About a week ago one of my sites here started appearing in search results with a title and description that I changed earlier in the year. Googlebot has crawled fairly recently, why are the current tags being ignored? Like I said, everything was fine until about a week ago and the html hasn't changed in the meantime.
Maybe Google decided it was spammy? <title>Free PS3, free Wii, free iPod & much more - Don't miss out!</title> <meta name="description" content="Follow my simply, proven guide to get a free Playstation 3, free Wii, free Xbox 360, free iPhone, free iPod, free HDTV & much more..."> <meta name="Keywords" content="free PS3, cheap PS3, best price PS3, free Wii, free Wii Fit, free Xbox 360 elite , free gifts, free mobile, free iPhone, free ipod touch, free ipod, Playstation 3, free HDTV, referral site, referral link, trade credits, giveaway network, real incentives, real-incentives, Xpango, Freepay, freebiejeebies, gimme4free, free ipod, free ghd"/> Code (markup): What IS Google displaying now? Are you listed in DMOZ (unlikely) or Yahoo Directory?
They've been quite happy with it for the past three months? It describes what the site is about. What is displaying now is the very old title and description and is not that much different: I know I haven't changed anything in the tags, so it is just confusing? Bagless
Is that your old title and description? or have you submitted title and description that anywhere? do you recognize it?
Yeah, that is definately my old title/description but was changed ages ago. Thanks for the replies by the way!
This has happened to my site as well, I'm not sure why google does this? However, I do not think it's anything to be concerned about.
I'm reading a cache date of 1st August 2007. The search url is http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=free+ps3&btnG=Google+Search&meta= No idea why this only happened recently, so much about the site has been changed since then.
OK. So there's your reason - Google is using an old cache of your page, possibly because they are doing some tweaking or shuffling. As kingofsanda said, it's nothing to worry about - this has happened before with Google and will correct itself in due course.
Thanks for all the help guys, hope it rights itself sooner rather than later! (Incidentally, my subpages like /news.html are cached right up to date though, how bizarre)
Checked again this morning and back to what it should be. Glad to see that, just so very strange (Cache is the same?).
I spoke too soon, it's back to the old version Being a numpty, what I had missed before is that the cached page is the one used when the site was first set up in 2007. Webmaster is also reporting that "Googlebot last successfully accessed your home page on Jul 13, 2008", when it is normally once a week. What is going on?
A toolbar PR update, for one. Don't sweat it. It will sort itself out. Just Google being Google. How often does the content of your home page change? That influences how frequently you get spidered. It's more important that your frequently changing pages get spidered frequently to pick up the changes.
Thanks once again for the input/reassurance. The homepage content is fairly static and that has always been the case. It's mainly the inner "news" page that gets updated. Guess I will have to put that right!
I'm frustrated to say that the issue has raised it's ugly head again and I'm losing traffic on certain terms (that weren't included in the old title and description that is showing). If you have a look here http://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&q=gadgets4nowt.&btnG=Google+Search&meta= the first result has all the wrong information displayed. The second result, based on an inner page, does however get it right. I have double checked my hosting and there are no files included that contain the old data. I have also resubmitted my sitemap. Google last visited 30th July and things went back to normal for a bit, now the same old problem. Like I said, it is hitting my traffic, is there any way I can get this resolved. Desperate
I went through a few months of outdated listings back in 2004 or 2005. I hadn't changed anything prior to the old caches showing up. I didn't change anything while they were being displayed. It was Google rebuilding its databases and mirrors. Eventually, it all righted itself without any input from me. The fact that it took several weeks to a few months was an issue for me of course, but I'm sure it wasn't an issue for Google - just businessas usual. At present, I'm seeing some anomalies from the last two toolbar exports and my guess is that its more of the same. Basically, you're at the mercy of Google here and there's little or nothing you can do about it except to try to focus on marketing and SEO for other search engines until it all works itself out.
Thanks again for the input, I'll sit tight and let things work themselves out. At least I know there is nothing more I can do. Much appreciated. Bagless