What is Meta Description in SEO and How do you Write one?

Search engine optimization, abbreviated SEO, is one of the most central marketing methods today to ensure that you reach your target audience where they are – on search engines.

In fact, according to a Forrester study, 71% of all customers’ customer journeys begin on search engines to discover products and services.

Your customers are therefore actively searching for exactly what your company offers and with that said, it is incredibly valuable to rank high in the search engines and be found by your target group. The work to rank higher organically in search engines is what is called search engine optimization (SEO), in English search engine optimization.

The work with SEO is based on optimizing your website in several different aspects to better adapt to the factors that search engine algorithms look for and use to determine where a website should rank in search engines.

SEO is very broad when it comes to components that you need to work with, at the same time SEO is a comprehensive work where the whole is incredibly important. You may have done very well in certain areas such as page speed, website technical structure, and content, but if, for example, you have no backlinks to your site, you will still struggle to do well.

Although search engines use hundreds of different ranking factors where different factors have different weights, it is the whole that counts.

One of these components is the Meta description. Some may think this is a small and insignificant detail, but knowing how to write and optimize your meta descriptions can have a positive impact on your SEO.

In this article, we will therefore dive deeper into the meta description and discuss why it is important and what you should consider when writing it.

What is a Meta Description?

A Meta Description, also known as meta tag description, is a short summary of a web page’s content. It is written in HTML and is included in the page’s metadata. If you search Google, you will get a list of search results. Each search result has the name of the domain at the top, followed by the domain, the title of the page, and then the meta description.

The purpose of the Meta Description is to give search engines and potential visitors a rough preview of what to expect when they click on the link to your website from the search results. The aim is to improve the user experience on search engines and make it easier for users to know what to expect by clicking on the website – and determine if the page is relevant to what they are looking for.

The meta description does not directly affect a website’s ranking in search engines, but it can have a very important indirect impact on the ranking in search engines. This is because a poorly optimized meta description can cause fewer people to click on one of your search results. In the same way, a well-optimized meta description can make more people choose to click on a search result. This means a higher CTR (click through rate) and this is a factor that Google looks at when deciding where to position a search result.

For example:

If a page with a poorly optimized meta description ranks 5th and gets 10 clicks per day and another page ranks 6th but has a better optimized meta description that attracts more people to click on it (12 clicks per day ) then over time Google will note that users find the result in position 6 more interesting than the result in position 6. This will therefore probably lead to the result in position 6 and 5 swapping places in the search results with each other.

This is a very concrete example of how search engine algorithms work and how a well-optimized meta description can lead to better rankings and thus more traffic. This proves that the meta description can have an important impact on your SEO results, even if the meta description itself is not a ranking factor.

That being said, this is a detail that should not be neglected but something that you should instead work on optimizing to increase click-through rates in search results and thus drive more traffic.

A well-written Meta Description should contain relevant keywords and provide an enticing preview of the page’s content to increase the likelihood that the user will choose your particular link.

Elements of an Effective Meta Description

So what components go into an effective meta description and what should you consider? Let’s take a closer look.

Length and character limits

A common mistake many people make is writing a meta description that is too long.

Google themselves say that meta descriptions can technically be as long as you like, but generally cut them to between 155 and 160 characters.

You want to write meta descriptions that are descriptive enough for users to know what to expect but not too long that they get cut off in the middle. There’s no point in writing a long description that will get cut anyway. This can instead have a negative impact on your meta description as it can result in your meta description instead giving very deficient information, which instead negatively affects the user experience.

Google’s own recommendation is that meta descriptions are between 50 and 160 characters.

An effective Meta Description balances between being informative enough and not exceeding the search engine’s character limits. Staying within these limits is critical to avoid clipping important information and to ensure a readable preview.

Relevance to the page’s content and search phrases

An effective Meta Description should be directly related to the content of the page and contain relevant keywords or phrases. By including keywords that users are likely to search for, you increase the chance that your site will appear in relevant search results. The Meta Description must be accurate and relevant to what users can expect to find on the page once they click through and visit it to avoid user confusion and dissatisfaction.

If your meta description is completely different from what is actually on the page, it will lead to a high bounce rate (users click in and then leave the page right after). This can instead have a negative impact on your ranking in the search engines as it indicates that your result was not relevant and therefore does not deserve to rank high for that search term.

Think about it this way: if a person searches for “Red patent leather shoes” and only one out of five search results has that exact term in the meta description, users are significantly more likely to click on that particular search result. For this reason, it is important to strategically but naturally incorporate relevant keywords that each specific page focuses on.

Use of active and engaging words

The goal of a good meta description is to make it engaging and attractive so that people are enticed to click on your search result. With this in mind it is important to use active and engaging words that entice users to want to know more. Use a tone that is enticing and gives them a reason to want to click on your particular search result.

Include powerful verbs and create a sense of urgency or create curiosity to increase the likelihood that users will click on your link.

Avoid duplication and ensure that text is unique

Each Meta Description should be unique and specific to the current page. Avoid duplicating Meta Descriptions to avoid confusing search engines and users. In the vast majority of cases, each page on your website is unique, which is why the meta descriptions should be as well. Therefore, be sure to tailor each description to the unique content of the page to maximize relevance and increase the likelihood that users will find what they are looking for.

Step-by-Step Guide to Writing an Optimal Meta Description

1. Identify primary keywords: Use keyword tools to do a keyword analysis and identify the keywords and phrases that are most relevant to your web page. Focus on words that your target audience is likely to use in searches. Keep in mind that each individual page usually focuses on a specific keyword. This is also what you should focus on in the meta description.
2. Analyze Competitors’ Meta Descriptions: A useful tip is to look at your competitors’ Meta Descriptions for your competitors’ pages to better understand their strategies and how you can make your meta descriptions even better. This can help you stand out from the crowd and get users to click on your search results over others.
3. Understand the main message of the page: Before you start writing your meta description, you should have a clear understanding of what the page is about and what its focus is – in other words, the main message of the page. The Meta Description should reflect the content of the page clearly and coherently.
4. Emphasize Unique Benefits: Focus on the unique benefits or features that the specific site offers. Be clear about what users will be able to expect and the benefits of visiting your site.
5. Clear and enticing CTA: One tip is to use a clear and enticing “call to action” that encourages users to act. Use words that call to action, such as “discover,” “read more,” or “click here.”
6. Create a sense of urgency: If possible, create a sense of urgency in your CTA to increase the likelihood of users taking immediate action. It can be a limited-time campaign or a unique offer.
7. Use A/B testing: Another valuable tip is to test different versions of your Meta Description to see which performs best. Use A/B testing to compare click-through rates and adjust accordingly.
8. Regular update: Last but not least, you should remember that SEO is constantly changing, which is why it is important to regularly update your Meta Descriptions. Above all, you should always remember to always update the meta description when you make changes to the page so that the meta description matches the content on the page.

Common Mistakes with Meta Descriptions

Getting a good meta description can be tricky at first, but with a little practice and optimization, you’ll learn what works and what doesn’t – provided you actively evaluate the results. That said, there are several common obstacles and mistakes along the way that you should avoid.

1. Focus on relevance over the number of keywords: Avoid filling the Meta Description with an excessive amount of keywords. The user experience and readability are most important. Over-optimizing your meta description with too many keywords will just look unnatural and probably lead to a lower click-through rate rather than a higher one. Instead, focus on including relevant keywords that naturally fit into the description.
2. Prioritize readability: Meta Description should be readable and attractive to people. Avoid creating sentences that feel strange or disjointed due to excessive use of keywords.
3. Regular follow-up and adjustment: A common mistake many people make when it comes to the meta description is to regularly review and update their meta descriptions. As the content on the page changes, it can cause the meta descriptions to become outdated and irrelevant to the page’s current content.
4. Adapting to changes in search strategy: Another mistake is not changing the meta descriptions when your overall search strategy changes. If the content on your site evolves or you target new audiences, make sure your Meta descriptions reflect these changes.
5. Create relevance for the target audience: Avoid creating Meta descriptions that are too generic and not aimed at your specific target audience. Think about who you want to attract and adjust the description to appeal to their interests and needs.
6. Continuous adaptation to user intent: Adapt the meta descriptions to match the user intent behind the searches. Ignoring users’ intent can result in misleading descriptions that don’t match their expectations.