What is a meta description?
SEO strategy creation: Meta descriptions are HTML tags you can add to a website post or page. You have about 155-160 characters to describe what your page is about. If your luck is good, Google will display it below your page’s title in the search results. It helps you convince search engine users that your page will provide the information they are looking for.
Why set a meta description?
The purpose of a meta description is pretty simple: it should convince someone searching for a specific term on Google to click your link. Basically, meta descriptions generate click-throughs from search engines.
The meta description in Google’s ranking algorithm doesn’t offer any direct SEO benefits. However, there is an indirect benefit: Google uses click-through-rate (CTR) to determine the relevance of your result. If more users click on your result, Google considers you a good result and will move you up in the rankings. Therefore, optimising your meta description is as crucial as optimising your titles.
What should a good meta description include?
A good meta description should include the following elements:
- Keep it to 160 characters or less.
- Use active voice and make it actionable
- Include a call to action
- Use your focus keyphrase
- Show specifications when needed
- Make sure it matches the page’s content
- Make it unique
SEO strategy creation: Keep it to 160 characters or less
There is no right length; it all depends on the message you want to communicate. You should take enough space to express the point but keep it short and snappy. However, if you analyse Google’s search results, you’ll mostly see snippets between 120 to 160 characters. You can make meta descriptions as long as you like, but we won’t see anything more than 160 characters in the SERPs.
Unfortunately, you don’t have complete control over what Google displays in the search results. Sometimes it displays the meta description, and sometimes it just grabs a few sentences from your copy. In either case, keeping it short is the best option. That way, if Google displays your description, it won’t be cut short. seo strategy creation
SEO strategy creation: Use active voice and make it actionable
To consider a meta description as an invitation to visit a page, you need to think about your visitors and their possible motivations. Make sure your description isn’t boring, difficult, or cryptic. Your users must have a clear idea of what to expect from your page.
The description you should aim to write must be active, speaking to you and addressing you directly. You already know what will happen if you click on the link!
SEO strategy creation: Include a call to action
“Hello, we have this brand new (product name), and you want it. Find out more!” This point is related to the previous one but requires more emphasis. The meta description is your sales text. Except, in this case, the “product” you want to sell is the page that is linked. Invitations like Try for free, Learn more, Get it now come in handy, and you can use them too.
SEO strategy creation: Use your focus keyword
Google is more likely to highlight a search keyword that matches a part of the meta description. This will make the link to your page even more inviting. Sometimes, Google even highlights synonyms. For example, Google will highlight both the Academy Awards and Oscars. Getting your results highlighted this way makes them stand out even more.
SEO strategy creation: Show specifications when required
If you have products for the tech-savvy in your WooCommerce or Shopify store, you should focus on the technical specs. For example, you can include the price, manufacturer, SKU, etc. You won’t have to convince the visitor if they’re specifically looking for that product. For example, “Can the watch help you stay fit? Sign up to learn more.” In order to optimise your result in this way, you should focus on getting rich snippets.
SEO strategy creation: Make sure it matches the page’s content
This is very important. If you use meta descriptions to trick visitors into clicking on your result, Google will find out. They may even penalise you if you do it. In addition, misleading descriptions will increase your bounce rate, which will make people lose trust in your company. For that reason alone, it’s a terrible idea. That’s why you want the meta description to be relevant to the page’s content.
SEO strategy creation: Make it unique
If your meta description is similar to your other pages, Google’s user experience will suffer. Even if your page titles differ, all pages will appear the same because all descriptions are identical. Instead of creating duplicate meta descriptions, leave them empty. In response to a search query, Google will select a snippet from the page containing the keyword. However, creating a unique meta description for each page you want to rank is always the best practise.
Final Words
Your meta description is an opportunity to win over readers. Therefore, make an engaging meta description for your website that attracts people to choose your content first. If your page targets one to three highly searched terms, it’s best to write your own meta description to attract users who perform search queries containing those terms. After all, if your webpages are made to be valuable and helpful to browsers, the content that describes them should be as well.
