Forum Moderators: Robert Charlton & goodroi
i.e.
<title>Find my idea here</title>
<meta name="description" content="You can always find my idea here no matter what happens" />
What I would avoid is having the title and the meta description be exact duplicates of each other. As long as the description expands on the title, I can't imagine a problem and certainly have never seen one with this cause.
For the description to appear in the snippets for those searches where you're most likely to rank, though, you almost have to use the words that are in the title in the description as well.
Google looks for words contained in the search when it choose snippet text, and if it doesn't find them in the description it will look for them on the page. Since your title likely to contain your main targeted terms, then, for snippet purposes, your description should contain them too.
What I would avoid is having the title and the meta description be exact duplicates of each other.
Yes, because it's unnatural, looks unprofessional, and it appears spammy to search engines. Auto-generated sites could use repetition in titles and tags.
I like to use descriptive titles for the keyword value and help to surfers who only read the title (link text); so my descriptions often paraphrase the title or are snippets from page text. I also add synonyms of the title keywords. And I may throw in long tails.
Every page that will be a landing page needs a well-written description. It's your advertisement.
Make sure it fits the space Google provides. I use a page I made with code to dynamically count down the number of characters used and how many are still available before text will get cut off.
(I got the idea from ebay which gives x characters for feedback, and lets you know each time you type a letter how much space you have left.)
p/g
Here are Google's official comments on descriptions:
Using identical or similar descriptions on every page of a site isn't very helpful when individual pages appear in the web results. In these cases we're less likely to display the boilerplate text. . . . programmatic generation of the descriptions can be appropriate and is encouraged -- just make sure that your descriptions are not "spammy."
[googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com...]
I would guess the same text in title and description could be considered by Google as "spammy." At least it's clear enough that Google looks as the tag to see if webmasters are trying to keyword stuff it.
p/g
And it's worth noting that while accurate meta descriptions can improve clickthrough, they won't affect your ranking within search results.
it doesn't matter if you have any keywords in your description, from G's point of view, your page will still be ranked the same, regardless.
I'd say it's true about the meta description not affecting ranking. But, when the search terms are not in your meta description, then there's a stronger chance that the snippet will NOT be taken from your meta description tag. It's more likely to be from somewhere on the page where the search terms actually DO appear.
But, when the search terms are not in your meta description, then there's a stronger chance that the snippet will NOT be taken from your meta description tag. It's more likely to be from somewhere on the page where the search terms actually DO appear.
OR, as I have found again today...from DMOZ listings!
Again I am going to have to request DMOZ to change company name details, listings, descriptions etc.
This is ridiculous, for mycompanyname.com, I am seeing almost 10 yr old descriptions that are totally inapplicable. They really need to sort this out, I'm getting totally pi$$ed off with being listed there.
<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOODP">
Reference thread:
[webmasterworld.com...]
Don'tbother wresting with DMOZ
Thanks Ted, I daren't ask when that was introduced!
It may explain many other abberations I have...I owe you a big beer:)
But, when the search terms are not in your meta description, then there's a stronger chance that the snippet will NOT be taken from your meta description tag. It's more likely to be from somewhere on the page where the search terms actually DO appear.
Companyname offers more than 30 varieties of delicious green widgets organically grown in sunny Southern California.
Companyname offers more than 30 varieties of delicious green widgets organically grown in sunny Southern California.
