SEO Best Practices: Meta Description Tags that Generate Results

August 17, 2011 – 10:43 am

Meta Description tags do two things: give search engines an indication of a webpage’s contents and convince internet searchers to visit that specific webpage. Usually, the meta description tag is also what is shown in the search engine results page. This tag is located at HTML code’s Head area.

When a user makes a search which matches your keywords, the search engine results page will display the website tag (in bold) and then the first couple of sentences from your meta description tag. Google (as well as other search engines) usually displays the description with the matching keywords in bold.

Although meta description tags do not factor into Google’s ranking algorithm (except for advanced searches), meta description tags are a great way of marketing your website in that you are enticing Internet searchers to click-through to the webpage. It is important that you write compelling and readable meta description tags so as to improve your click-through rates for a given webpage.

Here are some tips to remember to create meta description tags that produce results:

Don’t:

  • Leave the description tag blank. All your webpages should have meta description tags.
  • Use the same meta description tags for all your webpages.
  • Have a meta description tag that only contains a string of keywords.
  • Have a meta description tag that is not relevant to the contents of the webpage.
  • Write a meta description tag only for search engines.
  • Use non-alpha/numeric characters, especially double quotation marks, as these may cut off the description in the search engine results page.

Do:

  • Use complete and easy to read sentences.
  • Place your description tag directly under the <head> and <title> tags.
  • Incorporate the keywords naturally.
  • Write for both search engines and human readers. This will improve click-throughs as you interest readers with your content.
  • Keep your description under 250 characters. In fact, 150 to 160 characters would be ideal.
  • Accurately describe the webpage.
  • Keep descriptions unique for every webpage and add variations to the keywords.
  • Include brand and product names as well as services you provide.
  • Use the 3rd person form (they, them, their, etc.)

Adaptivity Pro for your SEO needs

Let Adaptivity Pro help you create meta description tags that produce results. Adaptivity Pro is made up of Utah SEO and Salt Lake City SEO experts who have copywriting experience. Adaptivity Pro also specializes Utah Web design and other great-value services such as Pay-Per-Click Management, Social Media Marketing and E-Commerce Marketing.

Leave a Reply