Writing a meta description or meta description is a part of creating a web page that is vital to any online marketing effort. This short piece of code can be the difference between someone visiting your website or your company losing a customer. To make the most of your online marketing efforts, it’s important to learn how to create a good meta description.
In this article, we cover what meta descriptions are, why they are important, and how to write effective descriptions for each of your web pages.
3 Ways to Create an Effective Meta Description
What is Meta Description?
A meta description is a piece of code that provides additional information about a web page, but that information is usually not visible on the web page itself. In this tag, the web page builder can write a short description about the web page.
Why is Meta Description Important?
The meta description tag is important because search engines use it when displaying search results. When someone searches for a site, they are presented with a relevant result page called a search engine results page, or SERP.
Each result has a page title followed by a description of that page. If the website builder provides a meta description tag, the text within that tag will be used for the description in search results. Otherwise, search engines will usually just pull the first few sentences of the page and use it as a description.
In any digital marketing strategy involving search engines, you must work to increase your page rank and click-through rate.
By taking control of what information search engines display, it’s more likely that someone will be interested enough on your page to click on a search result. This will increase your click-through rate and in turn benefit your search result rankings.
How to Create an Effective Meta Description
To create an effective meta description, here are a few things you should do:
1. Make sure the meta description length is optimal
While you can make your meta description as long or as short as you want, there is an optimal length you should aim for. You also want your meta description to be descriptive enough about your page, so you don’t want to make it too short.
Therefore, it’s a good idea to target your meta description tag between 50 and 160 characters whenever possible. While there are always exceptions to this rule in some scenarios, these are general guidelines to get you started.
2. Write an interesting copy
The purpose of writing a meta description tag is to convince search engine users to click on your link. To do this, you need to write compelling ad copy. Think of this as your first chance to make an impression on a prospect. Make sure your copy is well written and that there are no grammatical or spelling errors. Aim to make your text catchy and engaging without giving away all the information on the page.
For example, you have written an article entitled “How to Change a Flat Tire”. Here’s an example of a meta description that gives too much information:
- Stabilize the wheels, loosen the lug nuts, jack the car, remove the tires, install the spare tire, tighten the wheel nuts and lower the car.
This first example is unattractive and provides the information readers are looking for directly from the search engine, so you can’t click through.
A better meta description for this article would look like this:
- Stuck on the side of the road? This guide will tell you everything you need to know about replacing a flat tire.
This second example lets you know what’s on the page without providing the most important information. This gives readers a reason to click on your website, which is the ultimate goal.
3. Include keywords
Keywords or keywords are an important part of getting your page rank in search engines. Search engines look for these keywords on your page to see how well they align with the search query.
Whatever keywords you are targeting for that specific page, you should be sure to include them in your meta description. If your meta description contains keywords in a search query, search engines will usually bold this text. This makes your web page more prominent in search results and shows that your page offers what searchers are looking for.
4. Make it unique
One thing to avoid is to use the same meta description for multiple pages. Just as the title tag for your page must be unique, so should the meta description.
The best way to avoid redundancy is to generate your own meta tags instead of creating them automatically, which some website platforms do for you. This way you can at least include your unique keyword in the meta description and make it a little different from other pages.
5. Stay on topic
Your meta description should be an accurate representation of what users will find when they visit your web page. Some people try to write only what they think search engine users want to hear, with little to do with what is actually on their web page.
If you do this, search engines will often stop using your meta description tag and create their own.
6. Avoid quotes
One thing to avoid when creating a meta description is the use of quotes. Some engines have trouble reading this and will truncate your meta description in quotes.
We recommend avoiding all non-alphanumeric characters whenever possible. Save your meta description to letters, numbers and basic punctuation for best results. If quotes are very important to your meta description and you want to include them, consider using single quotes instead of double-quotes.