Meta description

is it important for google?

[bcc1234]

Hey guys,
I thought google does not care much for the description.
Am i worng? Has something changed?

Thanks.

[kfander]

I think the word around here is that Google doesn't use your meta description or keywords in determining SERPs. However, it does sometimes display the meta description instead of the usual snippet from the site on search pages.

[WebGuerrilla]

I would say that is more important now than in the past. With this latest update, I'm seeing a big change in snippet generation. If there is a keyword match in the description, then the description is displayed.

This update has produced much more readable SERPS.

[bcc1234]

Ok thanks guys. I guess it's worth using description just for the snippet.

[Marcia]

What I'm seeing is the description being picked up when the exact phrase is found in it. I'm also seeing part of the description picked up, then continuing on to include part of what's on the page also.

Time to go through and start writing dynamite descriptions, just in case it continues.

[cwebb]

Didn't we always write accurate, dynamite descriptions?

I'll be saving lots of time now!

[bcc1234]

It kinda sucks caause I did not have a description and just scored second position for a 2.5M query but the snippet is about referral program and the query has nothing to do with it :)

That's what laziness does to you.

[bluecorr]

I am confused, I have read here on WW that Google doesn't care about meta keywords at all. But I wonder (and can you please clarify things on this one) doesn't keywords meta tag count for google if the keywords are actually in the content of the page? Is it worth using in this context?

What about theme sites? I've read Brett's article on theme sites and he recommends using meta keywords in the way described there.

So for google, does the keyword meta tag count or doesn't? And in what circumstances?

Thanks

[heini]

I generally do meta description. Never thought Google didn't care for that at all.
Title, desc and keywords, those are the optimization fields in the head area for me.
I don't know if Google uses the meta keywords, but I tend to work under the asumption Google includes them in the general word count without assigning special weight.

One of the reasons why I always did good desc. was that I don't work for Google only.
If it didn't hurt in Google but helped everywhere else - why not do it?

As of now I can only recommend to put them up.

[annej]

<<Didn't we always write accurate, dynamite descriptions? <<

Ya, sure. ;)

I've been gradually going back and spiffing up my descriptions. In the past I just dashed something off, some are ok and some are really sloppy.

I'm glad Google is using them in the description some of the time though. I can see getting the common search words in as well. I sure prefer a good description on the search result page compared to gibberish.

Anne

[tyrojds]

I've always tried to write relevant descriptions, however, the snippets in google are uniformly bizarre! Some are actually kind of funny.

[kfander]

My personal opinion (guess) is that meta descriptions, and perhaps even keywords, do fit into the Google algorithm in some way, although the importance may vary from month to month.