Meta Descriptions: Writing and Editing
Meta Descriptions
Meta descriptions are the short summaries that appear under the title of a webpage in search engine results. They provide a brief summary of the content on the page and are designed to entice users to click on the link. Writing and editing meta descriptions is an important aspect of SEO, as they can help to improve the visibility and click-through rate of your website.
When writing meta descriptions, it’s important to keep them concise and to the point. Meta descriptions should be between 150-160 characters long and include your target keywords. It’s also important to make sure that the meta description accurately reflects the content of the page and is written in a compelling way to encourage users to click on the link.
Editing meta descriptions
When editing meta descriptions, it’s important to make sure that they are accurate, relevant and compelling. Check for grammar and spelling errors, and also check if the meta description is still accurate and relevant to the content of the page.
It’s also important to note that search engines may use other content on the page, such as the page title or the first few lines of text, as the meta description if they don’t find a specific meta description. So, it’s important to make sure that the page’s content is also optimised for SEO and includes your target keywords.
The top 10 practices for writing Meta descriptions for your SEO.
Use your target keywords: Include your target keywords in the meta description, this will help search engines understand the content of the page and increase the visibility of the page in search results.
Keep it concise
Keep the meta description between 150-160 characters long, as longer descriptions may be truncated in search results.
Make it compelling
Make the meta description compelling, interesting and engaging, to encourage users to click on the link.
Use numbers and statistics
Using numbers and statistics in meta descriptions can make them more compelling and increase the click-through rate.
Use power words
Use power words that can help to make the meta description more interesting and engaging.
Use questions
Use questions in your meta description can increase the click-through rate and also provide a better user experience.
Use brackets or parentheses
Use brackets or parentheses in your meta descriptions can make them more interesting and increase the click-through rate.
Optimise for Voice Search
Optimise your meta description for voice search by including natural language and questions.
Avoid keyword stuffing
Avoid keyword stuffing in your meta description, as this can harm your website’s visibility in search results.
Test and optimise
Test different meta descriptions and measure the results, use the data to optimise your meta descriptions for better visibility and click-through rate.