There are so many discussions regarding the importance of meta description in SEO.
Yes, it gives a positive impact on your SEO.
As all user read your meta description before reading your page or article it impacts your click-through rate and traffic.
To all those who don’t know about meta description keep reading to know about meta description.
When you see search results you find the blue title and snippet text which shows a short description about the page.
70% time of google rewrites the meta description which is created by site owners and 30% time of google uses the same meta description
Why Google Rewrites Meta Description :
When your meta description is too much keyword-stuffed and not useful for the user.
Google will rewrite the meta description to match the search query.
When your meta description is too long
Here are some common meta description mistakes that you should avoid :
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A meta description is too long or too short :
The ideal length of the meta description should be 120 – 160 character for desktop and 120 for mobile. You should not exceed than this character.
If you exceed or shorter than given length, Google will truncate your meta description or rewrite your meta description.
The crispy and engaging meta description is the key to increase your click-through rate.
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Irrelevant meta description :
Your meta description should describe your page. If your meta description failed to describe your page, then your meta description will not be used by a search engine.
The irrelevant meta description will harm your chances of having your page getting indexed or ranking.
So, it is important to write a relevant meta description
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Lack of keyword research and optimization :
You should incorporate related keywords in the meta description that send a relevant signal to search engine and your targeted audience. This will increase your chance to get index and higher ranking.
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Avoid duplication :
The meta description for each page should be unique and engaged.
Yes, Google will not actively penalize but it still impacts your SEO ranking.
Pages with duplicate meta description will not get indexed. Always write unique and engaged meta description to get a higher ranking.
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Missing call to action :
Incorporating a call to action in your meta description is the best way to boost your click-through rate. Improving click-through rate wil improve your search ranking. So it is advised to use the call to action in the meta description
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Not writing a meta description :
If you missed writing a meta description, Google may show navigation in meta description or meta description written by google will not add value to the audience or don’t provide a reason for the audience to click the link.
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Boring meta description :
Your meta description should interesting and engaging that should give the reason for the audience. It shouldn’t boring. Your meta description should be unique and eye-catching.
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Focus on readers, not just search engine :
Think less about search engine, focus on readers. Give value to your audience and reason to your audience so that they click the link.
As the top SEO blogs, SEOmoz says…
“Meta description tags, while not important to search engine rankings, are extremely important in gaining user click-through from search engine result pages (SERPs). These short paragraphs are webmaster’s opportunity to advertise content to searchers and let them know exactly what the given page has with regard to what they’re looking for.”
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Copy pasting from the article :
A meta description is an opportunity for all webmasters or bloggers to market their content.
Writing a 160-character meta description takes only 10 – 15 minutes. Isn’t it?
Never miss that opportunity without writing an effective meta description. Write effective meta description to increase your ctr and visibility.
Avoid the above mistakes to improve your click-through rate and stand out from your competitors.
Hope you find it useful.