How To Control Your Listing Text in Google’s Search Results

A Google Webmaster Help video from Matt Cutts got me thinking how the listing text in Google’s search results can easily be overlooked by some webmasters in their SEO efforts.

 

SEO is all about extending the reach of your web site content to your target market using online search platforms. You can tell when this has been achieved, and to what degree, by using web analytics software to monitor referral and visitor data. But what that data won’t tell you is how your site appears to users in a SERP (Search Engine Results Page). Sure, you’re getting traffic but perhaps you’re missing out on a lot more because your listing text is weak. You wouldn’t take out a newspaper advertisement without looking at the final proof first. So don’t be in the dark over how your site appears to people who use Google.

Poor page titles, visible copy, and description meta data can result in a weak listing. Webmasters have a lot of control over what text is displayed in a SERP, but in the end, Google reserves the right to modify result snippets if it feels the original isn’t up to par.

It’s important to remember that this decision by Google is based on a highly refined algorithm and is ultimately for the benefit of people searching for your content. That said, I’m willing to bet most webmasters still prefer to retain control over how their web site is shown in search results.
By ensuring your on-page content is the best it can be, you’re greatly increasing the chances Google doesn’t step in and tweak your listing.


Let’s look at the different elements of an organic Google search result and how we can control what is shown.


Page Title
The large blue link at the top of the snippet. As Matt points out in his video, most people know Google can modify the description snippet in the listings but not everyone is aware that Google may also change the title. In this case, it is usually due to a shortcoming with your web page’s title attribute. If the title is missing, too long or irrelevant, Google may show something more on-topic to the search query made.


Here are some tips to ensure Google displays the best possible title text to a user:

• Always ensure that page titles are unique and not just copied page to page across the site
• The page title isn’t something you stuff with keywords. Yes, always include your most important key phrases but don’t offer a long list of everything your web site is about. It should be a concise headline that describes the content on the specific page – my personal preference is to use no more than three different keywords or phrases.
• Page titles over 60 characters in length are likely to get cut down and manipulated by Google. If the search term(s) appears in a lengthy title tag, it’s likely that a snippet of it will be used where the term appears.

Listing Description
Using the same logic as for the title, the description displayed in a SERP comes from the most relevant area of your web page. IE. The area of your text containing the word(s) used in the Google search query.

The listing snippet is typically generated from your visible copy on the page or the description meta tag. This is a good reason to optimize the description meta tag as part of your SEO campaign. While Google’s algorithm ignores it for purposes of determining rankings, it can still pull the tag’s content and display it to its users. A good description meta tag uses proper grammar and explains the page content in under two or three sentences. Remember; don’t stuff the description tag with a list of keywords. That isn’t helpful for users or the search engines.

If you write focused, quality on-page content for your target audience and create a helpful description tag, you should have your Google listing snippet covered.


Cache Version of the Page
Next to the green URL in your Google listing is usually a “Cached” link. Clicking this will display the version of your web page that was indexed by the Googlebot when it last crawled your site. Also included is the crawl date.

Why is this important? Well, if you’ve recently updated your page title or visible copy and the changes are not reflected in Google results, it probably means Google hasn’t returned to check your site’s content for updates.

Common reasons for this include few inbound links or existing inbound links of poor quality. If Google doesn’t crawl the pages that link to your site, it stands to reason they won’t visit your site frequently.

If you find your site isn’t getting crawled enough by Googlebot or other search engine robots, consider submitting your site to local business directories or swapping links with other good quality, relevant web sites. The benefits of inbound links also go much farther than just increasing crawl frequency – they will also play a significant part in how well your site ranks.

Now that we know the elements of a typical Google listing and the factors that determine what is shown, all that’s left is for you to monitor your site listing for various keyword searches and make changes when necessary.

Remember: a top Google ranking doesn’t mean anything unless people actually click on it. Have a look at your competitors’ listings in Google and see how yours compares – which one would you click on if you did a search for that topic? In my experience, there is often room for improvement when it comes to copy writing and content relevancy. In the end, your users and the search engines will like you more for it.

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Roadblocks to Your Google Rankings: A Detailed Analysis

 

 

Every website is optimistic about its framework, SEO and even content. But sadly, the first position in Google’s SERPs is elusive to most of them, with a very few reaching even the first page.
For a business to start and grow, the website needs to be created, initialized and then indexed by Google. Once the search engine starts crawling, it isn’t luck but proper skills that will see you through. Even after hiring the biggest SEO firms, fantastic Web designers and other professionals, we might often find companies, falling behind in pages and thus rankings. If you knew what to fix, things would certainly have been easier. Google changes its algorithms constantly and, thus, a predefined approach won’t really work.



I have had similar experiences in the past until the ranking demons were finally busted. It isn’t that my website is always on the top, but I rarely fall below the third spot. Here I have enumerated a few missteps that some webmasters and owners are still making when trying to beef up the traffic and hence, go up the ranks. Avoid these and you are pretty much on your way.

But before starting off, I would like to shed some light on how Google works with our websites, pages, links and, certainly, rankings. In simple terms, Google is inclined to help the general user. The websites that are of value to the audience, boast of regularly updated content and offer relevant information, get the needed traction.

The following are the obnoxious elements likely hindering your Google rankings growth. Fix these and the results will, certainly, be extraordinary.


Duplication is a SIN
Useful content is original, relevant and definitely not duplicated. Google has an eye for detail and it looks at blog pieces and even minor strands of plagiarized content. Penalties are therefore pretty big and proactive. Quality must be maintained at all times. However, some websites have landing pages and product pages that often have similar content, mainly due to the orientation. Google might still consider this a fraudulent approach unless we make use of ‘Canonical’ URLs for the cause. This would tell Google that the copied content is for a definite cause and certainly not for stacking the pages, against the SEO norms. Again the original draft can always be checked, via Copyscape to determine the authenticity of the piece.


‘Thin Content’ and Penalties
I recently saw a friend of mine getting heavily penalized by Google and the cited reason was thin content. One must know that content that lacks quality is no better than the copied one. A few years’ back Google prioritized link building but the present scenario, with the recent Panda Update has shifted the entire balance in favor of content. For someone who is thinking about in-depth content that is well served and detailed, Google is definitely an ally. The best way to stay ahead is to think about the audience first and then about the rankings. One must always try to make the website relevant to the cause, with the content being the stand-out performer.


Neglecting the First Human, Second Search Engine Plan
We all must target specific keywords, before trying to be indexed. These keywords are important because Google will be able to determine the relevance of your content. However, in the past, over-optimization of anchor text made Google quite skeptical regarding the inclusion of keywords in the article. Black hat SEO made use of keyword inclusion and the term ‘stuffing’ came into existence. However, the present scenario is exactly opposite — Google now prefers content creation with just the right amount of keywords in it, just for installing relevance.


Dodgy Backlinks
Backlinks are still sacred when it comes to search rankings. Google can easily assess the relevance of your content by seeing the number of backlinks it has. For Google, backlinks are endorsements that go down well but only via the trusted sources. This technique was also abused in the form of rampaging guest blogging, directory submissions, spam comments and what not. I cannot describe all of these as abusive, but the inclination toward SERPS and not the users, is what makes these look bad. Bad directories are avoided these days. The website needs to work harder to get backlinks by creating premium content. If the quality is high, editors would include your work in their directories, offering backlinks for the valuable addition. Guest blogging has been at the forefront of link building for a long time but, with some websites being of low quality, Google opted to post some stringent changes in this regard. For guest posts to be accepted by domains with high authority; exceptional write-ups must be drafted.


Page Titles are Often Non-Optimized
Balancing plays an important role in SEO. Keywords need to be used with precision without going over-board. Google gives a lot of importance to the page titles because these suggest the relevance and value of the posted content. Hence, it would be logical to optimize the title with the most important or core keyword. This will improve rankings and even increase the CTRs because higher relevance will be justified. Some researchers at Searchmetrics suggest that page titles might be losing relevance, ever so slightly. The ranking impact might go down a tad, but these are still your best bets for higher ‘click through rates.’


Insecurity is a Factor
Site security is now a ranking factor. Sites beginning with https://, steal the show because visitors can be tracked and, thus, Google can determine relevance and hence, rankings. This builds on to the traffic referral data. And, of course, safer sites go down well with customers because they can rely on them for content and subscriptions.


Accidental No-Indexing
Some websites keep themselves hidden unless they are ready to go live. The No-Follow Tags are, therefore, implemented in the form of small codes like robot.txt. If the codes aren’t removed in a timely fashion, Google won’t be able to crawl your website.


Pathetic User Experience
Search rankings do have an impact but what sells is the user experience. If the website created and ranked isn’t upgrading itself, then customers will visit and leave without reading or even subscribing. Bounce rates will be high and this isn’t what Google favors. Google tracks signals, one of which is the amount of time visitors spend on a site. Some of the factors that determine the user experience include ease of navigation, faster loading speeds and mobile responsivity to name a few. The companies need to look at the entire perspective as a visitor and implement changes, accordingly.


Bad Agencies Pull you Down
There are too many charlatans out there that offer a lot but often fail to deliver. Some SEO agencies still go by the black hat techniques because they aren’t well informed. We have seen firms putting up tags like, ‘Guaranteed First Page’ but the experienced individuals know that with Google nothing is guaranteed. Hence, selecting the agency is important. Check out and agency’s testimonials and tangible results before making a commitment.

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Demystifying Google Penalties: Why Your Site Ranking Dropped

 

 

While Google’s algorithms may be mysterious, the company’s mission is not: Google wants to reward high-quality, content-rich sites, and penalize those that don’t fit the bill. Penalties can literally take down a site overnight, clobbering once respectable rankings into a sea of oblivion.

If you’ve noticed your web site slipping in rankings, or you just want to take steps to prevent it from happening, it’s time you learn exactly what constitutes the majority of Google’s penalties. Consider this the best practices for websites who want to stay on Google’s good side. Go against these suggestions, and you are duly warned.

How to Tell if You’ve Been Penalized

If you’re not keeping close tabs on your rankings, that’s the first thing to focus on. Monitoring your site’s performance on a weekly basis gives you the necessary head’s up when things take a nosedive. Warning signs are more common than an overnight death drop; pay attention to your metrics, and you can plug the holes before the ship sinks.

Here are some telltale signs that Google is not happy with your site. Some are preliminary warnings, and some are downright catastrophic. All, however, require your attention if you spy them:

• Your site doesn’t rank well for your brand / company name
• When you see a listing on Google for your site, it references a secondary page, not your homepage
• PageRank has slightly or significantly dropped
• Page one positions are slipping back to page two or worse
• Your site has been completely removed from Google’s cached results
• Searching “site: yourdomain keyword” yields no results

When you spy any of the above, you know Google has taken aim. A non-response on your part could be fatal for your business.


Top Reasons Google Penalizes Businesses

1. Duplicate Content – It’s never a good idea to use the same content on multiple pages. Keep articles fresh, current, valuable, and tailored to your audience. Use tools like Copyscape to ensure you haven’t repeated yourself.

2. 404′s – Loads of internal errors is another surefire way to get dinged. Make sure your site functions well and doesn’t lead users into dead ends and links with missing content.


3. Purchasing Links – Because buying links is a way to manipulate the system, Google is not fond of the practice. If you’ve bought even a handful of bad links, you are very likely to get penalized.

4. Stuffed Keywords – Less is more when it comes to using your keywords throughout your content. If copy is written for a search engine, and not a human being, it’s ripe for punishment.

5. Link Swaps – If you have a slew of reciprocal links – that is, links that also point back to you – there’s a danger of a penalty. This used to be a marketing mainstay, but has fallen out of favor thanks to Google’s policies.

6. No Sitemap – Sitemaps are like food to search engines. If you don’t have one, or simply have missing content, your PageRank could definitely suffer.

7. Stolen Content – Sites that regularly scrape content from other peoples’ sites are also targeted by Google, which deems this an unsavory practice, for obvious reasons. Just produce your own content and you have nothing to worry about.

8. Excessive H1 Tags – Sites that attempt to stuff loads of keywords in H1 tags catch Google’s attention in a bad way as well. Use these to communicate your topics concisely and they are SEO gold.

9. Links from Foreign Sites – Since Google maintains that most users are after sites from a single language, links from foreign language sites can also get you in hot water.

10. Bad External Links – You simply have to stay on top of your link partners and make sure that external URLs linking out to other sites are still current, lest you be penalized for dysfunctional content.

11. Website Outages – If your site is down excessively, or continues to time out, Google can literally give up and assume you are no longer in business.

12. Hidden Content or Links – If you’re attempting to be sneaky, you’re playing with PageRank fire. Google scoffs at hidden links and/or copy, as it is normally executed to fool search engines and users.

13. Scads of Anchor Text – Penguin put the kibosh on excessive anchor text, so choose yours wisely. Be concise and clear when you are placing anchor text in your content, and Google won’t take notice.

14. Listing on Blog Networks – Don’t use these suckers; they are from an archaic practice and are severely frowned upon by Google.

15. Way too Many Affiliate Links – A handful of reputable affiliate links is fine and dandy. Go crazy with piles of affiliate links and you may very well get penalized.

16. Slow Load Times – If your site consistently takes way too long to load, Google will bump down your PageRank for sites that offer a better user experience.

17. Spam – Most sites that get dinged for spam are penalized because of excessive content spam. If you allow comments, make sure they are legitimate, not riddled with spammy bait and switch comments, or you risk a PageRank drop.

What other infractions have you noticed Google taking action against? Share your findings in the Comments section.

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