WooRank Blog The Importance of Meta Descriptions The Importance of Meta Descriptions The Importance of Meta Descriptions

WooRank Blog The Importance of Meta Descriptions The Importance of Meta Descriptions The Importance of Meta Descriptions Boris Demaria By Boris Demaria 04/03/2013 What is a Meta Description Tag? The description attribute of the meta tag is very important. The content of this tag gives you a short summary of the content of the website and although it is not visible on the website, it is seen in search engine results as part of the search snippet. In the early days, the content of this tag directly affected a website’s search engine ranking. In fact, some search engines like Baidu, which is a Chinese search engine, still consider meta description content as a ranking factor. Google, however, has made it clear that the content in the meta description tag has no direct effect on search rankings. Note, no direct effect; meta descriptions are proven to indirectly affect search rankings, and here is how. Learn more about how to add a meta description to your page here. How Important are Meta Descriptions? The content in the meta description tag is seen in search results. When you are targeting search traffic for your site, this is the content that your potential customer will see in search results, along with the meta title, in the form of a search snippet. Your search snippet will be among many others on any given page of search results. The content of the meta description tag helps the user decide which link to click from among the various choices. For instance, if you typed a search query for cheap flights to Hawaii and one search result showed the flight prices (i.e. in the meta description or title appearing as a search snippet), as shown in the example below, you would likely click on that link as opposed to other links above or below it. Example of meta description in search results The click-through rate (CTR) of the first search result displaying the price of the flights will be higher than the one below it. CTRs are one of the ranking factors for search engines. So, if your CTR is higher, your website should move higher in the SERPs. This shows that the content of the meta description tag does play an important role in improving a site’s search rankings. NOTE: The search ranking criteria specific to CTRs also depends on bounce rates. So, the lower the bounce rates, the higher the chances of your website featuring in the first few pages of search results. You can lower bounce rates by making sure that the content of the meta description tag exactly describes the information available within the site. Tips to Optimize Meta Description Content: The following are some tips to optimize your meta description tag content to ensure a high CTR: Unique Description: