Author Topic: Google rewriting meta tags  (Read 7822 times)

Rupert

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Google rewriting meta tags
« on: July 18, 2013, 03:58:04 PM »
Anyone know where they get this from?

If you do a site search, something is added to the meta title.   They do not do it all the time, but it seems to always have "-" infront


Try site:play.com   

One page is:
 DVD Bargains - Play.com
www.play.com/DVD_Bargains.html‎
Discover great prices on thousands of top DVD titles at the Play.com DVD Bargains store.


If you click through, the meta title is :
<title id="htmlheadercontent_0__title">DVD Bargains</title>

Now it is not always the domain name tagged to the end.   

I have some examples but do not want to post them here.  But it can be a brand 


Ah, here is another:
Search for site:burton.co.uk

First page off it is:

Burton Menswear: Burton - Mens Clothing - Mens Fashion
www.burton.co.uk/‎
Burton is one of the UK's leading men's clothing & fashion retailers, with a range of men's clothing designed to make you look & feel good. Find formal & casual ...


Google seems to have put "Burton Menswear:" in front of the actual title this time.
<title>Burton - Mens Clothing - Mens Fashion - Burton Menswear</title>

From the cached page BTW.

Has anyone found a sensible solution to this?  I dont think it is done by the site itself.
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littleman

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Re: Google rewriting meta tags
« Reply #1 on: July 18, 2013, 08:23:16 PM »
I am seeing dynamically inserted brand type of phrases in the title tag on one of my domains.  I sure google looks at this as a feature, and it probably does help with ctr in most cases.  I have no idea if it is possible to shut off.  It seems to happen when phrases are strongly correlated with each other.

Rupert

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Re: Google rewriting meta tags
« Reply #2 on: July 18, 2013, 09:57:43 PM »
Yes, I have one of my main money pages there....  and its the one I have fallen off the perch for.

Its on every page, not only those that are relevant. Its sending me a message, just not sure what. The obvious one is anchor text, but I cannot see why.  It just does not work site wide, unless it is the brand. 
And the brand can be different from the URL... ah.. in the morning.
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ergophobe

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Re: Google rewriting meta tags
« Reply #3 on: July 18, 2013, 10:31:42 PM »
They are rewriting meta title and description. I think I've seen them substitute the h1 title for the meta title.

At the last Pubcon, Boser was talking about this. There's not a lot you can do AFAIK. If you figure out which searches are triggering a rewrite, the only thing you seem to be able to do is to modify your title to get it closer to  the one that Google generates until it's close enough to avoid pulling the trigger. If you don't actually want a title anything like the one Google uses, I'm not sure you can do anything at all.

Rupert

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Re: Google rewriting meta tags
« Reply #4 on: July 19, 2013, 06:08:25 AM »
Thx.  My situation is that If I were selling ice creams, then my additional tag would be   "-Ice Cream".

so on the chocolate flakes page, the marple syrup etc pages, it still says "-Ice Cream".

not the end of the world, but as I have been slapped for the phrase "Ice Cream" it would be good to understand. It ought to be the perfect opportunity to see why. 

When I get it to change to my brand, I will let you know :)
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