Additional Lines of Meta in SERPs

[maximus]

Been noticing some SERP listings are showing what appears to be ~ 300 characters of meta vs the standard 160.

Has anyone noticed this?

recently ive seen as many as 4 lines of meta ~ 320 characters + site links .. dont have screenshot

Im all for claiming as much real estate as possible so what exactly is going on here?

 

[knownerror]

Did you check the site's code to see if it is intentional on their end? Naturally you'd assume it comes down to having more trust and authority over your competitors.

 

[built]

Last night I had a dream my link was taking up the whole first page lol srs

Also you can use tables of contents to get those site links

 

[maximus]

very interesting.
Thanks for the suggestion knownerror.. i did not check the source until now.

As i see it, the author/site doesnt use metadescription.

<meta name="description" content=" " />

instead they let google figure it out

<p class="title h3"><strong>Why We Wrote this Guide</strong></p>
<p>Online marketing moves at the speed of light. To keep up, you need a strong foundation with the judgment to think critically, act independently, and be relentlessly creative. That’s why we wrote this guide — to empower you with the mental building blocks to stay ahead in an aggressive industry.</p>
<p>There are plenty of guides to marketing. From textbooks to online video tutorials, you can really take your pick. But, we felt that there was something missing — a guide that really starts at the beginning to equip already-intelligent professionals with a healthy balance of strategic and tactical advice. <strong>The Beginner’s Guide to Online Marketing</strong> closes that gap.

Not sure if they meant to do that or not but the answer to my question seems pretty obvious now.

 

[Samwise89]

I've noticed that Google will override your meta description even if you give them one. They always take mine and jumble it up so they can bold a keyword or synonym and shove it in there. I guess that gets people clicking more than not having it in cases where you're ranking for a long-tail that you didn't put in your meta description.