Small Business owners, we know that website content can be challenging to produce. Let’s assume you have an article you’re eager to publish. However, you probably don’t know where to start between mastering keyphrases, SEO, alt text, and headers. In addition, you want to make sure as many people see your post as possible. Well, let’s talk about the importance of a meta description.
What is a Meta Description?
If you’re unfamiliar with the term, a meta description is the snippet of information in search results below the website’s link. Its primary purpose is to describe the page’s contents to the searcher. The meta description will be why someones entice you to click your page over competitors. One of your last hopes on search engine results pages (SERPs) is to attract a searcher to come to your site through the meta description.
Unfortunately, this is something that business owners neglect to focus on, probably because you have your hands in so many other pots. But if you’re not putting effort into your meta descriptions, you could be missing out on good website traffic that can bring in loads of new leads and potential customers.
What to Include?
Google suggests that a meta description tells users what that web page is about. Then, based on the information in a meta description, the search engine ranks results on relevancy.
Nine times out of ten, readers click a site within the first page of their search queries. So naturally, where you rank on the webpage matters. A superb meta description has the potential to appear on the first page of results, and a great one might even be first. Meta descriptions should be quick, one to two-sentence (about 155 characters of text) summaries of the content you’re publishing. They should give the reader an idea of what to expect after clicking on your link. Grasp their attention by answering their questions so they do not continue to scroll and ultimately click on your site for information.
What Not to Include?
While we’ve emphasized plenty of things you should do, there are also some things you should steer clear of, firstly, not writing one at all.
If you fail to put in a meta description, Google displays a randomized section of text from the first paragraph of your page. Why is this bad? Well, it means you’ll miss out on being able to sell to your prospective site visitors why your site is the best one to select.
Think of meta descriptions as an elevator pitch for your website. Communicate why the page will be helpful to the reader, and make sure it accurately reflects what’s on the page. If a reader doesn’t find what the meta description promises, they’re probably going to click away.
And again, stuffing keywords into your meta descriptions won’t do you any good. Instead, these descriptions need to focus on providing a clear and concise summary of your webpage. Therefore, avoid overusing terms simply because you think it’s what your audience will want to see.
Use the action steps to help you create the perfect Meta description every time.
- Provide a solution or benefit.
- Keep it under 155 characters.
- Don’t deceive searchers.
- Make it specific and relevant.
- Don’t overuse the keywords.
