What is a Meta Description?
The meta description is an HTML tag used to describe what your post or page is all about. Although this does not directly influence the rankings of your page, this is an essential component of your SEO efforts because there is a chance that search engines will display the content of this tag on SERPs, just below the title of your post.
Writing an informative and helpful meta description can influence your target audiences to click and visit your page. The percentage of users who visit your page through search engine results is called the click-through rate (CTR). A good click-through rate signals search engines that your page is valuable, which can reward you with a better rank.
How can I improve my Meta Descriptions?
To write a quality meta description:
- Keep the length between 155 to 160 characters. Although there is no exact rule for the length, keeping it simple and short, while also getting your message across will convince searchers to click your post.
- Create a compelling and actionable copy. Just like in advertising, create a compelling write-up by using sentences in the active voice. Also, don’t forget to include a call-to-action sentence.
- Use the focus keyword of that page. A matched search query and meta description keyword can convince search engines to show and highlight it on the search results page.
- Do not use duplicate descriptions. Using the same copy can hamper user experience, which search engines are very particular about. Make sure that your descriptions are unique for that page or at the very least, if you have a large number of similar products or posts on your website, use programmatic ways to highlight the differences between these pages.
Further Reading:
How to create the right meta description – Yoast
Meta Description – Moz
What is a Meta Description? (Plus, Tips on Writing a Good One) – Semrush
Nick Berns is a web developer & SEO specialist.
