{"id":401,"date":"2018-03-09T13:52:23","date_gmt":"2018-03-09T13:52:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.searchenginewatch.com\/2018\/03\/09\/googles-updated-serp-snippet-length-what-should-be-your-seo-strategy-now\/"},"modified":"2020-02-18T06:40:16","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T06:40:16","slug":"googles-updated-serp-snippet-length-what-should-be-your-seo-strategy-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2018\/03\/09\/googles-updated-serp-snippet-length-what-should-be-your-seo-strategy-now\/","title":{"rendered":"Google&#8217;s updated SERP snippet length: What should be your SEO strategy now?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>On December 1<sup>st<\/sup>, 2017, Barry Schwartz reported on Search Engine Land that Google had officially <a href=\"https:\/\/searchengineland.com\/google-officially-increases-length-snippets-search-results-287596\">confirmed<\/a>\u00a0a change to how it displays text snippets in Google\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2018\/05\/21\/no-need-for-google-12-alternative-search-engines-in-2018\/\">Search Engine<\/a> Results Pages (SERPs).<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Barry wrote,<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cA <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2018\/05\/21\/no-need-for-google-12-alternative-search-engines-in-2018\/\">Google<\/a> spokesperson told us: <em>\u2018We recently made a change to provide more descriptive and useful snippets, to help people better understand how pages are relevant to their searches. This resulted in snippets becoming slightly longer, on average.\u2019<\/em>\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>These snippets are the blurbs of text displayed in <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/06\/17\/local-seo-guide\/\">Google\u2019s<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/06\/03\/podcast-seo-tips-101\/\">SERPs<\/a> along with the clickable blue text and the page URL.<\/p>\n<p>A quick <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/04\/25\/whats-it-like-using-duckduckgo-in-2019\/\">Google<\/a> search\u00a0corroborates this \u2013 let\u2019s use the query <em>\u201chow were the pyramids built\u201d<\/em> as an example:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2018\/03\/pyramids-snippet.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-73809\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2018\/03\/pyramids-snippet.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"719\" height=\"514\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>In the screenshot above, you can see that where <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/05\/30\/implement-googles-how-to-schema\/\">Google<\/a> would previously display a snippet approximately 150-165 characters long including spaces (give or take, you can see it varies now and it varied before <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/05\/31\/image-optimization-for-seo\/\">Google<\/a> made the change too), but now they\u2019re much longer.<\/p>\n<p>The text snippet <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/05\/20\/seven-reasons-why-your-rankings-dropped-and-how-to-fix-them\/\">Google<\/a> shows in the <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/05\/22\/nine-types-of-meta-descriptions-that-win-more-clicks\/\">SERP<\/a> is *supposed* to be (more on this later) the contents of the meta description tag in the HTML of the page &#8211; let\u2019s check each of these page\u2019s actual meta descriptions and their lengths.<\/p>\n<p>Here they are, in the same order as above:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>There are no photographs of the pyramid being built, and the engineers didn\u2019t leave detailed blueprints. [Length:109]<\/li>\n<li>The ancient Egyptians who built the pyramids may have been able to move massive stones by transporting them over wet sand. [Length:122]<\/li>\n<li>No meta description specified in the HTML<\/li>\n<li>No meta description specified in the HTML<\/li>\n<li>Here&#8217;s everything you need to know about the incredible Egyptian pyramids. [Length:74]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Two things jump out right away.<\/strong><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/06\/10\/online-reviews-powerful-seo-weapons\/\">Google<\/a> is not displaying the page\u2019s actual meta description as the <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/06\/10\/online-reviews-powerful-seo-weapons\/\">SERP<\/a> snippet for these specific listings for this specific query, even when the meta description is specified in the HTML, but instead is being pulled directly from the text that appears at or near the top of the page.<\/li>\n<li>The length of the snippets is longer than the length that <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/07\/11\/seo-lead-site-migration\/\">Google<\/a> previously displayed, congruent with Google\u2019s confirmation that they\u2019re showing longer <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/06\/17\/local-seo-guide\/\">SERP<\/a> snippets.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>Here\u2019s how that breaks down for the above query, again in the same order as the <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/05\/30\/implement-googles-how-to-schema\/\">SERP<\/a> listing screenshot above:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The first sentence of the text is used as the <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/07\/17\/the-most-common-seo-errors-research-infographics\/\">SERP<\/a> snippet<\/li>\n<li>The first sentence of the text is used as the <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/07\/16\/delete-your-pages-and-rank-higher-in-search-index-bloat-and-technical-optimization-2019\/\">SERP<\/a> snippet<\/li>\n<li>The H1 page headline, followed by ellipses ( \u2026 ), followed by the second, third, and fourth sentences on the page in the first paragraph (skipping the first sentence in the first paragraph) are used as the <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/06\/20\/easy-seo-strategies\/\">SERP<\/a> snippet.<\/li>\n<li>The first and second sentences, and part of the third, are used as the <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/05\/20\/seven-reasons-why-your-rankings-dropped-and-how-to-fix-them\/\">SERP<\/a> snippet<\/li>\n<li>The first and second sentences, the image ALT attribute (or the image caption, they\u2019re both the same text), plus text via HTML code associated with the image, \u201cGetty \u2013 Contributor\u201d <em>(&lt;div class=&#8221;article__credit&#8221;&gt;Getty &#8211; Contributor&lt;\/div&gt;<\/em>)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Checking a number of other queries returned similar observations about what Google is using as the <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/06\/25\/google-ads-hacks\/\">SERP<\/a> snippet, <em>but note that some <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/09\/02\/google-ratings-impact-conversions\/\">SERP<\/a> snippets were indeed taken from the actual meta description<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>For example, in the <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2020\/01\/02\/quantum-supremacy-and-eight-seo-trends-2020\/\">SERP<\/a> for a query for musician \u201cTodd Rundgren\u201d, this <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/07\/12\/how-to-get-featured-snippets-no-link-building\/\">SERP<\/a> snippet is obviously taken directly from the meta description:<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2018\/03\/Todd-Rundgren-SERP-snippet.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-73811 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2018\/03\/Todd-Rundgren-SERP-snippet.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"707\" height=\"128\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-73810 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/25\/2018\/03\/Todd-Rundgren-meta-description.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"734\" height=\"72\" \/><\/p>\n<p>For many other queries I performed, both commercial and non-commercial in query <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2018\/12\/11\/related-keywords-tools-discover-optimize\/\">intent<\/a>, it turned up a mix of SERP snippet sources \u2013 primarily either text on the page or the actual meta description specified in the HTML, and in some cases via image ALT attribute, and occasionally from some other bit of code in the HTML.<\/p>\n<p>On mobile devices, the SERP snippets were very similar, in many cases the same as on desktop.<\/p>\n<p>The SERP orders were slightly different, so yes, there\u2019s going to be ranking variations based on various factors (it\u2019s well known that Google can and will alter the SERPs you see based on your search history, geo-location, query type, your previous interaction with SERPs, etc.).<\/p>\n<p>However,\u00a0the overall scheme of the SERP snippets remained constant \u2013 text was taken mostly from either the first paragraph of the page, or the meta description, and in some cases the image ALT attribute, and occasionally from other text in the HTML code.<\/p>\n<p>Dr. Pete Meyers over at <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/09\/25\/qa-with-mozs-sarah-bird-and-rob-bucci\/\">Moz<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/moz.com\/blog\/how-long-should-your-meta-description-be-2018\">conducted research<\/a> late last year on 89,909 page-one organic results.<\/p>\n<p>Pete noted that the average SERP snippet was 215 characters long with the median length at 186, and he was quick to point out that, \u201c<em>big numbers are potentially skewing the average. On the other hand, some snippets are very short because their Meta Descriptions are very short<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Pete also noted no significant differences between desktop and mobile snippet lengths, sometimes seeing mobile snippets longer than desktop snippets.<\/p>\n<p>For sure the actual SERP snippet you see, and the length, will vary by query type.<\/p>\n<h2>What is going on here?<\/h2>\n<p>Google is trying to satisfy searchers.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, traditionally the idea was that Google would pull the SERP snippet from the meta description, but for years now Google has been using whatever text its algorithms determine makes the most sense based on the user\u2019s query.<\/p>\n<p>Not all sites \u2013 for example, Wikipedia and another we saw above \u2013 don\u2019t even make use of the meta description tag in the HTML of their pages, so what\u2019s a poor search engine to do in that case?<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, what if the meta description is badly written, or spammy-sounding with lots of <a href=\"https:\/\/sewprod.wpenginepowered.com\/2019\/07\/15\/keyword-research-tools-free\/\">keyword<\/a> stuffing, or doesn\u2019t well-reflect the page\u2019s theme and topic(s)?<\/p>\n<p>So that\u2019s what\u2019s going on here \u2013 Google evolved over time to use whatever it deems makes the most sense to a user performing a certain query.<\/p>\n<h2>Wait: What the heck is a meta description, anyway?<\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2016\/05\/26\/how-to-write-meta-descriptions-for-seo-with-good-and-bad-examples\/\">Meta descriptions<\/a> are HTML code that <a href=\"https:\/\/support.google.com\/webmasters\/answer\/79812?hl=en\">Google understands<\/a>, and that is meant to provide a synopsis of the page.<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s an example:<\/p>\n<p>&lt;meta name=&#8221;description&#8221; content=&#8221;A description of the page&#8221; \/&gt;<\/p>\n<p>This code goes between the &lt;head&gt;&lt;\/head&gt; tags of the HTML and is not displayed on the visible content that a user would see.<\/p>\n<h2>Do meta descriptions impact <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/05\/31\/image-optimization-for-seo\/\">SEO<\/a>?<\/h2>\n<p>Meta descriptions will not impact rankings.<\/p>\n<p>But, if Google does use a page\u2019s meta description as the SERP snippet, that can impact click-through from the SERP.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s because a well-written meta description that is compelling, relevant to the page, and relevant to the query or queries for which the page is ranking, can impact organic traffic.<\/p>\n<p>And that can have a downstream impact on conversions (the desired actions you want website visitors to take \u2013 fill out a form, buy something, and so on).<\/p>\n<p>Poorly written meta descriptions, if used as the SERP snippet, can have the opposite effect and discourage the user to click through to your page, and instead go to your competitors.<\/p>\n<h2>So, what should be your strategy now that Google has increased the SERP snippet length?<\/h2>\n<p>In summary, you could do any of the following:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Do nothing at all<\/li>\n<li>Rewrite longer meta descriptions for <em>all<\/em> your pages<\/li>\n<li>Rewrite longer meta descriptions for <em>some<\/em> of your pages (e.g. your top ten or twenty organic landing pages, or some pages you determine have low click-thru rates)<\/li>\n<li>Delete all your meta descriptions<\/li>\n<li>Audit your site\u2019s content to ensure that the first text on your page is compelling, uses keywords congruent with how someone would search for your content, ensure the first paragraph contains at least 300-350 characters of text including spaces, and front-load the first 150 characters in case google changes back to shorter snippets in the future.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>What you decide to do (or not do) will at least in part hinge upon resources you have available to make changes.<\/p>\n<p>Don\u2019t take a \u201cset it and forget it\u201d attitude with your website\u2019s content and your meta descriptions. It\u2019s common for businesses to put in a fair amount of work into their website, then just let it go stale.<\/p>\n<p>A good recommendation here would be to cycle through this stuff on a regular basis \u2013 think quarterly or a couple times per year. Once per year at a minimum.<\/p>\n<h2>Here\u2019s what I recommend<\/h2>\n<p>First, it should be obvious that your page\u2019s textual content is for humans to consume, and that should always be your primary consideration.<\/p>\n<p>You\u2019ve heard the phrase \u201cdance like no one\u2019s watching\u201d \u2013 well, write like Google doesn\u2019t exist. But Google <em>does<\/em> exist, and their mission is satisfied <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2018\/12\/21\/guide-google-analytics-confusing-terms\/\">users<\/a> (so that people continue to use their service and click on ads) \u2013 Google is chasing satisfied users and so should you.<\/p>\n<p>The refrain of \u201cwrite great content\u201d has been used ad nauseum. The only reason I\u2019m mentioning the whole \u201cwrite for your users\u201d thing is simply because often people focus primarily on \u201c<em>how do I <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2018\/08\/07\/seo-101-11-tips-you-need-to-know-when-you-optimize-your-site\/\">SEO<\/a> my pages<\/em>?\u201d instead of \u201c<em>what\u2019s good for my users?<\/em>\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Okay, with that out of the way and forefront in your mind, here\u2019s what I recommend. Adjust this according to your specific needs \u2013 your <a href=\"https:\/\/sewprod.wpenginepowered.com\/2019\/06\/06\/regulation-in-seo-industry\/\">industry<\/a>, your users \u2013 don\u2019t just take this as a cookie-cutter approach.<\/p>\n<p>And, do this on the time frame that makes the most sense and works for you and the resources you have available to you to make changes to your site. If you haven\u2019t looked at your page content and meta descriptions in a year or more, then this is a higher priority for you than if you refreshed all that 60 days ago.<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Meta descriptions<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Make them about 300-320 characters long, including spaces<\/li>\n<li>Make the meta description super-relevant to the page text<\/li>\n<li>Front-load the first 150-165 characters with your most-compelling text \u2013 compelling to your users who might see the text as a SERP snippet (just in case Google decides to shorten them again)<\/li>\n<li>Use a call to action if applicable, but don\u2019t be a used car salesman about it \u2013 and as appropriate, use action-oriented language<\/li>\n<li>Remember WIIFM \u2013 what\u2019s in it for me \u2013 as applicable, focus on benefits, not features<\/li>\n<li>Don\u2019t be deceptive or make promises your page content can\u2019t keep<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Keep in mind that Google may not use your meta description as the SERP snippet and may instead use content from your page, likely from the first paragraph.<\/p>\n<p>With that in mind:<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Review &amp; refresh your content<\/strong><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li>Make sure the H1 page headline is super-relevant to the page\u2019s topic<\/li>\n<li>Include an image (as applicable) that is super-relevant to the page (not one of those dumb, tangentially-related stock images) and craft an excellent and page-relevant image ALT attribute<\/li>\n<li>Ensure that your opening paragraph is enticing and practically forces the reader to keep reading \u2013 that way if it\u2019s the text used as the SERP snippet, that will capture people\u2019s attention.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Summary<\/h2>\n<p>My summary is that if you if you haven\u2019t already, please go back and read the whole article &#8211; I promise you it\u2019ll be worth it. But I will add one more piece here and that is that ostensibly the type of content you\u2019re creating is going to dictate how you configure your meta descriptions, H1 page headlines, and especially the opening text on the page.<\/p>\n<p>In some cases, it makes sense to use the \u201chow to feed a (Google) <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/tag\/Hummingbird\/\">hummingbird<\/a>\u201d technique where you pose the topic\u2019s question and answer it concisely at the top of the page, then defend that position, journalism style, in the rest of the text under that.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, you may be shooting for a SERP featured snippet and <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2019\/01\/11\/voice-search-optimization-guide-2019\/\">voice<\/a>-assistant-device answer using bullet points or a numbered list at the top of your content page.<\/p>\n<p>The point is, the guidelines and recommendations I\u2019ve provided for you here are not a one-size-fits-all, cookie-cutter approach to your meta descriptions and your content. <a href=\"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/2018\/12\/04\/techseo-boost-machine-learning-for-seos\/\">SEO<\/a> experience, switching your brain into the on position, and a willingness to test, observe, and adjust are all mandatory to achieve the best results.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On December 1st, 2017, Barry Schwartz reported on Search Engine Land that Google had officially confirmed a change to how it displays text snippets in Google\u2019s Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs). What does this mean for SEO, and how should webmasters and SEOs adapt?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1092,"featured_media":402,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[374,375],"content_type":[27095],"class_list":["post-401","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-seo","tag-google-serp-change","tag-snippets","content_type-news"],"acf":{"tad_independentcommercial":false,"tad_content_format":false},"post_info":{"name":"idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com idris.nagri@blenheimchalcot.com","title":"","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/search-results-page-120x90.jpg","category":"SEO","timeago":"8y"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1092"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=401"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/401\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/402"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=401"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=401"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=401"},{"taxonomy":"content_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/searchenginewatch.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content_type?post=401"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}