ECommerce Product Meta Descriptions vs. Product Descriptions
-
Wondering if using on-page product descriptions as the individual product meta descriptions is a best practice for an eCommerce site?
Instead of writing two product descriptions (one regular and one meta), I am thinking if the product copy is SEO rich, we'd be good to use just the one for both purposes.
Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?
Seems that many companies follow this practice. Thanks!
-
Hi. I know I'm a bit late to the question, but Google favours unique content. Google will issue warnings in GWT if you have just copied and pasted from the page content. You should be looking to write a compelling message that informs viewers of the content of the page and urges them to click through to read more.
I found this [relatively] recent article useful. I just so happen to be looking for more examples when I came here.
http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/62553-33-examples-of-great-meta-descriptions-for-search
-
You're welcome Gretchen - would love to hear how it turns out in the end...
-
Thanks Alan!
Per your response, I will look closely at the product descriptions already written and either pull out copy that can have keywords added intelligently or simply write a whole separate meta description.
Want to be sure this is time well spent. Approaching this project partially utilizing what is already done could be my best bet.
Thanks again!
-
Are your product descriptions well written? Do they accommodate "cut and paste" use within Meta Description fields? Remember there's a character limit to Meta Descriptions - too short and searchers may not be enticed to click. Too long and you leave it to Google to decide where to cut off...
Otherwise, the concept is a sound one, since the idea is you've said "product copy is SEO rich".
Then again what does THAT mean? A description that is too "spammy" looking may be a deterrent to a click.
Best course of action is to have human review on that whole policy.
And if you want to automate as much as possible, have the first portion of the product description the exact content you want in the meta description field. Standardize it. Make it a policy that writers need to keep that concept in mind.
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
-
Where does Google get its meta descriptions from?
We have a new client and they don't have meta descriptions yet. However, Google has assigned descriptions for them now appearing on the SERPs. The problem is that Google added a phone number that's totally not the client's and goes to a different unrelated business. Our plan is to update the meta to reflect the correct information, however, we're just perplexed as to how Google came up with the incorrect phone number. Where does it get its information from? The page currently has all the correct phone number, hours, and content. I've read that Google sometimes also doesn't recognise our meta descriptions if it thinks they could serve up a better one. My next question is, what if Google insists on showing the incorrect phone number. Is there a way we can fix this? Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | nhhernandez2 -
Optimising for multi sites selling same products
Hi Everyone I work for a company that sell aluminium joinery under 3 brands which are, ostensibly, competitors. With regards to optimising the websites, for keywords, should I be trying to optimise them for the same keywords, or should I use different keyword variations of each?
On-Page Optimization | | APLNZ110 -
Duplicate ecommerce domains and canonical
Hi everybody! I'd like to discuss the SEO strategy I've thought regarding a client of mine and ask for help because it's a serious case of duplicate content. There is a main website (the business model one) where he compares the cost of medicines in several pharmacies, to show the cheapest shopping cart to the customer. But the shopping has to been made in another domain, within the selected pharmacie, because my country's law in Europe says that is compulsory to sell the medicines only on the pharmacy website. So my client has started to create domains, one for each pharmacy, where the differences between them are only some products, the business information of the pharmacy and the template's colour. But all of them shares the same product data base. My aim is to rank the comparing website (it contains all the products), not each pharmacy, so I've started to create different content for this one. Should I place rel=canonical in the pharmacies domains t the original one? For instance: www.pharmacie1.com >> www.originaltorank.com www.pharmacie2.com >> www.originaltorank.com www.pharmacie1.com/product-10 >> www.originaltorank.com/product-10 I've already discuss the possibilities to focus all the content in only one website, but it's compulsory to have different domains in order to sell medicines By the way, I can't redirect 301 because I need these websites exist for the same reason (the law) He is creating 1-3 new domains every week so obviously he has had a drop in his SEO traffic that I have to solve this fast. Do you think the canonical will be the best solution? I dont want to noindex these domains beacuse we're creating Google Local pages for each one in order to be found in their villages. Please, I'll appreciate any piece of advice. Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | Estherpuntu0 -
Why does Google not show my Meta Descriptions Sometimes ?
Hi Friends We have Meta Descriptions on our Pages but when certain keywords are typed into google search , different meta descriptions are created , for example when searching for "fancy dress" we see our meta description which is correct - Shop with Party Domain for all your Fancy Dress. 1000s of Fancy Dress Ideas at CHEAP Prices. Halloween Fancy Dress. Next Day Delivery and Same Day ... However when searching for "fancy dress costumes" the same page is ranked but the meta description is Fancy Dress. Female Pirate Fancy Dress Costume. £ 13.80. Female Pirate Fancy ... SKU: G11034. Pirate Captain Fancy Dress Costume. £ 12.22. RRP: £ 15.02 ... Thanks Adam
On-Page Optimization | | AMG1000 -
Google not displaying my page title and meta description
Google is automatically picking up random text from my page and displaying it in place of the page title and meta description on the SERP. What can I do to avoid this? I want my page title and meta description to show up on the SERP. The url of my website is: wishpicker dot com Thanks in advance!
On-Page Optimization | | seomanicster0 -
How to optimize for a product by two names
So let us assume I am selling an item on my website and it comes in a large array of varieties. Let us also assume that this item is commonly referred to by two different names. (i.e. Cover & Case, Car & Automobile, Notepad & Notebook) Both of these names that are used, in regards to this product, have, for the sake of argument here, the exact same search volume. I want to make sure that I rank for both terms. In my Title Tags I am currently thinking about the following methodology to help that cause. "GE Motors Super Fast and Awesome Car / Automobile" "Ghostwriter Kids Notebook / Notepad" "Super Soft Pillow Cover / Case" Notice I have the space in between the words and the / but my question is if this is necessary or not? What is Google's policy on how they view that / ? Can I do this and still have Google see it as two different words? "GE Motors Super Fast and Awesome Car/Automobile" "Ghostwriter Kids Notebook/Notepad" "Super Soft Pillow Cover/Case" Apologies if this is a fairly basic question but cannot seem to find this information.
On-Page Optimization | | DRSearchEngOpt0 -
What are the best eCommerce sites from an SEO perspective?
We're working hard on improving our website right now, and would love to get the community's examples of the best eCommerce sites out there, from an SEO and a general customer-centric design perspective...
On-Page Optimization | | reddogmusic0 -
How do I check how a competitor ranks in the UK vs. US?
In building my strategy I want to check how well my competitors rank in country specific searches, for example in Canada or the UK vs. the US. Can someone help me by pointing me in the right direction? Thanks
On-Page Optimization | | jclubb0