Meta description not working in google

#82723
  • Resolved aleexxjohansson
    Rank Math free

    Hi!

    I have an old ticket about this exact issue and it got resolved by me changing the schema article to %seo_title% and %seo_description% but then I added that to the other pages too and then it stopped working. I have tried removing that from the other pages and let google reindex it but that didn’t help either.

    I have set a custom meta description for my homepage but in google search results the meta description says: Media error: Format(s) not supported or source(s) not found. Download File…(file source) I think it is related to having a video background on that page and google trying to crawl that video and then a media error shows up? I can’t really figure it out. It is a mp4 file.

    How it looks in google: https://gyazo.com/4019fff8c92473753f4fb16f6c9f92bf

    //Alex

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 17 total)
  • Hello,

    Thank you for getting in touch with us.

    We have been in touch via email and we have already shared how Google picks up meta descriptions and somethings shows something from your page if it thinks the meta description you provided is not relevant to the search query.

    As proof, here is a screenshot showing the exact meta description you have used for a variation of the search term:

    This goes to show that Google is seeing the meta description you have written but they are deliberately choosing to ignore it.

    Hope that helps.

    It has always been the right meta description if you search site:Projtech.nu but not in a normal Google search. Any idea why?

    Hello,

    Google sometimes ignores the custom meta info and chooses to show something from the page’s content that matches the search intent better.

    Here are some of the common reasons Google might not use the meta description you provided:
    – The meta description is not relevant or useful (ie, just a collection of keywords).
    – The exact same meta description is provided across a large number of pages.
    – The meta description doesn’t match what the user is searching for, but other content on the page does.

    There is a whole article dedicated to this on SearchEngineJournal:
    https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-offers-suggestions-for-avoiding-meta-description-rewrites/359884/

    Here is an example showing Google changes title depending on keyword used:
    https://i.rankmath.com/oT6VQe
    &
    https://i.rankmath.com/Mrhb0x

    The best you can do is optimize your meta tags to try and match the intent of the search/keyword.

    Hope that helps. If you have any further question(s), please let us know. Thank you.

    But the weird thing is that it worked for a around two days and then it stopped working again so it shouldn’t be a keyword or other thing, is it some setting maybe?

    I don’t know what has happened now, Google doesn’t pick up any meta descriptions anymore any fix for this?

    Hello,

    Google is showing different meta description for your site depending on the search term. Please check the screenshots below:
    1. Search By URL(Takes page content, in this case your page background video)
    search by URL

    2. Search by your page Title(Shows the correct meta description)
    search by title

    With this I believe you can see it is just a matter of optimizing your page meta to try and match the search keyword intent.

    Hope that helps. If you have any further question(s), please let us know. Thank you.

    Hi!

    I have tried optimizing the page, changing the main keyword and I have made edits to the page and I got a 80/100 score and then I let google reindex the page but it still doesn’t work…. This is getting kind of frustrating..

    Hello,

    We understand your frustration but we wish we could do something about it.

    The truth of the matter is, this is completely up to Google.

    Here is an example showing Google changes title depending on keyword used:
    https://i.rankmath.com/oT6VQe
    &
    https://i.rankmath.com/Mrhb0x

    The best you can do is optimize your meta tags to try and match the intent of the search/keyword. Then, you have to let Google decide if the description you are using is relevant to the search term that visitors are using.

    Hi!

    I have removed the video background I had on the website for testing purposes. When I then let Google reindex the website the meta description starts to work. So the issue is very clearly directed to the video. How can I make Google not see the video so the meta description can work with the video background?

    Hello,

    Thank you for the follow up.

    You can try preventing Google from crawling your video by adding a disallow in your robots.txt file.

    
    Disallow: /*res3.mp4
    

    Hope this helps you. Thank you.

    ​​​​​​

    I tried that and let Google reindex but it didn’t work.

    Hello,

    Are you adding the video using a plugin?

    It appears also though Google see the video URL prominently. It could be because users that don’t have JS enabled do not see anything else.

    If that doesn’t work, we might need to take a closer look at the settings. Please include your WP logins in the designated Sensitive Data section.
    Sensitive Data Section

    It is completely secure and only our support staff has access to that section. If you want, you can use the below plugin to generate a temporary login URL to your website and share that with us instead:
    https://wordpress.org/plugins/temporary-login-without-password/

    You can use the above plugin in conjunction with the WP Security Audit Log to monitor what changes our staff might make on your website (if any):
    https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-security-audit-log/

    We really look forward to helping you.

    Hello,

    I have updated the sensitive data as requested. Can you please check further?

    Thank you.

    The video isn’t added with a plugin just the divi page builder. I also updated the sensitive data section.

    Hello,

    I checked your site settings and everything looks fine to me. On page source too, I see the description tag is showing the correct text. Like any other plugin, Rank Math adds SEO tags on the frontend which helps Search engines to understand the content of the page. What content Google decides to show in the description is not something we can control.

    Like my colleague mentioned Google sometimes ignores the custom meta info and chooses to show something from the page’s content that matches the search intent better.

    Sadly, there is nothing we can do to fix this.

    Hello,

    Since we did not hear back from you for 15 days, we are assuming that you found the solution. We are closing this support ticket.

    If you still need assistance or any other help, please feel free to open a new support ticket, and we will be more than happy to assist.

    Thank you.

Viewing 15 replies - 1 through 15 (of 17 total)

The ticket ‘Meta description not working in google’ is closed to new replies.