The Search Engine Insider

Editor's Note - 2/11/2004

Hello {!name},

Frustrated by the description Google uses to describe your page in search results?

Robin Nobles explains in this Search Engine Insider Newsletter how Google gets that information and what can be done to modify your site for a better description.

If you have any questions about your subscription, please see the side bar note to the right.

Terry B. Plank
Editor
editor@websitemanagementtools.com

Pleased with Your Google Description?
(Part 1 of 2)

Consider these tips for getting the Google description that YOU want!
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 - Feb 7, 2004 - 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:

META description tag (although Google doesn't use contents to determine relevancy).
First ALT text found on the page.
First text found on the page (which may be a heading tag, body text, etc.).
Additional heading tags on the page.
Additional body text found on the page.
Additional ALT text on the page.
Navigation bar on the left-hand side of the page (which is rarely a relevant description of a site!).
Copyright information at the bottom of the page.
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 a 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. ...

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 bydoing . . ."). 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!

Robin Nobles teaches SEO strategies through hands-on, search engine marketing workshops (http://www.searchengineworkshops.com) and online SEO courses (http://www.onlinewebtraining.com). Visit the World Resource Center, a networking community for search engine marketers. (http://www.sew-wrc.com) Is your Web site gathering dust but not customers? http://www.tnt-guide.com and http://www.wordtracker-magic.com.

Copyright 2004 Robin Nobles. All rights reserved.

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Ranking-Manager Tip

Want to see clearly how all your keywords are ranking for all your engines? Want to share that with others in you company?

Here's How:

After you have run a Report (Get Rankings), Click on the Reporting button at the bottom of the sidebar on the left.
Select the Exports button and click on Keyword Placements from the Available Exports list.
The report will show you all your keywords and the ranking for each of your selected search engines.
Next, in the local toolbar menu, click the Include Header button so you get the column headers in your report.
You have six options for exporting: CSV, XLS, Word, HTML, XML, and ASCII. Many companies find the Excel report is the most helpful since you can easily sort by different columns for analysis.

By the way, if you have a lot of keywords and want to isolate all your "0" rankings for keywords and search engines, the Ranking Positions with Zeros is an invaluable presenting of your analysis information.

So, remember to explore that Exports sections. It's a great place for analysis to improve your Website traffic, to export out of the program, and to share with others.