Optimum title and description meta tag length
-
Hi all,
I have read that a title tag and description tag length of 69 and 156 characters respectively, should be used as this is all that Google will show in the search results, but that search engine robots will read longer titles and descriptions and additional characters will have an effect on ranking algorithms.
However, is there any SEO benefit in making title and description tags longer to include more keywords to aid ranking, even though the latter part won't be visible in the results.
I have read elsewhere on this forum that there may be concerns with regards to keyword dilution, but what about keyword reinforcement, i.e. by a repetition of the main keyword at the end of the title/description (I mean in a readable manner here, not 'stuffed')?
Thanks in advance,
Gareth
-
I know that Google will index longer titles, so I suppose you could use extra characters to increase instances of keyword use. If there is little keyword use elsewhere on the page I can see this affecting rankings due to reaching a certain level of keyword use for the page overall. However, I've never heard of there being an advantage to placing your keywords anywhere other than the beginning. Ranking algorithms are well-kept secrets and subject to change, but the commercial interests of the search engines lie with striving to present the best responses to search queries. I think it likely that search engines will strive to present results based on what is visible to site visitors as this is the information which will fulfil visitor needs, and they will strive to avoid presenting pages which appear to use deceptive techniques. If the page text has adequate and appropriate keyword use you wouldn't need to play with extra long titles and descriptions. If the page text doesn't have adequate and appropriate keyword use then excessive length and keyword use in meta titles and descriptions could be interpreted as deceptive.
-
I have found that a page actually droped after I shortend the length of the title. And I have come across times where I have achived a better rank with a (too long long-tail) title.
Whats best for the engine I dont know.
-
Thanks for the reply. I understand what you are saying regarding the good construction of the title an description to be focused towards human readers and maximise click-through.
However,what I am asking is slightly different, i.e. once you have done that and constructed those perfectly marketed visible 69/156 characters, is there an opportunity to further enhance search engine ranking by utilising additional characters that the search engines don't display, but that the search engine robots look at and factor into ranking algorithms?
-
Good meta titles and descriptions can help your CTR - they should sell the idea that the site is worth a visit. As far as I'm concerned I want a good ranking, but once I've achieved visibility I want the click. For that reason I write meta titles and descriptions to get the click:
- within limits of what Google will display
- prominent use of main keyword
- written to make sense to a human reader
- mentioning of other important selling points relevant to conversion - as I work on retail sites this is things like free delivery and phone ordering facilities
As far as on-page work is concerned there are plenty of other ways I can support ability to rank, but no other simple on-page measure has quite the same potential to affect click-through for the sites I work on.
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
-
Dynamic content in meta tag
Hi There, A quick query, If few stats digits or numbers are taken in Meta description and they change daily that's why meta description changed regularly. example : current stats: 2859594 hosted sites, 99.57% uptime last week, 59.52% positive social media user sentiment, and 43 user reviews. changes in digits effect SEO Ranking? Rajiv
Technical SEO | | gamesecure0 -
Templates for Meta Description, Good or Bad?
Hello, We have a website where users can browse photos of different categories. For each photo we are using a meta description template such as: Are you looking for a nice and cool photo? [Photo name] is the photo which might be of interest to you. And in the keywords tags we are using: [Photo name] photos, [Photo name] free photos, [Photo name] best photos. I'm wondering, is this any safe method? it's very difficult to write a manual description when you have 3,000+ photos in the database. Thanks!
Technical SEO | | TheSEOGuy10 -
No Access to change duplicate product title and meta tags!?
I have a client who's website contains a php file to dynamically call a product xml file from an external source. I asked the web dev company if there was any way to access or change the titles and meta descriptions to be unique for each product and they said no, not with their system. With about 63 product pages is this going to hurt me trying to get him ranked locally? What is the best to handle a situation like this?
Technical SEO | | satoridesign0 -
Duplicate Title and Content. How to fix?
So this is the biggest error I have. But I don't know how to fix it. I get that I have to make it so that the duplicats redirect to the source, but I don't know how to do that. For example, this is out of our crawl diagnostic: | On The Block - Page 3 http://www.maddenstudents.com/forumdisplay.php?57-On-The-Block/page3 1 1 0 On The Block - Page 3 http://www.maddenstudents.com/forumdisplay.php?57-On-The-Block/page3&s=8d631e0ac09b7a462164132b60433f98 | 1 | 1 | 0 | That's just an example. But I have over 1000+ like that. How would I go about fixing that? Getting rid of the "&s=8d631e0ac09b7a462164132b60433f98"? I have godaddy as my domain and web hoster. Could they be able to fix it?
Technical SEO | | taychatha0 -
Is Duplicate title made Sanbox?
I use Seomoz tool and discover that my webpage have 1000 duplicate title, my keyword with domain key 's position is 25, but i dont have any keyword ontop 100 of google. Is the Duplicate title effect in the key word position or SEO ? right?
Technical SEO | | magician0 -
Should I use these Meta Tags or Remove it?
Hi, I have a lot of older pages that I am cleaning up older pages, and I see that I have <title>Actual Title</title> (I understand the importance of this tag.) (I have some text in this meta tag on a lot of pages, sometimes matching my title tag exactly but in some cases I treated it like a mini description. Should I remove the on my pages, or keep it and make sure it is the exact as the main Title Tag. -------- Question about meta tag #2. I have heard rumors that the keywords tag should be removed. example: Thanks in advance! Force7
Technical SEO | | Force70 -
I use All in one SEO pack for wordpress and i i have 2 meta tags i need to delete them is this the meta description tag ?
add_option("aiosp_post_meta_tags", '', 'All in One SEO Plugin Additional Post Meta Tags', 'yes'); add_option("aiosp_page_meta_tags", '', 'All in One SEO Plugin Additional Post Meta Tags', 'yes'); add_option("aiosp_home_meta_tags", '', 'All in One SEO Plugin Additional Home Meta Tags', 'yes'); add_option("aiosp_do_log", null, 'All in One SEO Plugin write log file', 'yes'); */
Technical SEO | | fhnhockey0880 -
Meta description showing in source code but not being detected by SEO Moz or other tools?
Hello fellow SEO enthusiasts, Re www.appetise.com Our developers have added a meta description and I can see it when I right click on pages to 'view source' as follows : Example : BUT - using the on page seo assessment tool on SEO Moz (and also using other tools which assess title, description and keyword optimisation) - they are telling us that the meta description is not present. Please could someone suggest why? If we can get the meta description picked up - we will reach A Grade for our core pages! And this will make us feel good - and hopefully shine through in our results :-). Any help greatly appreciated. Kind Regs, Richard Best - Appetise.com <meta http-equiv="description" content="Online Takeaway Food with appetise.com. 100's of Local Takeaways Menus Online. Order Take Away Food Online for Delivery. Pay by Card Safely. Including Pizza, Chinese, Indian, Italian, Kebab."/>
Technical SEO | | E-resistible0