Meta Data Homepage Description Not Showing In Search Results?

thewoodman — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 08:35:14 +0000

The meta data description for my homepage - http://www.keepcalmandcarryon.com/

is not showing in the search results, instead its pulling through random copy from the page...

KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON SHOP
Keep Calm and Carry On Mens Charcoal Grey & Duck Egg Blue T-Shirt. £20.00. Shopping Cart: Your cart is empty. Search. Navigation: Home · History of the ...

Can someone help me sort this out please?

Many thanks
Ollie

Stuart Whitman commented

Stuart Whitman — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 13:18:42 +0000

Ollie,

Checked your site and the meta description is in the code so it should be picked up. Have you just added the meta description by any chance?

Stuart

thewoodman commented

thewoodman — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 14:44:11 +0000

No afraid not Stuart, this has been in there for some time. From an SEO perspective set up looks fine to me.

So I asumed it was something to do with Shopify set up that is preventing it from showing?

Hmm

Caroline Schnapp commented

Caroline Schnapp — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:41:35 +0000

So I asumed it was something to do with Shopify set up that is preventing it from showing?

No.

Just FYI:

It takes a while when you edit any page for it to be updated "as seen" on Google.
If the search term is in the content of the page, not in its title, then Google will pick the phrase from the content that contains the search term and use that in lieu of your meta description.

Hope that helps.

Caroline Schnapp commented

Caroline Schnapp — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:51:21 +0000

@thewoodman,

May I suggest something?

Your title tag is always equal to "KEEP CALM AND CARRY ON". I am not even aware of any canned theme that does not at least display the page title on top of the shop name in its title tag. That's a bad idea for search engine optimization, and it's not good for people visiting your site who are bookmarking it and subscribing to its content.

In theme.liquid, try and replace this:

<title>{{ shop.name }}</title>

With this:

<title>{{ shop.name }} &mdash; {% if template == 'index' %}Special home page text{% else %}{{ page_title }}{% endif %}</title>

Replace the Special home page text with your own text.

Caroline Schnapp commented

Caroline Schnapp — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 01:52:57 +0000

It's true that whatever search term I use to find your site on google I am never ever able to read your META description in the search results. It's something I have never seen before. Could it be because your META description starts with a space?

Let's keep an eye on this.

Caroline Schnapp commented

Caroline Schnapp — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 02:25:36 +0000

OOps I see what's wrong. ← the OO are my eyes staring at your "source".

I thought I was seeing double at first.

You have 2 description META tags, not 1.

You also have 3 META tags with the same name, i.e. verify-v1. Is this really necessary?

<meta name="verify-v1" content="IPV/JQ7cLRn0omS5nXWBQ+fEfMSUF+elGnLyrSumB1o=" />

<meta name="verify-v1" content="m4NFNt9uToq9Pu+48+SnBH0KcsZ15UJMMZlUzAwA2yo=" />

<meta name="verify-v1" content="IPV/JQ7cLRn0omS5nXWBQ+fEfMSUF+elGnLyrSumB1o=" />

<meta name="description" content="Keep Calm and Carry On" />

<meta name="description" content=" Widest range of fine Keep Calm & Carry On products. T-shirts, Bags, Posters, Mugs, Canvas Prints, Cufflinks, Tea Towels & much more. Great gift ideas." />

thewoodman commented

thewoodman — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 11:56:01 +0000

Hey Caroline

Thanks so much for looking. Can't believe I didn't see the two descriptions! I couldnt see for looking! :-)

Regarding your other comments, these I all agree with and will be looking into them ASAP. I have only just started working with the site owner on his SEO so I look forward to improving the results soon.

Thanks again
Ollie