Meta Description: Everything You Need To Know
The meta description is generally shown below the title of the page as a snippet in a Google SERP.
In past years, adding keywords in the meta description was a very useful practice to rank better and was considered as one of the ranking factors. Things have changed a bit now, the quality and relevance matter more than just adding a keyword.
If the page's description is written well, the little optimization can increase the page's traffic and its click-through rate (CTR), as a relevant and helpful description will lead the readers to click on the website's link.
Read About: Google Title Tag Update
So Is Meta Description Still Useful As It Was Once?
Well, rich snippets do play an important role in decision rankings on SERPs, but meta description is still the first thing a user sees after the title of your page. And, as we've all heard, you only have one chance to make a good first impression. So, the meta description is still in the game.
That's why the meta description shouldn't be written randomly without a thought. It has to be well-written, attractive, and satisfying enough for a user to click on the link even when your site does not rank on the first page. A compelling description can make your website stand out on the heavily competitive SERP.
The page's description is the very first thing a web page can show its users in organic search results apart from the title of course. It has a significant impact on the page's CTR and, as a result, its traffic.
Since Google looks at the CTR and traffic to determine the relevancy and quality of a web page, you can think of this meta tag as one of the indirect ranking factors of search engines like Google.
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What Makes A Good Meta Description?
Before 2016, Google used to show the ad unit on the right side. Due to that, the description's text was allowed to be present till 150 characters including spaces. But in 2016, Google stopped the right-side ad unit, which gave more space for descriptions to show up and influence the users to click on the link.
From 2016, the maximum length of a meta description has approx to 175 characters including spaces. But, as Google does not use the complete space on every SERP, it is still advised to try to keep your description under 150 characters to prevent it from getting cut off.
The reason that I told you that it's an approximation is that Google and other search engines don't actually measure the character count of a description. Instead, they measure the pixel length of the description, which can get altered for a number of reasons.
Writing a Better Meta Description
Now that you know the character limit, hear out the tips for meta description optimization.
- Keep it short
- Do not forget to add a CTA
- Keep it relevant to the title of the page
- Adding one main keyword in it can still be useful
- Keep it unique
- You can add special characters such as numbers and symbols to keep it attractive.
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