Meta Description: Definition, Benefits, And How To Make It SEO Friendly
Understanding Meta Description
- A meta description is a short description that appears under the title of a web page in search engine results, such as Google. The description provides information about the contents of the web page that lets users know what your content is about. That way, users can decide whether to click and visit the page or not.
- You can find out the description of this meta tag by right-clicking on the website page. Then in the “View page source” option, you can see the meta description contained in the content or contents of the page.
- This attribute, also known as a meta tag, also helps the website optimization process or SEO (Search Engine Optimization). Indeed, meta descriptions do not directly affect your website’s ranking. However, this attribute can increase the CTR (click-through-rate) and help reduce the bounce rate.
Why is that? This is because a good description in the meta tag will let users know what your content is about. Users can get an idea of whether the contents of the page match what they are looking for or not. And of course this must also be accompanied by content that matches the meta description.
For that, you need to write a meta description that is appropriate and of course interesting to the audience. If you don’t create it, the search engine will automatically take it from the first and second sentences in the content. The description may not appear complete because the sentence is too long and ends up being cut off.
Therefore, you should create your own meta description so that you can arrange the sentences more precisely. An appropriate and interesting meta description will provide various benefits for your website’s performance. What are they? Check out the next section, okay!
Benefits of Creating a Meta Description
Understanding meta descriptions is certainly not complete without knowing what the benefits are. Here are some benefits that you can get by creating a meta description on a website page.
- Increase CTR (Click-Through-Rate)
As previously reviewed, meta descriptions can help you increase CTR for the web. An appropriate meta description that matches what users are looking for will encourage them to click on the page. Moreover, if you include an interesting sentence accompanied by an invitation to open the website page.
- Optimizing User Experience
The use of meta descriptions is not only beneficial for website owners, but also for users. An overview of the content in the meta description helps users know what is discussed on the page. The description will be one of the factors in the user’s decision to visit your website or not.
This will optimize a positive user experience on your website. A positive UX itself is one of the important elements that will boost website performance. Internet users and website visitors will linger on your website if their experience is positive.
- Increase Relevance
The next benefit of meta description is that it helps increase the relevance of your website. By including relevant keywords in the description, the relevance of your web page can also increase. This allows your page to appear in search engines when users type in those keywords.
- Increase SEO
As has also been explained, using the right meta description will help SEO practices for your website. Meta descriptions also affect factors that are part of SEO, such as CTR, relevance, and so on. Although it does not directly affect website rankings, this description has a positive effect on elements in SEO.
- Maximize Content Promotion on Various Platforms
The last benefit that is no less important is that meta descriptions can maximize the promotion of your content on various digital platforms. For example, on some social media platforms, where the description will appear when you share a website page link. Or on the advertising content that you post on social media.
This will help the audience know what the contents of the link you share or the advertisement that is posted are. Then with interesting sentences and the right invitation, the audience can be encouraged to click on your promotional content. That way, your CTR and traffic can increase optimally.
How to Create an SEO Friendly Meta Description
In order to get the most out of the meta description, you need to create the right description. Here are some ways to create a good meta description for your website.
- Write a Maximum of 155 Characters
One thing you need to pay attention to when creating a meta description is the number of characters. When creating a meta description, you should write no more than 155 characters. If it is too long, the description can be cut off and can cause users to have less of an idea of the contents of your website page.
- Use Active and Persuasive Sentences
In addition to the number of characters, you also need to pay attention to the form of sentences used in the meta description. Descriptions with active and persuasive sentences will be more effective in conveying messages to the audience. Also make sure you create simple and concise sentences so that they are easy for users to understand.
- Insert Keywords Correctly
The next thing you need to include in the meta description is keywords. Including keywords in the meta description will help search engines sort and bold the words. That way, users can find your web page more easily.
In addition, you can also put keywords at the beginning of the description. This aims to prevent keywords from being cut off when displayed on search engines. Also remember not to overdo it in using keywords that can cause keyword stuffing.
- Focus on Content Excellence
To attract users’ attention, create a description that focuses on the excellence of your web content. If the page discusses a product, then underline the advantages of that product. Likewise, if it is an article, convey what information can be obtained on the page.
To make it more interesting, consider the meta description as an advertisement for your website page. You can include the benefits or solutions you want to provide to attract the audience. You can also use persuasive sentences that will encourage users to visit the web page.
- Using Call to Action
To encourage users to click on the page, use a CTA (call-to-action) in your meta description. Usually, CTAs are placed at the end, such as “Check more here”, “Find the answer now”, and so on. The point is, you need to create a CTA that invites the audience to visit the page.
- Consider Local SEO
Another way that you can apply to create a good meta description is to use local SEO. The goal is to reach an audience from a certain region and be more precise in targeting the target audience. The method is easy, you only need to enter the name of the region related to the contents of the website page.
- Local SEO is suitable for website pages that offer products in a certain area.
For example, promotional content for digital marketing services located in the Jakarta area. You can include the series of words “Jakarta digital marketing services” in the meta description of the page.
- Write Specifically and Relevantly
When creating a meta description, you should not just copy the title of the page or article. In addition to being too short, using the same sentence for the title and meta description will make it uninteresting. Make sure you provide more specific information and of course interesting to the audience.
- Install SEO Plugins on WordPress
If you use the WordPress platform for your website, you can install an SEO plugin. This plugin can help you optimize meta descriptions and create the right series of sentences for web pages. With this plugin, you can see if the sentences written are too long or even too short.
Not only that, there are also several SEO plugins that provide analysis and recommendations for meta descriptions. This will be very helpful in assessing whether the description is correct or still needs improvement.
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