idealmike
Level X3
Write the reason you're deleting this FAQ
In a move that would seem contradictory to most, since they have stated they don't use the description for ranking purposes. Google has expanded the meta description tag from 160 characters to 320 characters.
This will give SEO's, webmasters, affiliate marketers etc, a chance to use those extra characters for including extra text in which they can promote their sites in the SERPs. On top of this, Google is also going to increase the size of search snippets also.
And this makes me ask, if Google is going to use a snippet of text from a webpage, and doesn't use the meta description for ranking purposes, why do they care enough to expand the meta description field in the first place?
Perhaps Google is expanding the meta description field as a way to let SEO's and webmasters know that the meta description is one of the most (if not the most) important part of Google's way of indexing and analysing websites in the SERPS?
I think the takeaway here regardless, is that meta descriptions are still important and moving forward, we should all take advantage of this expansion as you never know, Google could use it as part of your webpage's description or even as a featured snippet!
What do you think of this move by Google to do this?
Will you be going through all your old meta descriptions of 160 characters and expanding them to 320 now? 
Are you sure you want to delete this post?
Are you sure you want to delete this post?
Are you sure you want to delete this post?
Are you sure you want to delete this post?
Are you sure you want to delete this post?
Are you sure you want to delete this post?
Are you sure you want to delete this post?
Are you sure you want to delete this post?
TommyCarey
I've always used meta descriptions, even when people were saying they weren't needed anymore, mainly because you never know what Google will really look at when they stumble across your website. Google claims to love fresh and unique content, and that's what meta descriptions are if done right
I wonder if they decided to increase their meta description length because Twitter increased the length of the characters they allow within their tweets. Could Google have been watching what happened with Twitter when they increased their character limit and followed suit when the world didn't burn? lmao
I'm pretty excited to edit my descriptions because I remember when I wrote them for the first time it was tough due to the 160 character restriction. It was like I needed to get all my information into a single sentence, which was almost always impossible and I just said f*ck it and wrote whatever I wanted lol. now I don't have to worry about that because I can get 2 sentences in there now!
Are you sure you want to delete this post?