Ark Media
Original Poster
Oct 7, 2022

Meta description not showing correct information from Yoast

The meta description that was added to Yoast SEO is not showing on the Google Search Results page in Chrome, Firefox, Safari but shows correctly in Edge.
If you search for the site it will show this as the meta description on the homepage.”sandboards logo. New Sandsleds Limited time only OUR SANDSLEDS. sandboards logo. New SandBoards Limited time only RAPTOR 105cm.”
Which is not what I want to show up.
It should be “Sandboards and Sand Sleds, Sandboard Wax and more. Sandboards, Sand Sleds, Sandboard Wax, Clothing, Gear..”
I cleared cache on the website and on my browsers.
I re-index the pages on google search console as well.
If i use site: command on the search page it shows the correct information.
To me it looks like its pulling information from the first section of the page it can find, and not using the meta I added for the pages with Yoast.
Also under the source code it shows the correct meta.
Any information on what might be causing this issue please let me know.
Contacted support on Yoast and no answer.

Thank you.
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Recommended Answer
barryhunter
Diamond Product Expert
Oct 7, 2022
See: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/snippet

  • Snippets are automatically created from page content. Snippets are designed to emphasize and preview the page content that best relates to a user's specific search. This means that Google Search might show different snippets for different searches.

  • Meta description tags: Google sometimes uses <meta> tag content to generate snippets, if we think they give users a more accurate description than can be taken directly from the page content.
Community Manager Anjana. recommended this
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All Replies
barryhunter
Diamond Product Expert
Recommended Answer
Oct 7, 2022
See: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/snippet

  • Snippets are automatically created from page content. Snippets are designed to emphasize and preview the page content that best relates to a user's specific search. This means that Google Search might show different snippets for different searches.

  • Meta description tags: Google sometimes uses <meta> tag content to generate snippets, if we think they give users a more accurate description than can be taken directly from the page content.
Community Manager Anjana. recommended this
Amalia Maloney
Nov 4, 2022
I really prefer that the meta tag I've assigned is used for Google to display on searches. Is there a way for me to indicate that meta is used instead of snippets? This is really disappointing to see that my meta tag is not being used. On all occasions it is more accurate than what Google is displaying as snippets from the page. One of my pages doesn't even show the correct snippet - it's coming from another page. https://www.movetotraveling.com/
JWP (John)
Platinum Product Expert
Nov 4, 2022
It works the way it does, because in more innocent times gone by (i.e. before Google got wise to this), people would put "lovely fluffy dogs" in their title/description and then serve hardcore porn (somewhat extreme example!).

So now, Google tries very hard to match those two fields to the actual page, by assessing if they do reflect the content and changing them if they don't.  It's not a perfect system, but that's why.

barryhunter
Diamond Product Expert
Nov 4, 2022
Another reason Google has dynamic snippets, is it tailors the snippet to the current search. If possible, it tries to show a snippet that shows the users keywords in 'context'. 

Its only when there isnt a 'match' between the keywords and content, or they is no keyword query (like a site:... query!), then does it 'fall back' to a more generic snippet. 
Amalia Maloney
Nov 4, 2022
Thank you for the quick reply and explanations. That all makes sense, but I still find it lousy that we can't have more of a say in for our own content. I work very hard to make sure that my meta description is very relevant and when I test this myself and go to do different types of searches, it's not even showing the entire keyphrase I've searched in the snippet displaying in the search results. For example below - I searched for best neighborhoods in Denia, and what I get is the snippet below, instead of my assigned meta tag. 

Even when I search for my business by name, it's coming up with less relevant text in the snippets for subsequent pages. Under the Denizens of Denia and Blog pages it's listing my meta tag assigned for the latest blog post that I published which is listed on those pages... 


I'm using Yoast plugin, the free version, to guide me in all this. I've been using it for years. And it's only been now that I see that snippets are being used instead of my assigned meta description. 

Is there anything I can do in Google Search Console, requesting indexing of pages again, or something like that which can help with this? 
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