What are Meta Descriptions?
Meta Description Tags are HTML elements which provide you with crucial information about the web page for search engines and website visitors.
Though not related directly to Search engine rankings, website Meta description plays a crucial role in enhancing click-through rates from search engine results.
In this article, I am going to focus on How to write good Meta descriptions for SEO purposes so that you can make it more relevant to related search queries.
It’s common knowledge by now that any content you write especially for SEO has to be penned keeping in mind the end user first and search engines second.
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Meta description tags are no different and the more descriptive, engaging and effective the description, more the chances of people clicking through.
Meta descriptions appear right under the websites URL in search engine result; there are quite a few examples Meta descriptions. One is as under:
In the above image, the Meta description is the short description of text under the URL link which provides an understanding of what the particular article is trying to convey to encourage people to click through and visit the website.
Great Meta Descriptions immediately capture the audience’s attention as they properly reveal what is expected from that particular page and also further boosts your chances to convert that visitor into a lead or new customer.
Only a few people actually make an effort to scroll to the bottom of the page to check results for any SERP. Obviously, the more relevant results are consigned to the top of the SERP’s and the lower you scroll, lower the relevance.
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This is why it’s absolutely paramount to have a detailed and eye-catching Meta description especially if you intend to be right on top of the SERP.
Search engines don’t employ a ranking algorithm but instead uses CTR to determine whether your result is worthy enough to be on top.
As more and more people click on your result, more the likelihood of your result being positioned at the top.
All the more reason to ensure that your Meta description is crisp and detailed to persuade people into clicking.
I am Going to Expand on How Writing a Good Meta Description Can Ensure you Stand Out from the Crowd
#1. Keep Meta Description Short And Preferably Under 160 Characters Limit
Ideally while writing a Meta description, it should not be overtly lengthy and be no more than a 160 character snippet.
Moreover, Google is known to truncate long descriptions automatically which could mean that those all important keywords which you included might be cut out altogether.
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Hence it’s essential that your Meta description character limit is well under the 160 characters so that your message is delivered to the searchers effectively.
Additionally, keep your keywords nearer to the front of the message so that the SEO Meta description is impactful.
You can take the assistance of a tool like HigherVisibilityS to check if your Meta description character count is under the limit.
Keep it concise and ensure it doesn’t get cut off suddenly by SERP like the below image so that you can deliver the complete statement.
#2. Incorporating Keywords In The Meta Description
One of the Meta descriptions best practices includes adding your important SEO Meta keywords in the description.
Although keywords aren’t as important in SERP’s, its plays an essential role for users looking out for relevant content.
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If a search query matches your Meta description, SERP’s will highlight that particular text in bold. So give your keywords due thought so that it makes it more enticing for a user to locate and click through.
For example, a search for “best pasta in Mumbai” came up with these keywords highlighted in bold.
It’s also imperative to remember not to forcibly stuff keywords just for the heck of it. Keywords, although important, should be judicially sprinkled rather than overdone and unnecessary fluff words should be avoided at all costs.
There are Meta descriptions which captivate the target audiences by using the right amount of keywords so they know what they stand to get once they click through on the search result.
#3. Writing Unique Meta Descriptions
Meta tag descriptions must be unique and engaging as it’s essentially a marketing message for the page to which it’s linked.
Duplicate Meta descriptions are often penalized by search engine providers and hence it’s important to write a different description so that users can reach out to your website easily.
You can make use of a tool like Screaming Frog SEO Spider to help check if your Meta description SEO is unique and compelling.
#4. Meta Description Should Include A Call-To-Action
Sending out a clear call-to-action is a super way to elicit a response especially considering your website’s Meta description and Meta title is more or less an ad in SERP’s.
Incorporating words like “Get it now“, “try for free” or even “give us a call” is a great way to boost your CTR and effectively discards the need for people to load up your website to obtain your contact details.
Meta description example which includes a good call to action sequence is as under.
#5. Rich Snippets In Meta Description
The whole point of SEO is that you stand out from the millions of websites out there. Using rich snippets is a clever way to do just that and in turn, make your Meta descriptions HTML look attractive and different.
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For example, creatively adding customer ratings, stars, product information’s whilst maintaining the length Meta description help increase the overall appeal.
A super example of how to Create Meta Descriptions for SEO with the apt use of rich snippets is as below.
#6. Google Ads
Considering the amount of SERP real estate Google Adwords take up for certain search queries, it becomes absolutely essential that your organic search listings operate on a higher level.
Google ads can be quite annoying as they look and sounds like a sales pitch. In order to differentiate yourself from those ads, you should consider analyzing and monitoring your competition and then make necessary adjustments so that you get those much coveted CTR’s.
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This applies to pretty much all SEO related activities and especially for Meta Descriptions. Always test, experiment, adapt and play around with what works best for your website and the industry.
The following search results for web domains garnered these results and go-daddy topped the organic search results by perfectly conveying to the user what they are after.
How To Add Meta Description To WordPress Posts
If you fail to create your own Meta description, Google does you a favor and creates one on their own by simply pulling information from the page content.
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The resulting content might be a cluster of jargon or poorly assembled words hence it’s doubly important that you have your own unique Meta description.
WordPress lets you easily create or change Meta descriptions thanks to SEO plugins like Yoast.
Meta descriptions are not only important for SEO but also boost your chances of winning over your prospective clients or prospects thereby increasing the CTR of your website.
If you are unable to analyze the Meta description on your own, you could always make use of a Meta description generator like CoderSEO which enables you to compose, type, and measure your SEO-friendly description all in one go.
To Conclude
Give due importance to Meta descriptions as they could potentially make or break your website.
It’s an absolute SEO requirement to have a riveting and engaging Meta description as it proves to be the connection between you and the user and also further boosts SEO rankings.
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Meta Tags for SEO should be compelling enough and akin to a short sales pitch for your website. A lot many businesses ignore the Meta description by not giving it the attention it requires thus resulting in missing out on countless CTR opportunities.
Your Meta description defines you so make sure it is engaging enough to drive clients and prospects over to your website as opposed to your SERP competitors.
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