New Meta Tags - how long until they change a site's rankings?

[christian vernet]

Hello there, can anybody of you guys tell me how long does it take for Google to drop the ranking of a site in the SERPs with the old Meta tags and start to rank it according the new ones.I've changed the Tags of my main page for two months now and it's still ranking under the Old search term on third plase in the SERPs, but is not even listed under the new term, although the page is indexed.

I will really appreciate your comments.

[Kufu]

I hate to break this to you but you'll rank in the same exact spot if you took all of your meta tags out. We'll that's not really true but the keywords meta tag is totally ignored by Google.

What you want to do is adjust your titles, and descriptions.

Good luck.

[wheel]

I'd give it a couple of more days at least.

In the meantime, at the top of the screen is a search box. Type in 'meta tags' then search webmasterworld.com. It'll be a good use of your time while you're waiting for your site to pop up on the front page.

Also, check out the link development forum on this site.

[christian vernet]

i think you are right, there are still some days ahead until the indexing is through.What is funny though is that some of the newly indexed internal pages show in the search results immediately and the main page is not even in the first 1000 although it's fourth in MSN.

I'll wait and see....
Thanks

[Demaestro]

Something I found that helps speed up G indexing is to use the 'Google Sitemap' you create an XML file of your sitemap. Google gives you the syntax it is very simple. You submit that to google and it uses that to index your site.

It tends to come a little faster then waiting for some external links and site submissions to point the crawler your way.

[christian vernet]

Right now the G shows for the site 15000 pages indexed and only few days ago there were 130.So I think the site is fully indexed although it does not have 15000 but 6 or 7000 pages.What worries me is the fact that the main page is not showing in the search results under the specific terms it's designed for, but rather it pops up under the old terms.Do you think the current indexing will help for the main page to show up in the SERPSs?

[christian vernet]

I changed only the first phrase in the title tag and in the description accordingly.Is it allright to direct the website into another niche?

[Kufu]

Is it allright to direct the website into another niche?

If the other niche is very different from what you currently have then I would recommend that you go about it very slowly. Huge topic changes may end up causing Google to discount your incomming links or not give them as much value if the they don't relate to your topic.

[wheel]

>>>
i think you are right, there are still some days ahead until the indexing is through.

I was being facetious. When it comes to ranking and indexing, I believe your meta tags will have no noticeable impact - change them or not. Nor will it have an impact on how fast Google indexes your site. You'll be waiting forever, not just a couple of days.

Get some good links to your site using good anchor text. That will both help your rankings and encourage Google to spider your site more frequently.

[christian vernet]

Hi Kufu it's not entirely different niche and the old tags contained the new ones, I just cut a little from the old, but unfortunately it happened to be the first three words.In fact the rest of the old title is know my current title.

[tbear]

One assumes the page content has changed also, since that is probably the most important element;)

[christian vernet]

The page content is changed very slightly only to be relevant to the new Tags

[tedster]

the rest of the old title is know my current title

Just so you know, the title element is not a meta tag. In fact, the title is arguably THE most important on-page factor, whereas the meta tags (especially the meta keywords tags, being hidden from the end user) are not important for ranking.

Something may have shifted around the meta description recently, and it possibly has just a smidgen of influence instead of none at all. But when it comes to meta tags, you're much better off to set them and forget them. Rather, I would say focus on visible content, inbound links and marketing.

[pageoneresults]

But when it comes to meta tags, you're much better off to set them and forget them.

A quick way to develop the meta description and meta keywords tag is to build the page first. Then go back and utilize sentences from the first and second paragraphs for your meta description. Sprinkle about 2, 3, 4 or 5 keyword phrases in the meta keywords tag and your done. Everything within those two tags should appear on your page visibly. Don't put anything in there that doesn't appear. Meaning, don't try to target a bunch of secondary phrases that are not on the page, it is a futile exercise.

[christian vernet]

Thank you guys I seem to have done this( putting main phrases from the first and second paragraphs of the page body in the meta description tags and the keywords0 but maybe the effect of appearing under those phrases will come later?

[Eazygoin]

Christian>>

Changing you title and description tags can have a MAJOR effect on your ranking for certain keywords/phrases. By changing keywords, the new words may take some weeks to show through, but you should see your site showing in the search for those keywords quite quickly. On the bad side, if you have removed other keywords, they will disappear from the SERP's.

I tested this, by adding a keyword in the title, and it showed within 6 days, and very high up in the rankings. I then changed the ending of the keyword, and it then showed up for the new keyword. [e.g I added widget first, and then changed it to widgeting]

I then did the same for the desciption tag, changing a keyphrase, and once again it got ranked within a few days. BUT I only did it once, and then left it alone!

[christian vernet]

Thanks Eazygoin, but I put the new keyword in the Title tag a month ago and it's still not showing for this keyword.It is on the first place in the title and is present in the description and body text as well.You say you had a rather quick show up under a new keyword, you are really lucky.I think I have done something wrong?....

[Eazygoin]

I think it must also relate to the overall strength of the page in question, as regards ranking. I am sure you probably haven't done anything wrong.

Keeping the title down to 7 or 8 words maximum is a good idea, and the description down to two sentences, or at least that seems to be the general concensus.

[Stefan]

Right now the G shows for the site 15000 pages indexed and only few days ago there were 130.So I think the site is fully indexed although it does not have 15000 but 6 or 7000 pages.

You might have a canonical problem (the same page listed with different URL versions). You might want to do some reading up on that on WW.

[CainIV]

The Meta description, while helpful in attracting visitors to your site, has very little to do with ranking in medium to high competition keyword markets.

The title, does play an absolutely huge role in ranks.

[christian vernet]

I think it must also relate to the overall strength of the page in question, as regards ranking.

Do you mean the body text content or the quality of incoming links , or both?Asuming that the meta title, description and keywords are right, what would be the cause for a page to not be rankedeven in the first 1000.It really seems like it's gonna take a long time.

[Eazygoin]

I meant the overall importance that Google applies to the page.

[christian vernet]

Well do you think a site with a current PR2 and probably PR5 upon next PR update could not rank among other sites with the same rank in the same niche? I think it should be ranking somewhere, but the case is it's not to be found anywhere.My internal pages are ranking fine along with my competitors but my main page is not? May be there must be Goggle interference in some way.

[Eazygoin]

Page Rank is one of about 100 factors that are taken into account when ranking pages. That is why you will often see a page with PR1 much higher up in the SERP's than a page with PR5.

[christian vernet]

Thanks I guess I will just have to wait for a week or two.May be all of a sudden it will appear in the SERPs.
Hope so : )

You know G is unpredictable..

[afterburner]

christian,
good luck with your experiment, please post the results here when you get them.

[christian vernet]

There is G indexing going on right now so the Outcome will tell Best

Thanks guys I'll keep you informed if news come along..