WordPress SEO in 5 Minutes – The Meta Description
You must have noticed the little textual blurbs under the heading of an article when it appears as a search result. These little blurbs are called meta descriptions and are often concise summaries of the content inside the web pages. Optimizing meta descriptions is an essential step of on-page SEO as they have a crucial role in earning clicks from the users. Here is a simple guide from our SEO team in Perth that explains all you need to know about meta descriptions.
What is a meta description?
The meta description is a short summary (an HTML tag) of about 155 characters of a page’s content. It is the description that gets displayed below the page link when it gets shown in the search results. The primary purpose of a meta tag is to get a user to click on it to visit your page.
Here is the second in the WordPress SEO series from our SEO team in Perth – Meta Description. The meta description is a short summary (an HTML tag) of about 155 characters of a page’s content. It is the description that gets displayed below the page link when it gets shown in the search results. The main purpose of a meta tag is to get a user to click on it to visit your page.
Why Meta Description?
The meta description is not considered as a direct SEO factor and therefore is not considered important by many. However, a catchy metaphrase will ensure a good click rate. And Google considers the click rate as one of the factors of a good page, which helps in a good ranking result.
So, What is a Good Meta Tag?
Keep it Short and Catchy
There is no correct length. And Google may pick up some sentence from you page content to display than use your Meta Tag. Most Meta descriptions are around 155 characters or less than that. So, keep it at that length, but ensure that the message gets conveyed. And if Google picks up your description you can get the full message across.
Keep it Direct and Specific
Speak directly to the target user. Give a clear message of what your offer is, instead of long and boring descriptions. Users are more likely to click on a link which gives them a clear product or service offer. Use specifications whenever possible.
Use the Right Keywords
Using the right keywords in the meta description will encourage Google to pick up your description than pick up a snippet with keywords from your page content. An irrelevant description may cause a user not to click through to your site.
Include Calls-to-Action
The meta description is a sales pitch. Use a CTA to get the customer interested. If you find ‘Get it now’ or ‘Right Away’ as too aggressive for your business, use terms like ‘Learn More’ or ‘Know More’ to catch the readers’ attention.
Keep it Relevant
Keep the description relevant to your page content. If users find the page irrelevant, you will end up with a high ‘bounce rate’. Google will know that you are trying to trick users into visiting your page, and will penalize you.
Keep it Unique
If you use the same description for all pages, all the pages will appear the same even with different titles. This is not necessarily a quality issue, but can hamper user experience. If you are unable to create a unique meta description for each page, concentrate on the main pages that bring you the most traffic and leave the others blank. Google will pick up a relevant sentence from the page content.
As a leading Perth SEO and web development agency we are happy to help you know more about creating Meta Descriptions in WordPress, contact us today or email at sales@computingaustralia.group and talk to our WordPress experts.
Jargon Buster
Keyword: A keyword is a term or phrase that defines your content and matches with a user’s search query.
CTA: A call-to-action or CTA is a written direction that encourages visitors to take the next step.
by The Computing Australia Group