What is a meta description?
Both the meta keyword and meta description are HTML elements which used to tell search engines what your page was about. We say used to, because in 2009 Google announced they no longer use meta keywords and meta descriptions as a means of determining page rank. Despite this, it’s important to remember it’s your meta description which is used on search engines results pages and therefore viewable by it’s users. This means you should always make sure you write good meta descriptions on every webpage that are compelling and entice people to click your link. When writing meta descriptions for each page, I would highly recommend using your main keyword and the odd derivative of that keyword within your meta description. You will notice when this keyword is searched and your site shows up, the keyword will show as bold within the meta description.
Where is the meta description found?
What does the meta description look like in HTML format ?
The meta description must be placed within the header of each webpage, preferably immediately after the opening head tag.
The code is as follows,
<head>
<meta name="description" content="This is an example of a meta description. This will often show up in search results.">
</head>
<head>
<meta name="description" content="This is an example of a meta description. This will often show up in search results.">
</head>
When you are writing meta descriptions you must remember Google only shows the first 155 characters, which makes writing a compelling description a little harder than it looks. However, as with any SEO work, having a plan to identify the key points, and going through these like a checklist will maximise the quality of your content for search engines.
Identifying the key points
- Keep your description approx 155 – 160 characters long. Search engines will truncate snippets longer than 160.
- Include the one or two keywords from your chosen page because search engines will bold exact matches to a search query and as such will jump out to whoever is searching for those keywords.
- Always bear in mind your meta description is acting as an advertisement for your page. Writing a compelling description using keywords can help maximise your click through rate.
- Avoid duplicating your meta descriptions. They should all ideally be unique, just like your title tags.
Hopefully this article has educated you in how to write a good meta description and how they are used. If you enjoyed this article you may be interested in reading all our other SEO Tools & Tips which will help you achieve higher page rankings.
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