If you are looking for a way to increase traffic from Google, then SEO is the best place to start.
SEO strategies can help your website rank higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) and bring more people to your site.
Meta descriptions are one of the many SEO elements you should use on your website since it helps with SEO and increase click-through rates.
You see, while SEO is one of those things that can seem daunting at first, with a bit of practice and knowledge, it can become second nature.
These Six Tips on How To Write Meta Descriptions the right way will help you improve.
Keep in mind that these tips can also increase traffic from Google and boost ranking.
With that said, let’s get started, shall we?
Tip # 1: Keep it short and simple
Using long sentences can be confusing for your readers.
If you need a sentence with more than 20-25 words, consider splitting it into two.
You see, when it comes to writing a meta description, keep your sentences short and sweet.
The recommended length is between 120 to 156 characters, including spaces.
Ideally, the description should not exceed 155 characters.
Otherwise, Google will not display your entire snippet, which is detrimental to your SEO.
Remember that you want to catch the user’s attention and make them want to click on your link, so don’t go into too much detail about your product or service.
Meta descriptions are not the same as writing an entire blog post.
Just tease them with a bit of information and make them want more.
Typically, you want to keep each sentence under 15 words since long sentences are complicated for users to read on mobile devices.
And again, split up longer phrases into two or three shorter ones, so it’s easier for Google bots to understand what your site is about without having too many keywords in one place.
For example, if your offer is Men’s suit, instead of saying:
“We offer great deals on men’s suits” You can make it “Great Deals On Men’s Suits”.
This way, it is SEO-friendly and easy to read.
Tip # 2: Focus on keywords
The SEO world is filled with competition, so you must focus your writing on specific keywords.Use SEO-optimised title tags and meta descriptions that clearly describe the content of your pages.
How? By having the right keywords.
You see, even though SEO has changed since the Panda algorithm update was released in 2011, Google still places a premium on keyword usage.
Your meta description should include some of your target keywords to help improve SEO and increase traffic from Google.
Furthermore, when picking keywords, choose terms that people use to search for your product or service.
It is usually a combination of specific words related to your industry (e.g. men’s clothing) and particular keywords related to what you offer. (e.g. men’s suits
Besides, keyword research can be laborious if you do not know what you are doing.
So we suggest using one of many SEO tools available online today, such as PPC HERO, which can help generate different ideas based on SERP data.
This simple SEO tool offers a quick, free estimate of monthly searches based on the terms you enter.
Once you have a list of keywords, pick the more relevant ones to your business or product description, then use them throughout each sentence.
You don’t have to overdo it, though.
Remember to write naturally and use your judgment about whether a keyword will help improve click-through rates from search results.
Just make sure they flow naturally and appear a couple of times throughout each sentence without overdoing it since Google is now cracking down on keyword stuffing in SEO content.
Google is pretty good at finding synonyms, so try broadening your list of words without repeating what they already know.
So try not to include too many SEO-friendly words at once because this could hurt your ranking by looking spammy, so you have to strike a balance.
Typically, three SEO-friendly words per sentence should be enough for getting noticed, but no more than five; otherwise, it will look like spam.
Your goal should be to write something that people search for online or click on.
Tip # 3: Always Use The Active Voice
When writing meta descriptions for SEO purposes, it’s important to use powerful action words.
Words like “Discover”, “Investigate”, “Explore” will help get users excited about clicking on your article.
On the other hand, using words that are common or worse – nothing at all – won’t compel users as much as an active verb would.
Including strong verbs can help increase SEO efforts since they will engage users to click on your content instead of leaving their curiosity unfed.
The active voice is more direct and makes your content sound more authoritative.
In contrast, passive voice will make your content seem weak and unimportant.
For example:
“A suit was offered by us” sounds like it might have come from a second-hand store…
…while “We offer great deals on men’s suits” sounds much better and catches user attention.
On top of that, it can also sound more actionable.
Take a look at this another example…
“Don’t use SEO techniques to trick Google into ranking your site higher.”
It sounds a lot better than…
“Google does not like SEO tactics designed to trick it.”
The second statement appears to be submissive and weak, whereas the first one has a more assertive tone.
In other words…
Active voice is more potent than passive voice in SEO content.
Needless to say, you want to sound confident about what you are talking about when writing meta descriptions for improved SEO efforts.
Tip # 4: Be different (Make your descriptions unique)
In SEO writing, there’s no room for duplicating what another site has already said since this may be considered spammy.
If your meta description is the same as those on other websites, there’s a tendency to be harmful when it comes to google’s user experience.
Although the titles on your website may vary, because all of the descriptions are identical, it will appear that all pages are equal.
Write it in a way that makes your article stand out from the rest of the competition while still being SEO-friendly content at its best.
We recommend focusing heavily on how you word each sentence rather than including SEO keywords and phrases.
It’s because SEO content can get tedious and feel robotic if you write it a certain way.
The goal here should always be to find out how you can uniquely say something so that users will want to click through versus bouncing back right away just based on an article’s title alone.
Doing this may require some more creativity, but optimizing SEO involves effort.
Getting noticed among all competition online takes time since Google has over 200 ranking factors within its algorithm.
The point is that increasing SEO rankings is by writing unique meta descriptions.
Don’t simply copy what everyone else is doing because your content won’t stand out in any way, shape, or form – which also means that readers will be less inclined to click on it.
Tip # 5: Be Specific
As much as possible, you have to provide specifications.
If your target audience is technologically savvy, you could profit by concentrating on technical topics.
In this situation, you might include a company process name, solutions, and so on.
Conversely, if you target a general audience, you’ll want to avoid jargon and use everyday language.
Stress the unique selling points of your website or product while being specific about it.
Remember that SEO-friendly words should be sprinkled throughout the sentence and not crammed in at once.
Tip # 6: Include A Call To Action (CTA)
Do you want users to buy your product or sign up for a newsletter?
If so, make sure that they know about it in the meta description itself.
Include the main benefit or call to action of the page in your description.
After all, this is what people will see when they decide whether to click through to your website from the search engine results page.
Call to action will help convince people to click through since everything else has been done by this point – from SEO efforts to writing compelling descriptions.
Your goal is to drive traffic towards whatever calls-to-action are included in the article’s primary body copy.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this has been an insightful read on the secrets of writing great content.
To recap, some essential takeaways are:
- To keep your posts short and sweet
- Don’t lose sight of keywords
- Use the active voice when possible.
- Be different by making your descriptions unique so people will be compelled to click.
- Include a CTA for your readers to click through.
Follow these tips, and you’ll be on your way to creating SEO masterpieces in no time.
As a result, you can ensure that your meta descriptions will help improve your SEO and increase traffic from Google.
Again, we hope you found this blog post helpful!
For even more advice on how to write great meta descriptions, feel free to reach out to our team by booking a free consultation right here.
Leave us a comment below telling us what your single most significant takeaway was from reading all these tips?
Best,
