How to write meta descriptions for SEO
Most of the newbie bloggers don’t know how to write meta descriptions for SEO. Even, one of the common mistakes Amateur Bloggers make is, not using suitable and compelling blog description.
Writing a good blog description is a part of on-page SEO for a blog.
Writing an eye-catching meta description will only take a few minutes. Here’s the complete guide how to write meta descriptions for SEO.
What is Blog Description or Meta Description?
A blog description or a meta description is the description of your Home Page consisting of up to 320 characters which will be viewed under your website title followed by your site URL in SERP.
Anytime you perform a Google search ranking, what do you see?
Of Course, you see a page with some blue links. This blue link at the top is the Title of the site or blog and the sentence below that is the description of that site.
Example of Meta Description
How many characters to use in a meta description?
The maximum length of meta description Google will show on PC is 920 pixels i.e. 158 characters. For mobile devices, the max limit is 680 pixels i.e. 120 characters.
I strongly recommend to keep the length of the meta description between 50 to 158 characters.
What is the importance of meta description?
The goal of writing a meta description is to get the searcher to click through to your site. A good meta description will increase the searchers’ chance to decide whether the content is relevant or not and whether your site contains the information they’re seeking. It is better to make a to-do list before writing an SEO friendly content to increase the chances of ranking higher on search results.
Do meta description affect SEO?
Google announced in September, 2009 that meta descriptions will not factor into Google’s ranking algorithms. However, meta descriptions can affect blog’s CTR (click-through-rate), which can positively impact the blog’s ability to rank in Google.
You should know that, search engines highlight keywords in the description when any search query is matched. This bold text can draw the attention of searchers which results in the improvement of CTR of your home page.
How CTR affect ranking of a blog?
Clicks matter a lot to Google as Google constantly analyses data and adjusts ranking positions accordingly to clicks on particular webpages. If some blogs get a lot of clicks, Google thinks it’s performing well. If it doesn’t, Google thinks it isn’t. The better your description, the more clicks you’ll get.
Tips to write a meta description
- Always add the main keyword on which your blog is focused into meta description.
- Use personal words like “You” and “I” as most of the people like to be addressed.
- Write a short summary of your services or products, but don’t write a list of all the products.
- Do not use quotation marks in the description. Because Google will cut off the description at the quotation mark while showing it on an SERP. To prevent this, remove all non-alphanumeric characters from the description.
- Include a call-to-action like “Try for free”, “Learn more here”, “Find out more!”, , “Get it now”, etc.
- Do not trick visitors to click on your blog by writing misleading descriptions which do not match with your content. As Google penalizes the sites when misleading meta descriptions lure visitors into clicking. And this will also increase the bounce rate, which is bad for SEO.
- Use TotheWeb preview tool to check how your Page Title & Meta Description will look like on the Google SERP.
How to write meta description?
Option 1 – Adding meta description using Yoast SEO plug-in in WordPress:-
If you are using Yoast SEO, you can add blog description in the “meta description” section using steps shown in the picture below.
Option 2 – Adding meta description using Rank Math plug-in in WordPress:-
If you are using Rank Math, you can add blog description in the “Homepage meta description” section using steps shown in the picture below.
Option 3 – Adding meta description in Blogger:-
If you are using Blogger, you can add blog description in the “description” section using steps shown in the picture below