Meta Description



Meta descriptions are the little snippets of text that you see in search results when you’re scanning them. Writing a really compelling one is extremely valuable in terms of driving traffic to your site and increasing your click-through rate. Adding a nice meta description to a page is very easy if you have a WordPress website.

The meta description is a snippet of up to about 155 characters – a tag in HTML – which summarizes a page’s content. Search engines show it in search results mostly when the searched-for phrase is within the description. So optimizing it is crucial for on-page SEO. The ideal length for a meta description is between 150-160 characters. It should be descriptive enough to highlight the main points within this character limit. The best way to check that your meta description fits within that character limit is with a SERP preview tool. This way, you can preview exactly how your meta tag will look in search. A meta description is an html tag which consists of a snippet of text (up to around 155 characters) that summarizes a page’s content. Search engines show meta descriptions underneath the page titles in search results.

This article was first published in May 2012, and last updated in February 2020.

Did you know title tags and meta descriptions are the first thing people will read about your site when viewed in search results. Along with actual site content, the titles and descriptions of your pages play a major role in determining how search engines rank your site. It’s crucial these tags and descriptions have relevant keywords and match the content of your site. Though keywords in the title and description may help your site show up in related searches, it’s not just search engines that read the titles and descriptions. It’s primarily for people looking researching the topics, products, or services that your site provides.

Writing title tags and meta descriptions readable by both search engines and web surfers may seem like a complicated task. The following guidelines may make this task easier.

Creating Effective Title Tags

A title tag is a brief statement of what the page is about. Ideally, the title will be around 50-60 characters in length, as Google will not display more characters than that on their search results. If your titles exceed the 60 character limit, it means you’re likely writing with the search engines in mind, not the users you want to attract. Additionally, it tends to look somewhat sloppy and unprofessional. A choppy title will not impress users scrolling through search results. Although it may seem beneficial to provide multiple instances of keywords in your title tag, Google will likely regard it as spam, also known as “keyword stuffing.” At the other extreme, avoid using ambiguous titles such as “Home” or “Welcome Page.” These titles, though concise, do not present a clear topic for the page. These types of titles just give enough information for a user, and don’t help them connect to the specific content of your site. And because titles like that don’t contain any specific information, it will not provide you with any SEO value. In short, keep your title tags well focused and concise.

Writing Powerful Meta Descriptions

Meta description length

Meta descriptions, along with title tags, convey the theme of your site. These short descriptions or snippets of about 155 characters in length, or the length of a tag in HTML, helps tell a user more about the content of your site. It is important that you include keywords or target services in the meta description as well as the title. You also need to keep in mind the placement of keywords in the description. If keywords or target services are placed at the beginning of the description, Google will recognize them as more relevant to searchers. However, this does not mean that you should stuff the description with lists of keywords. Users rely on the meta description to determine if your site can help them find what they’re looking for. Therefore, you need to make sure your meta description is both readable and user-friendly. Because search results will only display approximately 155 characters, you need to make sure your meta descriptions stay concise yet effective.

Example

Meta Description

Company Name: Tubior Nahtubi Real Estate

Keyword(s)/Target Service(s): Hamlet Real Estate

Meta

Example Title: Hamlet Real Estate: Real Estate Listings From Tubior Nahtubi Real Estate

Example Description: Find Hamlet real estate listings from Tubior Nahtubi Real Estate. We have listings for the Capulet and Montague communities. Call us today to learn more!

The title tag and meta description for this example would appear in the Google search results as below.

Take a look at the content of your titles and metas. If you don’t feel like you’ve succinctly answered the questions about what your site covers, or they’re too long, you need to do some revising. Remember that your title tags and meta descriptions should be relevant and concise to rank well with Google.

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Document does not have a meta description

The <meta name='description'> element provides a summary of a page's contentthat search engines include in search results. A high-quality, unique metadescription makes your page appear more relevant and can increase your searchtraffic.

How the Lighthouse meta description audit fails #

Lighthouse flags pageswithout a meta description:

Description

Meta Description Generator

The audit fails if:

  • Your page doesn't have a <meta name=description> element.
  • The content attribute of the <meta name=description> element is empty.

Lighthouse doesn't evaluate the quality of your description.

Each SEO audit is weighted equallyin the Lighthouse SEO Score,except for the manual Structured data is valid audit.Learn more in the Lighthouse Scoring Guide.

Meta Description Seo

How to add a meta description #

Meta Description Counter

Add a <meta name=description> element to the <head> of each of your pages:

If appropriate, include clearly tagged facts in the descriptions. For example:

Meta description examples

Meta description best practices #

  • Use a unique description for each page.
  • Make descriptions clear and concise. Avoid vague descriptions like 'Home.'
  • Avoid keyword stuffing.It doesn't help users, and search engines may mark the page as spam.
  • Descriptions don't have to be complete sentences; they can contain structureddata.

Meta Description Generator

Here are examples of good and bad descriptions:

Meta Description Html

See Google's Create good titles and snippets in Search Resultspage for more tips.

Resources #

Last updated: Improve article




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