Google has changed their search engine results page (again)

 

Google likes to keep us on our toes, and encourages website owners not to be lazy and complacent about where they appear in the rankings. So once again they’ve overhauled their SERP (search engine results page) settings in several ways.

First off is that title tags have now increased to around 69-70 characters, with even more on mobile – 78, which could create problems for people looking to optimise for both mobile and desktop. Meta descriptions have also been increased to around 240 characters.

The longer title tags are a result of Google removing the ads on the right hand side of the search engine results. The width has increased from 500 to 600 pixels wide, which means there’s meta descriptions (still around 100 words) are given more room to be displayed, which will allow you to promote. Meta descriptions also display three lines of text instead of two, so again, always use your 100 characters to promote your website as best as possible.

The three-pack list of businesses that display at the top of the results are also expanded due to the pixel width increase, so they display slightly more information.

What extending the meta title allows businesses to do is be found for more ‘natural’ queries; everyday language instead of short, disjointed keywords. This is particularly important as voice search is on the rise with personal assistants like Siri and Cortana.

One final benefit of longer title tags is that it allows the brand name to be put in, which many businesses omit in favour of keywords pertaining to their company.