Very similar to the Meta Keywords Tag, the Meta Description Tag is also inserted in the <head></head> section of the website. The Description Tag is used by the Search Engines to display information about your web page to the viewers. It is also displayed as part of the Search Results which are fetched by the Search Engines whenever a user carries out a search query. Since this tag is directly displayed in the SERPs (Search Engine Ranking Pages), it is important that the Meta Description Tag for a webpage is well structured, interesting and useful enough for the user to click on and visit your website to get the information (s)he is looking for.
Similar to the Meta Keywords Tag, Google relies less on the Meta Description Tag, as far as SEO is concerned. However, since it is displayed in the SERPs, it should not be ignored. If the Meta Description Tag is left blank for a page, Search Engines pick up chunks of content from the body of the web page to display as description in the Search Results. This can be unfavorable as the random description displayed in the SERPs might not be tempting enough for the user to click on it, resulting in the loss of a potential visitor.
Format for Meta Description Tag
The proper format for adding a Meta Description Tag to a web page is by using the following code:
<meta name=”description” content=”An exact and brief description of your web page here.” />
Tips for Meta Description
There are several tips which should be considered for writing proper Meta Description Tags for your website. The tips are given below:
- Limit the length of the Meta Description Tag to 150 - 200 characters, including spaces and punctuation
- Use a unique Meta Description for the different pages of your website
- Select the most important 4 - 5 keywords related to the theme of the page, and use them in a grammatically proper English sentence to write the Meta Description for that web page
- Try and use the more important keywords near the beginning of the description tag for Keyword Prominence
- Use related keywords together, close to each other in the Description, for Keywords Proximity
- Use your skills to write a precise and accurate Meta Description Tag which the reader finds useful
- Do not use misspellings or other spelling variations in the Meta Description Tag, as this tag is displayed in the SERPs
- Make sure that you use the Meta Description Tag to describe the page it will be added to, instead of a general sentence which describes the whole website
Make sure you follow the tips mentioned above for adding Meta Descriptions to your web pages. Remember, the Meta Description Tag of a website is there to compel the reader to click on your link in the SERPs and land on your website, instead of helping your website rank high in the Search Results.
A good idea to decide your Meta Description Tag contents is to go through the Meta Description Tags of your competitor websites. For example, if you want to write a tag for a web page which is related to “blue widgets”, you should search the top Search Engines for “blue widgets” and study the Descriptions that those pages are using. Note down interesting phrases or words which they may have used to compel the readers into clicking their link in the SERPs. Use synonyms related to those words to come up with a useful and compelling description which the readers will find interesting enough to click on.