{"id":162372,"date":"2017-01-30T13:00:01","date_gmt":"2017-01-30T13:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/premium.wpmudev.org\/blog\/?p=162372"},"modified":"2017-02-27T23:58:35","modified_gmt":"2017-02-27T23:58:35","slug":"tip-writing-meta-descriptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/tip-writing-meta-descriptions\/","title":{"rendered":"11 SEO Tips for Writing Meta Descriptions That Get More Clicks"},"content":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve done a thorough job optimizing your website for search engines. Your site\u2019s crazy-fast<\/a>, images look great<\/a>, and content is tagged for easier scanning<\/a>. Now it\u2019s time to pay attention to those 155 characters (or less) that will hook users.<\/p>\n

Below is what your page\u2019s and post\u2019s meta description looks like in search. There\u2019s just a tiny bit of space under the meta title and URL\u2014and a bunch of distracting competitors surrounding it\u2014to sell your site. The search engines aren\u2019t giving you much room to work with, right? You\u2019d be surprised though at how much you can accomplish within just that limited amount of space.<\/p>\n

\n
\"An
An example of a meta description in Google search results.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The search engines may have enough faith in your site to boost your rankings<\/a>, but you need to get users on board now, too. If you\u2019ve gone to the trouble of improving your site\u2019s ranking in search, then you need to show the same care for your meta descriptions.<\/p>\n

Read on for some tips and tools to help you master the art of crafting a killer meta description for your content.<\/p>\n

Crafting a Click-Worthy Meta Description<\/h2>\n

I like to think of the meta description like I do a really well-crafted tweet. It should be succinct, catchy, and containing keywords my audience is already talking about.<\/p>\n

In order to merge this idealized version of the meta description with reality, here are 11 tips to use when you\u2019re ready to set about optimizing your website\u2019s metadata.<\/p>\n

Tip #1: Don’t Leave It Up to Chance<\/h3>\n

Don\u2019t leave it up to the search engines to create a meta description for you. They may just use the first sentence from the page, they may use another snippet of text that they<\/em> believe is more relevant, or it could be a hodgepodge of header tags and keywords. This is your content; you know what the page is about and what will be the biggest draw for your audience to this page.<\/p>\n

Tip #2: Cut it Out with the Copy and Paste<\/h3>\n

Don\u2019t copy a sentence or two from your web page and call it a day. On-page content is typically written with the purpose of telling a story<\/a> and guiding visitors through that story, step-by-step. Unless it\u2019s a sales-heavy landing page, that copy isn\u2019t optimized for placement in a meta description. So, take the time to craft a unique description that sums up the entire page or post.<\/p>\n

Tip #3: Know Your Limits<\/h3>\n

Stay within the character limit.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Failure
Failure to observe character limits means cut-off descriptions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

See that ellipsis there? That\u2019s no good. It implies a lack of care or sloppiness. If people are going to be picky about how your website looks or how well-crafted the content is (in a matter of seconds, mind you), how do you think they\u2019ll feel about a carelessly composed meta description that doesn\u2019t help them see the value in your page?<\/p>\n

Tip #4: Mind Your Keywords<\/h3>\n

While on-site keywording is important to your SEO efforts, so is meta description keywording. For every page and post on your site, you\u2019ll want to have a \u201cfocus\u201d keyword around which all your content revolves. This keyword should be present not only within the page content, but also within the meta description.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Using
Using keywords in your meta descriptions is important.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

Users searching for those keywords might not notice the bolded keywords, but the search engines will.<\/p>\n

Tip #5: Be Upfront<\/h3>\n

As with anything you publish to your website, be honest with your audience. If you try to optimize your content, keywords, and metadata around a term that\u2019s sure to get you traffic but is completely irrelevant to what you do, it will backfire. Remember that it\u2019s not just about getting higher numbers of visitors. It\u2019s about attracting an audience that\u2019s interested and wants to learn more. High bounce rates are sure to get you noticed by the search engines, and not in a good way.<\/p>\n

Tip #6: Capture Your USP<\/h3>\n

When writing a meta description, be sure to encapsulate your unique selling proposition (USP). Tell readers right away why clicking on your search engine result page (SERP) entry will benefit them over any of the other results that appeared. It\u2019s not a lot of space to work with, but you should be able to quickly explain what their pain is and how this page will relieve it.<\/p>\n

Tip #7: Be Direct<\/h3>\n

Write your description directly to the user. You don\u2019t have much room to describe your business, services, or products within those 155 characters, so don\u2019t waste it. Speak to \u201cyou\u201d whenever possible and let them know why exactly this page should matter to them.<\/p>\n

Tip #8: Write for the User<\/h3>\n

Although paid posts do occupy prime real estate on SERPs, they\u2019re typically not written with the user in mind. For instance:<\/p>\n

\n
\"Sales-heavy
Sales-heavy jargon won’t necessarily win.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

These descriptions don\u2019t say anything really. It\u2019s just a bunch of sales-heavy taglines. If you\u2019re going to pay to play, that might make sense. But in terms of helping people find your relevant services or products, you\u2019ll want to craft something clear, concise, and complete.<\/p>\n

Tip #9: Conduct Tests<\/h3>\n

If you\u2019ve done all this and still find that organic search traffic isn\u2019t finding your page, try testing a new description. Do a search yourself for the keyword you want to rank for. See if you can spot any trends with websites that rank on the first page of results. Then rewrite yours accordingly.<\/p>\n

Tip #10: Use a Plugin<\/h3>\n

For more control over your pages\u2019 meta descriptions, take advantage of one of the high-quality SEO plugins available within WordPress.<\/p>\n

With our SmartCrawl<\/a> plugin, you can customize how page titles and descriptions display in search engine results, so you can control your titles and keywords.<\/p>\n

Another plugin worth checking out is\u00a0All in One SEO plugin<\/a>, which provides you with all the metadata fields you\u2019ll need to populate on each page, including the meta description. There\u2019s also a character counter, so you\u2019ll know if you\u2019ve exceeded the maximum number of characters allowed in search.<\/p>\n

Tip #11: Don’t Forget Social Media<\/h3>\n

As search engines put more emphasis on social media, it\u2019s important to optimize your meta descriptions for social too. The WPSSO plugin<\/a> enables you to create completely unique meta descriptions to be used whenever your posts or pages are shared on major social media platforms like Facebook, Google+, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.<\/p>\n

Wrapping Up<\/h2>\n

Optimization doesn\u2019t end once you\u2019ve developed a website and put the pages in place. Give your website one more chance to grab the attention of users and optimize each page and post with a click-worthy meta description.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You\u2019ve done a thorough job optimizing your website for search engines. Your site\u2019s crazy-fast, images look great, and content is tagged for easier scanning. Now it\u2019s time to pay attention to those 155 characters (or less) that will hook users. Below is what your page\u2019s and post\u2019s meta description looks like in search. There\u2019s just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":344989,"featured_media":162386,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"blog_reading_time":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_tutorials_categories":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[263,10469],"tags":[35,10605],"tutorials_categories":[],"class_list":["post-162372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tutorials","category-business-marketing","tag-seo","tag-meta-description"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/344989"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=162372"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":219059,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/162372\/revisions\/219059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/162386"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=162372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=162372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=162372"},{"taxonomy":"tutorials_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wpmudev.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tutorials_categories?post=162372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}