Will the description help?

[superkid]

A website that I am now working on has no meta description. lets say the site is www.widgetbuyonline.com, when you search for "widget buy" we are number 9, when you search for "widget buys" you get nothing. What I am assuming is that the only thing google is using to index us is our title and domain name, so the "s" in "widget buys" keeps us from popping up under this search.

I hope I am not being redundant and stupid, this is only my second post.
-=KRIS=-

[jeremy goodrich]

No, you're not being stupid - trust me, it takes a while to absorb all the necessary stuff. :) And, constant reading of the forums here to keep up on all the changes.

That being said, you should probably do some digging through the past threads here - and use the site search [searchengineworld.com] if you haven't tried it yet, check it out - very, very useful.

On to your question -

Google indexes the contents of your page, not the contents of your url...so, if you had www.widgetsetcbuyonline.com, that doens't affect what Google puts in it's searchable database about your site.

What they *do* put in their db is titles, headings of your page, the meta description - which they will sometimes display in the SERP's, though not always, and then of course, the rest of the contents of your page.

If you are targeting 'buy widgets', make sure it's in your title, a heading of some kind (H1 usually at the top of the page) and then perhaps in the text, make sure you you talk about people being able to buy widgets at your site - that way, they will get the idea that they really can buy widgets from you.

Hope that helps - and if nobody has said it yet, welcome to WebmasterWorld. :)

[jimbeetle]

Hi Kris,

Google and other SEs will index all of the text on the page. Some support description and keyword meta tags, alt and title tags to a greater or lesser extent, some don't.

As for the site being returned for "widget buy" and not for "widget buys," well first, is the word "buys" anywhere on the page?

If it is, then it's probably just that other sites (many others?) are ranked higher for that particular term.

Jim

[Yidaki]

You should not use any keyword or phrase in your meta description that can't be found elsewhere at the page. If you don't have "widget buys" somewhere at your page, putting it only into your description might hurt you. AFAIK at least at fast.

[ken_b]

Superkid;

>>so the "s" in "widget buys" keeps us from popping up under this search. <<

That brings up a point. Buy and buys are treated as two completely different words. On you page you need to use both if you want to be found for both.

widget buys
buy a widget
buy widgets

It might also help if you can work the variations into your meta description and title, in a way that makes sense.

Widget Buys, a great place to buy widgets.

[superkid]

Thank you guys. This is the second time that I have posted here and you have all been nothing but helpful.