ODP Titles For SERP Titles? Optional at MSN Search!

[rustybrick]

Check it out http://blogs.msdn.com/msnsearch/arch...22/603917.aspx

So what we did was introduce a new option at the page level - a robots meta tag – that tells the MSN search bot not to use the DMOZ site snippet. This is something that only can be done at Web page level, by a webmaster, and is not done as part of the robot.txt file.

So in your Web page you’d put

<META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOODP">

or

<META NAME="msnbot" CONTENT="NOODP">

[AnthonyCea]

That's great, MSN is making improvements based on input from experts, that is what marketing is all about, meeting the needs of the users of the product, thanks for the information!

[Brian M]

Thanks, Barry! Good catch - I just put the code <META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOODP"> on a home page and I'll let you know what happens...

Brian M

[pleeker]

This is a great move, thumbs up to MSN. Now what do we do to get Google to follow suit?

[Robert_Charlton]

CONTENT="NOODP"

Great news, but, in my experience, the great offender here has not been MSN with DMOZ... it's been Yahoo with Yahoo Directory...

...tells the MSN search bot not to use the DMOZ site snippet....

I don't envision Yahoo implementing "NOYAH." We need a universal tag here (actually, I suppose it's an attribute)... something like "NODIR"... to take care of all the engines and directories at once.

Another Indexing Summit should be coming up soon....

[fthead9]

One of our clients has been stuck with a Yahoo SERP description of "Car wax maker" for the last two years even though they don't pay for a directory listing. We've sent numerous emails and correction notices but to no avail. Having a new tag would be a huge help for everyone but especially for those in the Yahoo directory that are stuck with ridiculous titles and descriptions.

[pleeker]

Amen to that, Robert. When we talk with clients about the Yahoo Directory, we have to warn them that it actually could harm how their site appears in the regular SERPs ... and many choose not to spend the money on the directory listing because of that.

NODIR ... love it.

[Brian M]

"NOODP = No Odd Directory Phrases" would be fine with me, if only Yahoo and others would obey it so we don't end up with totally useless descriptions like, "Manufactures and sells factory direct" as well as more unique variations of "head" tags that do the same thing.

Brian M

[projectphp]

OK, so can I ask: what will they show instead? The metadescription tag, or justa Google style snippet? That really isn't clear to me.

[pleeker]

Originally Posted by projectphp

OK, so can I ask: what will they show instead? The metadescription tag, or justa Google style snippet? That really isn't clear to me.

Looks like SOP to me: They'll show the meta description if it's there, or grab some text from the page if there's no meta description.

[seoqueen]

Ok call me ignorant I'll accept that. But why does MSN need to make a META tag for NOODP when all they have to do is change the code a bit in the programming to not accept the ODP description and only grab the META description from the source code and if there is none then grab snippets from the body content.

MSN has control of there own displaying of the results it’s the matter of programming it. A scenario, what if there was NO DMOZ then what would they do?

If search engines can manipulate the algorithm then they can manipulate the displaying of the results. Am I right or wrong?

Is all search engines relying on DMOZ descriptions??? I thought only Google uses DMOZ.

Comments anyone?

Seoqueen

[pleeker]

Originally Posted by seoqueen

Ok call me ignorant I'll accept that. But why does MSN need to make a META tag for NOODP when all they have to do is change the code a bit in the programming to not accept the ODP description...

Well, yes. A good point....

Is all search engines relying on DMOZ descriptions??? I thought only Google uses DMOZ.

MSN and Google use DMOZ; Yahoo uses its own directory.

[dannysullivan]

Actually, sometimes Yahoo uses the ODP also. Weird, I know, but true.

[seoqueen]

Originally Posted by dannysullivan

Actually, sometimes Yahoo uses the ODP also. Weird, I know, but true.

I also have seen some results with ODP in Yahoo.

I was doing some checking and came to this conclusion, it would be wise for MSN to have the option to use the META tag NOODP only because some descriptions in the ODP are very well written and some webmasters or SEO'ers wants to use them. So I guess it can work both ways.

Good choice made by MSN.

SEOqueen

[pleeker]

Originally Posted by dannysullivan

Actually, sometimes Yahoo uses the ODP also. Weird, I know, but true.

For real? Can't say I've ever seen it myself, but okay. Kind of a slap in the face to Y's very own directory editors.....

[Brian M]

Yippee! MSN no longer shows the ODP title and description for pages that I am watching! The cache date is 5/27/2006. At least now, I have a chance to convince people to click on the link.

Originally Posted by seoqueen

...because some descriptions in the ODP are very well written and some webmasters or SEO'ers wants to use them.
SEOqueen

Even the best, well written description may need to be changed over time. Besides, why would the directory editors be interested in helping adjust descriptions for SEO or SEM?

Thanks, MSN!

Brian M