A meta description tag is a snippet of Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) code in a web page header that summarizes the content that's on the web page. It's considered a best practice to use meta description tags when performing search engine optimization (SEO).
An effectively crafted meta description can convince readers that the web page they're going to access will provide the information they're looking for.
The meta description is usually placed after the meta title tag and before the meta keywords tag in the header code. The following example shows how the meta description is typically placed inside the HTML tags.
<head>
<meta name="description" content="This is an example of a
meta description. This will often show up in search results.">
</head>
The following screenshot shows how a meta description will appear as part of a search engine results page (SERP) snippet.
Note that the meta description appears just below the web page's breadcrumb path, or the secondary navigation, and the clickable title tag.
Traditionally, the max characters viewed on the SERP have been 150-160. While the meta descriptions can be any length, Google truncates snippets to between 155 to 160 characters. Ideally, the meta descriptions must describe what's been talked about on the web page. For that, they must be sufficiently descriptive, which could be anywhere from 50 to 160 characters. Google's recent meta description length is up to 920 pixels, which is approximately 158 words. On mobile devices, this limit is about 680 pixels and 120 characters.
The optimal length varies from page to page. But the primary goal of adding a meta description is to provide value and drive clicks. Keep in mind that these recommended lengths might change over time, as Google is known for making changes to meta description length allowances without prior notice.
Google announced in September 2009 that neither meta descriptions nor meta keywords factor into its ranking algorithms for search results. However, the meta description might appear on the SERP page if Google doesn't find a snippet on the page that contains the keyword the user is searching for.
While meta descriptions don't affect the search rankings of a website, they're an important aspect of SEO strategy, since they're the first encounter an internet reader has with a web page. They also affect another important metric known as the organic click-through rate (CTR), which is a percentage of the internet searchers who click on an organic SERP. A good meta description can help drive traffic to a website, thus improving its ranking.
Like meta description tags on web pages, social meta tags give website owners a bit of control over what content shows up when their web page is shared on social media platforms, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Instead of the social media websites generating a headline description and image and deciding on how the content is displayed on their feeds, the website owner gets to do that. Social meta tags, also known as open graph meta tags, depend on the open graph protocol, which is a set of rules that enables any web page to become a rich object in a social graph. A website that uses open graph tags should have the proper functionality to be used on social media platforms.
According to a study conducted by web optimization company Zyppy, Google rewrites meta descriptions almost 61% of the time. There are several reasons why Google's algorithm thinks it can write better meta descriptions than website owners. According to Google's Search advocate John Mueller, the following scenarios might compel Google to rewrite the meta descriptions of web pages:
A meta description is a pitch for a web page and should address how the page can be useful to the reader. It should also accurately reflect what's included on the page.
The following are seven tips on how to write a good meta description:
Besides meta descriptions, there are other ways for businesses to improve their rankings in search engines. Explore eight ways to boost a web page's ranking in the SERPs.
31 Jan 2023