{"id":23091,"date":"2022-11-09T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-09T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dhblog.dream.press\/blog\/?p=23091"},"modified":"2025-05-22T00:02:39","modified_gmt":"2025-05-22T07:02:39","slug":"write-the-perfect-meta-description","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www-dev.dreamhost.com\/blog\/write-the-perfect-meta-description\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Write the Perfect Meta Description & Supercharge Your Organic Click-Through Rate"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Strong Search Engine Optimization (SEO)<\/a> fundamentals are essential if you want to get your content to be found organically in search engines. However, despite all of our efforts to cater to Google\u2019s robots, we still need to ensure we\u2019re paying special attention to the human element.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately, a well-written meta description can catch readers\u2019 attention and convince them that your content will answer their questions, and is worth their time. In turn, it can increase your site\u2019s organic click-through rate (CTR) and help tell Google your page is valuable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this post, we\u2019ll introduce you to meta descriptions and their importance to your website. Then, we\u2019ll share some important tips to help you write better meta descriptions and supercharge your organic CTR. Let\u2019s get started!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An Introduction to Meta Descriptions<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Meta descriptions are the snippets of text you see underneath the title within Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs), as seen the example below:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"Meta<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

The main goal of a good meta description is to give readers an idea of what the web page is all about. Naturally, titles also play a vital role here, but there\u2019s only so much information you can fit into a single headline.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meta descriptions provide up to a couple of sentences to expand on your page\u2019s content. You can either write them yourself or have search engines generate them automatically based on your web page\u2019s content.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As convenient as having search engines do the work for you might sound, we strongly recommend that you write your own meta descriptions. That way, you get full control over what shows up on the SERPs and social media sites while also increasing your chances of engaging users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s take a look at some meta description examples for a specific line of shoes. You can tell the meta description below was generated automatically, and it doesn\u2019t give you much to go on:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"An<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Here\u2019s another result for the same product search, this one using a stronger meta description:<\/p>\n\n\n

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\"A<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

It\u2019s important to understand that meta descriptions only give you a limited number of characters to play with. On desktops, that can be up to 160 characters<\/a>, whereas mobile users will only see 120 of them. Roughly speaking, that means you get about two lines of text.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why Meta Descriptions Are Important<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

SEO is all about relevance<\/a>. In order to rank, you first need to produce high quality content designed to answer a specific question or cover a topic thoroughly and accurately. Beyond that, there are a whole bunch of SEO best practices<\/a>, tips, and tricks that can help you rank better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some of these Google has put into a category their algorithm uses to help them rank content in Search, referred to as \u201cranking factors.\u201d There are over 200<\/a>, in fact. Various examples include keyword usage, meta data, media usage in content, backlinks, and engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While meta descriptions themselves are not a \u201cranking factor\u201d \u2014 in that they don\u2019t directly influence the rankings of your pages \u2014 they can indirectly help you by encouraging real human searchers to click on your results, thus signaling higher user engagement and potentially influencing your search position.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What to Include in a Meta Description<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Two lines of text isn\u2019t much, but more often than not, it\u2019s enough to cover a few key elements. Most often, this should include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. What your page is about<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. How it can benefit the reader<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    If a meta description is too vague, then you\u2019re not selling users on the idea of visiting your website. You\u2019ll probably still get clicks, of course, but not as many as you might have otherwise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s say, for example, that you wanted to write a meta description for this article you are reading right here. Here\u2019s, maybe, a not-so-good example:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Have you ever wondered what meta descriptions are? Wonder no more, because we\u2019ll tell you everything you need to know.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    While it hits on the article\u2019s primary topic, it doesn\u2019t do a good job of previewing the page\u2019s actual content. Now let\u2019s give it another go, keeping in mind the fundamental elements we want to include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Meta descriptions convey what your web page is all about and can indirectly influence rankings. Find out how to write the perfect meta description here.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This is short and to the point, and we even had enough characters left over to include a simple Call to Action (CTA)<\/a>. It may not win any literary awards, but it will get the job done.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    How to Write the Perfect Meta Description (10 Key Tips)<\/b><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    At this point, you know the basics of what a meta description should include. Now here are 10 tips that will help you really knock your meta descriptions out of the park.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Use Relevant Keywords<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    If you\u2019re reading this, you\u2019re probably familiar with the concept of keywords<\/a>. Ideally, you\u2019ll use key phrases organically throughout all of your content, including in metadata such as your descriptions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Let\u2019s say, for example, that you\u2019re writing a recipe and you want to optimize it for the search term \u201chow to cook a healthy lasagna\u201d. That\u2019s an easy term to work into a meta description:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Learning how to cook a healthy lasagna is easier than you might imagine. Let\u2019s go over a recipe you can cook in under two hours!<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Including keywords within your meta descriptions is an SEO best practice. It gives search engines a better idea of what your content is all about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    However, as always, make sure to work those meta keywords in organically. That means not stuffing your descriptions full of keywords.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    In fact, Google advises against<\/a> using long lists of keywords in your meta descriptions. So, you\u2019ll want to make sure your description still reads like something a human (not a bot) would write.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    2. Consider Meta Description Character Count<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    So far, most of the examples we\u2019ve shown you have come in well under the maximum character count for the major search engines. You want to get some mileage out of your meta descriptions. However, in practice, obsessing over the character count isn\u2019t as serious as you might think.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    To build on our earlier example of a healthy lasagna recipe, you could easily expand on its description to cover more information:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Learning how to cook a healthy lasagna is easier than you might imagine. For this recipe, we\u2019re substituting meat with eggplants, which means it will cook faster and feed up to four people.<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That example goes over the character limit for both desktop and mobile meta descriptions in Google. In practice, it would get cut off and look something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Learning how to cook a healthy lasagna is easier than you might imagine. For this recipe, we\u2019re substituting meat with eggplants, which means it will cook \u2026<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    That snippet still provides plenty of information, so you don\u2019t necessarily need to change it. What matters is that you include the essential details early on, so whatever does get cut off is just supplementary information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You\u2019ll also want to keep in mind that Google recommends against very short meta descriptions. Although it\u2019s great to be concise, a one-sentence description is unlikely to contain enough information to make readers click through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    3. Create Unique Meta Descriptions<\/b><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    When it comes to meta descriptions, there are two kinds of potential duplicates. It\u2019s good practice to avoid both of them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n