. Just to head off the debate, I am aware of the pro and con camps of meta keyword and meta description tags vis a vis Google. While I don't mind dynamic and changing description text for my other pages, I simply want to keep the description text for my main page (and hence my site) constant.

[Aira Bongco]

I see that you have found your solution. It is always better to hard code it into your index.php file so you can make sure it is consistent. Some plugins are old. Have you tried other SEO plugins like Platinum SEO?

[paulgl]

You are making a big thing out of nothing.

The meta description tag is not used by google for
ranking or SERPs. It may be quoted, and it may not.
But it has nothing to do with SEO, so, don't worry
about it. Worry about stuff that matters.

Paul

[gravtex]

Originally Posted by paulgl

You are making a big thing out of nothing.

The meta description tag is not used by google for
ranking or SERPs. It may be quoted, and it may not.
But it has nothing to do with SEO, so, don't worry
about it. Worry about stuff that matters.

Paul

Paul, that's true that it's not useful for SEO, but being able to specify what Google displays in its description of your page IS big deal for the people actually using the search engine and looking at the listings.

A good description can mean the difference between a potential visitor clicking to visit your page and visiting someone else because of a better description of what's on the page they'll be visiting.

Gary

[paulgl]

Here's a newsflash: You can't force google to do anything.

They may or may not, depending on what they deem
necessary, to show your meta description or something else.

What you put in your meta description matters little to them
if it is not deemed accurate or enough. If your site is still
listed on the DMOZ, they may pull whatever description you
put for that.

You cannot force, tell, cajole, or con google into doing anything
with your meta description tag. They might, but then again, they
might not.

Paul

[BobJutsu]

Originally Posted by paulgl

Here's a newsflash: You can't force google to do anything.

They may or may not, depending on what they deem
necessary, to show your meta description or something else.

What you put in your meta description matters little to them
if it is not deemed accurate or enough. If your site is still
listed on the DMOZ, they may pull whatever description you
put for that.

You cannot force, tell, cajole, or con google into doing anything
with your meta description tag. They might, but then again, they
might not.

Paul

Their use of the description tag isn't secretive like their ranking algo's. Sir Cutts has spoken on the subject multiple times, basically saying that the description tag is their first choice, if it is deemed inaccurate or irrelevant then they move to a content snippet, DMOZ, etc.

You're right that you can't make them use it, but I see no reason not to give it too 'em if you can...small detail, but it is nice to at least have the illusion of some control.

[degreexyz]

In the the complete view of your website, EVERYTHING should encourage the user to stick around or click BUY NOW. The META Description does not influence your SEO but it encourages (discourages) behaviour (if it is being used). All-in-ONE SEO is not the way to go for more advanced SEO in Wordpress.

[rossmore]

Hey...just a note....The meta description tag is not used by google.

[buckers]

Rossmore, thats just plain wrong.

Google ignore the keywords tag, but definitely not the description tag. Dont know where you've read this!

[biznics]

Originally Posted by buckers

Rossmore, thats just plain wrong.

Google ignore the keywords tag, but definitely not the description tag. Dont know where you've read this!

The only reason why Google "reads" description tag is to make it appear in SERPs for visitors only. NOT as a website ranking factor.


If Google is creating its own description tag for you, then you might wait and see what happens when Google caches your website next time. May be it gets updated then.

[mikeallen50]

Originally Posted by degreexyz

In the the complete view of your website, EVERYTHING should encourage the user to stick around or click BUY NOW. The META Description does not influence your SEO but it encourages (discourages) behaviour (if it is being used). All-in-ONE SEO is not the way to go for more advanced SEO in Wordpress.

Pretty interesting disccussion about Meta descriptions tag. If not All-in-ONE SEO plugin what do you suggest as an advanced SEO in Wordpress.

[Union]

I use AIO only for Post Short Description, Thats it.

[BenJackson]

Originally Posted by buckers

Rossmore, thats just plain wrong.

Google ignore the keywords tag, but definitely not the description tag. Dont know where you've read this!

Ignores the description? No. Ignores the description as a ranking factor? Yes.

Create a compelling meta description that will increase your CTR.