Meta Description is not considered a ranking factor by Google, but it directly interferes with your SEO work. After all, not everything is analyzed by robots and algorithms and we must also think about the experience that the user has when performing a search.
When we talk about SEO (Search Engine Optimization), we often just think about the top ranking factors considered by Google, right? But to perform better and attract more visitors to your pages, you also need to think about those points that don’t directly impact search placement.
One of them is Meta Description, essential to the efficiency of your Digital Marketing strategies and, consequently, the success of your business. So if you’re looking for your brand on Google or even social media, it ‘s important to invest in producing effective goals in such a small space.
To learn more about the importance of Meta Description within your Marketing Plan, how about continuing to read this article, clear all your doubts about it, and optimize the performance of your pages? Check out!
What is Meta Description?
Among the many pieces of information present on the SERP (Search Engine Results Page), one of them is key to increasing the chances of convincing the user to click on your page: the Meta Description. In practice, it is a summary of the content the visitor will encounter when accessing a particular site.
The main purpose of this description is to attract more users to click on your link. Amid the various results that appear in a search, is the space intended for the pages to differ from each other.
There, you need to convince the visitor, in a nutshell, that the content offered on that page is, in fact, relevant.
While Google has confirmed that Meta Description is not a ranking factor, ignoring this short summary can be a serious mistake within its Digital Marketing strategy. After all, this space will be filled automatically if you don’t write content with this tag and you don’t want it to happen.
The Meta Description is, therefore, a summary of everything the user will find within a page of the site and needs to pass, in such a short space, as necessary to convince the visitor to choose your site from the many results. Even without directly interfering with ranking, Goal is critical for SEO work to be really efficient.
Importance is meta description in SEO?
The goal of SEO is to use different techniques to optimize the performance of a blog or site in an organic way, right? This way you can drive more traffic to your page and increase the chances of conversion. Often, though, the focus is just getting better search engine ranking.
As a result, Meta Description ends up sidelining many strategies – as it does not influence positioning – which can be highly detrimental to the performance of your Marketing plan . After all, not just appearing among the top results, you need to convince the user to click on your page.
What is the point of getting, for example, the top position in the search for a particular keyword if, in practice, your second competitor gets more clicks? Over time, your page may lose authority in such a fierce dispute and lack of attention to the summary may be one of the causes.
The Meta Description needs to be thought of as a last detail within an efficient SEO work. As much as it does not directly influence where your page will appear in the search, it can be directly responsible for convincing a user to trust your click – and time – to your site.
Therefore, it is essential to be careful in the production of Meta, which can be seen as a finishing touch after the various actions aimed at achieving a better ranking.
Have you ever thought of wasting all the work on keywords and content marketing, for example, why didn’t the user find an accurate summary of what your page offers?
Where is the Goal used?
Meta Description is often ignored for a few reasons: not appearing on any internal page, not part of SEO on-page, is automatically populated if it is not written, and does not directly interfere with ranking. Next, let’s show where the Meta Description is used.
In search results
In the search results, the Meta Description appears just below the page title as a summary of the content.
When a user searches on a keyword that is contained in the summary, it will appear in bold, which increases the chances of the link being clicked because it draws more attention.
If due to carelessness or unawareness, a page does not have the Meta Description defined in the code, Google will select a piece of content (which probably has the keyword searched) to put in the link description. That is, an autocomplete that may not be as attractive enough for the user.
This can also happen when Google understands that a piece of content is more relevant to the user and closer to the term they searched for than the text written in the tag.
So make sure you write the Meta Description so that it appears so that you have control over the description of your page and don’t leave it to the search engine.
On the social networks
When any user shares a URL on Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter, the network displays an image, title, and short description of the page. This gives the user an idea of what they will find if they click on the link.
This short description is the text you define in the Meta Description. Social networks capture this information in the code and display it to the user, in the same logic as search engines.
However, it is noteworthy: if you want to use a different description for Facebook or Twitter, unlike searchers, you can work with social meta tags via Facebook Open Graph and Twitter Cards, for example.
How many characters should a meta description have?
One of the main challenges of Meta Description is precisely summarizing with quality what will be found on your page in such a small space.
Google requires, on average, about 160 characters to fill the space properly, but it’s important not to produce very short descriptions that seem incomplete.
How to make an attractive meta description?
You already understand what Meta Description is and how important it is within your SEO strategy, right? Now then, let’s present some tips for you to make an attractive and accurate description of the content available on your pages.
Be honest
The goal of Meta Description is to attract the user and to do so, you need to describe the actual content of what will be found.
Therefore, if you make a promise, it must be kept to avoid frustration. If he clicks on your link and doesn’t find the promise, it will leave your page at the same time, increasing the bounce rate.
Be objective
Regardless of the size of your post, it deals with just one specific subject and it is critical to be straight to the point.
So instead of promising to solve all user issues, keep the focus on the page theme when creating the Meta Description.
Arouse interest
A well-designed Meta Description is one that can inform and at the same time catch users’ attention. If you treat the description as an ad, where you must “sell” your content, you will be more likely to click.
Use persuasive language that prompts the user to take the desired action.
Use call-to-action (CTAs)
If you want to use a persuasive message and want the user to make a quick decision, nothing better than exploring CTAs. Calls to action define exactly what you want the user to do.
Obviously, you want him to click the link. But you can associate this action with some benefit it will find when accessing the content. See some examples:
- buy now;
- sign up;
- 3x plot;
- download for free;
- see the price;
- learn from us;
- book your room.
If you use mental triggers (see below about them) to create CTAs, you are even more likely to receive the click.
Use the mental triggers
Clicking a link in search results is the result of a quick decision-making process. And our unconscious plays a very important role in our decisions, especially when they are made on autopilot.
Mental triggers work with this idea. In Meta Descriptions, you can activate various triggers in people that activate in our brain the need to access that content.
Here are some examples and expressions you can use:
- urgency: “access now”;
- curiosity: “we reveal the secret”;
- shortage: “last waves”, “only today”;
- authority: “the most read text”.
Use the keyword
Every page must have a keyword that summarizes your theme. This is important in SEO for Google to understand what content is about and show the page to those who searched for those terms. Do keyword research to identify which ones are most relevant to your blog.
In Meta Description, it should be used to show the user that your page is relevant to their search. Also, as we said, the keyword is bold when it is compatible with user search, which attracts more clicks to your link.
But be careful to always use it naturally in the text. Don’t think that it will be interesting to enter the keyword multiple times within 160-character text – this practice can confuse content, remember that user experience should be a priority.
Test the results
Like everything on the web, you can test the results and see which text was most successful. The best way to measure Meta Descriptions is to look at the clickthrough rate (CTR) of each page, as it helps you understand if the text motivated the click or not.
The Google Search Console provides this data. Check results before and after a change and keep the description that brought in the most traffic.
What are the main mistakes when making Meta Descriptions?
Some errors can hinder the performance of your pages in the work of attracting visitors and, to avoid them, we separate the most common ones.
Do not produce a Meta Description
Pages without Meta Description leave it up to Google to decide which content appears in the results.
In this case, the searcher fills the space automatically, which is not always attractive to the user. It is best, therefore, to create the summary in your own words.
Descriptions too long or too short
Size also has a big influence on the success of your Meta Description. Too long summaries will not appear completely in the results, while short descriptions tend to lose prominence over competitors because they seem incomplete.
Automation
Automation is often used within Digital Marketing, mainly because it optimizes your time and simplifies bureaucratic and very manual tasks.
However, when we talk about Meta Description, this term is not so positive. For it may end up, for example, creating equal or meaningless descriptions.
So if you choose automation, make sure it is smart enough to create unique descriptions and always review before publishing.
And if it’s your choice, it’s better to leave pages without Meta Description than to use automation that creates the same description for different URLs.
Duplicate Meta Description
The Google Search Console also reports pages that have the same Meta Descriptions, which can happen by system automation.
This can be interpreted by Google as duplicate content on the site, and it will prioritize only one of these pages in the ranking, impairing the positioning of the others.
This way, duplicate content creates unnecessary competition between your pages. The solution, in the case of Meta Descriptions, is always to create unique and unique texts for each link.
What are the main tools that help you solve errors in descriptions?
Yoast
Especially for those using WordPress, Yoast is a great solution for optimizing Meta Description production work.
First of all, it does not let you forget to fill this space with your reminders and, more importantly, helps you to set the keyword for each Goal produced.
Ahrefs
The Ahrefs’ Site Audit performs a true audit on your site and points which are its main errors. Regarding the Meta Description, it shows which links are missing the description.
The Meta Description, therefore, might not even directly influence the position of your pages on Google, however, it must be taken seriously to offer an experience more complete the user. Aiming at the attraction, a well-written and efficient resume helps ensure that more visitors come to your site.
Digital Marketing requires the constant improvement of its strategies and actions in search of better performance, especially when it comes to search engine ranking.