Meta Description For Dynamic Websites

[zehrila]

I am just redoing a site and changing the onpage optimization, right now i have certain set of meta description text for each content page, however, to add relevancy to that particular page i have a $keyword string which automatically pulls the keyword for that specific page. This is how it goes

latest $keyword( blue widgets for city ) try our widgets, we serv widgets for each city, city 1, city 2, city 3. Join our dynamic community to get more help.

So, the $keyword string automatically makes the meta description unique from all other pages. I was wondering if it would be better to just let google decide what goes in the description? so that when ever user searches for certain keyword and if it exists in the body of my page, it shall show in my results. Which approach yields better results and clickthroughs?

[aakk9999]

I would not let google decide what to pick. I do not know how many pages you have got, but I would go for automatically generated descriptions for less important pages but override these with well constructed "call to action" description for important pages that rank well.

[zehrila]

aakk9999: Please reason why you should not allow google to pick the code snipet from your text? Some times dynamically generated descriptions donot cover the broader aspect of your content and if you let google decide what goes there, then it might be possible that Google pick the text from your body which is most relevant to search query. BTW i am talking about content pages, not the home or category pages.

I have been using the dyamic description with keyword strings but now i am tempted to let google decide what goes there based on user query. Matt Cutts in his blog does not have description tag.

[tedster]

If your meta description is not a good match for the search, then Google will generate their own idea of a snippet, even though a meta description is present in the source code.

So by creating a meta description of your own, you get a win-win situation for your SERP entry. By not creating one, you are losing one chance to have a snippet that you had a hand in creating.

[zehrila]

Ted: That pretty much explains it, i had totally forgotten that they use the snippet to match the user query, even if you have the meta description.