Meta descriptions: The best SEO technique that’s not really SEO

One of the things that drives me crazy about search engine optimization these days is how people tend to focus so much on the “advanced” tricks and techniques that they begin to overlook the basics. Case in point: meta descriptions seem to be dying a slow and painful death.

For those unfamiliar, meta descriptions are short teaser summaries that describe what a given web page is about. Search engines like Google pull these descriptions and display them directly below the title link of a search result (see example below). Except, of course, when it doesn’t.

 

Too many people these days have given up of the hassle of composing compelling meta descriptions for their articles, blogs and web pages. In these cases, Google simply scrolls the page itself for examples of the search terms within the text. It then pulls an example or two and presents them under the search result, usually in short indecipherable snippets.

 

Most SEO novices know that titles are incredibly important not only to overall optimization and page rank, but also to inspire readers to click on results once Google pulls them up. But what’s also true for most surfers is that when scanning search results, the title itself only inspires them to give pause. In those cases, it’s the text immediately under the title link that folks scan quickly to decide whether or not to click. That’s where a good meta description can give your page the extra attention it deserves.

So why are so many folks retiring meta descriptions from their SEO practices? The main reason is that meta descriptions and meta keywords have no real effect on search engine page rank anymore. Those who have been surfing the ‘Net since the early days of AOL probably remember the phenomenon of “spamming the keyword field,” where evil web publishers would load up on as many keywords as possible (even those barely related to the page itself) in an effort to beat the system and boost their rankings.

Search engines caught on to this tactic long ago and subsequently took away any added value those fields used to provide – including meta descriptions. Unfortunately, too many people have mistakenly used this information to conclude that meta descriptions have no value in SEO. Hey, if it won’t help my page rank, what use is it, right? Wrong!

The biggest mistake a publisher can make is to start writing strictly for robots. Its people that you want to attract, and a good meta description will help inspire more readers to click on your content. After all, what good is a high page rank if people just pass right over your stuff?

So with that said, here are some tips for writing quality meta descriptions for your pages, which I think should be part of every organizations overall SEO strategy:

1. Make them compelling. The whole point is to encourage people to click, right? Use action phrases like “Find more information…” or “Learn about ___ “ to give readers a clear reason to view your page.
2. Use your keywords. Just because meta descriptions don’t count toward page rank doesn’t mean you should just forget about your carefully optimized phrases. Search engines like Google still bold search terms in meta descriptions when pulling results, and these bolded phrases will help attract the eye of the reader. You shouldn’t overdo it, but including your main phrase once in your description is a sound practice.
3. Don’t be too wordy. You only have a few seconds to capture a reader’s attention, so don’t waste time. Google allows for a maximum of 156 character meta descriptions (in most cases) before they are truncated. Try to fit the main focus of your content within those character limits. Don’t be timid though. Use as many of those characters as you can – anything less is wasted real estate.

You can learn a lot more about the value of meta descriptions from a variety of sources online. Here are a few to get you started:

How to use meta description tags in 2011 (visionberry)
How to write a better meta description (SilktideBlog)
Three meta description mistakes you might be making (HubSpot)

You can find more information on content marketing and editorial practices at the OpenView Labs website. You can also follow Brendan on Twitter @BrenCournoyer and find more from the OpenView team @OpenViewVenture.