Meta Description

What is a Meta Description?

Meta descriptions: Wow; sounds complicated, doesn't it? If someone had asked me a few years ago what a meta description was, I would have assumed they were trying to talk to me in a nerdy way. It sounds like code - it's probably above my level.

Wrong...

Meta descriptions, despite their stereotype, can be broken down in a relatively simple way. Think of it this way; the more content you create and the more marketing methods you try to test, the more insight you will gain into how important meta descriptions are and how a strong and powerful meta description can be the outcome of success or failure.

There are many elements in a meta description, and here I have tried to make sense of it.

What is a Meta Description?

Based on what the experts at MOZ says, then it is: "HTML attributes that provide precise explanations about the content of web pages.”

What is it? Let me explain it in plain English.

When we search for something on Google, we get a list of results, typically ten on each page.
Meta description are the two lines that lie under title tag, which describes the search result.
So it translates to "An extract of the information below the link of a search result.”

See the example here:

Basically, a meta description is what explains more specifically what your site is about to the consumer who got your result after typing in a given search phrase. You should see your meta description as the primary CTA text to drive traffic to your website.

If you can create a feeling in the consumer something like: "Oh, cool and interesting headline, and a meta description that contains the keyword the consumer has searched for, so that they match your title, then the consumer will be quite likely to click through to your result.

Do I really need a Meta Description?

Isn't it something about Google creating meta descriptions if I don't?

Now you're equipped with the knowledge of what a meta description is, let's talk about whether you really need one.

The short answer to "Do I need a Meta description?" Is yes. The long answer? Yes, and here's why...

1) Significantly better CTR & more visitors from Organic results.

The percentage of clicks you get consistently decreases the lower down in the search results your page is ranked for a given keyword. Logically, this makes sense, as Google tries to deliver the most relevant content for the keyword at the top of the SERP. So if your result is way down at the bottom, or at least not on page 1, you probably won't get much traffic. This explains the importance of having a detailed, relevant and eye-catching meta description. Simply put, the better your meta description is, the more likely it is that you will have a good CTR from the organic search results.

2) More visitors from social media

Social media such as Facebook also uses your meta description and title when your website is shared on Facebook among consumers. If you omit a meta description, social media platforms like Facebook will use the first available text on your site that Facebook can find. Depending on what the first content on your page is, this may not create the optimal user experience for users who stumble upon your website when they scroll on Facebook.

3) Use it to "sell" your content

Even though Meta description not directly affects the ranking of a given website in the SERP, a well-worded and well-written meta description as mentioned above will probably Increase your CTR (Click Trough Rate) and increase the time the consumer spends on the website, and this data plays a role in the algorithmic rankings.

What makes a Meta description "Powerful"?

Every website we have, whether it's a blog, website, webshop or anything else, we follow the best practice of creating a correspondingly good meta description because we now know that having a good meta description is important.

So how do you write a good Meta Description?

Here's how:

1) Write compelling content

Write a short sentence as a kind of preview to your content or tell the searcher why they should read your content. You need to give them a clear incentive, a clear benefit to click through to your site and read what you want to tell them. If you have informative and valuable content that appeals to the user, you might then have the chance to sell them something.

2) Use 1-2 keywords.

Title tags and meta descriptions should contain keywords that are relevant to the content of the website they describe. When you do this, you help search engines understand what the page is about. Google then indexes your website according to the keywords your title contains.

Your meta description should ideally only contain 1-2 keywords related to what's on the page you want indexed. You should also avoid keyword spamming, and if it makes sense, only let the keyword appear 1-2 times in your meta description.

3) Try to hit 155 characters or more.

Google doesn't actually measure with characters - it uses pixels to control length.
However, they have chosen to use 155 characters as a rule of thumb, primarily so that marketers have something to go by when writing meta descriptions.

4) Avoid repeating your keywords.

It's sometimes handy to have a few descriptive words in the title, but there's no need to have the same words or phrases appear multiple times.
If you choose to use a lot of different versions of your word, it won't have a positive effect on the consumer. Google doesn't like it and neither does the consumer, so you should have a meta description that makes sense and isn't crammed with variations of a given keyword.

5) Eliminate non-alphanumeric characters

Search engines identify alphanumeric characters, such as hyphens, plus signs and quotation marks as HTML code, and as such you should not use them in the description.
It's best to stick to plain text when it comes to meta descriptions.
To prevent your meta description from being "cut" and the consumer not being presented with exactly what was intended, it's best to omit other characters and stick to plain text.

To summarise the prerequisites for a really strong meta description, we will look at what Google itself mentions as the perfect meta description.

"Use quality descriptions. Finally, make sure your descriptions are truly descriptive. Because the meta descriptions aren't displayed in the pages the user sees, it's easy to let this content slide. But high-quality descriptions can be displayed in Google's search results, and can go a long way to improving the quality and quantity of your search traffic."

No rules without exceptions.

There's a saying that there are no rules without exceptions, and meta descriptions are no different. There are few cases where meta description is not necessarily the deciding factor.

As mentioned in the article above, it is Logically best writing a good and well-worded meta description for your pages, but as I said, there are and men.

If you have written your content with the goal of targeting long term keywords, i.e. keywords that often contain three or more keywords, it can sometimes be beneficial to let Google extract text from your page that it finds most relevant to the given search.
The reason for this is that when Google pulls text from your website, it will automatically find the keyword and deliver surrounding phrases that the user has searched for.

It sounds complicated, but it's quite simple. If you have a page that displays multiple articles, it may be OK to forgo meta description.