Meta description tags appearing in Google search results even though they had been removed

Meta description tags appearing in Google search results even though they had been removed - Google Search Console is a free application that allows you to identify, troubleshoot, and resolve any issues that Google may encounter as it crawls and attempts to index your website in search results. If you’re not the most technical person in the world, some of the errors you’re likely to encounter there may leave you scratching your head. We wanted to make it a bit easier, so we put together this handy set of tips about seo, google-search, search-results, meta-description to guide you along the way. Read the discuss below, we share some tips to fix the issue about Meta description tags appearing in Google search results even though they had been removed.Problem :

I recently removed all the meta description tags from my website and uploaded the files to my host company's FTP server. However, Google search results still show the old meta tags even though the site was indexed after I uploaded it.

The cache is showing a time stamp after I had removed the meta tag from the index.html file so I don't know why the old meta tags are still present. I'm starting to think that the old meta tag is still somewhere in my code but I have no idea where.

I'm really confused and frustrated and could use some help. I'm also pretty new to SEO and HTML.

Solution :

I recently removed all the meta description tags

How "recently"? It can take some time before changes are reflected in the SERPs.

...the site was indexed after I uploaded it.

I think you mean the site was crawled after you updated it. Being crawled and indexed (when your pages actually appear in the SERPs) are two different things.

...The cache is showing a time stamp after I had removed the meta tag

And if you view the source of the cached page are the meta tags removed? To be honest, I would expect the cache to closely reflect the index status of the document - however, maybe there is a delay? Crawl, cache, index...?

You can try the Remove outdated content tool for when "the page's snippet (the short description of the page in search results) or the cached version of the page is out of date". Reference: Remove outdated content from Google (Help Docs).

Google often uses the description meta-tag for the snippet in the SERPs but that is not guaranteed though can be often counted on. If you are using a description meta-tag and are not pleased by what you see in the SERPs then simply change the description meta-tag.

However, if the description meta-tag is empty or missing, you are leaving it up to Google to pick some part of your content for the snippet, you may not like what they select. Having deleted the description meta-tag, it is quite possible that the snippet may not change for a short period while Google selects a new one. There is a specific algorithm for this that may, repeat, MAY not be event triggered but scheduled. This is simply because it is not normal that the description meta-tag (and title tag) is insufficient (in this case gone). It is likely that the h1 tag will be selected if it passes muster. Otherwise it will be the beginning of the first significant paragraph or a snippet that closely matches the title tag in keyword importance or even the search query.

You just may have to wait for a bit- that is if you are sure that the last fetch was after your change to the description meta-tag. Otherwise, you will have to wait till the page is fetched again.

On a side note, the description meta-tag really only effects the snippet in the SERPs and carries virtually no weight on SEO.

Keep in mind Google needs to crawl it a couple time's before Google shows the updated results. As Dan mentioned - you can speed it up by forcing Google to crawl the page (but it's impossible to say just how much that helps). Be patient - not a huge deal.

Do you have a DMOZ entry? I recently had the same problem where Google was pulling what I thought was the old meta description. After much hair pulling I found out there was an old DMOZ entry for the site and Google was using the meta description from the DMOZ description.

If the issue about seo, google-search, search-results, meta-description is resolved, there’s a good chance that your content will get indexed and you’ll start to show up in Google search results. This means a greater chance to drive organic search traffic to your site.