Google isnt reading my Meta Desc. tag

Any idea why?

[mrclark]

On my Google listing it's using the first few lines of my body as it's description - not the Meta Tags.

On other websites of the same theme there isn't a problem.

Any ideas?

Steve

[WebGuerrilla]

Google generates their own description from the text on the page. They've always done it this way. Not much you can do about it unless you are willing to be a little agressive.

[robotsdobetter]

The text that you would like them to use put it at the top to help increase chances that they will use it.

[mrclark]

That doesn't follow ...

My other website which is ranked 3rd for my keyword has the description exactly the same as I have in my meta tag ... same with everyone else. The description Google lists isnt listed anywhere in my body.

Steve

[BMach]

The following is true for my site at least:

Google only uses the META description if all the words in the search string are also in the description. If the all the words in the search string are not in the description Google will use something from the page containing the search words. For example lets say my META description contains the words "red widgets" but not the word "bright" and somewhere on the page it says "bright red widgets". If Someone does a search for "red widgets" Google will use the META description and if someone does a search for "bright red widgets" Google will use the sentence containing "bright red widgets" from the page. Google will also use the META description for a "red widgets" search if the description was something like "great red little widgets" or "check out widgets that are red here". Also I have found that Google only uses the sentence in the description that contains the search words. For example lets say the META description is something like "Find red widgets here. We also have blue thingies for sale." If someone does a search for "red widgets" Google will only use the "Find red widgets here." part and use any other occurrences of "red widgets" from the page in the description. One way to get Google to use the whole META description mentioned above for a search for "red widgets" is to separate the two sentences with a comma instead of a period. "Find red widgets here, we also have blue thingies for sale." Again this is how it works with my site and I'm not sure if this is how it always works.

[pleeker]

I'm not certain on BMach's period/comma idea, though it seems logical. But the bigger point BMach makes is true -- the snippet Google shows is dependent on what word/phrase was searched. If it finds the search term in your description, it shows the description.

It's interesting that you wrote "On my Google listing" -- your Google listing is not a static thing. It changes. I'm guessing you searched using the company name, or maybe the exact URL. If neither of those appear in your description, you won't see it.

[BMach]

>I'm not certain on BMach's period/comma idea, though it seems logical.

You are right it's not always the case and is not the "way" Google does things but it will work if the sentence isn't too long. And of course it doesn't have to be a comma, you could join the 2 parts with "and" or something and I think it will increase the chances of Google using more of the META description that doesn't contain the searched term and just because your entire META description is a run on sentence doesn't mean Google will use it and I think Google takes into account the length of the sentence and will cut it off with the all to familiar ...