What is a meta description?
Simply put, a meta description is a tag in HTML that is used to provide web crawlers with a short description of what a web page is all about to help them understand its contents better.
If you want a more in-depth understanding of this topic, check out the FAQ section below:
Question #1: How does the meta description of the pages of my website affect its SEO?
As we have seen earlier, the meta description helps web crawlers better understand what a web page or piece of content is all about. This, in turn, may help Google show your content to people who would benefit the most from it (i.e., your target audience and customers).
The keyword here, however, may. Keep in mind that nobody really knows exactly how Google’s search algorithm works. All we know is that a web page’s meta description is one of the many things web crawlers look at to determine the relevance of a web page or piece of content to a given set of search terms.
Question #2: Will writing a good meta description help me rank high in search?
The short answer is not necessarily. Again, Google’s web crawlers take a look at a lot of different factors to determine which pages and pieces of content should appear on top of its search engine results pages (SERPs).
This, however, does not mean that you should not pay attention to it. As we have seen in the previous section, it is still one of the things that web crawlers look at, so you should definitely include it in your SEO to-do list. All we are saying is that you should also get things such as your targeting, keyword use, and overall content structure on point if you want to rank high in search.
Question #3: How do I write an effective meta description?
To write an effective meta description you need to be:
- Clear. In most cases, your meta description also appears under the web page title in SERPs—which means users check it to see if your content has the information they are looking for. If it is written poorly and does not immediately make it clear that your page has relevant and valuable information to offer, users would simply move on to the other search results.
- Concise. You only get about 160 characters before your meta description gets cut off. This means you have to write it in as few words as necessary to get your point across.
- Compelling. Again, your meta description typically appears under the web page title in SERPs. This means that you can use it to make a compelling case as to why users should check you out instead of everyone else, ultimately boosting your website’s traffic.
We will talk about this in more detail in the next section.
4. Focused. Since your meta description will also be read by Google’s web crawlers, you need to include the right keywords in it to help Google better understand what your web page or content is all about and who it is for.
Of course, you can only figure out which keywords you should use if you yourself know exactly what your page or content is supposed to be about and who your target audience is.
Question #4: Will a good meta description help drive traffic to my website?
As we have seen in the previous section, yes, a good one could help drive traffic to your website, provided you are able to craft an eye-catching, compelling one.
This, however, does not at all mean that you should concentrate all your energy on crafting the perfect meta description.
In addition, there are cases where Google gets a snippet from your actual content—instead of your meta description—to display under the page title in its SERPs.