Google Search Text...what the heck?

peargrin

Just checked what a Google search of my site brings up, and what I get is an advertisement for Smugmug:


peargrin photography
peargrin.smugmug.com/
Billions of happy photos, millions of passionate customers. Gorgeous online photo albums. Protect your priceless memories. Buy beautiful prints & gifts.


Now, I think Smugmug is great, but this ad has nothing to do with my site (which is wildlife based), offers no useful information (personally I don't have billions of photos), and I frankly find it invasive.

I know the answer is probably " no ", but is there anything I can do to change this?
p.s., I upgraded from basic to power user last year, and didn't think I could customize my URL.


[url]Http://peargrin.smugmug.com[/url]

The Mechanic

Hi Peargrin,

We do not put ads anywhere on your site. What Google returns may be different. You can not change what Google returns in their searches.

You can use a custom domain name on a Power account. You can see how to do this here: http://help.smugmug.com/customer/portal/articles/93340

-Scott

peargrin

Hi Scott,

Thanks for the prompt reply. But I'm still not happy. I've done a little research, and this text turns up for a lot of people. If you are not placing ads on our sites, where is this ad coming from? It's clearly your ad...


[url]Http://peargrin.smugmug.com[/url]

Ferguson

There's other discussion of this. It appears SM may still be putting this in if you leave the fields blank.

To be sure, in your browser do a "View Source" and look at the descriptions at the top. Now go into account settings, under discovery, and fill all the fields in, don't leave any blank. The view source again (be fore to refresh, maybe clear cache) and see if it's gone.

You can see in the View Source what Google is seeing; you need to wait a while for Google to get it correct once you fix it, but the view source should be immediate.

Scott, your answer is a misleading. I just tested it myself, and removed my account meta-description, and up pops this (marketup removed):

meta name="description" content="Billions of happy photos, millions of passionate customers. Gorgeous online photo albums. Protect your priceless memories. Buy beautiful prints & gifts."

You ARE putting ads in our site when we don't fill in the meta-description. They may be subtle, and we may be able to get rid of them, but they are certainly added by your system.

peargrin

Dear Ferguson,

Thanks so much! That was really helpful, and wow, the prior info really was surprisingly misleading. I've added the info you suggested and will wait for the results with fingers crossed.

Many thanks again,

Pear


[url]Http://peargrin.smugmug.com[/url]

Ferguson

peargrin wrote: »

Dear Ferguson,

Thanks so much! That was really helpful, and wow, the prior info really was surprisingly misleading. I've added the info you suggested and will wait for the results with fingers crossed.

Many thanks again,

Pear

I looked at your home page and don't see any in the meta tags, I think you are good.

When Google fixes their results I have no idea - google is mystery enough, but Google + Smugmug's interactions are like black magic.