Description meta tag, effective or useless?

Vahid · 02-17-2007, 12:44 PM

Hi,

It is a long time that search engines and specially Google don't pay any attention to keyword meta tag but they still use the description meta tag as the description of the websites on their search result pages. Of course, in most search queries, Google displays a part of the body text that includes the search term. So the description is used in some cases only.

On the other hand, I have seen many web pages that have no description meta tag, ranked properly.
So my question is if description meta tag is still important or has lost its role?
Is it effective in the ranking of the websites?

ninjashoes · 02-17-2007, 08:45 PM

It is my understanding that Meta Desc. tags hold more weight than regulat content as far as relevency goes. I'm sure people at google will confirm this.

Try to create synergy between Title, Meta Desc, Domain, h1 tags and Content based around a few keywords.

Webfu · 02-18-2007, 12:05 AM

I know you can rank #1 in Google out of millions w/out meta desc or keywords. But if you want all of your website to rank and you have thousands of pages, I think the meta is super important. To me it seems to be really important to use meta if you want to rank well in all search engines, not just Google.

mhmdkhamis · 02-18-2007, 12:51 AM

i think it too important and effect

Vahid · 02-18-2007, 08:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mhmdkhamis

i think it too important and effect

Can you please give your reasons?

Bagi Zoltán · 02-18-2007, 08:45 AM

As I know there is difference how the three big SEs thinking about the meta description tag. I think that we have to optimize as many factors as we can, because I guess we don't know everything about the algos.

raugusto · 02-18-2007, 08:54 AM

I think it is important and should be used well and changed according to the page content. I have better results since I'm using it.

toomm · 02-19-2007, 09:32 AM

Meta description definitelly helps me.

maldives · 02-19-2007, 09:39 AM

It is not must and it won't hurt you for having it.

manageyourlinks · 02-19-2007, 09:44 AM

Can anyone comment about isntantly putting descrip tags on thousands of pages. Can this cause filters to be tripped, just like instantly creating thousands of new pages might do the same.

cessai · 02-19-2007, 11:58 AM

it may not be that important, but there's nothing to lose and nothing wrong with placing meta tag. it may cause you time, but not that much

at least visitors can have a glimpse of idea on what your website is all about

Vahid · 02-19-2007, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bagi Zoltán

As I know there is difference how the three big SEs thinking about the meta description tag. I think that we have to optimize as many factors as we can, because I guess we don't know everything about the algos.

Yes, we should optimize several factors but should be careful about our website not to be known as over-optimized websites.

Vahid · 02-19-2007, 01:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by manageyourlinks

Can anyone comment about isntantly putting descrip tags on thousands of pages. Can this cause filters to be tripped, just like instantly creating thousands of new pages might do the same.

It is not good to have the same description on several pages of the same website. Each page should have a unique title and description.

bcombs · 02-19-2007, 01:46 PM

The metatag description does not have any effect on relevancy rankings in the major search engines. If someone has evidence to the contrary, I'd love to see it.

Metatag description is, however, often used as the returned text on SERPs in Google. As such, it is extremely important from a traffic perspective, as a quality meta description can increase the click through rate of your listings.

salesmachine · 02-19-2007, 02:34 PM

Meta description plays a vital role for the search engines and for the internet users.

Sideways · 02-19-2007, 06:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcombs

The metatag description does not have any effect on relevancy rankings in the major search engines. If someone has evidence to the contrary, I'd love to see it.

I believe the meta description DOES have an effect. Heres my proof...

EXAMPLE SERP PAGE I WOULD LOVE TO BE LISTED ON

Every website listed in the example SERP is using meta keywords & description. This product is a very popular product search with a lot of competition. Seems to me if your not using meta correctly, the chances of getting your product detail pages ranked in both Google, MSN & Yahoo are slim.

Its also important to note, that most of the websites listed on the Google example also do well for the same search in MSN and Yahoo. This illustrates the importance of meta if you want good rankings in all 3 major SE's.

dougp · 02-20-2007, 09:56 AM

Always include the meta description, but its also a smart idea to include keywords in the title description of your website, search engines shows more prominence (importance) to keywords here.

Doug

**Rankenstein** · 02-20-2007, 10:12 AM

A good description can help to get surfers to click on your link in the SERPS - a bad one might mean they won't.

bcombs · 02-20-2007, 10:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sideways

I believe the meta description DOES have an effect. Heres my proof...

EXAMPLE SERP PAGE I WOULD LOVE TO BE LISTED ON

Every website listed in the example SERP is using meta keywords & description. This product is a very popular product search with a lot of competition. Seems to me if your not using meta correctly, the chances of getting your product detail pages ranked in both Google, MSN & Yahoo are slim.

Its also important to note, that most of the websites listed on the Google example also do well for the same search in MSN and Yahoo. This illustrates the importance of meta if you want good rankings in all 3 major SE's.

Correlation does not equal causation.

Just because every website in your example SERP uses meta keywords and descriptions, it does not necessarily follow that the meta tags cause the rankings.

manageyourlinks · 02-20-2007, 11:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bcombs

Correlation does not equal causation.

Just because every website in your example SERP uses meta keywords and descriptions, it does not necessarily follow that the meta tags cause the rankings.

agreed. there are way too many factors at play to single it out as the just cause here.