Why does google show a different meta title and description of the same site for two different key searches

Question

GOOGLE SEARCH ENGINE CRAWLING AND INDEXING query --

Hello all, I have recently taken a website live and the organic footfall is less. Now when I search myDummyWebsite.uk in google search I get back the proper desired search result UI - a) having the proper meta title tag on top, b) backlinks to my same domain as the subheadings for my website, c) proper meta description tag which is ideal. But when I search just myDummyWebsite the search result shows my correct page myDummyWebsite.uk as the top search but now does not take into consideration the meta tags whatsoever - and in turn shows the first content block wrapped around H1 and H2 as the meta description of the search result for the same website. I am a developer and fairly new to SEO and have explored the Google Search Console (GSC) much which might help in this regard but to little use as it needs the domain cred but my contractor who has the creds to the website domain is hardly available to get into the GSC.

Query :: Why does google search result show a different meta title and description of the same site for two different key searches - but these keys differ by only the top level domain present in the search. How do the crawlers and indexing work here and why is it so different.

I have tried changing the meta tags and it does the job for abc.com the search with Top level domain gets updated but the abc search result still has the newer H1 and H2 wrapped content as the meta description of the google search result.

Answer 1

Google's algorithms try to understand the content of your pages, the queries they are relevant to, and the search intent that they carry.

When a page's title tag and/or meta description does not accurately inform users of what a page is about, Google will override the website-provided data with an algorithmically generated alternative.

The reason Google does this is two-fold:

1. Poor result previews are misleading for users
2. Poor result previews don't yield informed clicks

When a result preview accurately reflects the content of a page and the search intent that it satisfies, clicks on those results mean more.

The following slides were submitted to the court in the ongoing anti-trust case USA v Google, LLC.

If you've recently updated it, there is a chance that the updated meta data has not been processed yet.

Alternatively, Google might maintain that a previously provided version is better than a more recent alternative.

The way that you can counter this behavior is by ensuring that your title tags and meta descriptions accurately reflect the content of your pages.

Answer 2

So you updated the meta tags, and they are working for domain-level search (abc.com), while the general search (abc) still shows newer H1 and H2 content as the meta description? Below is a more detailed breakdown of what could be wrong and how to fix it.

Indexing Delay: Google does get an update on the search results every time a change is made. It is typical for an update to need a couple of weeks before it shows results.

Query Interpretation: The interpretation of queries is another part of different search engines. For broader queries, such as "abc," Google could place a higher priority on the content from the page than it would on meta tags if it determines that the content is more relevant to the query.

Page Content: Google might use H1 and H2 content if that seems like a better match for the user's intent or a more meaningful description.

Technical Issues: At times technical issues like caching problems, duplicate content, and misconfigured canonical tags arise, because of which Google displays your meta tags in this weird way.

Steps to Take to Remove That Weird Problem

First, If you have an account in GSC, definitely re-submit a new sitemap and recheck for indexing errors. It will make Google see and index changes faster.

Second, Ensure H1s and H2s are relevant and in line. H1s need to be matching with your meta tags with key terms in order to make them more relevant towards individual search terms.

Third, One can be sure to use webmaster tools or SEO tools to view what Google is showing about a page. This might help pinpoint areas of meta tags or indexing that are problems.

Fourth, Analyze how your competitors handle the management of meta tags and content for related queries. This may give some insight into what you may be doing wrong to handle it better in your SEO strategy.

Fifth, Some of the changes made in SEO take time to percolate into the search results. Keep a close eye on the performance of your website and its search snippets over the next weeks to figure out whether something is required to be fixed.

That’s all I can recommend based on what you’ve already done. To understand exactly what might be wrong, it could be useful to check Google Search Console to review the indexing status and any issues with your meta tags.