What Is A Meta Description?
When you perform a Google search it shows the page title, the URL and then some info below – That info is the meta description!
This is what you will see when you do a search. Meta descriptions are so important to a site, but within 150-160 characters, you need to tell the users what your page offers so they can decide whether your site is what they are looking for.
If your description on Google isn’t relevant to the page that opens, then they will likely bounce straight back off and find a site that suits their needs. Yes, you may get lots of hits, but they are irrelevant and won’t lead to sales.
In the snapshot above, you can see the page title, URL and the meta description for The Innovation Club. This clearly shows what the page is about and includes relevant keywords like SEO, marketing and strategy.
Do I Need A Meta Description For Every Page?
It would be good practice to optimise each page’s meta description to describe what that page, in particular, has to offer, rather than what the site offers overall.
If your site sells products, then each page would have a different meta description based on what the product was. This means that if the content on your page is relevant to that product (which it should be – read our ‘content with your content’ blog post), each page will rank for that product search with a relevant meta description, which should prompt the search user to visit your site.
Google Does Not Rank Meta Descriptions
Although Google does not rank meta descriptions, it is still a wasted opportunity if you do not fully utilise that tiny bit of advertising space to hopefully pull in potential visitors and customers to your site. If your description isn’t great, but the link below you has a good one, the customer might choose to visit their site, losing a visitor which could have converted into a sale.
Meta Descriptions Are Different To Google Ads
Meta descriptions and Google Ads look the same as they contain similar info, but you pay for Google ads and meta descriptions are free.
Google Ads appear above standard search results and account for a lot of Google’s income. Depending on your budget and how common the search terms will be for your site will decide whether you should use SEO strategies, PPC (Pay Per Click) Advertising or both.
How As One Can Help
We offer our SEO knowledge alongside copywriting and bespoke content writing services, which will help your site describe your services in the way you want to, as well as reaching the customers that are and will search for your business.
Ultimately, you want people to visit your site, but you want those visitors to be relevant. Your meta descriptions should be tailored to the customers by explaining briefly what the page will offer them. If your meta description isn’t relevant to what the page will show, then the visitors will leave straight away and go to another site that offers what they are searching for.
