joi, 7 mai 2015

I Can't Drive 155: Meta Descriptions in 2015 - Moz Blog


I Can't Drive 155: Meta Descriptions in 2015

Posted on: Thursday 07 May 2015 — 02:16

Posted by Dr-Pete

For years now, we (and many others) have been recommending keeping your Meta Descriptions shorter than about 155-160 characters. For months, people have been sending me examples of search snippets that clearly broke that rule, like this one (on a search for "hummingbird food"):

For the record, this one clocks in at 317 characters (counting spaces). So, I set out to discover if these long descriptions were exceptions to the rule, or if we need to change the rules. I collected the search snippets across the MozCast 10K, which resulted in 92,669 snippets. All of the data in this post was collected on April 13, 2015.

The Basic Data

The minimum snippet length was zero characters. There were 69 zero-length snippets, but most of these were the new generation of answer box, that appears organic but doesn't have a snippet. To put it another way, these were misidentified as organic by my code. The other 0-length snippets were local one-boxes that appeared as organic but had no snippet, such as this one for "chichen itza":

These zero-length snippets were removed from further analysis, but considering that they only accounted for 0.07% of the total data, they didn't really impact the conclusions either way. The shortest legitimate, non-zero snippet was 7 characters long, on a search for "geek and sundry", and appears to have come directly from the site's meta description:

The maximum snippet length that day (this is a highly dynamic situation) was 372 characters. The winner appeared on a search for "benefits of apple cider vinegar":

The average length of all of the snippets in our data set (not counting zero-length snippets) was 143.5 characters, and the median length was 152 characters. Of course, this can be misleading, since some snippets are shorter than the limit and others are being artificially truncated by Google. So, let's dig a bit deeper.

The Bigger Picture

To get a better idea of the big picture, let's take a look at the display length of all 92,600 snippets (with non-zero length), split into 20-character buckets (0-20, 21-40, etc.):

Most of the snippets (62.1%) cut off as expected, right in the 141-160 character bucket. Of course, some snippets were shorter than that, and didn't need to be cut off, and some broke the rules. About 1% (1,010) of the snippets in our data set measured 200 or more characters. That's not a huge number, but it's enough to take seriously.

That 141-160 character bucket is dwarfing everything else, so let's zoom in a bit on the cut-off range, and just look at snippets in the 120-200 character range (in this case, by 5-character bins):

Zooming in, the bulk of the snippets are displaying at lengths between about 146-165 characters. There are plenty of exceptions to the 155-160 character guideline, but for the most part, they do seem to be exceptions.

Finally, let's zoom in on the rule-breakers. This is the distribution of snippets displaying 191+ characters, bucketed in 10-character bins (191-200, 201-210, etc.):

Please note that the Y-axis scale is much smaller than in the previous 2 graphs, but there is a pretty solid spread, with a decent chunk of snippets displaying more than 300 characters.

Without looking at every original meta description tag, it's very difficult to tell exactly how many snippets have been truncated by Google, but we do have a proxy. Snippets that have been truncated end in an ellipsis (...), which rarely appears at the end of a natural description. In this data set, more than half of all snippets (52.8%) ended in an ellipsis, so we're still seeing a lot of meta descriptions being cut off.

I should add that, unlike titles/headlines, it isn't clear whether Google is cutting off snippets by pixel width or character count, since that cut-off is done on the server-side. In most cases, Google will cut before the end of the second line, but sometimes they cut well before this, which could suggest a character-based limit. They also cut off at whole words, which can make the numbers a bit tougher to interpret.

The Cutting Room Floor

There's another difficulty with telling exactly how many meta descriptions Google has modified – some edits are minor, and some are major. One minor edit is when Google adds some additional information to a snippet, such as a date at the beginning. Here's an example (from a search for "chicken pox"):

With the date (and minus the ellipsis), this snippet is 164 characters long, which suggests Google isn't counting the added text against the length limit. What's interesting is that the rest comes directly from the meta description on the site, except that the site's description starts with "Chickenpox." and Google has removed that keyword. As a human, I'd say this matches the meta description, but a bot has a very hard time telling a minor edit from a complete rewrite.

Another minor rewrite occurs in snippets that start with search result counts:

Here, we're at 172 characters (with spaces and minus the ellipsis), and Google has even let this snippet roll over to a third line. So, again, it seems like the added information at the beginning isn't counting against the length limit.

All told, 11.6% of the snippets in our data set had some kind of Google-generated data, so this type of minor rewrite is pretty common. Even if Google honors most of your meta description, you may see small edits.

Let's look at our big winner, the 372-character description. Here's what we saw in the snippet:

Jan 26, 2015 - Health• Diabetes Prevention: Multiple studies have shown a correlation between apple cider vinegar and lower blood sugar levels. ... • Weight Loss: Consuming apple cider vinegar can help you feel more full, which can help you eat less. ... • Lower Cholesterol: ... • Detox: ... • Digestive Aid: ... • Itchy or Sunburned Skin: ... • Energy Boost:1 more items

So, what about the meta description? Here's what we actually see in the tag:

Were you aware of all the uses of apple cider vinegar? From cleansing to healing, to preventing diabetes, ACV is a pantry staple you need in your home.

That's a bit more than just a couple of edits. So, what's happening here? Well, there's a clue on that same page, where we see yet another rule-breaking snippet:

You might be wondering why this snippet is any more interesting than the other one. If you could see the top of the SERP, you'd know why, because it looks something like this:

Google is automatically extracting list-style data from these pages to fuel the expansion of the Knowledge Graph. In one case, that data is replacing a snippet and going directly into an answer box, but they're performing the same translation even for some other snippets on the page.

So, does every 2nd-generation answer box yield long snippets? After 3 hours of inadvisable mySQL queries, I can tell you that the answer is a resounding "probably not". You can have 2nd-gen answer boxes without long snippets and you can have long snippets without 2nd-gen answer boxes, but there does appear to be a connection between long snippets and Knowledge Graph in some cases.

One interesting connection is that Google has begun bolding keywords that seem like answers to the query (and not just synonyms for the query). Below is an example from a search for "mono symptoms". There's an answer box for this query, but the snippet below is not from the site in the answer box:

Notice the bolded words – "fatigue", "sore throat", "fever", "headache", "rash". These aren't synonyms for the search phrase; these are actual symptoms of mono. This data isn't coming from the meta description, but from a bulleted list on the target page. Again, it appears that Google is trying to use the snippet to answer a question, and has gone well beyond just matching keywords.

Just for fun, let's look at one more, where there's no clear connection to the Knowledge Graph. Here's a snippet from a search for "sons of anarchy season 4":

This page has no answer box, and the information extracted is odd at best. The snippet bears little or no resemblance to the site's meta description. The number string at the beginning comes out of a rating widget, and some of the text isn't even clearly available on the page. This seems to be an example of Google acknowledging IMDb as a high-authority site and desperately trying to match any text they can to the query, resulting in a Frankenstein's snippet.

The Final Verdict

If all of this seems confusing, that's probably because it is. Google is taking a lot more liberties with snippets these days, both to better match queries, to add details they feel are important, or to help build and support the Knowledge Graph.

So, let's get back to the original question – is it time to revise the 155(ish) character guideline? My gut feeling is: not yet. To begin with, the vast majority of snippets are still falling in that 145-165 character range. In addition, the exceptions to the rule are not only atypical situations, but in most cases those long snippets don't seem to represent the original meta description. In other words, even if Google does grant you extra characters, they probably won't be the extra characters you asked for in the first place.

Many people have asked: "How do I make sure that Google shows my meta description as is?" I'm afraid the answer is: "You don't." If this is very important to you, I would recommend keeping your description below the 155-character limit, and making sure that it's a good match to your target keyword concepts. I suspect Google is going to take more liberties with snippets over time, and we're going to have to let go of our obsession with having total control over the SERPs.


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Give It Up for Our MozCon 2015 Community Speakers

Posted on: Wednesday 06 May 2015 — 13:30

Posted by EricaMcGillivray

Super thrilled that we're able to announce this year's community speakers for MozCon, July 13-15th in Seattle!

Wow. Each year I feel that I say the pool keeps getting more and more talented, but it's the truth! We had more quality pitches this year than in the past, and quantity-wise, there were 241, around 100 more entries than years previously. Let me tell you, many of the review committee members filled our email thread with amazement at this.

And even though we had an unprecedented six slots, the choices seemed even tougher!

241 pitches
Let that number sink in for a little while.

Because we get numerous questions about what makes a great pitch, I wanted to share both information about the speakers and their great pitches—with some details removed for spoilers. (We're still working with each speaker to polish and finalize their topic.) I've also included my or Matt Roney's own notes on each one from when we read them without knowing who the authors were.

Please congratulate our MozCon 2015 community speakers!

Adrian VenderAdrian Vender

Adrian is the Director of Analytics at IMI and a general enthusiast of coding and digital marketing. He's also a life-long drummer and lover of music. Follow him at @adrianvender.

Adrian's pitch:

Content Tracking with Google Tag Manager

While marketers have matured in the use of web analytics tools, our ability to measure how users interact with our sites' content needs improvement. Users are interacting with dynamic content that just aren't captured in a pageview. While there are JavaScript tricks to help track these details, working with IT to place new code is usually the major hurdle that stops us.

Finally, Google Tag Manager is that bridge to advanced content analysis. GTM may appear technical, but it can easily be used by any digital marketer to track almost any action on a site. My goal is to make ALL attendees users of GTM.

My talk will cover the following GTM concepts:

[Adrian lists 8 highly-actionable tactics he'll cover.]

I'll share a client example of tracking content interaction in GA. I'll also share a link to a GTM container file that can help people pre-load the above tag templates into their own GTM.

Matt's notes: Could be good. I know a lot of people have questions about Tag Manager, and the ubiquity of GA should help it be pretty well-received.


Chris DayleyChris Dayley

Chris is a digital marketing expert and owner of Dayley Conversion. His company provides full-service A/B testing for businesses, including design, development, and test execution. Follow him at @chrisdayley.

Chris' pitch:

I would like to present a super actionable 15 minute presentation focused on the first two major steps businesses should take to start A/B testing:

1. Radical Redesign Testing

2. Iterative Testing (Test EVERYTHING)

I am one of the few CROs out there that recommends businesses to start with a radical redesign test. My reasoning for doing so is that most businesses have done absolutely no testing on their current website, so the current landing page/website really isn't a "best practice" design yet.

I will show several case studies where clients saw more than a 50% lift in conversion rates just from this first step of radical redesign testing, and will offer several tips for how to create a radical redesign test. Some of the tips include:

[Chris lists three direct and interesting tips he'll share.]

Next I suggest moving into the iterative phase.

I will show several case studies of how to move through iterative testing so you eventually test every element on your page.

Erica's notes: Direct, interesting, and with promise of multiple case studies.


Duane BrownDuane Brown

Duane is a digital marketer with 10 years' experience having lived and worked in five cities across three continents. He's currently at Unbounce. When not working, you can find Duane traveling to some far-flung location around the world to eat food and soak up the culture. Follow him at @DuaneBrown.

Duane's pitch:

What Is Delightful Remarketing & How You Can Do It Too

A lot of people find remarketing creepy and weird. They don't get why they are seeing those ads around the internet.... let alone how to make them stop showing.

This talk will focus on the different between remarketing & creating delightful remarketing that can help grow the revenue & profit at a company and not piss customers off. 50% of US marketers don't use remarketing according to eMarketer (2013).

- [Duane's direct how-to for e-commerce customers.] Over 60% of customers abandon a shopping cart each year: http://baymard.com/lists/cart-abandonment-rate (3 minute)

- Cover a SaaS company using retargeting to [Duane's actionable item]. This remarketing helps show your products sticky features while showing off your benefits (3 minute)

- The Dos: [Duane's actionable tip], a variety of creative & a dedicated landing page creates delightful remarketing that grows revenue (3 minute)

- Wrap up and review main points. (2 minutes)

Matt's notes: Well-detailed, an area in which there's a lot of room for improvement.


Gianluca FiorelliGianluca Fiorelli

Moz Associate, official blogger for StateofDigital.com and known international SEO and inbound strategist, Gianluca works in the digital marketing industry, but he still believes that he just know that he knows nothing. Follow him at @gfiorelli1.

Gianluca's pitch:

Unusual Sources for Keyword and Topical Research

A big percentage of SEOs equal Keyword and Topical Research to using Keyword Planner and Google Suggest.

However, using only them, we cannot achieve a real deep knowledge of the interests, psychology and language of our target.

In this talk, I will present unusual sources and unnoticed features of very well-known tools, and offer a final example based on a true story.

Arguments touched in the speech (not necessarily in this order):

[Gianluca lists seven how-tos and one unique case study.]

Erica's notes: Theme of Google not giving good keyword info. Lots of unique actionable points and resources. Will work in 15 minute time limit.


Ruth Burr ReedyRuth Burr Reedy

Ruth is the head of on-site SEO for BigWing Interactive, a full-service digital marketing agency in Oklahoma City, OK. At BigWing, she manages a team doing on-site, technical, and local SEO. Ruth has been working in SEO since 2006. Follow her at @ruthburr.

Ruth's pitch:

Get Hired to Do SEO

This talk will go way beyond "just build your own website" and talk about specific ways SEOs can build evidence of their skills across the web, including:

[Ruth lists 7 how-tos with actionable examples.]

All in a funny, actionable, beautiful, easy-to-understand get-hired masterpiece.

Erica's notes: Great takeaways. Wanted to do a session about building your resume as a marketer for a while.


Stephanie WallaceStephanie Wallace

Stephanie is director of SEO at Nebo, a digital agency in Atlanta. She helps clients navigate the ever-changing world of SEO by understanding their audience and helping them create a digital experience that both the user and Google appreciates. Follow her at @SWallaceSEO.

Stephanie's pitch:

Everyone knows PPC and SEO complement one another - increased visibility in search results help increase perceived authority and drive more clickthroughs to your site overall. But are you actively leveraging the wealth of PPC data available to build on your existing SEO strategy? The key to effectively using this information lies in understanding how to test SEO tactics and how to apply the results to your on-page strategies. This session will delve into actionable strategies for using PPC campaign insights to influence on-page SEO and content strategies. Key takeaways include:

[Stephanie lists four how-tos.]

Erica's notes: Nice and actionable. Like this a lot.


As mentioned, we had 241 entries, and many of them were stage quality. Notable runners up included AJ Wilcox, Ed Reese, and Daylan Pearce, and a big pat on the back to all those who tossed their hat in.

Also, a huge thank you to my fellow selection committee members for 2015: Charlene Inoncillo, Cyrus Shepard, Danie Launders, Jen Lopez, Matt Roney, Rand Fishkin, Renea Nielsen, and Trevor Klein.

Buy your ticket now


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