How come google?

description of result same as meta description

[dolphin]

Hi newbie here,

not sure if this topic belong to this forum :) but here goes,

Sometimes when I am searching google, I look at the result description. Sometimes the description of the result is from the description meta and other times the desctiption is some content from the body of the home page.

Just wondering why this is so?, and how do I get it to just read the meata description?

Cheers

Dolphin

[Susanne]

Hi dolphin,
I think it is the Google directory description you're seeing. If a site isn't listed in the directory, you won't see that line in the search result. And the text displayed in a result varies depending on the search words you used. Play around with one page using different words and you'll see that the snippet varies. Cheers!

[dolphin]

Hi Susanne,

Thanks, appreciated. So googles has to set of results? ie normal ones and directory ones? a little confused ...

Cheers

Dolphin

[pageoneresults]

And the text displayed in a result varies depending on the search words you used.

These are referred to as snippets. Bits and pieces of information from your page relative to the search query.

Google is indexing meta description tags and they are displayed depending on the search query. If you target the right phrase or sequence of words, there is a good chance you may see your meta description displayed, or part of it mixed in with snippets from the on page content.

I believe it was about 4 updates ago when we all started noticing meta descriptions appearing in the SERPs. I see them now on a regular basis depending on the search query.

[pageoneresults]

So Google has two sets of results? For example, normal ones and directory ones? A little confused...

Yes. There are results that are coming from the Google Directory (powered by the ODP) and results coming from the regular search index. The ODP descriptions are very easy to notice and have a link to the directory category where your listing appears. For example, you'll see these two headings in the results...

Title:
Snippet Description:
Description: This is where your ODP description will be.
Category: This is where your ODP category link will be.

This is one of the reasons why a quality ODP listing is of importance. Not only for Google, but for other search properties that pull results from the ODP (ODP Clones as they are referred to).

[Buckley]

I noticed Google started displaying my meta description a few updates back....then a few weeks ago i changed my meta d. slightly and now google shows snippets...no meta description. Strange? I'm hoping for a change back to meta but it didn't happen after this update. I cant work out how Google decides when to show meta or snippets.

[Receptional Andy]

As far as I could tell, if Google finds the best snippet relating to the search query in your meta description and not your page, then it uses the meta description instead.

Try searching for a phrase from your meta description that is not also on the page of your site and you often see this.

[Susanne]

I've tried over and over again but cannot get Google to show a META description in a SERP. Would you please give an example?

[johannes]

If the search term is not featured on your page, Google will show an alternate description.

Inbound linx text is very important on Google. One explanation could be that the search term isn't on your page, but in the link text on pages that link to you.

Sometimes Google shows both snippets and a description. I don't know how to accomplish that.

[dolphin]

Thanks guys

very appreicated :)

Dolphin