I love the meta description. Something that is often forgotten, undervalued, or not even considered. Why not? How you could not acknowledge this brief yet detailed snapshot of a webpage that you may or may not visit during search? Chances are, as a user, you encounter several meta descriptions every day. And although you may not be immediately aware of their value, you notice those lines of text.
In SEO, meta descriptions do not have an effect on keyword rankings, but that is no reason to discount these 150-160 characters. No way. The titles, URLs, content, links, etcetera, etcetera might help you get the rankings, but what happens once your webpages appear within the actual search pages? What’s there to capture that visitor? It’s just the tite, URL, and the meta description. All eyes fall them. It’s the first glimpse into your writing style, point of view, and attitude. The meta description has a big job – to give enough accurate information that will entice a user to click through to your site. So, what can make for a great description? Well, check out a few [well, five] best practices:
1. Keep the description between 150-160 characters.
You are given only a sliver of space on that SERP [search engine results page] so it needs to pack a descriptive punch that is short and sweet. This is when your website copy skills come into play.
2. Don’t stuff with keywords and make it relevant.
Search engines, like Google, may not use this as a ranking factor, but it understands the value a description has on the user experience. Therefore, if you don’t provide a useful description, Google might populate its own description based on your page’s content and not display your description. The downside? Google does not care if its description runs past 160 characters. In short, it can tend to look messy and not useful. Take the time to write a great description.
3. Accuracy is key.
When the user visits your site, make sure the description matches the page’s content. Give them what they thought they would receive. If not, they might bounce. Womp womp womp. No good! Too many bounces will hinder your overall website health.
4. Don’t duplicate meta descriptions across all pages.
It won’t hurt you to have the same, yet. And it won’t help either. How useful is it to your potential visitors to see the same description for all of your organic search results? Boring. Not providing direction. Is it crazy to think that a user might not click on your link because they believe the page’s information might not be relevant based on the meta description? Absolutely not.
5. Include a call to action.
It’s your first chance to capture their attention and encourage them to click on your organic search listing. What are you going to do to make them click on yours and not the competition? Sometimes, visitors just need a little nudge in the right direction. Instruct them to visit your site now, get more information, call, email, receive an incentive.
Now, let me know some more rules you include when drafting those helpful little lines. Share in the comments!
