Wierd Google Description, But Theres More! Options

[DV-Design]

Hello everyone,

This is probably a complaint you hear often, i can say mines probably unique as its not just that the descriptions isnt what i want.

I saw my description while using google webmaster tools, it showed my description in the search and it looked as if its generated from the top menu bar of my main page, listing my menu items.

Doing some research i simply typed my domain into search, this is where im baffled...

The first result is another domain of mine that has no content and i simply decided for the time being to redirct to my forums. Not only does this completely differently named domain show as the first result, its got a really awsome description, its dead on what i would have typed in.

The third description is the actual site and domain for which my forums are on and the description is all goofy, looks like its from my menu links.

Is there a way to;

1) Get the actual domain name to result first when searched by domain name
2) Get the description changed to what the redirect says


**SomeNotes**
Its a phpBB3 forum, i included the tag to tell robots not to us dmoz/odp description, i searched odp and my sites not even listed, i have description meta tags, which are not where either description comes from.

Im assuming that the redirected urls description is comming from some description i gave when submitting it to google, if i resumbit the url with the bad description will it change, and would this adversly affect me?

Any help is greatly apreciated. As i am new and dont have the link in my sig (if thats even allowed) i will post the url to the site here, if thats an issue plz pm to let me know, thanks.

[Link removed per Forum Rules. ~Randy]

This post has been edited by Randy: Aug 14 2008, 05:25 AM

[Randy]

Welcome DV-Design ! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/hi.gif)

Observations:
1. Both domains are brand new, having been registered on July 31, 2008.

2. At first glance both look to be exact duplicates of the other, with both delivering a 200 OK response.

3. Your search is for the exact domain name, which is what helps to pull the snippet into the page.

4. You use the exact domain name in both the title and content of both sites.

Solutions:
1. If you don't want the 2nd site to show up first, set it up to 301 redirect to your main site.

2. As to the snippet, don't worry about that much. How many people do you expect to be searching by your exact domain name rather than a keyword phrase?

As an aside, wouldn't it be fun to use this as an example of just how much the domain name means or doesn't mean to rankings? Some think it's incredibly important, and this is a good example of how a domain doesn't even rank first for a search on the domain name, even when its content is the exactly the same as another, totally unrelated. domain name. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/whistling.gif)

[1dmf]

But don't forget Randy, keywords in domain name will only help once inbound links are received and the domain name is the anchor text!

That's where your domain name comes into its own! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/whistling.gif)

[Jill]

The description that you see in the search results will vary based on the words you put into the search box. If you put your domain in, you'll often see your nav. menu or whatever comes first in you code.

Absolutely nothing to worry about there as it has nothing to do with how you description will show up for an actual keyword search.

[DV-Design]

Ahhh, ok see i was under the misconception that the description was static and showed up no matter how my site was found...

Randy as for what you said, some of it made sense and some of it was chinese (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink1.gif) which is not a fault of yours but my of my own ignorance.

I dont know know what that 200 and 301 stuff means, maybe you could explain it a la "for dummies" ?

The domain with the unrelated name has no content uploaded to it, they are run off the same host, but the root of that domain has nothing loaded to it, i simply used my hosts (1and1) control panel to foreward that domain to the url of the domain with the content (for the time being). Just odd to me that google would pull 2 different descriptions for the same page in the same search.

In anycase thanks for the insight, im very new to this whole website operator/owner thing. Despite knowing computers in general very well, having dipped into programming in the past, and learning html, css and php now...some of this SEO and web stuff is just so counter intuitive it makes my brain hurt.

And here comes the #1 newbish question you probably get once every 3 seconds...if you could either direct me where to find this info, where its apropriate to post it, or answer it here....how do i get my website to show up in searches period? If you'd like the question rephraised...had you made the website i made, what steps would you take to get traffic comming to it via search engines?

Thanks again.

[Jill]

how do i get my website to show up in searches period?

Read the Tips for Newbies and then implement the information provided there.

Easy as pie! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[Randy]

I dont know know what that 200 and 301 stuff means, maybe you could explain it a la "for dummies" ?

It would probably help if I included the full status response, hunh?

200 = a 200 OK server response. Meaning the server tells the browser, spider or any other user-agent that it's found the domain and page requested, so is returning it.

301 = a 301 Moved Permanently server response. In this one the server is telling the browser, spider, user-agent that the page requested no longer exists, but has permanently been moved to another location. The new page location is provided as part of the 301 server response.

[1dmf]

Easy as pie!

American Pie, I take it (IMG:style_emoticons/default/birthdaycake.gif) , this Rhubarb Crumble aint as easy! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/frustrate.gif)

[DV-Design]

Ah Ok Randy, that makes some sense...but how would i go about implementing changing how the domain redirects. Im assuming its possible that it depends on my host?

Thanks Jill im going to look into that post.

[Randy]

Yeah, how to do it depends upon the host. Mostly on if you're on a Unix/Linux or Windows IIS system.

Lots more info on the subject, along with numerous examples, in our 301 redirects area down in the Technology and Coding section of the forum.