Meta Descriptions Demystified: Your Guide to Writing Effective Meta Descriptions

Meta descriptions are an often overlooked but incredibly important aspect of SEO. These short snippets of text, which appear under the title of a webpage in search engine results, provide users with a brief overview of the content on that page and can influence whether or not they decide to click through. But with such a small space to work with (typically under 155 characters), how do you make sure your meta descriptions are effective? In this ultimate guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about meta descriptions, including what they are, why they matter for SEO, and how to write effective meta descriptions that will help boost your search engine visibility. By the end of this guide, you’ll have the knowledge and tools necessary to create compelling meta descriptions that will entice users to click through to your website.

Meta descriptions are there to provide a better user experience. Keep this in mind as you make your way through this article.

What Are Meta Descriptions?

A meta description is a short snippet of text that summarizes the content of a webpage and appears under the title of the webpage in search engine results. It is an important aspect of SEO as it helps to give users an idea of what the webpage is about and can influence whether or not they decide to click through to the site.

Meta descriptions are typically between 150-160 characters and should be written in a way that is both informative and compelling. They should accurately reflect the content of the webpage and use relevant keywords to attract users. It is also important to note that search engines may truncate meta descriptions that exceed the character limit, so it’s essential to keep them concise. To include a meta description for your article or web page, you need to add some HTML code in the <head> section of your page.

Below is an example of what the code would look like for this article:

<head>
<meta name="description" content="Learn how to write effective meta descriptions
that entice users to click through to your website.
Our guide covers best practices and tips. Don't miss out!">
</head>

Using an SEO plugin for WordPress allows you to easily set your meta description without having to learn HTML. I recommend All in One SEO or Yoast SEO.

Are meta descriptions important for SEO?

It’s important to note that having a well-written and optimized meta description does not directly affect the ranking of your webpage, but it can certainly help increase the click-through rate (CTR) which in turn can have a positive impact on your website’s overall visibility in the search results. If users click your search result over a higher-ranking page, this can influence Google to rank you higher. A higher CTR leads to higher visibility in search results, which will ultimately improve your ranking.

In addition to this, meta descriptions are also important because they can help attract users to a webpage by providing them with a summary of the content. This can be especially useful in cases where the title of the webpage doesn’t provide enough context. A good meta description can improve the user’s experience by making it crystal clear what your webpage is about. This reduces bounce rate — or the percentage of viewers that navigate away from your website after viewing only one page — which is another ranking factor for Google.

Throwback to when meta phrases with keywords were still relevant to page rankings

Back in the day, website owners would “keyword stuff,” or load a meta description with keywords to attempt to manipulate their ranking on Google. Meta descriptions were a huge factor in how a page ranked in the search results, which resulted in useless descriptions simply full of relevant keywords. Around 2009 Google changed its algorithm so that meta descriptions and meta keywords didn’t have a decisive impact on your ranking. This essentially wiped out the spammy, crappy content that search engines loved… but the searchers hated.

If you ever run across an “SEO Professional” that offers optimization of meta descriptions as a way to rank higher, they are simply wrong and you are getting ripped off. Optimizing meta descriptions are for the searchers to understand what the article is about and if they should click it — not to rank number 1 for that term.

How Long Should a Meta Description Be?

A good meta description should be around 150 to 160 characters. Google may show up to 300 characters for a meta description, however, but I recommend keeping it around 155 characters so your description doesn’t get truncated.  This will ensure your full description is displayed to the reader. Writing fewer than 155 characters is alright, but I invite you to write a compelling and concise meta description to entice readers to visit your page.

When writing meta descriptions, it’s also important to focus on making them compelling, informative, and relevant to the content of the webpage, rather than trying to stuff in as many keywords as possible. A well-written meta description should accurately reflect the content of the webpage and use relevant keywords to attract users. A good meta description should be clear, and concise making users want to click through to the site.

So How do I Write Better Meta Descriptions?

There are several best practices you can follow to create a good meta description.

This includes:

• Making Them Relevant – When crafting your meta description, you should accurately reflect the content of the webpage and provide users with a clear idea of what the page is about.
• Use Compelling Language – Using action words and persuasive language can make your page more enticing to the reader, which encourages them to click through to your website.
• Testing and Optimizing – Don’t be afraid to test different versions of your meta description to see what creates a better click-through rate.
• Use Keywords – Refrain from keyword stuffing, but use relevant keywords in your meta description to help attract users searching for that term. When someone searches for a particular word or phrase, it will be bold in the search result. This can catch the reader’s attention and persuade them to click your page over a competitor’s page.

Following these best practices allows you to easily write informative and compelling descriptions that will attract readers to your website.

What Does a Great Meta Description Look Like?

I mentioned earlier how a great meta description is both informative and compelling. It should accurately reflect the content of the webpage and use relevant keywords to attract users.

It should also be concise, typically under 155 characters, so that it will not be truncated in search results.

Here are some examples of great meta descriptions:

1. “Learn how to make delicious, homemade pizza with our step-by-step guide. Perfect for pizza lovers of all levels.”
2. “Get fit in the comfort of your own home with our online workout videos. Suitable for all fitness levels.”
3. “Find your dream home with our user-friendly property search. Thousands of listings updated daily.”
4. “Discover the best hiking trails in the mountains with our expert guide. Suitable for all skill levels.”
5. “Book your next vacation in style with our luxury travel deals. Exclusive offers for a limited time only.”

These examples are clear, concise, and provide users with a good understanding of what the webpage is about. They also use relevant keywords and persuasive language to entice users to click through to the site.

What Does a Bad Meta Description Look Like?

I used to suck at meta descriptions, so I know exactly what a bad one looks like. They were either too long or they didn’t persuade the user to even click on my article. They scrolled right past it.

Here are some examples of bad meta descriptions:

1. “Our website is the best place to buy everything online”
2. “We have a wide range of products and services, check us out”
3. “Here you’ll find information on various topics, come and read”

These examples are too generic, not specific, and don’t provide any real information about the content of the webpage. They also don’t use relevant keywords and don’t entice users to click through to the site.

Another example of a bad meta description is one that is too long, it will be truncated and the users will not get the full information. It’s also important to avoid using duplicate meta descriptions for multiple pages, as it can be seen as low-quality content by search engines.

Using Meta Descriptions for Social Media Platforms

Social media sites like Facebook will use a page’s meta description when shared on the site. If you don’t use a meta description, Facebook will simply pull the first text that it can find. This typically leads to a less-than-desirable snippet that doesn’t give the reader any reason to click the article… other than someone they follow shared it.

Pro-tip: Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, and LinkedIn all offer a debugging tool that will allow you to see exactly how sharing a link from your website will look on the platform. If you’ve recently updated your meta description,  you can request the platform to scrape again — which will clear the platform’s cache and provide the updated description.

If you want to take control of your brand and appearance on social media platforms, here are the links to each platform’s debugger tool:

• Facebook Debugger
• Twitter Card Validator
• Pinterest Rich Pin Validator
• LinkedIn Post Inspector

Why won’t Google use my meta description?

Sometimes, Google doesn’t use the meta description you set. If you already have some pages that rank on Google, congrats! Let’s go over some reasons why Google isn’t using the meta descriptions we’ve created.

While it isn’t always the case that Google ignores what you have set as your meta description, it seems a lot of times it will occur when Google doesn’t think that the existing meta description adequately answers the user’s query. If this is the case, Google will use a blip of text from your page to try to create a more compelling search result.

I would invite you to utilize the information from this article so you can craft a compelling and concise meta description, but you can always roll the dice and let Google try to create something.

A Few Tips for Creating Effective Meta Descriptions

Along with the information in the article, here are a few more things you can do to ensure you’re getting the most out of your meta descriptions.

• Keep it Concise – If you’re struggling with creating a description with 155 characters, try something like the Hemingway Editor or ChatGPT.
• Include Power Words – Creating compelling meta descriptions means you invoke some sort of emotion from the reader. Things like “limited time” invoke a sense of urgency, while something like “thought-provoking” can spark curiosity. Check out this article on 401+ Power Words for inspiration.
• Include a Call-To-Action – Adding something like “Buy Now” or “Read More” entices the reader to perform your call-to-action.
• Mention the Solution – Typically, users are searching for a solution to their problem. Use your meta description to include the solution to their problem and a call to action to read more.

A Few Things to Avoid When Writing Meta Descriptions

You are free to do what you’d like with your website. However, here are a few things to avoid when crafting your perfect meta description:

• Avoid being too wordy – Keeping around 155 characters ensures your full description will show, no matter where the user sees it displayed.
• Avoid keyword stuffing – As mentioned earlier, your meta description does not directly affect your ranking. Avoid throwing keywords into your description just because you can.
• Avoid boring taglines – This is your chance to entice a reader to click on your page and see what you’ve created. Give them the scroll-stopping reason to say “wow, I have to check this out.”
• Avoid using duplicate meta descriptions – If you don’t want to create a meta description for each page, I would recommend letting the search engine do the work instead of copying and pasting the same description. But, I don’t recommend letting the search engine populate your description.
• Avoid using “quotes” in the description – The ” symbol used inside of a meta description will essentially signal to Google to truncate the description from that point. This has to do with HTML markup.

Wrapping It Up

Crafting the perfect meta description can take some trial and error. Don’t be afraid to test new meta descriptions to find what entices readers to click through to your website. Be sure to include power words to invoke emotion, and a call to action to tell the readers what you’d like them to do.

Keep your meta description around 155 characters so your description will not get cut short on any platform, and make sure to utilize social media platform’s debugger tool to make sure they have the correct meta description.

If you are using WordPress for your website, I invite you to use a plugin such as All in One SEO or Yoast SEO to help you manage your meta descriptions. While both have pro versions you have to pay for, their free versions are more than enough for most website owners.