Search Marketing Blog
SEO Best Practices - Meta Description Tags
In the early days of search, meta description tags were a significant part of search engine optimization. Years ago, they were one of the many factors used by the search engines to determine rank. Today, however, meta description tags are important for a completely different reason. Currently, today’s sophisticated search engines often display the meta description on their search engine results pages (SERPs). This, in turn, can have a significant impact on click-through rates (CTRs).
Therefore, it’s important that you consider the following guidelines for writing effective meta descriptions:
1. Keep Your Meta Descriptions Short
Google currently displays up to 160 characters, Yahoo! displays up to 165, and MSN will display over 200. Any descriptions over the limit will be cut-off by the search engines, and will be replaced with “…”. Because of this, it’s best to limit your meta descriptions to 160 characters or less.
2. Be Informative
Accurately describe your page content. Don’t try to write a 160-character advertisement. Also, don’t assume that your successful Pay-Per-Click copy will create ideal meta descriptions.
3. Incorporate Your Keywords
The search engines will bold instances of the searched for keyword. Make sure that your meta descriptions incorporate your target keywords. This can have a significant impact on CTRs.
4. Write Unique Meta Descriptions
Just like your title tags, make sure that each meta description is unique and accurately reflects the page content. The search engines analyze each page of your site, so optimize each page according to its content.
Proper meta description tags are still a critical component to effective search optimization. Take care to incorporate best practices into each one.
