The page description (Meta Description)
Just like the page title, the page description is not visible to a visitor on the page itself; however, it is an element that should not be underestimated as the first touchpoint with your potential visitors in the organic search (SEO).
The page description is displayed in the search results on Google & Co. as gray text under the blue title (link) (see illustration).
Where does the page description come from?
In the HTML code, the page description can be found in the head section and is initiated with the following code:
<meta name="description" content="Page description" />
The so-called description is usually maintained through the content management system or the shop maintenance console. If you do not know where to do this in your content maintenance tool, you should contact the developers or programmers. Usually, the page description, if not editorially maintained by you, is left empty or generated based on rules from the website. Both are not optimal, as in both cases the potential relevance is not given and the search engine can indeed replace it.
Why should the description be editorially maintained?
Imagine you walk into a shoe store and are greeted – like everyone else – with a text like the following: “With us, you shop risk-free: There are no shipping costs for any order over €50, and returns are always free. For 40 years we have understood …” You were in the mood to buy stylish shoes, maybe even to challenge your credit card and treat yourself. And the first thing the salesperson mentions are the costs per order. It’s hard to stay in the mood.
Remember, this is the first (and perhaps the last) contact with your customer. You should be inviting, informative, service-oriented, and courteous. That is why such texts should always be written by people for people. That they still adhere to the rules (see below) is certainly a challenge. But you also don’t have a business card from a photocopier on cheap paper, but a high-quality product so that you are remembered well. Most website operators, especially those who do not come from e-commerce, are not even aware of how important this text is and that it can indeed determine success or failure.
Try it out, test it, refine it, and always keep the click-through rate (CTR) in mind – you can observe this very well in the Google Search Console also with regard to individual URLs. Conduct a test with initially just one directory. And once you have figured out the right “twist”, transfer your knowledge to the other directories.
What rules should one follow?
- First, one should adhere to the rule of thumb not to use more than 150 to a maximum of 155 characters. This is because the space available in search engines is limited, and if your description is too long, it will be cut off. This means that your marketing statement or invitation to click on your search result cannot be fully conveyed. The character limit is, as mentioned, a rule of thumb. This is because letters have different widths. An “I” or a lowercase “l” has less width than a “W” or an “M”. Since the intended space for the page description is measured in pixels, the aforementioned maximum number of 155 characters is only an empirical value. This is based on the fact that the German language has a good mix of letters. If your description consists solely of “long” letters, 155 characters may be too much.
- As a second rule, the main keyword should definitely appear again in the description. Even though search engines do not crawl the description and use it for ranking evaluation, it has the advantage that the word – if it has been searched – will be displayed in bold in the description. So if the search query was “SEO agency” and this is also in your description, it will be displayed in bold in the search result. This makes the search result more noticeable and will have a higher click-through rate.
- Special characters should be used very sparingly, as especially Google only tolerates them to a limited extent. Likewise, the “WRITING STYLE” can be negatively rated by the search engine. Consequence: The description may be replaced. Additionally, the user feels metaphorically shouted at, which can be off-putting and negatively affect the click-through rate.
- Describe the expected content of the landing page behind the search result so that users know what to expect. This reduces the bounce rate (Bounce Rate).
- In an ideal world, your page description ends with a so-called CTA (short for: “Call to Action”). This refers to a friendly invitation to click. An example could be: “… | shop now!” or “… – Download exclusive whitepaper now”. This is not always possible, as it sometimes does not fit the content, but where it fits, the use of such an invitation can indeed work wonders.
It should be said in conclusion that snippet optimization, which includes the optimization of the page description (Meta Description), is a high art. This requires a hundred percent enthusiasm for your own offering, total customer friendliness, and a lot of patience. So do not be discouraged if it does not work out well on the first try. And if it does, then bring in the professionals. In the end, this is an investment that pays off very quickly.
Do you want to improve your descriptions and need support? Then contact us! Do you want to learn more or have your team trained on this topic? Then take a look at our analytics seminars.
