Description in the snippet varies from search to search.. Have you seen that?
-
Hi everyone.
I'm noticing that when searching the same web, but from different queries the description shown in the snippet is different.
I've attached 2 images to clarify this topic.
Searches done:
1) https://www.google.com.ar/search?q=http://www.dawebrokers.com/
2) https://www.google.com.ar/search?q=http://www.dawebrokers.com/testimoniosAlso, I do know that google indexes the text from description that seems more accurate for the search. But, I've understood that the text should be the same on every search.
Can anyone enlighten me in this subject?
I'm starting to believe that it's becoming useless the meta descriptionThanks!
GR. -
Well, yes and no. Because of how varied any relevant search could be, you can't necessarily hit every single variation to a good enough extent that Google's algorithm would then never change your description. You _could s_tuff literally every piece of info into the meta. Or you could write more naturally and make sure all the proper meta and/or schema and/or other tags are implemented properly. You just need to make sure you are hitting your targets for descriptions, that they are good for the user experience, and that they are not stuffed or spammy.
In the previous example, you could have updated your description to mention "Seller of Red Widgets & Green Widgets!" and the original [green widget] searcher might now be seeing your actual description in the SERPs. But another [green widget] searcher just spent the earlier part of their day Googling [widget coupons], [widget sales], [coupon sites], [internet coupon pages], [groupon], and/or [widget deals]. Now, after an hour of looking for coupons they search [green widgets] and you'd think your description would show up like it did for the other searcher but instead Google notices that you have schema tags for an upcoming sale listed on Green Widgets that was nestled somewhere halfway towards the bottom of your page... and all of a sudden your description is algorithmically changed to include that Green Widget Discount info even though it wasn't in your description. But the page was relevant and contextual information lead to an improved description. (this though is a hypothetical best case scenario, its not always that amazing and contextual... sometimes its just Google randomly truncating a sentence cause they feel the middle of the paragraph is most relevant)
-
Hi Juan Ignacio,
Thanks for answering.
Yeap, I've had cases that the title was rewritten. But, not the description. It just bothers me that google shows information in the snippet that "should be accurate" but it ends with text that arent logical or some random words.
GR.
-
Hi Mike,
Thanks for answering.
I do understand what you are saying.
Contiuing with the example, You could also name other colours in the meta description. And in that case it would not be changed in google.GR.
-
Hi Gastón,
It has not happened to me that Google rewrites the meta tag descriptions but sometimes it happened to me with the title tag. I understand that while it is always best to specify each page these tags, Google could rewrite and use one better if found a more relevant text.
As each query is a different search, the same page could be affected or not by rewriting descriptions (or titles) for different keywords.
In this link:
https://mza.seotoolninja.com/learn/seo/meta-descriptionMOZ explains that meta tag descriptions is not a direct Google Ranking factor that but it does help a lot in the CTR to increase the number of users who click on the SERPs.
I think that having the correct descriptions tags on each page (avoiding duplicate) is still a step in the on page optimization to consider and i always check and optimized it on my clients.
As far as I know, there is no way to prevent that rewriting titles or descriptions happen, although I suspect that if Google chooses a new, should be the best one that produces more CTR.
I hope my answer helped you,
Regards
Juan Ignacio
-
Yup, Google has been doing this for a few years. The same page can have differing descriptions depending on what the search was. Usually this happens in the case of a page that is relevant to a search with a description that doesn't necessarily appear to be relevant enough to said search.
This doesn't make meta descriptions useless though. Meta description is still a useful signal to denote what your page is about. But for arguments sake, lets say you have a page on Widgets (why is it always widgets?). You have a page on Widgets and your main product is Red Widgets... so your meta description expresses "Seller of top quality Red Widgets!". But someone searches for Green Widgets. Your page is relevant for Green Widgets because you sell those too but your description doesn't mention them since they're a less important product to you. So Google alters your description for that search which pulls some of the info on your page about Green Widgets so that the Green Widget searcher know your page is actually useful to them.
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
-
Is there ever a time when we shouldn't care about content showing in search?
I often get push back from our content team about optimizing blogs for organic search. They'll say things like "but this isn't relevant for search" or "well, this is intended for people who come directly to our blog, I don't think it'll matter if it shows up in search." This is especially true when we publish product announcements and customer case studies. As an SEO, my opinion is definitely biased, but I 100% disagree and believe that search is relevant for every piece of content -- it's just that we might approach SEO differently for a product announcement (i.e. looking at branded search queries) vs. a more general "how to create an editorial calendar" type post. Would like to hear thoughts from the Moz community, though: what do you think? Is there ever a time when search isn't relevant for a blog post? Ever a time when we should skip the keyword/phrase research and tracking? Why or why not?
Keyword Research | | AsanaOps0 -
Keyword Cannibalization and Targeting Similar Search Terms
My website is a collection of educational games for children. We are currently in the process of doing all the onsite page optimization for the individual game pages (they currently have no title tags, meta descriptions, H1, etc.) We created several different games to teach each particular skill. For example, there are 4 different games children can play to learn vowels. While offering several different games is good for the user, I am concerned as to how best to target a keyword for each particular game page without creating keyword cannibalization. Being new to SEO, I am not sure how targeting on each page different variations of related terms would affect SEO. For example, if one page were to target the term "vowel games", and another the term "learning the vowels" are these keywords similar enough to cause keyword cannibalization? If yes, would a proper solution be to use a canonical tag and designate one game as the "primary" game page for vowels? Ideally, I realize that the best SEO solution would be to have a landing page created just for "vowel games." Yet we created our landing pages based upon school level (preschool, kindergarten, first grade, etc) thinking of the user experience where a child only has to navigate to a single page to find all of the games for their age range. I greatly appreciate any help in better understanding the best way to avoid any potential problems with cannibalization.
Keyword Research | | bza1000 -
Finding Long Tail Searches
Hi Does anyone have any useful tools or ways of looking for long tail phrases apart from Google Keyword Planner? Thank you
Keyword Research | | BeckyKey0 -
Where can I find data on growth in individual keyword search terms, over tiime?
I am operating in an emerging market, and want to understand the underlying growth in the relevant Google keyword search terms. I can use this as a proxy for market growth. I have checked out Google Trends, but this confusingly shows peak search volumes (out of 100) not search volumes. Are there any better tools out there? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Keyword Research | | JDog980 -
Ranking for broad search terms
Hello, ive been getting some good organic traffic lately, i always run the live real time analytics and have noticed that the site is ranking for very broad terms and not specific exact keywords that i have the pages optimized for. Is there a reason for this? thx
Keyword Research | | TP_Marketing0 -
Big discrepancy between search volume and actual traffic
I've been seeing this more and more... a page that ranks well for a great keyword but the traffic is much, much less than one would expect based on information from the Google Keyword Tool. The keyword gets 3600 searches locally, but the site, #9 on the SERP, got 11 visits last month. Does that sound like a plausible drop-off or is there something else at play? Thanks!
Keyword Research | | joshcanhelp0 -
How do search engines score "nested" keywords?
I use "nested" for lack of a better term; what I mean is keyword phrases that contain other keyword phrases. For example, if I have a page that is extremely well optimized (on-page) for the phrase "old silver coins", is that page by default also extremely well optimized (on-page) for the phrase "silver coins"? Or does google understand that I am optimizing for the longer phrase "old silver coins" and somehow exclude me from contention for the sub-phrase "silver coins"? I understand that this gets more complicated when talking about backlinks (off-page), but the same general question remains. If I am getting good backlinks for "old silver coins", am I also getting good backlinks for "silver coins" at the same time? I do understand that "silver coins" may be more competitive than "old silver coins" and so my page may not rank the same for the two phrases. But I am really curious if there is some kind of multiplier effect with nested keyword phrases like the example I have provided, or whether google somehow only credits for the full phrase and not for any sub-phrases contained therein. Any insight would be greatly appreciated! (And sorry if this has been addressed already. I have looked around the site and have googled this question, but haven't found anything useful yet.) Thanks. BONUS QUESTION: Are the answers to my questions above exactly the same when discussing singular versus plural keywords ("coins" versus "coin")? After all, that is a "nested case just like my examples above. On the other hand, I can see there being some special treatment of singular and plural.
Keyword Research | | Kp2221 -
Get search volume for 200 + keywords via API?
I have a list of about 500 keywords, and I want to know the search volume for each one, such that I can select a list of 200 keywords with the most search volume. If I have all my keywords in SEOMoz (or in an excel file), is there a way to run this as a batch request instead of using the SEOMoz keyword research tool to test each one one-by-one? If this is going to require a dev to work on it, any estimates on how many hours this would take a backend dev to put in place would be appreciated!
Keyword Research | | Ykone0