Does your site have right meta data for SEO?
- SEO |
When the search engine spiders crawl through your website they are on a look out for specific information about your site's purpose. They find this information in meta data which ideally needs to be included by the coders when they design the site. If your website is already up, don't sweat. Simply right click on every page and view page source. Look for a code that looks something like this:
<title> Professional content writing agency </title>
<meta name="description" content= "Different types of writing services like technical writing, medical writing and creative writing"/>
<meta name="keywords" content= "writing, technical, medical, creative"/>
There is a theory going around that meta data is no longer important for SEO. Well, part of it is true because Google does not consider it as an important factor in ranking these days. But it still picks up this vital information to create its search results. The blue headline it displays is information written in the title tag. The description below the title in search results is nothing but text from meta descriptions. These titles and descriptions play an important role in 'click through'.
But remember, it is not enough to have meta data. It is equally important to get it right. How do you ensure you have the right meta data?
That said, meta data need not always be forced. If you have a page with multiple products, you may not be able to write a single 160 characters description that does justice to the content. In such cases, leave the task of generating relevant SERP description to search engines. They will pick up the gist on their own and they are more likely to display keywords being searched for.
<title> Professional content writing agency </title>
<meta name="description" content= "Different types of writing services like technical writing, medical writing and creative writing"/>
<meta name="keywords" content= "writing, technical, medical, creative"/>
There is a theory going around that meta data is no longer important for SEO. Well, part of it is true because Google does not consider it as an important factor in ranking these days. But it still picks up this vital information to create its search results. The blue headline it displays is information written in the title tag. The description below the title in search results is nothing but text from meta descriptions. These titles and descriptions play an important role in 'click through'.
But remember, it is not enough to have meta data. It is equally important to get it right. How do you ensure you have the right meta data?
- Cut it Short: If you meta description is more than 160 characters, it may get truncated by Google. The users will see an incomplete description and your call to action which is usually towards the end may not be displayed at all. It is best to tell your story in few words.
- Think like a Salesman: Your pitch must be convincing, in active voice and with a strong call to action. Find out more, learn more and try it now are some ways of ending your meta description.
- Optimize Keywords: Don't try to stuff keywords in your description. Keep it human readable. The sentence should make sense. While stuffing is bad idea, if your description has a keyword that matches search query, it will be highlighted in blue. And that automatically increases the chances of being clicked. So use the right amount of keywords in a readable sentence.
- Be honest: Don't write a description only to drive click through. Write description that totally matches the content of the page. If you have created dummy pages with meta descriptions or if you are using keyword heavy description for a page that has no relevant content, Google will notice. Chances are that you will be penalized with lower rankings.
That said, meta data need not always be forced. If you have a page with multiple products, you may not be able to write a single 160 characters description that does justice to the content. In such cases, leave the task of generating relevant SERP description to search engines. They will pick up the gist on their own and they are more likely to display keywords being searched for.