Are Meta descriptions still important for SEO rankings? It’s not. But it’s best to remember that SEO is more than rankings; it’s about establishing authority, catching attention, engaging the target audience, and inducing action.
Also, the fact is that you still need meta descriptions, and therefore, there are a few best practices you best follow.
Indeed, Meta descriptions will not matter the least in deciding where your webpage will rank in Google. Bing, however, puts more weight on meta titles and descriptions. So, all factors considered, you better create your Meta descriptions, so they bring value to you.
A trusted digital marketing agency like ours creates the right meta descriptions and takes care of every small detail like these to best create, maintain, and prepare your website for search engines and target audiences.
What are Meta Descriptions and Why Do They Still Matter?
What is there in a search result?
The webpage URL at the top, the clickable page title in blue, and a short description about the page, about what you are likely to find when you click on the title.
A Meta Description can include a Call to Action, such as Click to Learn/Read/Discover more, which is a particularly effective strategy as the number of mobile searches continues to climb.
Say, you decide to include your business phone number in your Meta description. If someone is searching on a smartphone and sees a list of results and yours are the only one with a phone number, they can quickly call you without having to search any further. This will make sure your business gets the most leads and conversions, all with the simple tactic of including your phone number.
Now, it’s up to Google whether they will use the description provided by you. They may make changes to or even pull out a completely different description than what you have provided.
As a rough estimate, 70% of the time, Google will rewrite or replace the meta descriptions displayed. 30% of the time, Google will use the description you provide, so it makes sense that you create the best meta description.
Mistake 1: Too Long Meta Descriptions
There’s only so much room for your descriptions to speak about your webpage. The rough estimate is 160 characters for desktops and 120 characters for mobile devices.
So, even if you write an ideal page summary, Google will truncate it and probably replace it as well if it goes beyond the limits. The idea is to keep your descriptions within the required limits while at the same time being concise and clear.Brand management services like ours at Markethix make sure that the meta descriptions are of the right length so that search engines find them useful.
Mistake 2: Too Short Meta Descriptions
Too brief content, as your meta description, will give the search engines the image that it lacks substance and, therefore, might be irrelevant. In such cases, Google will surely replace the description and pull it out from the webpage content.
Brevity is important, but you should still make use of the space provided in the best manner possible and create descriptions that most aptly summarize and promote your content.
Mistake 3: Inconsistent Meta Descriptions
There are too many instances on the internet where the descriptions are not consistent with the page content. This can be due to a lack of attention to detail or simply some sloppy work, but what it does, in essence, is make it difficult for the search engines to index and rank your page properly. Not to mention that Google will surely change the descriptions completely.
Mistake 4: No Relevant Keywords
The description is a portion to expand upon your webpage title. Think about which keywords you would include in your title to show the search engines or target audience what the page is all about.
So, it’s important that you create the most appropriate description and include the proper keywords in them, so Google can easily find out what the webpage is about. Include enough relevant keywords in your descriptions to show Google and other search engines the webpage is in line with the description provided.
Sometimes, Google will highlight the keywords it deems suitable, so it will help you further in ranking your webpage.
Mistake 5: Duplicate Descriptions
The same description provided on multiple web pages is a result of some very careless and sloppy SEO work. As is well known, duplicate content is despised by search engines, and the same is true for meta descriptions. Each page must have its own unique meta description. Otherwise, the search engine might very well pass it by, as well as the content on it.
Sometimes, the meta descriptions are created by website plugins and then forgotten. But it’s best for a digital marketing agency to take the time out to review and optimize these suggestions and create descriptions that are unique to every page.
Takeaway
Mistakes are common in SEO, but it’s best not made due to carelessness on your part. Meta descriptions are often a neglected part of SEO, probably because it does not work directly in ranking your site. But they are important for so many reasons, the primary being it provides an accurate summary of the page, and thus it becomes easier for Google and your target audience to get a hint of what your page is all about.
Avoiding common mistakes is a key step in creating meta descriptions that will suitably describe your page and, thus, provide value to you and your business.
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