Several uninformed webmasters hanker for top-rankings on the search engines using rich snippets of their respective webpages. They think that snippets will “overcome” the competition and help a web page rank well in the searches.
Is it true? How far has it helped websites “rank” on the top of the page?
Before we describe to you the whole thing, let’s talk about some fundamental things regarding Google’s testing methods recently.
The search engine giant, Google, has been constantly changing its methods to present the results to the users. Only it was in the month of December last year that it introduced 260-275 character-limit for the snippets in the search results. However, this decision was withdrawn in less than six months and the snippet-size returned to its original character-limit of 155-160.
Now, we’re ready to presume the original point of discussion.
A Reddit user had complained regarding Google’s method of producing meta descriptions of a webpage on the search results. He alleged that Google is putting some “garbage” of a description instead of an original one he provided.
In the following image, the first description is the one provided by the user. The second description, however, is presented on the Google searches. Consequently, the change or replacement made by Google has earned the ire of the website owner.
Let us try and understand why it happened in the first place.
Clearly, the description “fetched” by Google isn’t consistently appropriate because it changes the second sentence with a path to certain products or subcategory.
Now the pertinent question – Does Google carve out the meta descriptions on its own?
The answer is yes. Google usually writes the meta description snippet on its own even if a meta description already exists. Having said that, we have another point waiting in here.
The Reddit user commented in the same thread and mentioned they’re using SquareSpace CMS, which might be a “reason” for the “replacement” of the descriptions.
During our research, we found several articles where people had an opinion that SquareSpace isn’t an SEO-friendly website builder. They have alluded that SquareSpace is a new website builder, especially when compared to user-friendly WordPress or Magento.
Therefore, it is possible that the websites built on these platforms may not be at their best when it comes to optimization with respect to the search engines. Some have complained that they find similar problems after developing their websites on the popular website builder – Wix.com.
Supposedly, the platforms that aren’t friendly or compatible enough for the Google’s search algorithms would get directly affected. Whether it is on the topic of rich snippets or any other feature, the results may not meet with the desired expectations. Hence, it could be one of the reasons why the meta description snippets were altered in the search results.
Does this mean all efforts in providing meta descriptions goes in vain?
No! It is a good practice to provide meta descriptions in the critical webpages, which include the home page, product and category pages, pages without text content, pages that are getting seen on Google, and so on.
