Title kinda says it all - should site description and meta description be the same? Or, should they be different? If so, how much different? Right now one of my forums has #1 ranking in certain keywords. But for the keywords I want to get first page google ranking, I am on page 4. Google search: survival forum - #1 Survivalist forum - #1 Survivalist discussion board - #1 survivalist gear forum - #1 survival gear forum - #3 (was #2) Survival Gear - #44 <---- this is the one I want on first page google. The site description had the keywords I want to improve my ranking in (survival gear), but the meta description have keywords I want to abandon (like discussion board). So I changed the meta description to the same as the site description. Will this hurt or help me?
Both are same and not. If you do link exchange then you use some catchy description. And in meta description our aim is to repeat keywords 3-4 times. Most of the website's meta descriptions are not complete. It different only when you use the description word for link exchange or directory submission.
I changed the meta description and used a keyword twice, and my ranking dropped by 5 spots in 3 or 4 days.