Google ignoring summaries

1. 94

   SmartAndFunposted 12 years ago

   Is this common? On the Google results page, just under the title of my hub, Goodle is using the first sentence of the hub instead of the summary. (Yes, the summary is there on the hub, I checked.) Are summaries just wishful thinking on my part? Is this just more of Google playing hard to get and trying to be mysterious and unpredictable? Do I need to go back and rewrite the first sentences of all my hubs?

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      rebekahELLEposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      As far as I understand summaries, they help the Google indexing process, ie. placing the hub in the proper category. But as far as searches, G. attempts to match the search query as closely as possible, which can be taken from any part of the text.

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2. 59

   paradigmsearchposted 12 years ago

   Last time I checked, which hasn't been recently, what Google displays is based on what search words were entered. Virtually any part of the hub can show up depending.

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3. 76

   mythbusterposted 12 years ago

   Thanks for the explanations. I have been wondering about the same thing SmartAndFun opened the thread with.

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4. 94

   SmartAndFunposted 12 years ago

   Yes, thanks everyone. For some reason I had it in my head that the summaries were "supposed" to show up under the title in the SERP. Maybe I will rethink all my first sentences.

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   1. 76

      lobobrandonposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      It need not be just the first few sentences. IF someone searches for something and those words are somewhere at the bottom of the hub then that part will appear in the search. So you'll need to make it all perfect - I'm sure your hubs are already fine
      
      Not many people are gonna type in the exact title of your hub unless its a commonly searched phrase.

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5. 76

   sunforgedposted 12 years ago

   Google does as it pleases, it usually displays the first occasion of the search query. It is advisable to use the intended query in your summary. But, there is no real way of controlling what displays.
   
   The summary does appear as the attached text when a link is added to facebook and the various social bookmarking locations, so there is still benefit to crafting the summary with intent to entice those who may read it

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      janderson99posted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Just a thought - how long are your summaries? They should be less than 155 characters. The letter counter in the summary box should be > 346. If your summary is too long it will be ignored.

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      1. 94

         SmartAndFunposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Yes, without going back and looking I am certain many of them have more than 155 characters, maybe even all of them. I am one of those people who can never shut up, Lol. Thanks for that interesting info. It seems there is something new to learn at HP every day. Now it's time for me to learn to be brief!

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         1. 52

            janderson99posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            Note: If you edit them to make them shorter it may take a few days for the summaries to appear as the articles have to be re-indexed. But this does work in my experience.

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      2. 76

         sunforgedposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I didnt ask the question - but, if you really were asking me.
         
         I dont(hardly) have any summaries, i have around 500 hubs, hubpages decided awhile back to stop using our introductions automatically as summaries (which I crafted intentionally to be dual purpose).. and I don't have the time to work backwards.
         
         SO very few of my hubs have intentional summaries anymore

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         1. 70

            Howard S.posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            That's what HP said. However, it doesn't fit my testing. While it's true that HP no longer quotes the initial paragraph in the "summary" box, the initial paragraph will still be used in Google and in HP's own search listings even if that summary box is blank.
            
            Someone is going to dispute this, I'm sure. Just be sure you've tested it rather than quoting what you've read was said.

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               sunforgedposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               That would be the expected result. Since the intros were crafted as I would have done for a summary - the target term most often appears there so Google is MOST likely to show it.
               
               One just checks the page source to see that the meta-description is now blank

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         2. 52

            janderson99posted 12 years agoin reply to this

            The point is to make a summary that really 'stands out in the crowd' in the list of search results. It says 'Open me, I have the best information that perfectly matches what you are looking for'. You should use active words that encourage users to click your link. Your first sentence may be boring and less likely to appeal. So really sell your site via the summary to get hits. Include your key words.

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               sunforgedposted 12 years agoin reply to this

               thanks, I guess :p
               
               But, you are kind of wasting keystrokes on me

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      3. 52

         janderson99posted 12 years agoin reply to this

         Update - keep the summary counter >350  - so the summary is less than 150 characters to stop Google truncating the last few words.

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      Will Apseposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Google does what it believes it's users want. The difference is subtle but it is the difference between understanding what Google is about and paranoia.

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6. 87

   WryLiltposted 12 years ago

   The way I see it is:
   
   -If the search words match the title, your summary will show.
   -If the search words don't match the title, where ever those words are in the article will show.

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      Pearldiverposted 12 years agoin reply to this

      Totally agree.. I see it exactly the same
      
      But then nothing has really changed from how it best worked 18 months ago has it?

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      1. 0

         EmpressFelicityposted 12 years agoin reply to this

         I dunno, my summary was a *much* better match for my title than the first sentence of my hub!
         
         I will be doing italicised summaries at the top of my hubs from now on, before starting on the hub proper.

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7. 94

   SmartAndFunposted 12 years ago

   Thanks everyone.

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8. 65

   Journey *posted 12 years ago

   Hi SmartandFun,
   I don't know how much I could have helped with answering your questions but I definitely did learn something here so thanks for starting this thread. What WryLit said about search words makes a lot of sense.

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9. 0

   EmpressFelicityposted 12 years ago

   Yes, Google is ignoring summaries. Well, they're ignoring mine anyway.
   
   I published a hub yesterday and it's appearing on the second page of Google... with the first few words of the hub itself appearing in the search results, NOT the summary.
   
   Could this possibly be one reason why some people are experiencing a slow decline in traffic?

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