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Google does seem to show the meta description for pages if it can't find any other text there (all images without alt text or Flash, usually).
Are you saying that you see www3.google showing meta descriptions as the snippet, even when other text is available? I am seeing the usual ransom notes at the moment
<added>In www as well as www3</added>
I found one listing where the meta desc was showing, followed by the Desc/Cat lines. Lo and behold, the site has an ODP listing, and is framed, with no content in the parent <noframes>. Google was therefore displaying the meta desc as the snippet, but I have yet to see anywhere a snippet plus a meta desc, with or without an ODP line
I thought that dario was saying that the meta desc was being displayed by www3, regardless of snippet status, providing that the meta desc explicitly contained words from the search query. Or have I got this all wrapped right round my neck?
If you look on www3 certain sites (including mine) show the meta description tag ABOVE THE ODP DESCRIPTION instead of the snippet - which shows on www.
When the update was on they showed on www2 as well.
On my most important SEO (UK) SERP - 4 of the top 10 sites all show the meta description tag!
This is nothing to do with Google choosing the meta description if there is no other text - this is to do with showing the meta description - full stop!
Google will also use meta descriptions as snippets, where it can't find other text, but if it does, the line is not titled "Description", it just appears as the snippet, without the "Description" tag
>> It looks G show the Description in lot of webs.
As sites with ODP entries tend to appear quite high in the SERPs, you get a false impression of how many sites have a listing
I should also point out that the Google Directory is based on an RDF data dump from DMOZ, and is refreshed every few weeks, so you will occasionally see sites that you know have an ODP listing, but no desc/cat lines in the Google SERP
<edit> Just read MMTs post </edit>
Ahh, gotcha, MMT, I see what you all mean. I just did a side-by-side on www and www3, and yes I can see the meta desc being inserted as the snippet. I'll keep an eye out for that, never seen it before
It's been happening off and on for quite awhile.
[webmasterworld.com...]
The strange thing is that it never seems to develop any kind of consistant pattern. For every logical association that we've come up with, I've seen it happen with out those conditions existing.
I really wish Google would just show both. It would create much better looking SERPS.
I've been casting around few more phrases that exhibit this behaviour, but haven't found any yet. Feel free to sticky me if you have located some others
