The Live Search Engine Preview shows what your page should look like in Google based on your current SEO settings. If it doesn't match what you see in Google, don't worry — there are a few common reasons, and most are easy to fix.
1. Google hasn't crawled your page yet
The preview reflects your current settings instantly. Google does not. Search engines crawl pages on their own schedule — it can take days or even weeks for a change to show up in search results. If you recently updated your titles or descriptions, give Google time to recrawl your page before comparing.
There is nothing to fix here. Be patient — the preview is correct, Google just hasn't caught up yet.
2. App embeds are not enabled
If Plug In SEO's app embeds are not active in your theme, your SEO titles and descriptions are not being output to your pages. The preview will show your templates, but Google won't see them.
Follow this guide to check and enable your app embeds: How to Enable App Embeds (Theme Extensions) for Plug In SEO
3. A product or page has a manually entered title or description
If someone typed a title or description directly into a product, collection, or page in Shopify — that manual entry overrides the Plug In SEO template by default.
To fix this, enable the "Also apply templates to manually entered meta descriptions" option in your app embeds settings. This tells Plug In SEO to apply your templates even when a manual entry exists.
You can find this option in your Shopify Theme Editor → App Embeds → Plug In SEO → expand the Optimized Titles & Descriptions embed.
If you want to check whether your store has pages with both a manual entry and a template active at the same time, this article shows you how: Why does my SEO check say that I have multiple meta descriptions but I can only find one in the code?
4. Google is rewriting your title or description
Even when your SEO settings are correct, Google sometimes replaces your title or description with its own version — usually because it thinks another piece of text on your page is more relevant to the search query.
There is no way to force Google to use your version. The best approach is to write clear, specific titles and descriptions that closely match what people are searching for. The better your meta content, the less likely Google is to rewrite it.
5. Another app is also generating titles or descriptions
If you have another SEO app installed — or previously had one installed and didn't fully remove it — it may be outputting its own meta tags alongside Plug In SEO's. This creates a conflict and Google may show either version.
Check whether you have duplicate meta descriptions flagged in your SEO scanner. This article explains how to find and fix the conflict: Why does my SEO check say that I have multiple meta descriptions but I can only find one in the code?
The fix is to disable or uninstall the conflicting app, or remove its leftover snippets from your theme.