Pleased with Your Google Description?. . . Getting the Google description that YOU want!
Part 1
by
Robin Nobles
When
it comes to describing your site, Google assembles
what is known as a snippet description to display
in their search results. Sometimes it's a good
description - one that prompts potential visitors
to click on your link. Other times, it isn't.
Take the case in point where the following page
(ranked at #1) in a keyword search for scuba
dive "entices" the potential site
visitor by listing the various PADI locations
from around the world ...
PADI
- The way the world learns to dive PADI Americas
- English, PADI Canada - English, PADI Europe
- English, PADI Nordic - English, PADI International
Limited - English, PADI Japan - English, PADI
Asia ... Description: The largest and most recognized
diving organization around the world with courses
ranging from Snorkeling... Category: Recreation
> Outdoors > ... > Dive Organizations
> Training Agencies
www.padi.com/ - 9k - Dec 27, 2003 - Cached -
Similar pages
Oops!
...oh, well - at least their Description, taken
from their editor-assigned ODP directory description,
is relevant - but their snippet leaves something
to be desired.
Can
the snippet be changed to entice users to click
on your listing?
Of
course, this is important because potential
site visitors are judging whether to click or
not based in part on those snippets. So, how
can one go about changing Google's snippet advantageously?
Let's take a look and see.
For
starters, we've found that Google actually pulls
the snippet description from several different
places on your Web page. Let's think about this
for a minute. If we could determine where Google
is pulling our description, perhaps we might
be able to change that wording to "produce"
a description that more accurately describes
our page.
Where
is Google pulling the snippet description?
Currently
Google is pulling the snippet from any one or
combination of the following areas:
1.
META description tag (although Google doesn't
use contents to determine relevancy).
2. First ALT text found on the page.
3. First text found on the page (which may be
a heading tag, body text, etc.).
4. Additional heading tags on the page.
5. Additional body text found on the page.
6. Additional ALT text on the page.
7. Navigation bar on the left-hand side of the
page (which is rarely a relevant description
of a site!).
8. Copyright information at the bottom of the
page.
9. Wherever the keyword phrase is found.
Important
Note . . .
One
thing that's very important to note is that
the snippet is determined by the search term.
In other words, if you search for your company's
name, you'll get a different description than
what you would get if you search for a keyword
phrase that is relevant for your site. Generally,
Google appears to be pulling the description
from areas of the page that surround the usage
of that particular keyword phrase. The obvious
question is, Is it the first usage of the keyword
phrase? Usually, but not always.
Another
Important Note . . .
Since
most people aren't going to be searching for
the name of your business, don't try to change
your Google snippet description based on a search
for your company name. Instead, search for the
most important keyword phrase for each important
page of your site, and then make changes accordingly.
Let's
look at some examples . . .
If
you search for "search engine seminars"
(no quotes) at Google, you'll find these results:
Search
Engine Seminars--your path to success on the
Web! ... Search Engine Seminars. Is your Web
site achieving the success that you want, or
that it deserves? ... At our Search Engine Seminars
... you learn by doing. ... www.searchengineworkshops.com/articles/search-engine-
seminars.html - 8k - Cached - Similar pages
Here's
the first text on the page:
Search
Engine Seminars
Is
your Web site achieving the success that you
want, or that it deserves? Are you getting any
traffic? Is that traffic converting to sales?
Have you considered attending a search engine
seminar to learn how to take a struggling Web
site and bring it to the top of the rankings?
Search
engine seminars, conducted by Search Engine
Workshops, are held at various locations across
the globe. These seminars are totally different
than attending a large search engine conference,
where you listen to a speaker discuss theories
from the front of the room.
At
our Search Engine Seminars . . . you learn by
doing
And,
here's the <head> section of that page,
which shows the META description tag:
<HEAD>
<TITLE>Search Engine Seminars--your path
to success on the
Web!</TITLE>
<META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="search
engine seminars, conferences, workshops, CONFERENCES,
WORKSHOPS, Conferences, Workshops">
<META NAME="description" CONTENT="Have
you considered attending a search engine seminar
to learn how to take a struggling Web site and
bring it to the top of the rankings?">
</HEAD>
The
META description tag is obviously not being
used as the snippet description for this page
under the keyword phrase, "search engine
seminars." Could it be because the plural
version of the keyword phrase, which is what
we searched for, isn't found in the META description
tag? Possibly.
So
where is the snippet being pulled from?
Here's
the snippet description again:
Search
Engine Seminars. Is your Web site achieving
the success that you want, or that it deserves?
... At our Search Engine Seminars . . . you
learn by doing. ...
In
this example, the snippet appears to be pulled
from the first heading tag ("Search Engine
Seminars" at the top of the page), followed
by the first sentence in the body text, followed
by the next heading tag ("At our Search
Engine Seminars . . . you learn by doing . .
."). Notice that the second heading tag
is not the second instance of the usage of the
keyword phrase. In the second paragraph of the
body text, the keyword phrase is used as a hyperlink.
So
what am I going to do with this knowledge?
In
this example, nothing, because the description
accurately describes the Web page. I'm not going
to change a thing.
If
the snippet description of your page accurately
describes the page, leave it alone!
(Continued
in Part 2)
(Writer's
Note: This article offers tips for changing
your Google description in order to increase
the click throughs to your site. However, this
has nothing to do with trying to increase your
page's search engine rankings.)
Copyright
2004 Robin Nobles. All rights reserved.
Robin Nobles, Director of Training, Academy
of Web Specialists,
(http://www.academywebspecialists.com)
has trained several thousand people in her online
search engine marketing courses (http://www.onlinewebtraining.com)
and is the content provider for (GRSeo) Search
Engine Optimizer software (http://www.se-
optimizer.com). She also teaches 3-day hands-on
search engine marketing workshops in locations
across the globe with Search Engine Workshops
(http://www.searchengineworkshops.com).
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