As of March 2025, Google has changed how it reads & displays your websites individual page descriptions, sometimes ignoring your pre defined meta descriptions when displaying your links in their Google results.
Google are now reading page content as well as meta descriptions on websites so they can better tailor the descriptions their page listings offer. This means they may still use your specified meta page description, however if they feel the on page content is a better description based on the search the user put into Google, then Google will use that instead to entice the click. This means it's now more important than ever to ensure the content on all of your websites pages are up to date.
To put it simply, here's an example using ourselves:
- Person A searches for "Logo Design Chichester"
- Person B, who is based in Chichester, searches for 'I need a logo designer near me'
Person A will see our web page for Logo Design, showing our default Meta Description of:
"Logo design is key to any businesses brand and image. We create bespoke logo designs for our clients, see our portfolio of designs here"
However Person B may instead, get content taken from the page:
"Your logo is the face of your company. We can build your brand bespoke to your business, or modernise your existing logo."
Google are now essentially deciding on what is best, depending on who is searching for your services & products. We can't control this, all we can do is set a well thought out meta description & ensure all on page content is informative and as in depth as possible.
The important thing for you moving forward? Making sure the content on your site is organic, relevant and matches what you'd like clients to read about you when they search for you.
