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Stacy Ketiku on Stacy Ketiku
Is SEO Meta Description Still Relevant in Digital Marketing?
Ranking organically on search engines is possible with the application of great SEO tactics. The concept of Search Engine Optimisation has come a long way, but is having meta descriptions still a relevant SEO tactic? Let’s help you find out.
When you input a specific search query into the search bar of a search engine like Google, you get a long rundown of results related to your search. It will not be wishful thinking to say that virtually all searchers scan through the SEO meta description of web pages before clicking for an in-depth consumption of such content. Just in case you have no idea what SEO meta description is, they are snippets right below your meta title that has the goal of describing the content of a web page to match users search query.
Google calls meta descriptions a pitch. Here’s exactly how they put it, “A meta description tag should generally inform and interest users with a short, relevant summary of what a particular page is about. They are like a pitch that convinces the user that the page is exactly what they’re looking for”. Also, you should know that it is common for Google and other search engines to rewrite your meta description.
Is SEO Meta Descriptions Still Relevant in Digital Marketing?
When creating online content there’s so much emphasis placed on the inclusion of SEO meta description. However, this activity doesn’t directly affect your website’s ranking on search engines, yet it impacts a number of other things including conversion. Moving forward we’ve pointed out two major reasons you shouldn’t neglect your SEO Meta Description when creating content for web pages.
- If properly put together, your SEO meta description can go a long way in increasing your click-through rate which then translates to a higher ranking by search engines. This is so because having a high-click-through rate suggests that your site contains relevant content related to that search query and this is an important SEO ranking factor.
- Search engines and users can almost immediately determine if the content of a web page matches a user’s query. If there were no meta descriptions, every searcher will have the burden of landing on several websites that do not contain the type of content most of us need and this will lead to a high bounce rate.
Checklist for a More Optimised Meta Description
Sometimes Google automatically puts together a meta description to match a search query. This simply means that apart from being able to create an attractive meta description you must have also created a beautiful piece of content. If you’ll love to have a more optimised meta description, we recommend you take note of the following:
- Length: Although Google Search Central says there’s no limit to how long a meta description can be, however, they’ll have no other choice other than to truncate the snippet to fit into the searcher’s device width. In order words, the ideal length of your meta description is between 150 – 160 characters.
- Keyword: Never stuff your meta description with your focus keywords. Some digital marketers make the mistake of trying to make their keyword appear in the snippet numerous times. Doing this is a big red flag for both search engines and users alike.
- Avoid Clickbait Description: Tricking searchers to click on your website will do you absolute harm and search engines like Google can sniff you out. Your SEO meta description should match the content of your web page, else apart from Google flagging your web page, your bounce rate will also increase drastically.
- Duplicated Content: Every content must have its own meta description which you must write properly with correct grammar, punctuation, and everything else sitting pretty. No two pages on your website must have the same meta description or even the same content or title.
How to Add Meta Description for SEO to a Post.
To include your meta description in the <head> section of your page, simply insert the appropriate text into this code:
<meta name=”description” content=”Insert the meta description text here.”>
It’s that easy and you do not need any programming or technical expertise to do this flawlessly.
In addition, if you make use of a Content Management System you can install SEO plugins like Yoast and a host of others. This method is not complicated in any way and you won’t need any code at all. Simply scroll down till you find your installed SEO plugin then insert snippet variable. Here you have spaces to fill in your SEO title, slug, meta description.