Learn how to create attractive meta descriptions for users, which favor the SEO positioning of your website and attract more visits.

Search engines like Google use meta descriptions to determine the usefulness of a website. And what is more important, to determine if the content of the website is relevant and useful for users.

But what makes a compelling meta description?

A good answer would be something that is short, accurately describes the content, and gives the user an idea of ​​what to expect once they click on the link.

Below, you will find how to create attractive meta descriptions for Google and other search engines, with the intention of attracting organic traffic.

What is a Meta Description?

Google and other search engine optimization (SEO) tools focus on the piece of text that appears below the title of a web page. This snippet is called a meta description.

It's the section of text immediately after the site title and the date, which is seen when someone does a Google search.

In other words, the meta description is a piece of text that appears on the search engine results page (SERP) under the URL and title of the web page.

Due to its prominent position in the SERP, the meta description is an ideal place to grab a reader's attention and entice them to click through to your website.

Why Should I Care About Meta Descriptions?

Meta descriptions are an important part of the Google algorithm. Search algorithms use these texts to determine the value of a website, but not because it is actually a ranking factor in and of itself.

And it is that meta descriptions actually help the algorithm understand what the website is about in the first place. And then they need to incentivize users to click.

Every time a user clicks on a web page, a metric known as CTR (Click Through Rate) increases.

By increasing this indicator, the search algorithm considers that the topic captures the attention of users and, therefore, raises the position of the page above others that do not have the attention of users.

In other words, if your meta description is bad, chances are it won't rank well for the keywords you're using to drive traffic to your website.

Characteristics of Meta Descriptions

The meta descriptions must meet certain characteristics to be really attractive to search algorithms and users in general. These features include:

Length

A meta description should be between 130 and 160 characters long to prevent it from appearing as junk text.

Relevance

The meta description must be relevant to the content of the page. If, for example, your page talks about the benefits of rosemary essential oil, the description should not focus on the benefits of orange essential oil.

True

Google's quality guidelines state that your meta description must be true. This means that your description cannot be misleading or spammy.

Keywords

Meta descriptions should include keywords that are relevant to the search, that help Google, or other search engines, understand the topic and relevance of the page.

Reachable

The meta description should be localized for the language and region the content is targeting, to make it easier for users to understand and increase click-through rate.

How to Create Attractive Meta Descriptions

The meta description should entice users to click through and read the content on your website or blog.

The goal is to create a description that is memorable, true to the content of the page, and relevant to the keywords that people would use to search for your content.

To help you create a captivating description, it is necessary to be extremely persuasive in such a way that the user is tempted to click and learn about the content of your website.

That is why this space must integrate SEO and Copywriting techniques. Follow these tips when creating your meta descriptions:

1.- Take into account the needs of the user

To capture the user's attention, it is vital to first know what their need or pain point is. Recognizing the need will lay the groundwork for creating a great meta description.

This is a strategic aspect of content creation, so when creating the meta description it is necessary to know perfectly what need your web page satisfies.

2.- Describe the benefit you will have attending to that need

After recognizing the need that is served through that page, write the benefit that the user will obtain by consuming that content. In this way, the user will feel that he has found what he is looking for and that your content will offer him the answers.

3.- Add action verbs

Hook words are those magical phrases that attract the user's attention. For your meta description to be effective, it must include action verbs that will add strength to the benefit.

Some examples of these verbs are: discover, learn, know, imagine, find, enjoy, travel, save, among others.

You can include other hook words such as free, discount, opportunity, easy, without obligation, gift, among others; to provide greater traction capacity.

4.- Include keywords and synonyms

The inclusion of keywords is of great importance because it helps the algorithm to understand what your web page is about. However, it is important not to abuse them so as not to be penalized.

Verify that you include at least one keyword and, if you have space, a synonym to add more strength. But, adding the main keyword once is enough.

Good Examples of Good and Bad Meta Descriptions

These examples show how to create good and bad meta descriptions for various websites.

The first example is the optimal way to create meta descriptions for your website.

As you can see, it includes an action verb + the keyword + benefit.

Another example includes the same aspects but in a different order. Keyword + benefit + action verb with other hook words.

One of the most common mistakes made by website owners is not creating a meta description. When this happens, Google automatically generates them with the first paragraph of content it gets.

However, this paragraph is not always persuasive, which is why you are likely to lose visits by not optimizing it. If you look at the following image you will see how only the keyword is present, without any other element that reinforces it.

In the same way the result is found on the first search page. It may be due to the authority of the website in general or the forcefulness of its title, but the content of the meta description does not offer the support that it should to capture the user's attention.

Conclusion

The meta description is the first thing a person sees when they do a search on Google. It is also one of the most important factors in determining the value of your website on the search results page.

To get more organic search traffic from Google and other search engines, it's important to optimize your meta description for maximum impact on your audience.

Thanks for your time ;-)