Back from summer break and back to work. How's my website looking: is everything tip-top or is there something that needs doing? The answer is usually a resounding “yes!” Almost always, you can and should work on search engine optimization so that you can be found more easily. Here are a few tips on how to use meta descriptions well and even better.
This is a question many people ask themselves when they receive and enter the meta descriptions for all pages of a website. The aim is to influence what Google displays as a description of a page's content in search results. What do you need to bear in mind here?
Google generates the snippet independently, using metadata such as the title tag, meta description, and URL as a basis.
However, it may also happen that the data is not used or not used in its entirety. Why? Because Google concludes that the data is insufficient or irrelevant for this specific search query, e.g., because it does not contain a good description!
But does Google always use this information in the way that diligent SEO managers intended when they created it? The image shows the information from the page itself, which is stored in the page description.
If you search for the page using the search operator “site,” the stored description is actually used. Everything seems fine; the page is displayed as a result with the text stored in the meta description and linked. This means that the meta description is accepted, recognized, and used. So everything is as it should be, right? Unfortunately, no.
In another search using different terms, the result for the same page is displayed as shown. The headline is obviously used as the basis for this.
In the next search, however, the result is displayed as shown in the next image. A completely different text is displayed here as the result, based on the headline plus additional information from the content.
It is clear that automatic generation is not considered binding per se: Google ultimately does what it wants.
In fact, only the automatically generated result is not displayed.
There is and never has been any guarantee that Google will use the description for the SERPs. Although the meta description is often displayed, Google reserves the right to display what it considers to be the “best” in the SERPs. This depends in particular on the search query, i.e. the search terms entered in the query, as the examples above clearly show.
No one except Google has direct influence on Google, and it is constantly evolving. What you enter there will only “probably” be displayed by Google as a description in the organic search results. In other words, with your text in the meta description, you are simply recommending that Google use it. At the beginning of 2021, Google started to follow these recommendations more closely. However, things can always change with Google! In recent months, Google has also been working on its SERPs. In some cases, H1s are being used instead of titles in the results – you can see this clearly above!
When writing and optimizing this information on the page and for all elements, keep the various search interests of the users in mind as much as possible and try to answer them. What might they be looking for and want to find on my page?
What is the real benefit of my content for my readers? Anyone who ignores this and only has themselves and their own communication interests in mind will not be successful, at least not with this measure. Write for your audience: “You-communication” is your goal.
Examine your pages, content, and their access figures. What is being used and what is not? Which pages do your users visit and which do they avoid? Many websites have a lot of superfluous content that no one ever clicks on. “Optimization” means improving every single part and the whole. Anything that is superfluous can be removed because it distracts from the important things.
Many small improvements will add up to a good and much greater success. Check continuously and approach all parts of your site critically again and again.
Google can sometimes seem like a monster whose actions appear arbitrary and whose intentions unclear. But that's misleading. Ultimately, Google wants to find “truth.” And you can achieve this by formulating your messages in a way that is good for your users and getting the best out of your content, in all its small parts. Support it and be prepared for anything. Have fun!
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