How to Write a Killer Meta Description

First of all, what in the world is a meta description?

If you look up a website on a search engine, such as Google, and the list of results is presented, you’ll notice a few things. The title and a short snippet is all that is shown, prompting you to click.

The short snippet is what we are focusing on, here. This is called the meta description. Not only does it give a brief summary of the page in question, but it is highly important for SEO purposes.

Confused? Let's break it down...

Google doesn’t rank via meta descriptions, but it does rank by the number of click-throughs. The main purpose of a meta description is to entice users and get them to click-through from the search engine results to your page. So, the more of these click-throughs you have, the higher you’ll rank in the results.

How can I write a meta description that gets results?

Length & format

There is no magic number to how many characters your description should have to be successful, but generally around 155 characters is the norm. The idea is to get the main idea across, but keep it sharp.

Main keyword

When you write your description always write in the active voice. Remember- you are trying to sell your page through an invitation to click. Also, add the main keyword to your description. This will help Google choose your description to be displayed if users search for that particular keyword.

Match the website content

Misleading meta descriptions can not only lead to penalties, but can increase bounce rate. In short, Google will find out! Always write your snippets to match the page content.