Did you know that a good meta description can significantly increase your site’s CTR? We will try to give the simplest instructions that tell you exactly what to do when writing a meta description.

Writing a meta description can seem complicated because there are a lot of small details that need to be taken care of. But actually meta descriptions are quite simple, once you know what to do.

What is a meta description and how to write one?

Since the early days of SEO, meta descriptions have been an important point of optimization. Google continues to claim that meta descriptions do not help rankings in any way. But, as an indirect signal, we can claim without any doubt, meta descriptions really help in ranking, and overall success of the website.

A properly optimized meta description affects the perception of the site’s quality, both by users and the target audience, and by search engines. It may not be a direct ranking signal, but it is certainly a very important link in optimizing the content on the site. Over time, a lot has changed when it comes to Google ‘s attitude towards meta descriptions.

According to an extensive study by Yoast, it is a common practice for Google to automatically create many meta descriptions independently, regardless of those written by the site owner. This can be frustrating, but there’s no point in whining, the question is, is there anything we can do about it?

In two-thirds of the cases in the study, Google used sentences from the first section of the page. Of course, this particular claim isn’t a guarantee that Google will do the same for your site, but it’s an indication that you should pay attention to the introduction.

Keywords in the meta description

Google continues to claim that it does not use meta description keywords for ranking purposes. But when you search the Internet, what do you see? Highlighted keywords in the meta description. This is not conclusive proof that Google is using them as a ranking factor, but they are something that will surely attract the audience and stand out as the most relevant result, satisfying their query.

Since users are looking for search results that best match their queries, make sure that the meta description is consistent with the content on the site. If your meta description satisfies their intent better than any other result that comes up, you’ve just won the battle to get their attention resulting in increased traffic to your site. Adding keywords that Google is most likely to highlight when displaying search results for that query will certainly help to ensure that your result is something that will meet the user’s intent and is the best result for their query.

What is the recommended / ideal meta description length?

For years, it has been considered a best SEO practice to keep meta descriptions to a maximum of 160-165 characters (or 156-160 characters). The reason for this is that this optimization helps to avoid shortening meta descriptions in search results and, as a result, helps to avoid high bounce rates.

Not so long ago, Google increased the number of allowed characters to 300, but not long after that, it returned to the previously mentioned number of around 150 characters. Constantly experiment, evaluate the results and make changes based on those findings. Follow what Google and their spokespeople have to say on the subject and what practices should be followed, but also do your own testing. Examine what they recommend and test what they didn’t say.

The meta description should call to action

A well-written meta description must entice the user to take action. Think of it as a short sales ad that should convince people to click on your link, because there they will find the solution to their problem, that is, the answer to their query. For this reason, it is recommended that the meta description contains a clear call-to-action.

You want the user to take a specific action, and you can best stimulate that by clearly directing the desired action. Click here, Read more, Apply…

The meta description should only talk about what the audience is really interested in and what was the goal of their search. A well-written meta description has a positive impact on many website parameters. In addition to influencing SEO, meta descriptions can lead to increased clicks, traffic, potential conversions and revenue. There are indications that well-written and properly optimized meta descriptions are directly responsible for increasing CTR. A higher CTR results in a better ranking, which leads to more traffic to the site. Creating a well-written meta description that is closely related to the website ‘s topic, is interesting to users and is well optimized for user intent can significantly increase conversions.

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