A meta description is a brief snippet you see underneath a site’s title in search engine results. The meta description snippet is also shown on social media content.
Learn more about meta descriptions – what they are, why they are important, and how to use them correctly to boost your SEO.
What is a Meta Description?
A meta description is a brief snippet you see underneath a site’s title in search engine results. The meta description snippet is also shown on social media content.
Meta descriptions are one of the crucial components of on-page SEO and can affect your click-through rates. The primary purpose of having one is to get visitors from SERPs and social media to click the link to your page.
Even though Google announced that meta description is not a direct ranking factor in algorithms for web search, it can still impact a page’s CTR, which impacts a page’s ability to rank.
Where Do You Add the Meta Description?
Adding a meta description to your web page is a reasonably straightforward process. With platforms such as WordPress or HubSpot, you don’t even have to do any work on the HTML code directly. These platforms allow you to change the title tags and meta descriptions in general settings.
How to Write Good Meta Descriptions?
A good meta description prioritizes the user experience. It answers the user’s fundamental questions, such as what the page is about. Always include the primary keyword the page aims to rank for and use benefits-focused content when creating your meta title.
Put the most important information first. For instance, if you have a web page for a specific product, topic, or brand, put related terms and keywords at the beginning of your meta title. Don’t forget that you write for people, not search engines. Think about creating a compelling description that searchers will want to click.
When it comes to length, there are no specific rules. Since Google generally truncates snippets to 155-160 characters, we recommend you stay under that character limit.
Things to Avoid When Writing Meta Descriptions
It’s essential to avoid duplicate meta description tags – meta descriptions should be unique for each page. Otherwise, you will end up having different pages with identical meta descriptions.
Try to avoid keyword stuffing. If you repeat your keyword too many times, you might get penalized.
Don’t include double quotation marks because Google cuts them off. Use an HTML entity instead of double quotes if you want to show quotation marks in your meta description.
Do I Always Have to Write Meta Descriptions?
Some web pages can exist just fine without meta descriptions. However, Google will have a more challenging time understanding your page if you don’t have one, which is one reason to include one. Additionally, if the page has no meta description, Google will freely choose a chunk of text from the page to show in SERPs.
So, you should try to write your own meta descriptions for a page targeting between one and three heavily searched terms or phrases. After all, SEO is all about creating a positive search experience for the user.
A meta description is a very powerful aspect of search engine optimization. Remember all the rules and use them to create engaging meta descriptions that your web pages need and will compel users to click through.