Google Shortened Meta Descriptions Again

I thought Google just expanded meta descriptions to around 320 characters last December? They did but they changed it again back to their old length of between 150-170 characters.

Crazy!

For a website designer this is more drama than I would like in my business. SEO is something I stay on top of because I want all my websites that I design to be found on Google and I want them to look good when they show up on organic and paid searches.

In December I went back to many of the websites and expanded the meta descriptions to double what it was and was thankful because it would give us a chance to explain more fully what the website was all about.

You had to do this with each and every website page that was in the website itself or you would lose the visual advantage that extra text provided to potential clients. If you had a website that had a lot of pages, it caused lots more work but was worth it in the end.

But now??

Google Shortened Meta Descriptions Again

I use a pro version of Yoast SEO plugin on all my WordPress websites including my own, so it makes it easy to do SEO and meta descriptions.

They have a free version that works well but the pro version gives you much more functionality that really helps in a number other area’s such as website backups and 301 and 401 redirects (which can be a real pain to do manually) as well as adding more focus keywords instead of just one. Here is what Yoast says about this Google change.

If you do not fix the meta description, it’s not a big deal with Google I am told but it will look like you forgot half of what information was. When the description gets to the end of 150 characters it will be followed by three dots …

When I see the three dots … on the end of the meta descriptions it always makes me think someone lost their train of thought on what they were trying to say plus you lose half of the information.

Think of your meta description as a descriptive ad on who or what your business is. Would you want half your ad that you paid a lot money for missing? You need to go back and condense the meta description to 150-170 characters so potential customers do not think badly about you or your business.

Here is more information to read up on what is happening. Search Engine

How to write Meta Descriptions: How To Write Meta Descriptions In a Changing World. I hope that information helps.

I just wished Google would stay consistent so they would not cause us website designers and SEO guys so much extra work. O well, what else do I have to do with my time. Ummm, let me see …