Today, the Internet is flooded with websites and web pages, each offering useful information and solutions for users. With so many resources available online, finding your place can be a tough row to hoe.
You get a few seconds to attract users and entice them to visit your page. For this, you have a simple approach, meta titles and meta descriptions, these meta tags are the first impression on your target audience.
Although meta titles and meta descriptions don’t directly influence search engine rankings, they tell users what a page is about, giving them initial insights into the content and making a positive impact so they click on the link.
Therefore, you need to craft well-written and creative meta titles and meta descriptions, optimizing them to encourage desired responses from searchers. You also have to take care of the meta title and description length so they can displayed properly in SERPs. If done the right way, they can increase website traffic and boost your SEO.
In this blog, we have explored meta titles and meta descriptions in detail, including the length of meta description and title, their importance, and best practices for writing them.
What Is a Meta Title?
A meta title is a crucial HTML element that mentions the title of a page. It appears on SERPs as a clickable headline, accurately describing the content of a page. Title tags are an integral factor in social sharing, usability, and SEO of a website.
If you have noticed Google search results in the past two years, you must have seen how the search engine has been trying different things to display results to users. The way it shows title tags in SERPs has evolved. Google has also been contemplating whether to use meta titles or H1 in SERPs. Since 2012, it has started tweaking the title to make it readable for users and provide them with relevant results.
Website owners and marketers often try to over-optimize meta titles for higher search engine rankings. These changes ensure they adhere to the best practices and offer the most useful pages to users.
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Ideal Meta Title Length
The meta title character limit is 50-60 characters, i.e., no longer than 580 pixels. If a title is longer than the given limit, Google will truncate it. So, it’s always better to stick to 50-60 characters while writing a title tag.
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What is a Meta Description?
A meta description is an HTML element to summarize a web page. It tells search engines and users what to expect from the web page and its content and what information it provides.
A meta description can be a synopsis of a web page that entices users to click on the link and read more. It is displayed on search engine result pages as an HTML tag or search snippet. Users see it underneath the meta title of the page on SERPs, showing content related to the search query. Google automatically bolds the searched term or key phrase related to the search intent or query.
Although you are required to add your meta description, search engines can decide whether to use your description or generate its own based on the content of the webpage. Through an automated process, Google can create a new meta description that aligns accurately with the user’s search query. We would recommend taking an online SEO course to understand meta tags and other SEO aspects in detail.
Ideal Meta Description Length
Although your meta description can be of any length, it’s standard SEO practice to keep the meta description character limit between 150-160 or 430-920 pixels. This is because Google shows only around 155-160 characters as a description in SERPs.
So, if your description is longer than this, Google will cut it out. Yes, we all want our meta description to be descriptive and creative to attract more users and encourage more clicks. For this, it’s best to create a concise yet informative description that effectively describes the page.
Google often makes automatic changes in meta descriptions to meet search intent, so you can try to get innovative at times rather than sticking to these recommendations. However, it’s always better for the traffic if your full description appears in search results.
Why Do Meta Titles and Meta Descriptions Matter?
Despite not being direct search engine ranking factors, meta titles and meta descriptions remain key SEO components. They tell search engines what a web page is about and what information users can expect to find from its content.
Google must be able to read these snippets of a web page as it improves its chances of ranking higher in search results. An effective and unique meta title and meta description can convince people to click on the link, which increases its click-through rate (CTR), organic traffic, and brand awareness. All of which are among the primary SEO goals.
In case you don’t provide a meta description, Google will generate one from the first paragraph of the content. This may not be a bad thing but not creating your own meta description means missing out on a great opportunity to write a personalized description to attract and engage searchers.
Google also bolds relevant keywords in the description to help users scan results easily and find pages that match their requirements.
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How to Write a Crisp Meta Title and Meta Description?
As you craft compelling meta titles and descriptions, you must communicate a clear message to readers, piquing their interest to click on the link and visit the page. Here are a few tips on how to write meta titles and descriptions that get users’ attention immediately and accurately reflect on your content.
- Mention a Solution/Answer to a Query
- Use Your Brand’s Voice
- Include Relevant Keywords
- Make it Concise and Clear
- Keep it Unique
- Add Call to Action
1. Provide a Solution/Answer to a Query
Your meta title and meta description will convince searchers to visit your web page and read your content. Hence, make sure that your description serves that purpose and ensures people that you offer the best answer to their queries.
Instead of trying various things and adding different elements, stick to your objective and mention the solution to a specific query in the description. Determine what your target users are looking for, map their journeys, and provide answers that meet their search intent.
Some meta descriptions can be vague or include a touch of mystery, which can drive traffic away rather than engage people. So, never manipulate the audience and offer them what is promised; otherwise, it will affect your credibility and reputation.
Be concise and accurate yet provide a sneak peek into your main content, ensuring you have relevant answers to the question. You can include the best version of the question, product name, and other key details in the meta description. Remember to stick to the primary question related to your content or page and answer it efficiently.
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2. Use Your Brand’s Voice
Every brand has a unique tone and voice that is consistent across all channels and aligns with its identity. Potential clients connect with this tone and expect the brand to appear the same way every time.
For example, a law firm will use a professional and formal tone, whereas an online game site will have a casual and friendly voice.
Therefore, the meta description should also match this unique voice. Craft a meta title and description to perfectly represent the brand. Also, the voice should be the same across all pages of a website.
It helps you target personas and combine relevant keywords to reach potential customers while optimizing content that resonates with your brand.
3. Include Relevant Keywords
Although Google says it doesn’t evaluate keywords used in meta descriptions for ranking purposes, they help attract users and compel them to visit the page. Google highlights the keyword in the meta description to show the most relevant results so users can find solutions to their queries and click on the link. Hence, conduct keyword research and include the primary keyword in your meta description.
If your description matches the search intent, it will draw searchers to your page, ultimately boosting website traffic. However, make sure to place keywords strategically so you don’t stuff them.
Rather than looking at keyword density, Google now focuses on the overall context of the content. It highlights the terms within the description that are related to the search query to provide useful results to users.
Stuffing keywords can result in penalties, which will hamper your SEO efforts and affect your search engine rankings. So, include keywords in the description wisely and place them naturally.
4. Make it Concise and Clear
When you have ample characters and words to attract users, writing an engaging meta description is easier. The real challenge is capturing readers’ attention using fewer yet descriptive words, especially when you are trying to solve their queries.
That’s what writing meta description is about. You must keep it clear and concise while convincing searchers to visit the page. For this, you have to get innovative and select your words carefully. You also have to use the primary keyword naturally to make a strong impact with fewer words.
Avoid being spammy or too promotional; otherwise, people will move past your web page in SERPs. Add humor or a unique element to your writing, keeping it crisp, accurate, and clear.
5. Keep it Unique
Google is filled with websites and web pages. With so many options, it can be challenging to stand out. Therefore, the best way is to stay unique. Each web page of your website must have a unique title and description that appear on SERPs. This tells users what each page is about and what they can expect.
It will not only distinguish your pages from those of your competitors but also increase your CTR. With more visitors and traffic, you will soon rise in search engine results and build a reputable brand.
6. Add Call to Action
Through your web page, you are trying to encourage users to take the desired action and achieve your business goals. So, you need to incorporate a call-to-action (CTA) in your content. It guides searchers to complete their buying journey, telling them what to do next. It has the power to influence their buying decisions.
So, include a powerful and eye-catching CTA in your description to promote more clicks. A few examples of CTAs are- Learn More, Shop Now, Try Now for Free, etc.
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FAQs Related to Meta Title and Meta Description
Meta title and meta descriptions are not search engine ranking factors and Google announced the same. However, they can affect a page’s click-through rate, which can influence its ranking in SERPs. Meta titles and meta descriptions can promote your web page and compel them to click on the link. When a searcher visits the page, they can evaluate if the content is useful and valuable for them and answer their queries. Basically, meta title and meta description are not primary search ranking factors but can affect a page’s ranking by influencing user behavior. Therefore, make sure you create engaging and attractive meta descriptions for your page.
Your meta description must include a compelling and interesting summary of the page content so searchers click on it. It should convey what they can find when they visit the page and include relevant keywords so search engines can index the page and rank it.
When you open the page source, you can see the meta description under the <head> section of the HTML markup. You can edit this markup and modify the meta description within the code or the meta description field within the page’s metadata settings.
You can see meta descriptions in SERPs as a part of a web page snippet, just under the clickable title and breadcrumb path.
Yes, it’s important that every web page has a meta description. However, make sure that these descriptions are not identical or similar, as they are not good. Also, it can affect your CTR, which is nad for traffic and ranking. If you don’t write a meta description for any of the web pages, Google will use a random part of your content to create one and display it in SERPs. This description may not be relevant to the content and hamper user experience.
A few top meta description generator tools are Ahrefs, Dashword, Rytr, Copysmith, AISEO, and Writesonic.
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Conclusion
While writing a meta title and meta description, you need to consider many factors. They are your chance to get searchers’ attention and win them over. So, keep it engaging, unique, descriptive, and within the character limit.
Make an impact on readers. After all, they describe your content and web pages, which provide value to users.
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