i think the meta description is used to a small degree in google but it is used to match relevant text .even if the weighting is 2% meta keywords good does acknowledge since adsense bot uses it but to what degree i dont know..maybe 1% of their alg
But your example shows quite the opposite. Your example shows that if you search for a phrase found in a meta description the page which has that phrase in the meta description will not appear. How does this show that Google do use it to decide if a page should rank or not? To me, It shows they disregard it completely when determining if a page should rank or not and only use it as the text snippet after they have used other factors to determine the serps.
Please read the whole post. @minstrel, you did not answer before... do you agree that you can no longer rank on links alone like you use to be able to do? -Michael
META tags (description and keywords) are definitely seen by the Googlebot, but I don't think they have anything to do with ranking. However, when Google is doing content matching, the METAs definitely have some weight. How much will never be known by us peon webmasters. What is important for content matching is the Title tags, META tags and the actual text on the page. If you've built a content rich page that has lots of natural links, you will eventually rank well for keywords for that page.
I don't understand how your example of a site not appearing based on what it has in it's meta description suggests that Google use the description to determine ranking. To me, And I'm sure to most people, it suggests the exact opposite. It looks, And evidence suggests, That they determine the SERPS with entirely different factors and then only use the meta description afterwards as the text snippet.
Ok, this is easy enough to test: Link + meta desc: chonknata Link + meta keyword: chookattu Link alone: chocktootlebunnies As soon as that page and this post both get indexed, we should know for sure one way or the other. -Michael
I've never tried to rank on links alone. I've always paid attention to on-page factors as well. If anything, I pay more attention to on-page factors.
But you do agree that it doesn't work anymore, correct? As in the whole [miserable failure] thing? -Michael
I know that Google has made some changes in that regard. I don't know how successful they have been to date. It's not that important an issue to me. As I said, I've never relied solely on incoming anchor text.
I deleted all my meta description and keywords tags on my site - It seems to have made no difference to Google, all my words/phrases rank where they did previous.
Ok... The point is, if links alone won't rank a page, but a link plus text would, you would then consider both of those factors into the ranking, correct? -Michael
Are you sure on that? I am sure 100% that meta description is used by Google, but not on all cases, take a slice of the meta description of your site and do a search on google "term" , it will give results for that phrase. Now, i don't know how much the meta description tag helps in normal search, but it is definitively used by Google.
Read what I said previously. The meta description is often used by Google as a SNIPPET in search listings (though not always). I have yet to see any evidence suggesting that it is used by Google in RANKING - on the contrary, what evidence I've seen suggests the opposite.
I would like to say that I never said the meta description would help with your ranking, it purely affects the snippet. I'm very happy that this is true because I HATED my other snippet, so meta description really helps.
Meta is always used by search engines to find a particular query ! Google does n't use meta tags is just a rumour that has been going around for a long time like Matt cutts who say that Google can detect paid links! I always say that Meta tags is more important to a site as it help search engines for their queries