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Would symbols on meta-description hurt position?

by alliedgroup
7 replies
  • SEO
    • |
Hello warriors!

I am just currious, Would symbols on meta-description hurt search engine position? like for example if i put 6 star font symbols on my meta-description. Would i get penalized?

Thanks
#hurt #metadescription #position #symbols
  • Profile picture of the author alliedgroup
    Thanks for the advice
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  • Profile picture of the author Heimir Finnson
    Originally Posted by Traffic-Bug View Post

    Since meta description is only recognized to the extent of around 160 characters you are wasting previous space by putting star font symbols etc. in there. The meta description is intended for keyword rich description of your page, may be you can put a symbol for two for good-looks purposes, but it is better to add other keyword oriented content in its place in order to rank well.
    Actually, META description has nothing to with rankings and is certainly not meant for keyword rich descriptions. It's only purpose is to entice visitors to your site.

    Just write something that makes people want to visit your site and don't try to stuff and force the keyword in there, it really doesn't matter.
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    • Profile picture of the author dawdaw
      I guess that the search engines will ignore those symbols.
      Why do you want to place them in meta-tags?
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      • Profile picture of the author Iknow
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        • Profile picture of the author paulgl
          Originally Posted by Iknow View Post

          They will not be ignored in most cases - and the reason would be ATTENTION, that's for sure.. It could get some more clicks by making the link/description more visible, but some users may think it's spam because of the "weird signs/symbols"
          What does this have to do with spam?

          Your description has nothing to do with ranking, at least with google.
          Many, many, many times google does even show the description in the
          search results. Just to check this I did a search as of this post for lose
          weight. In the top 10, not a single description tag was quoted.

          Paul
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          • Profile picture of the author Iknow
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            • Profile picture of the author paulgl
              What do you mean by grabbed by google?
              They are ignored for rankings.

              I don't want to clutter this up with an image, so,
              after doing a search for lose weight,

              The first site is about.com, the listing says:
              Weight loss isn't always easy and it helps to learn what weight loss is all about. Get the basics for how to lose weight with diet and exercise tips.
              NOT from the description tag.

              2nd is weightwatchers.com
              Weight Watchers, founded over 45 years ago, is the global leader in weight management services.
              NOT from the description tag.

              Skip msnbc
              Skip wikihow
              Both of those obviously are not quoting from meta

              Next site webmd.com
              Lift weights to lose weight? You've probably seen the headlines. Here's why you can't scrap your cardiovascular workout. Watch Video: Cardio or Weights? ...
              NOT from the meta tag.

              Next site kidshealth.org
              Lots of people are unhappy with their present weight, but aren't sure how to change it - or even if they need to. Get the facts on weight loss here.
              NOT from the description tag

              I'm too lazy to quote the rest.

              Not a single site has their meta tag quoted in the results.

              Here is a direct quote from google on the description tag:
              We use a number of different sources for this information, including descriptive information in the META tag for each page. Where this information isn't available, we may use publicly available information from DMOZ. While accurate meta descriptions can improve clickthrough, they won't impact your ranking within search results.
              More quotes from google:
              Google doesn't use the "keywords" meta tag in our web search ranking.
              Paul
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              If you were disappointed in your results today, lower your standards tomorrow.

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  • Profile picture of the author Lucid
    I'm sure description tags are used to some degree in helping rank a site. But as Heimir said, use it to entice people to click your link. It's just like the description line of PPC ads. Having your keywords in there certainly wouldn't hurt.

    Non-alphanumeric characters do attract a bit more attention but are gimmicky, they add no value. As Traffic-Bug says, don't waste your valuable space with gimmicks. Use it to attract people and click. That's the real value, not stars.
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