What about Meta Description?
Gone are the days when Meta Description was just one area, an SEO would spend most time on discussing, working and improving its content. Trying to fit those magic tag words. But after the announcement from google back in 2009, that Meta Descriptions will no more have an impact on the rankings of Web Page Algorithm there came a drastic change in pattern.
What actually is Meta Description?
Meta description basically is a snippet build of HTML coding which appears in a web page header. It provides a synopsis of all the content that is on the web page. The meta description is usually placed after the title tag and before the meta keywords tag.
So now the question which still haunts many people is -”Does Meta Description even play some role in driving traffic?”
Well the answer to it is simple- If it wouldn’t have, why would people still pay so much attention to it, hence yes it does play a pivotal role. So the question which arises here is- How?
How does Meta Description effect.
Although if you see, there is no direct effect of Meta Descriptions on the ranks but surely it does have an indirect effect. The reason behind their importance is that they often appear as snippets (a small brief or an extract describing the above topic) under the main headline in Search Engine Result Pages.
Check it out how it looks:
Meta Description and Click Through Rates.
So you get around 155 characters apart from your meta title to persuade readers to view the content on your web page. And only a good encouraging snippet assists in increasing Click Through Rates. These snippets give a clearer picture, whether the given page is good match or not so make sure you should use them wisely and effectively.
Tips to write better Meta Description
- Although a clear description is a necessity but a sense of curiosity can also evoke more readership.Here the reader should feel inclined to open your link. Your words used should briefly describe about the topic or about your content while keeping a sense of inquisitiveness.
- Apart from it you can also provide unique, unconventional descriptions. This works as an important factor in Search Engine Page Results- SERPs. Although it highly depends what your content is all about but then again their is no harm in being unusual, funny or offbeat. This works as a surprise element, as a wave of freshness to same monotonous taglines being searched. As a wise man has once said a description should be well descriptive in themselves.
Also check out our article If you “ think your meta title tags are good enough? Google says, “Think Twice” for better ideas on Meta Title Tags.
So our final concluding words on it are: Pay attention to your meta description else your reader will pay attention to your counterparts meta descriptions.
Share your thoughts in comments below.
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