Google has updated its search snippets documentation to clarify what influences Google’s algorithm to choose what to display as a snippet in search results. This change can represent a big change in how meta descriptions are written and how content is optimized.
Snippets of Google search results
A web page that appears in search engine results pages (SERPs) consists of a title, a URL path, and a one- or two-sentence description of what the web page is about. This last part is called a fragment. A snippet is defined as a concise or brief description of what the web page is about.
Traditionally, the snippet was derived from the meta description. But that hasn’t been the case for a long time.
Google clarifies snippet guidance
Google has updated its Search Central documentation to clarify that the content of the page is the primary source of where the snippet comes from. The changes also made it clearer that structured data and meta description are not the primary source of search snippets.
The official documentation of the change he says:
“What: Clarified in our snippets documentation that the primary source of the snippet is the content of the page itself.
Because: The previous wording incorrectly implied that structured data and the meta description HTML element are the primary sources of fragments.
What’s changed in the Google Snippets documentation
Google removed a substantial amount of words from the previous version of the documentation.
This is what the first part of the documentation previously advised:
“Google uses several different sources to automatically determine the right snippet, including descriptive information in the meta description tag of each page. We may also use information found on the page or create rich results based on the markup and content of the page”.
The previous version implied that the snippet was primarily derived from the meta description and said that Google “may” also select on-page content for the snippet.
The updated documentation now makes it clear that the content of the page is the primary source of the fragment and uses the word “can” for the meta description.
This is the new version of the documentation:
“Google primarily uses page content to automatically determine the right snippet. We may also use descriptive information in the meta description element when it describes the page better than other parts of the content.”
A significant amount of content has been removed
Google also removed an entire paragraph of content and replaced it with new documentation. Both removal and addition dramatically change the message of the documentation.
This section has been removed:
“Site owners have two main ways to suggest content for the snippets we create:
Rich results: Add structured data to your site to help Google understand the page: for example, a review, a recipe, a business, or an event. Learn more about how rich results can improve your site’s listing in search results.
Meta description tags: Google sometimes uses tag content to generate snippets, if we believe they give users a more accurate description than can be gleaned directly from page content.”
This is the new wording:
“Snippets are primarily created from the content of the page itself. However, Google sometimes uses the meta description HTML element if it can provide users with a more accurate description of the page than content taken directly from the page.
What Retargeting Means for SEO
Many SEO guides published online (wrongly) advise that the best way to optimize a meta description is to use it as “ad copy” and use “target keywords” in it. The idea is that the keywords displayed in snippets are bolded in the SERPs, making them stand out, so keywords in the meta description will get bold keywords that will attract attention and inspire a click-through rate higher.
It’s 100% wrong advice and it’s outdated. Adding keywords to the meta description is not important (meta descriptions are not used for ranking) and the purpose of a meta description is not to attract clicks from the SERPs. This is old and outdated advice and will cause Google to not use the snippet meta description.
The correct use of the meta description is to accurately and concisely describe what the web page is about, period.
the officer W3C HTML specification for meta description explains the correct use of the meta description:
“The value must be a free-form string describing the page. The value must be suitable for use in a directory of pages, for example in a search engine. There must be no more than a meta-element with the name attribute set to the per-document value description.”
Google is not interested in showing optimized search snippets. They want to show a description of what the web page is about, and Google’s advice on how to write a meta description conforms to the official HTML meta description specification.
That’s how Google works advises writing a meta description:
“Google will sometimes use the tag of a page to generate a snippet in search results, if we believe it gives users a more accurate description than would be possible from the page content alone. A meta description tag generally informs and interests users with a short and relevant summary of what a particular page is about.”
Google then describes the content of a meta description using a simile that compares it to promoting something in the form of a presentation:
“They are like an argument that convinces the user that the page is exactly what they are looking for.”
Google does not say that you write a presentation to use for the meta description. The word “like” is used which means a simile, a comparison.
Take away
The big takeaway from the updated snippet guide is that the main source of the snippet is the content and that Google “can” use the meta description. Finally, Google makes it clear that structured data plays no role in selecting words to use as a snippet.
So what this means for SEO is that the days of packing keywords into the meta description are over for good. Use them correctly and they can help you better control what snippet Google uses in search results.
Read Google’s updated guidance on search snippets:
Control your snippets in search results
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