Are Meta Descriptions Really Necessary?
-
We use them for some of our key landing pages, but for the majority of our pages (product pages, really) we let Google decide what to use for the meta description. These pages get a lot of medium to long-tail traffic and I feel like Google is going to do a better job of inserting bolded, keyword rich text from the page content and generating a better CTR than if I were to plug something in there myself.
Would I be better off optimizing the the description for more of a direct match keyword instead of doing what I'm doing now (using Google generated descriptions to optimize for medium to long-tail keywords)?
-
Not to be a smart ass or anything, but it sounds like you answered your own question JP.
There is no right or wrong answer to "are meta descriptions really necessary". Often times it is best to let Google self-generate the meta description so it matches the intent of the user query. Especially when, as it sounds like in your case, you're talking about an ecommerce site with maybe (?) a lot of product pages and long-tail keyword queries your pages could be eligible to rank for. In my mind, the real question is whether you'd be better off spending your time creating great content, or trying to craft unique meta description tags for product pages that are already "generating a better CTR than if I were to plug something in there myself."
It's a judgment call.
-
Hey JP,
I agree with the above comment, as meta descriptions make are part of your websites realestate on Google's search results. However based on Moz's SEO guide, you are correct in saying that you don't always need to write the meta description. Read here for more information - http://moz.com/learn/seo/meta-description
-
Meta descriptions are NOT a must, however they have been correlated with higher CTR. Here's a way to check if you should add meta descriptions.
Do the search site:(insert your site).com or site:www.(insert your site).com, if the metas that are being shown make your happy then Google is delivering a good description.
Many times what Google comes up with is crap. Also meta descriptions are great for you marketing message.
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
-
Exact match keyword phrases, are they still really important to search engines?
This has been bugging me for a while now and I'd like to know what you guys think. I often find what I can only described as 'oddities' in our rankings for certain search terms. For example, we might rank top 5 for 'A5 week view diary' and then second page for 'Week view diaries A5'. (Not an actual example, I just find stuff like this all the time across our various pages) They are basically the same query, so I don't understand why so often there is such a discrepancy. I can only put this down to exact match keyword phrase still being an important ranking factor. What do you guys think? Are exact match phrases still an important part of the SERP results? Thank you. Isaac.
Keyword Research | | isaac6630 -
Replacing Metas and Keywords
How often we need to replace our meta titles, meta descriptions and keywords so that we are able to find which one works and which does not. Can we make some schedule like on monthly or quarterly basis. What are the best practices in this regard?
Keyword Research | | Sequelmed0 -
Can using an exact sentence from your content as meta description hurt?
Hi Mozzers! I'm uploading some press releases and the first sentence makes a perfect meta description. Would using the exact same wording ever hurt my rankings? Thanks!
Keyword Research | | Travis-W0 -
Phone numbers in the meta titles
Is it best practice to have phone numbers in the meta titles? Will google penalize for that? It is actually useful for the users...
Keyword Research | | CMTM0 -
Image Description & Image Title
Our site allows us to update via WYSIWYG editor. When adding photos to our pages it gives us the option to add (Image Description) & (Image Title). When optimizing a single page how should we properly be filling these in? Should Image title be keyword we are trying to rank for? If so, should we be following proper keyword density ratio to avoid keyword stuffing? Thank you
Keyword Research | | TP_Marketing0 -
Meta Keywords Dilution?
In general, does having a large number of meta keywords listed in a page's meta keywords line dilute effort? On other words, should I focus on optimizing for 1 or 2 keywords per page to keep my efforts focused and increase the probability of ranking better for those 1 or 2.....or should I put down all the keywords I would "like" to rank for? Thank You
Keyword Research | | NiallTom0 -
Capitals in Title tags and meta descriptions and their effect on SEO
It often the case that a page of serps will show up very similar title tags eg Cheap Widgets | Widgetsrus.com format, written partly for humans and partly for SEO.. Although against Googles best practice and indeed a violation of their adwords policy would using in CAPS in title tags reduce ranking (whilst increasing visibility and CTR)?
Keyword Research | | seanmccauley0 -
The importance of meta keywords
Hello, I am looking into Meta keywords in the attempt to understand their importance. I have been reading about this in several blogs and get the feeling that the general view is that they are no longer very valuable. Some say it is because Google and Bing no longer use them, that in terms of SEO they carry little importance and that they are a great indicator to your competitors about which keywords you believe are important... My question is this: Without Meta keywords, how do you deal with misspelt search keywords on your website? For example, if you were looking for a product called 'El Mundo en Espa_ñ_ol' but spelt it using the normal 'n' instead of the Spanish 'ñ', and the keyword 'Espanol' was not included in the Meta keywords, would you still find the product? English speaking people commonly search without the ñ because this is more convenient to them. So how can I make sure that the page is optimised for these type of common misspellings? Thanks!!!
Keyword Research | | languedoc0