Using/Improving Meta Descriptions of Web Pages
Karl Kasca
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Meta Description (SEO)

Improving the Meta Descriptions is the second most important thing you can do to optimize your web pages, after optimizing the Titles.

Meta Tag descriptions tell the search engines information about the content on your web page. These are usually the snippets of text you see listed under the web page Titles when you do a web search.

Check to be sure that every important page of your site has a Meta Description and that it accurately describes the content on the page. Write a short description of 20-30 words and insert a few key words/phrases, but be careful not to use too many or it could be considered "keyword stuffing", which would lower the pages ranking. Don't exceed 150 characters (with spaces).

These descriptions are invisible unless you use your web browser to "View" the "Source" code (HTML, XHTML, or XML) of your web page. Meta descriptions should be located near the top of your web page between the HEAD elements ( <head>...</head>) and have this form:

Form:

<meta name="description" content="add your description here">

The important thing about meta descriptions is that they can help attract visitors to your web site. That is, if you write descriptions that someone doing a web search would be intrigued enough to click on. What's the most important thing you can say to describe the content on your web page? Well, this is the place to say it so the search engines can find and display it.

Bottom Line(s):

  • What description would make you click on your web result and take the time to visit your web site?


  • Use descriptions you would pick if you saw them on a whole page of search engine results.


  • Don't exceed 150 characters (with spaces).



Action Steps for Meta Description:

  • Check to be sure that every important page of your site:

    - Has a Meta Description and that

    - It accurately describes the content on the page.

    - How?

    - Go to your Website.

    - Select: View > Source in your browser menu (Internet Explorer)

    - Or: View > Page Source (Firefox)

    - Find this (Edit > Find): "description" content=

    - See if there is anything after: content=

    - If not, add a description as discussed above and in the next 2 points.

    - If you find a description, evaluate it based on what was discussed above/below.

    - Do this for every major/important web page on your website.


  • Write a short description of 20-30 words and insert a few key words/phrases.


  • Don't exceed 150 characters (with spaces).


Video - Meta Descriptions: How to Find and Edit the Meta Description of a web page


EXAMPLES: Dog Grooming - Google search for "dog grooming" (without the quotes)
--> Note: See the green arrows in the example search below:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Example of Google search Snippets: See "EXAMPLES" below for more info.
   Example of Google search Snippets: See "EXAMPLES" below for more info.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Example #1: Groomers.com

Actual Meta Description from webpage source code:

<meta http-equiv="description" content="Groomers.com is your one stop shop - we carry all the clippers, blades, dryers, tables, tools, shears, colognes and finishing touches you need to stock your business!">

Snippet from Google search result:

"Groomers.com is your one stop shop - we carry all the clippers, blades, dryers, tables, tools, shears, colognes and finishing touches you need to stock your ..."

--> Note that Google cut the Description after "your", so "business!" was left out.
--> Bottom Line: Limit your Description to about 150 characters with spaces.

Example #2: www.bestfriendspetcare.com/dog_grooming/dog-grooming.cfm

Actual Meta Description from webpage source code:

<META name="description" content="Grooming Tips For Dogs">

Snippet from Google search result:

"Grooming your dog can also be a good way to bond with your dog, and it's important to ... Looking for a groomer for your pet? Click here for dog grooming..."

Question: Why is the Meta Description different than the Google search result Snippet?

Answer: Because Google tries to give their customer (the Searcher) the best description for the web page it can, which means that if the Meta Description is lacking, then it may use the Open Directory project (DMOZ) description, or it might just pick representative phrases (or names) from the web page content, as it did in this example.

For more on how this works from Matt Cutts, Google's Search Quality group on "Snippets and Meta Description tags":



Resources:

Resource mentioned in Video:

  • UltraEdit (formerly UltraEdit32)


  • http://www.ultraedit.com/


  • Note: UltraCompare is also great for comparing changes to WordPress blog (CSS & php) files after Upgrades/Updates.


I've used UltraEdit for some time now as a replacement to Notepad (in Windows). There are free programs, but I haven't found any with the power of UltraEdit. However, you can use any other HTML editor as well: Notepad (just be sure to save the file with the same extension as the original, e.g., *.htm or *.html), Microsoft FrontPage or Expression Web, Dreamweaver, etc.


ARTICLE DATE: 2008-10-01
REVISED DATE:



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 Related Articles
·  Title Tags for your Web Pages
·  Submitting Your Website to Online Directories - DMOZ - and Search Engines


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