What Are Meta Descriptions? [+ SEO & Writing Tips]
What is the meta description?
The meta description (meta description) is a descriptive text of a maximum of 160 characters or 500 pixels including spaces, which is stored within the meta tags in the head area of an HTML document and is intended to describe the content of the document in summary. If the number of characters or pixels is exceeded, the description is cut off with a "...".
Important for SEO: The meta description is not a ranking factor, but it helps to improve the click rate (CTR) in Google search results! For more complex websites, such as online shops, a meaningful template should be created for the SEO of your descriptions.
Meta Description for SEO
Each URL of your website should not only have a unique title tag but also a unique meta description. Since the description is not a ranking factor, you should optimize its content for the user. Describe in a targeted manner what the user expects on your site, provide incentives, attention and also use the keyword for which you are optimizing. The advantage of this is that Google bolds the search term in the SERPs accordingly.
When it comes to SEO, the AIDA principle , which comes from marketing, should be followed:
- A = attention
- I = interest
- D = Desire
- A = Action (Call To Action)
Bring out your clear USP in the meta description , keep promises and encourage people to click! Special characters also attract attention, an example:
Where can you find the meta description?
The meta description counts as meta descriptions. In CMS systems such as Joomla or WordPress, there are suitable input fields when creating page content. With the help of SEO plugins, you can specifically optimize for them using the preview function.
In the HTML source code, this is embedded in the head area of a website and looks like this:
<head>
<meta name="description" content="Here is your convincing meta description, which was created according to the AIDA principle.">
</head>
My meta description is not showing up in Google?
If the desired keyword does not appear in the meta description, Google usually generates one itself, as it believes that a more relevant text would be more helpful for the user. Therefore, always use the keyword to be optimized in your description that matches the target page.
Conclusion
When optimizing (your SEO), remember not to design your website for Google but for the user. Since the meta description has no influence on the ranking of the search engines, make sure not to use keyword stuffing (line up keywords) and provide a meaningful description for your website. Also pay attention to the number of pixels or characters that you are allowed to use within the description.