subject: Making effective use of meta tag descriptions [print this page] Making effective use of meta tag descriptions
So what are meta tags?
Meta description tags are header tags embeded into your web pages (can be HTML, PHP, ASP or any other format) that is commonly used by search engines to build a summary of your page content. Meta description tags are used to be thought that inserting keywords into the meta descriptions would help factor into how search engines (like Google) rank pages. For a while when search engine technology was new this might have been true, however as of September 2009, Google officially debunked that theory.
Despite this fact, anyone speaking about SEO today still recommends that you fill out the Meta description for your website and dump in your chosen keywords.
The syntax for meta description is as follows:
Why are meta tags important?
While meta tags don't affect your search engine rankings in any way (according to Google), it still does get picked up and, if you notice, it usually gets highlighted in the results too. More importantly though, with a clever combination of right keywords AND compelling copy, you can increase your click through rate from the search engine results page.
Many know that first impressions count. So the first impression people are going to get if they find your site through the search engines is, you guessed it, your site's meta description! You could have the best looking site on earth, but if no one is clicking on the link to your home page they will never know will they?
Here are some guidelines to follow with regards to sprucing up your Meta description:
1. Presell the Living Daylights Out Of Your Site
Meta description is like free ad space so you need to make sure your copy is as compelling as you can make it.You want the potential visitor to see your description and go "that sounds like EXACTLY what I was looking for!" and click on the link to your site. So put yourself in your customers' shoes for a bit and try to position the copy in such a way that speaks to them. If you can get your keyword in there, great, but if not, don't lose any sleep over it.
2. Keep your descriptions short
You don't want to be too long winded with this because as mentioned before, search engines will cut off descriptions longer than 150-160 words. Think Twitter in terms of words limit and you'll be fine.
3. Make your meta description unique
While you probably won't get a duplicate penalty it's always good practice to have unique descriptions. Not only does it keep you on the safe side, it just makes it more relevant to the particular page.
4. Avoid special characters
Avoid using any special characters like quotes or other non-alpha numerical characters because these probably will be truncated from your description when display in the search engine results.
The above tips above have given you something to think about in terms of your use of Title tags and Meta descriptions to increase your click through rate. In conclusion, the Meta Tags on your site tell the search engines where to place your site so that your customers can find you in a search. On top of that it can take time for the search engines to get your site placed for those tags. One best way to get started is by analyzing your competition and coming up with an appropriate description that compels people to visit your site.
