Why does Google usually ignore Meta Description?

One really annoying thing I've noticed for most if not all of my sites, is that Google will completely ignore the "META NAME="Description"" tag, and just pull in some random text from elsewhere on the page, even though the Meta Desc. has been properly defined.

Does anyone have any info on this, or how to strengthen Meta Descriptions?

 

Are you sure you have done it correctly? In my experience it should work.

 

Is your sites listed in dmoz? if so then it takes from that directory description. you should also include "noodp" in meta.

 

It may be because of the specific search term that you're appearing for - if that's not appearing in your description then it'll pull from the page. The other issue is length. In my experience 125 characters has the best chance of being shown consistently

 

That's just how Google does it.
It all depends on the search bringing up your site. Google is more likely to ingnore the meta description if it isn't long enough. You can check to see if it's too short in Google Webmaster Tools under "HTML suggestions".

 

My experience has been the opposite. Google is consistently using my Meta Description. And yes, I am listed in DMOZ and do not use the "noodp".

 

Yes, the meta description is very important to Google...your title, description and keyword tags are all part of the puzzle. Just make sure every page accurately describes the content of your page....and that the hierachy of your pages is clear via an xml sitemap.

Google reads your pages in text form...any texts that describes the content for it's users is important!

 

Unless you search for something that is not in your meta description at all, my experience is as well that google is really nice about using the description that you want to have there...

 

hmm weird, it always grabs my meta description on all of my webistes without fail

 

Google makes the decision in definition of the text that appears underneath the search title. There is no point in being concerned about it. Write the best short description of that page in the description tag, and forget about it. Run Google Webmasters on your site and see if Google tells you it thinks there is something wrong with your description, in which case it will use other text from your page. Most common reason is that it's too short. Write at least 3 sentences, make them about 10-15 words long. Try to be as specific as possible.

 

Google always has my description correct. I noticed Google will sometimes take text from your page and add it to the description if your current description is too short. Have it at least two sentences. As yes, it does sometimes depend oh what the person is searching up.

 

Be certain to use terms that are found on the page, and don't make it too long. Do a quick search on anything, and look at how long the snippets are. If you are writing a 200+ character description its too long. If you are writing a description that is 20 characters it obviously too small. I shoot for 100-140.

 

if you search full url of your page, most likely it will show title and meta description.
If you see your page as result of google regular (keyword) search, it displays relevant text (to your search) of your page.

 

It mean sometime content in artilce will win Title.

 

Google Generally Ignore meta description When you offer same Keywords or word length increases then the google

guidelines . Title Tag you can use 64 words ,Keywords and Des tag you can use 250 words Including spaces

 

Sometimes using the first sentences of the pages as descriptions could be the recommended method, like the type most webmaster forums are using and the descriptions would then get picked up by Google.

 

Google only use Meta Description tag when they find content on homepage of bit low value. Forget meta tags.

 

Maybe people are abusing the meta tags and that's why.

 

Google will show the description it thinks is best related to a persons search, so usually it will show a block of text that contains the keywords they searched for.

If you want to check Google has your meta description logged OK, maybe use site:www.yourdomain.com

As you wont be using any search terms this is more likely to return your description, it wont change anything for you but at least you know Google isn't ignoring your meta's

 

May be due to it's easily manipulated behavior..