How to optimise Meta description and why it is important?
Meta description is one of the important aspects to improve your click through rate. However, most of the bloggers are not focusing on Meta description.
I really cannot remember the number of sites that I have come across that has no proper Meta description. I have also seen few sites, which simply left their Meta description to Google, and simply Google has filled some info in their Meta descriptions.
Practically saying, this is not a good factor.
Meta description is one of the finest options to rank well in search results because it attracts a visitor to come to your site. This is one of the major things that a blogger should not neglect. If you are the one who is neglecting the Meta description, then you are the one stopping massive traffic to your site.
It is well and good if you know about Meta description and its necessity but do not know to optimize it. Alternatively, if you are not among them and having questions hovering into your mind like,
- What is Meta description?
- Why should I care about Meta description?
- How to optimise Meta description?
And so on. Then do not be in a rush I will clear all your queries with insightful answers.
What is Meta description?
Meta description is a simple snippet which provides information that clearly describes the content of your web page. It is a tag in HTML which is having Maximum 160 character word count, and it appears right under the URL of the page in search results.
Its end goal is to convince your visitors to visit your URL, and it improves your click-through rate and therefore, you can increase your ranking.
The Meta description is placed in the <head> section, and it looks similar to this which you look at source code.
<head>
<meta name=”description” content=”write the description of the web page.”>
</head>
Ok! But what is its importance
Why you should care about Meta description:
Meta description is always important in improving your click through rate. Although Google has emphasised that Meta description isn’t a search ranking factor.
But the quality of the Meta description can influence your click through rate, and it is also highly advised by most of the SEO experts to create a description as attractive and as possible for improving your click on snippets.
And those clicks are considered in your keyword positions, so don’t miss use your Meta description ever.
You might be clear enough about Meta description but how to make it happen? So, get the optimisation tips mentioned below
How to optimise Meta description:
Optimising Meta description is a tricky task for bloggers, it isn’t enough to know how to construct a few words to describe your post easily. You must keep on some efforts to nail your Meta description and attract more visitors to your blog or website.
Here are some ways to optimise your Meta description to get better
1. Utilise the word count:
Always make sure to utilised the word count of 160 characters, don’t just spare your word count or compress your words. Express freely about your content in that 160 words.
2. Use active voice and make it actionable:
The description needs to be more compelling and persuasive enough to force your visitors to visit your link. So you should consider the Meta description as an invitation to the page.
You can’t make it as a boring content; you can take advantage of the active voice to be more actionable.
Ex:
Passive voice: “By eating our specially formulated meal, you can transform your body shape into a gorgeous figure.”
Active voice: “Eat our specially formulated meal and transform your body into a gorgeous figure.”
You can find which is more attractive and persuasive.
3.Use relevant keywords in the Meta description:
If you want to stand out from the other competitors you should be targeting some specific keywords, so make sure that you put those specific keywords into the Meta description. It is helpful because whenever a user types the keyword into the search box search engine shows the links and it will highlight the keywords in your Meta description.
4.Use call to action:
Writing unprofessionally and starting your words with “hello, or hi, we have an excellent new product, and you want it, you can find out more.” These sentences always don’t match the active voice and also people find these sentences as an ordinary sentence, and they won’t react to it.
If you want to enhance your Meta description, then include a call to action and improve your sentences. You can use invitations term like
-
Learn more
-
Get it now,
-
Try for free.
-
Download right now etc.
Make your Meta description unique:
If your Meta description isn’t unique, then you can have a bad user experience regarding Google. Although page titles might vary but all the other pages can sense the same.
So, you need to create a unique Meta description to each and every post; you shouldn’t use duplicate content or similar Meta description of other posts. You can check for duplicate content by going to google webmaster tools — HTML — improvements.
Use this optimization tips and go ahead. Before concluding, I would give a short note on guidelines.
Useful Meta description guidelines:
To make use of Meta description, you can follow few instructions.
- The Meta description should be in between 140 to 160 characters. There is no such number which is perfect for Meta description. It simply depends on google search and what keyword visitor is searching for.
- Although Google has been trying long snippets which are having 250 characters for some links but most of the search results are just limited to 160 words.
- Keywords must be used within Meta description because it increases your ranking position. Search engines will automatically highlight the keywords which are used by the searcher.
- Never include irrelevant information in your Meta description and take them to another site. Always use relevant content to your post in Meta description.
- If you want to fool others with the irrelevant content, then Google has the power to penalise your site.
- It’s best to be in a safe area, rather than discouraging your visitors with fake content and losing their faith in your website. If it happens then, your bounce rate will increase, and as a result, your site can be penalised by Google for spamming activities.
So, do follow the guidelines and above tips to have a proper well optimised Meta description.
Conclusion:
That’s it from my side about Meta description. Although Google has stated that it doesn’t rely on Meta description as an essential ranking factor but it can be helpful if you have a good Meta description. It also improves the user experience, and it helps to maintain your keyword ranking position. If you have any queries about this post you can comment us below. I’d love to hear from you.