seo advice - meta descriptions

[basschick]

we had a script issue that we just discovered. each of our reviews was using the entire review as a meta description. that didn't seem like a good thing to me so i changed it so the meta description was the short description given of each site on the category pages.

the result was that all of our listings are now much worse - much. we were on the first page on many searches, and now we're not even on page 3 for any of them. so much for people who tell me meta descriptions don't matter much :ouch:

basically i'm wondering if you can see a reason google might penalize us for having the entire reviews in the meta description. i certainly feel that they might - hell, if i were google, i might. but they seemed fine with them till now...

[abostonboy]

If you were getting penalized for having the entire review in the meta, you wouldn't have gotten top spots. It appears you are getting penalized for having the short snippet of review?

[basschick]

i don't think we're being penalized - it's just that there's a lot more relevant text in a full review than in a snippet. the pages are all still listed - just much further back.

[Gaystoryman]

Many say that there should be no more than about 160 to 180 characters in the description tag, and that it should be different than the text on the page, i.e. not a paragraph grabbed from the body.

[basschick]

that's what i had always heard, which is why i removed the full reviews from the descriptions. so far, the result certainly hasn't been what i had in mind rofl


Many say that there should be no more than about 160 to 180 characters in the description tag, and that it should be different than the text on the page, i.e. not a paragraph grabbed from the body.

[Gaystoryman]

are these dynamic pages being created?

[basschick]

yes, but they are presented as html pages
http://www.luckypornreviews.com/reviews/gay-college-sex-parties-l103.html

[Gaystoryman]

yes, but they are presented as html pages
http://www.luckypornreviews.com/reviews/gay-college-sex-parties-l103.html


Rather wondering if perhaps the previous pages were indexed, and these are being considered as new pages, thus giving an appearance of duplicate content, but only a mere guess.

[basschick]

they're the same urls and same pages they've been all along. the only thing that changed is the meta descriptions.

[Gaystoryman]

they're the same urls and same pages they've been all along. the only thing that changed is the meta descriptions.

Well I haven't a clue then. Perhaps you could take just one of the pages that was ranking (and now isn't), revert it back with the full description it had when it was ranking, and see if it improves. If it does, well then things sure are wonky at G. But then you'd know if it was that change and not something else.

[gaydemon]

I think what you got there are not neccessarly the same or related to each other.

Google doesnt like or advice you to use shorter meta descriptions, so you are correct in removing them. You could end up being black listed for stuffing whole reviews into a meta tag.

That you removed and changed the meta title might and might not have been what sent you back in the index.

There are 2 things that might have made you go further back / lower score.

1. You updated the meta description and quite a major change. Google might have decided to flush out or refresh your pages due to a large amount of changes as they see it.

2. Your site has had its "fresh" period and gone back to the normal index. What it means is that google try and stay fresh by pushing forward pages that are new, just updated, recent additions etc. Which is also why Google likes blogs. After a certain period this extra boost is taken away and your site is put back into a normal index. Its no longer fresh.

When I say "normal index" it doesnt mean that its current score reflects how it will be in the future. Its still in a flux and might not be where it will be later.

These are 2 likly options, it might also be that there has been a google update of some kind. I'll have to check on that and see if there has or not.



we had a script issue that we just discovered. each of our reviews was using the entire review as a meta description. that didn't seem like a good thing to me so i changed it so the meta description was the short description given of each site on the category pages.

the result was that all of our listings are now much worse - much. we were on the first page on many searches, and now we're not even on page 3 for any of them. so much for people who tell me meta descriptions don't matter much :ouch:

basically i'm wondering if you can see a reason google might penalize us for having the entire reviews in the meta description. i certainly feel that they might - hell, if i were google, i might. but they seemed fine with them till now...

[gaydemon]

I just checked www.webmasterworld.com (http://www.webmasterworld.com) there seems to be some Google update or flux going on since 30th March and still going on.

So unfortunatley for you its hard to tell what exactly caused the problem.

I'm just not sure your loss in score / lower listings has anything to do with your meta description changes.

If you compare your Meta description now, with what you had when the full review was in there. Are the the same now but just shorter? IE is it the same text but just the first 180 chars or so?

If you have a really long meta description, the most likly thing that google would do is to ignore anything after a certain length has been reached.

[VODBOB]

Google did the "Dewey" Update on March 30th. Most word is that established ranks have slid and newer listings have claimed top positions.

Personally I think this may be a honeymoon period as Google acquires new sites and does a huge update. These newer sites get preferential treatment for a short time. Only the quality ones will remain in the SERP's and the established ones will be worked back in.

VODBOB

[rawTOP]

I agree with others it's probably coincidental that the problems with rankings happened around the same time as your tweaking of the meta descriptions. How is overall organic traffic? Is it down?

Meta descriptions are one of those things people have gone crazy with... Yes, the search engines will display the meta description as the blurb right under the page title and before the URL, but the advice I've heard (and follow) is if you're going for long-tail terms don't use meta description at all... You don't want Google displaying your meta description when they could pull text from the page that's more relevant to the user's search. The bottom line is that 99% of the time these days I don't use meta descriptions at all. The only time I'd consider it is if it were a highly targeted, sales oriented page with super tight sales/marketing copy.

[gaydemon]

This might help you.

I just noticed Google have added a new tool. If you have submitted your sitemap to google, then login to:

https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools/

Click on your site, then select "diagnostics" and then "content analysis".

It gives you a list with pages that has:


Duplicate meta descriptions
Long meta descriptions
Short meta descriptions
Maybe that can help.