Meta Descriptions are still important
Add engaging, action-focused meta descriptions
The meta description is the short snippet of information that appears below your website’s title and URL in Google’s search engine results. Although meta descriptions aren’t a ranking factor, it’s important to give each page on your website a relevant, keyword-focused meta description.
One reason for this is that your meta description can have a huge effect on your page’s CTR, or clickthrough rate. A detailed meta description will encourage users to click your result instead of a competing website, increasing your total share of search impressions.
Below, we’ve added a meta description to our example page on men’s leather Oxfords. You can see that the listing now offers much more detail about what users can expect to see, as well as a compelling reason to click through in the form of our free shipping offer.
Each page of your website should have its own unique meta description that explains the page in more detail and offers a reason for users to click. If you’re using WordPress, you can quickly add unique meta descriptions using a plugin like Yoast SEO or SEO Ultimate.
To enter your title tag and meta description, just scroll down to below your page’s content box and find the SEO settings area. Enter your title and meta description into the data entry boxes shown below:
Key Points:
Make sure each page of your website has its own meta description, since it makes a big difference to your organic search clickthrough rate.
Use your keyword in your meta description, but don’t stuff it in unnaturally. Google can see when you’re overusing keywords, and they might penalize your website.
Focus on encouraging the user to click, since the goal of a meta description is to “sell” your website to its target audience.
