Website description problem

8 replies
  • SEO
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I have a problem with one of my website descriptions. Basically, Google is not showing the description that I put in my description meta tag. Instead, it is showing some text from my home page content (which I don't really want as my description). Is there any way to fix this problem so I can choose a description I want, instead of Google just showing random text from my home page? Cheers, any help would be appreciated.
#description #problem #website
  • Profile picture of the author Gareth Mailer
    Originally Posted by michael26a View Post

    I have a problem with one of my website descriptions. Basically, Google is not showing the description that I put in my description meta tag. Instead, it is showing some text from my home page content (which I don't really want as my description). Is there any way to fix this problem so I can choose a description I want, instead of Google just showing random text from my home page? Cheers, any help would be appreciated.
    Google will take the text it deems most relevant to the query and display that as the meta description - basically, whether or not your custom meta description is displayed is entirely query dependent. *note, the meta description is obviously not a ranking factor - sorry to state the obvious, but just want to clarify that point; the reason for the target term is to make the description more relevant to the query being entered, rather than to acquire any positional boost.

    That said, one possible way to try and force Google's hand is to insert your main target search term in there, which will increase the likelihood Google will select the description for that term.

    That said, I'm a believer that you are better of leaving it - Google's choice is typically superior. Put it this way, what would make you more likely to click on a listing, a custom description which isn't related to the query you typed, or a snippet of text Google has pulled from your page which is relevant to the query?

    In the only single test I've ever done on this (and it was done for a client with a very large website), I recommended they remove all of their meta descriptions - the result, factoring in the average MoM traffic increases for the past two years, was a circa. 3-odd percent increase in CTR. Why? Because the descriptions were more relevant to the query the user was typing in.

    Remember, a vast number of the queries made through Google each day are COMPLETELY unique i.e. they haven't been made before, or queried in the last six months (as the Google spiel goes). In some instances you don't know what people are going to type in to find you (you can increase the probability of appearing for more long-tail terms by doing pattern analysis and inserting the pattern modifiers you find into your content, though) - go with it.

    n.b. if you want more "real estate", take a look at universal search optimisation, as well as microformats, rel=author etc. Tons of things you can do to make your content and blog posts stand out more and generate a higher CTR. Even HTML chars. in the description may help.
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  • Profile picture of the author danielthomas
    Check your robots.txt. If you have given your robots.txt as below

    User-agent: *
    Disallow: /

    These type of problems will occur. The title tag and snippet will not be displayed.
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  • Profile picture of the author kaytav
    Google sometimes finds out the text from your website which they seem perfect and will show as the description for your page.
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  • Profile picture of the author danielph
    Well it takes sometimes if you have changed your description, check in few days, and maybe you will see your choosen description as well.
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  • Profile picture of the author lavathemes
    Have you set up google webmaster tools for it and do you have a xml site map?When you update your meta tags, you need to re-index your web page. Try with social bookmarking and blogs to cache again by search engine robots.
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  • Profile picture of the author kaytav
    Originally Posted by jacksarloks View Post


    Write up to 114 characters
    Where did u get this number??:rolleyes:
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  • Profile picture of the author mexabet
    It's generally better to leave Google to choose the best-fitting description for your link. Remember, it's relevance to search query and not your chosen description that increases click-through rates.
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