Meta tag description Usage
-
Do i wanna put meta tags as separate description that is not in the particular web page ,Normally i put meta description as 155 character from first paragraph of the web page .so do i need put a unique meta description ?
-
I think most is covered in the above answers, but will add my thoughts on this element.
Yes, you should have "unique" and good content in your meta-descriptions, as well as in any content element. There is no short cuts for good SEO. Meta-description is not a ranking element by it self, but its a big factor for SERP CTR and driving business.
With that said, I don't think there is no need not to be as smart as possible and here is when CMS with auto-generation rules comes into play.
I recommend any site to use preamble as a content element as it will be a short descriptive keyword rich text that is selling and should get the user to quickly understand the content on the page and get them to move down the page or into a conversion funnel. For me this is exactly the same as the function of a meta-description.
We allways set up our clients CMS's to autogenerate meta-description from the preamble text, as this saves times. But, we also creates an override rule with a field for meta-description that we code that if meta-description contains content, then it overrides the preamble (as a meta-description).
That way you get the best of both worlds. The possibility to write good "on-page" SEO as well as saving time.
-
Hi,
What is your CTR, you can check impression from webmaster tools and calculate the Click per impression. You can start by focusing on your landing pages.
Create description that best define your page and search term.
-
Chandana,
IMO for most sites the meat description is one of the most critical elements in On-page optimization (notice I did not say on-site). When we query a search engine for a product, service, or information and a SERP is returned, for organic search we look at the title and meta description to determine which is either the first to appear to have an answer or the most likely answer to our query.
While many CMS plug-ins have an option for a "site-wide" meta description, that is not the best option on sites with more than a couple of pages. You want a meta description that states: "Here is the best answer to what you searched for: Get it now! Get it Cheap!" (obviously, in a way that reflects your page.) Without showing you have the answer to the query you are going to get less click throughs and therefore traffic to your site.
Even if CTR is not a part of the algorithm, you will not have a chance to sell, etc those who are never getting to your site.
Now, in using the first 155 words you are likely losing an opportunity to sell the overall of the page while making it a bit easier on filling out all that is needed for a page in search. The first few sentences in a paragraph generally are broad and not necessarily speaking to the "answer is here, answer is now, answer is cheapest!" So, we do a lot of web pages and, typically, if I have a complaint with a site on final review, most will be around meta descriptions that fail to show this is where the answer is to the searcher's query.
Hope this provides a bit of assistance,
Robert
-
I think by not writing unique meta descriptions you are missing an opportunity to help your pages convert better in the SERPs. A good well written meta description can improve your sites click-through rate in the search engines. I have tested out different ones in the past and if you get it right you will see a noticeable improvement in my experience.
Have a quick look at the SeoMoz best practice guide for some more general info -
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
No index detected in robots meta tag GSC issue_Help Please
Hi Everyone, We just did a site migration ( URL structure change, site redesign, CMS change). During migration, dev team messed up badly on a few things including SEO. The old site had pages canonicalized and self canonicalized <> New site doesn't have anything (CMS dev error) so we are working retroactively to add canonicalization mechanism The legacy site had URL’s ending with a trailing slash “/” <> new site got redirected to Set of url’s without “/” New site action : All robots are allowed: A new sitemap is submitted to google search console So here is my problem (it been a long 24hr night for me 🙂 ) 1. Now when I look at GSC homepage URL it says that old page is self canonicalized and currently in index (old page with a trailing slash at the end of URL). 2. When I try to perform a live URL test, I get the message "No: 'noindex' detected in 'robots' meta tag" , so indexation cant be done. I have no idea where noindex is coming from. 3. Robots.txt in search console still showing old file ( no noindex there ) I tried to submit new file but old one still coming up. When I click on "See live robots.txt" I get current robots. 4. I see that old page is still canonicalized and attempting to index redirected old page might be confusing google Hope someone can help to get the new page indexed! I really need it 🙂 Please ping me if you need more clarification. Thank you ! Thank you
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | bgvsiteadmin1 -
Is Google creating meta descriptions on the fly?
I'm doing some competitor analysis for a client. I'm looking at the client's title tags and meta descriptions for specific search results, in comparison to their main competitor. I'm trying to establish if the client is ranking higher due to better relevance, or just because they have higher PA and DA. It appears to be the latter. Observations: For both the client and their competitor, their home pages appear in the results much more frequently than specific landing pages The meta description Google chooses to display in the search results for the home page does not always match the ACTUAL meta description for the page and appears to vary depending on the specific search query Questions: Does Google create meta descriptions on the fly? Is this an example of Google using semantic search? And if so, why are we bothering to type customised meta descriptions for specific pages, if Google is just going to recreate them anyway? Is Google displaying results of the home pages simply because they cannot find pages more relevant (ie. if we produced landing pages more relevant to these specific search queries, would Google rank them higher)?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | muzzmoz0 -
Why isn't the rel=canonical tag working?
My client and I have a problem: An ecommerce store with around 20 000 products has nearly 1 000 000 pages indexed (according to Search Console). I frequently get notified by messages saying “High number of URLs found” in search console. It lists a lot of sample urls with filter and parameters that are indexed by google, for example: https://www.gsport.no/barn-junior/tilbehor/hansker-votter/junior?stoerrelse-324=10-11-aar+10-aar+6-aar+12-aar+4-5-aar+8-9-aar&egenskaper-368=vindtett+vanntett&type-365=hansker&bruksomraade-367=fritid+alpint&dir=asc&order=name If you check the source code, there’s a canonical tag telling the crawler to ignore (..or technically commanding it to regard this exact page as another version of the page without all the parameters) everything after the “?” Does this url showing up in the Search Console message mean that this canonical isn’t working properly? If so: what’s wrong with it? Regards,
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Inevo
Sigurd0 -
Mobile Meta Descriptions
Hi we have a e-commerce site on Magento. A lot of the current current meta descriptions are over 120 characters, which is approximately what Google cuts off for mobile search. We want to create mobile meta descriptions but where would we add them to the CMS and how do we tell Google to use the mobile meta description when the site is responsive. Any suggestions would be very much appreciated! Thanks, Chris
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | jayoliverwright0 -
Using cononical tag instead of 301
I've got a bit of an odd situation... My business partner and I split up, and he's going to keep the company name. The website that I built for the company has some links to it, and I've managed to build up some DA and PA. I want to get the link juice over to my new website. My former partner doesn't care about the link juice, he just wants a website that he can show people. SO, I can't do a 301 or 302, because that would take down the existing site. Can I just use a canonical tag that refers link power to my new website? Would this be harmful in any way? What should I do to accomplish getting the link power without a redirect, and without contacting each person who has given us a backlink?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Zing-Marketing0 -
Google Not Pulling The Right Title Tag & Meta Description
Hi guys. We've found Google is pulling the wrong information for our title tag and meta description. Instead of pulling the actual title tag, Google is pulling the menu name you click on to get to the page: "Bike Barcelona" instead of "Barcelona Bike Tours | ...." Also, we've found that, instead of pulling the meta description we wrote, Google is using text from the pages copy. Any tips?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | BarcelonaExperience0 -
Google is not honoring my descriptions
I finally got our title tags honored and now Google is just making the descriptions whatever it wants. This is happening on pretty much every one of our pages. An example: http://www.sqlsentry.com/products/plan-explorer/sql-server-query-view SERPS = SQL Server MVP Aaron Bertrand shares a demo kit for Plan Explorer to give you better insight into the advantages of the tool, and to help you share its virtues ... Description tag = SQL Sentry Plan Explorer is a free query plan analysis tool that will allow you to find the most expensive operators by CPU, I/O, or both. I can see the description tag when I view source so I know that it is pulling it from the table correctly. What can I do to fix this?
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | Sika220 -
HTML 5 sites, segmentation and Meta data?
Hello Mozers, I am currently building an HTML 5 site. I've run into a couple of issues. While implmenting segmentation in each of my mian menu iten, I am able to pluggin Meta data only for one segement (or the page). I am unable to inser Meta data for each of the segments. For example: I have (main menu) Services ----> Submenu (teaching, upgrading, Dancing) I can implement meta data for the Services but not for teaching, upgrading and Dancing as they are segment in the same page. Whats the best logic to get around this
Intermediate & Advanced SEO | | waspmobile0