When it comes to writing good meta descriptions, there are some clear winners in terms of advice. Indeed, with the right SEO in Toronto from great companies like GrowME Marketing, it’s easy to achieve exactly what you are looking for with meta descriptions. However, the process does require keeping a few things in mind, which is exactly what we intend to teach you about today.
With SEO in Toronto and meta descriptions, the understanding of how to do it right comes from understanding what it is in the first place. That’s why we’ll first describe to you what a meta description is and then how to optimize it for your SEO and conversion goals. We shouldn’t waste any time with this, so let’s get started!
What Is a Meta Description?
A meta description is the text that appears underneath the title and URL in Google search results. It is truncated after a certain length and is intended to give searchers a way to understand the relevance of the page for their search query. And, it is a powerful tool in the arsenal of SEO in Toronto, as Google rewards websites that offer meta-specific text as opposed to letting it be automatically generated by the search engine.
How Long Should the Meta Descriptions Be?
As meta descriptions are truncated (shortened, with an ellipse at the end), they do have a perfect length. Many theorize this is around 156 characters, but spacing issues and other factors mean that you are better off to go for a range. Personally, I aim for between 150-165 characters, but that’s just, like, my opinion, man.
What Must Meta Descriptions Include?
Meta descriptions must include the keyword your website is targeting, and even better, the specific keyword for the specific page on that website. This keyword will be bolded in search results that feature it, making it easier for searchers to find and increasing the likelihood of your rankings increasing. Plus, it’s also the first signal to the crawlerbots about what your webpage is about, which is always beneficial.
What Should Meta Descriptions Include?
Here is where we leave the realm of hard facts. For SEO in Toronto and otherwise, most meta descriptions do best when they are relevant and appeal to the audience of the page. This means that they function in a similar fashion to a billboard ad. They give you just enough space to speak directly to your audience and encourage them to visit your site.
So, you should write them in that fashion. A call to action at the end of the description is a good way to start. So too, is a little bit of sizzle to get them interested in clicking through. Otherwise, you will also benefit from speaking directly and earnestly about the topic your page is about. For instance, a blog article about the best barbeque sauces will benefit from naming the flavours in the meta description.
Sure, that above advice may not get you a lot of clicks, but then again, maybe it will. Ask yourself what you would trust more: a site that is upfront with the information it has to offer or one that click baits you into going to a page full of ads and confusing, unrelated content. With these tools in mind, you have everything you need to make a big splash in your meta descriptions moving forward.