Strange meta description shown in SERPS

[targi42]

Hi there,

I recently stumbled upon a strange phenomenon in the SERPs. Here's the situation:

A customer’s website is ranking for a keyword with the root domain. Strangely the actual meta description (as implemented in the source code) is not shown. Instead Google takes the H1-Header and a part of a short element from a contact form.

Any clue/hint, how this could have happened and can be changed?

Sorry, that I can’t name the domain and the keyword (in German), but I hope, the above explains the problem.

Thanks in advance and cheers from Germany

Sven

[Khem_Raj7]

All the very best

[targi42]

No, there's only one relevant meta description for every page. The snippet used by Google is less relevant than the one provided in the Meta Description. But I think, we've found the problem and wait what the recrawl shows in the SERPs.

Thanks again for your help/input.

Sven

[targi42]

Hi Khem,

and thanks to you, too. I think we found the problem with the hint of checking for other important areas.

Take care and cheers from Germany

Sven

[Nobody1560986989723]

Is the snippet Google is using less relevant than what you've provided in the META DESCRIPTION or is it still okay? As description isn't used for rankings it won't harm your SEO, but could impact your click-through if Google's choice is not as hot for encouraging clicks. They don't always make the best decisions.

The only other thing is to make sure you have only one meta description per page. I'm hoping that sounds obvious, but it occurred to me that I have seen a site with more than one, so Google makes its own mind up.

[Khem_Raj7]

Generally it doesn't happen, but  you can check with Meta Tag 'Syntex', may b there is any error.

another reason can be, that meta tag has just been created and will be indexed soon.

another reason, webmaster has deliberately instructed to not to show that latest cached screen shot by using:

Besides, The description snippet that Google picks to show in SERPs would the mis of various chunks of text from the page, which include the search terms. If the page meta description fits exactly the search terms, then it may be used as is. Otherwise Google can check other important areas/keywords/section in website, like bold keywords, H1 tags, etc.

Please Note: The description meta tag is not only used for indexing and ranking purposes, it also serves as AD Copy to your visitors in SERPsSo, the Google will pick the most appropriate content only. Hope it answers you query properly

[targi42]

Hi Tom,

thanks. The contact form text is in no way relevant to the actual query. That would be my first guess. Neither it has a wrong H-tag or something like this. Anyway, thanks again and cheers.

Sven

[targi42]

Hi Martin,

thanks for your quick reply. Yeah, I observed only a few cases when Google ignored the actual given Meta Description.

We checked the Meta Tags and they are different for every single page and the start page. But you're right, we should have a second look and wait for the re-crawl.

Thanks again and cheers from Germany

Sven

[lethal0r]

Depending on the query, Google very occasionally decides to override the meta description to make the SERPS snippet more relevant. As far as I know there is no way to tell Google to always use the meta description. How relevant is the contact form text to the query?

[Nobody1560986989723]

The only instances I've come across of Google ignoring a META DESCRIPTION is when it decides that something from the website's content is more relevant than what has been written in the META DESCRIPTION.

I don't know if this is others' experience though?

Review the meta tags and ensure they're not spammy, they are unique across all pages and are a valid summary of the page's content and then wait for re-crawling to see if it makes a difference.