Meta Description Tags in SEO
I thought I’d continue with the basics of On Page SEO in this post, so after covering Everything about Title Tags in a previous post, I thought I’d move onto the Meta Description Tag.
What is the Meta Description Tag?
The meta description tag is a snippet of html code inserted in the head section of a page, used to briefly describe the content on a particular page. Search engines show a pages meta description as the description of the page when it appears in search results.
Meta Description Tag Usage:
The Meta Description Tag is inserted in the head section of an html document. It is common practice to insert it after the title tag.
The Format of the meta description tag is such :
<meta name=”description” content=”This is the description of your page. Keep it brief.”>
Importance of Meta Description Tag:
- The Meta description tag does play a role ( although small ) in Search Engine Rankings
- The Meta description tag plays an important role in determining clickthrough’s from search engines, as Search engines show the pages meta description as the description of the page in search results. Pages with good meta descriptions are likely to get larger number of visitors form search engines.
Meta Description Tag Tips
- Try to keep the Meta Description Tag length to about 25 – 30 words or 160 characters including spaces. This ensures that the full descripiton displays in search engines
- Include your primary keywords in your meta description tag (You may have noticed that your searched keywords are shown im bold wherever they occur in a sites title and description) but DON’T overdo it. Write your Meta description tag for Humans not Search Engines since Meta description tags play a more important part in clickthrough’s than in search engine rankings.
- Avoid using your websites URL in the meta description tag, it does not help you at all, but it takes away valuable space.
- Write an honest description, making it interesting at the same time. Dont claim to have some information you don’t, but make the meta description tag interesting at the same time. Think of it like an ad for your website.
Conclusion
Meta descripton tags are important tags for On Page SEO and for determining clickthrough’s from search engines. You should spend some time implementing them on each and every page you want to rank for. Include your keywords, but make sure that the description is readable and enticing for humans to click on.
Category: On Page Optimisation