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How to create the right meta description

The meta description is a snippet of up to about 155

characters – a tag in HTML – which summarizes a pageʼs Michiel Heijmans
content. Search engines show the meta description in search Michiel is a partner at Yoast
results mostly when the searched-for phrase is within the and our COO. Internet veteran.
description, so optimizing the meta description is crucial for His main goal with most of his
on-page SEO. articles is to kick-start your site
optimization. So much to do!
What does a meta description do?
Characteristics of a good meta description
Examples of a good meta description
Adding a meta description with Yoast SEO
I've got lots of pages; where to start?
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 What does a meta description do?
The meta description is an HTML tag, which looks like this in the HTML code for
the page:
<meta name="description" content="A page's description,
usually one or two sentences."/>

An example meta description from yoast.com as seen in the search results

The purpose of a meta description for your page is simple: to get someone
searching on Google to click your link. In other words, meta descriptions are
there to generate click-throughs from search engines.
Search engines say there is no direct ranking benefit from the meta description –
they donʼt use it in their ranking algorithm. But there is an indirect benefit: Google
uses click-through-rate (CTR) as a way of working out whether youʼre a good
result. If more people click on your result, Google considers you to be a good
result and will – based on your position – move you up the ranks. This is why
optimizing the meta description is so important, as is optimizing your titles.

Characteristics of a good meta Adding the date to the

description snippet preview
Just about every article on meta descriptions will include some of People often ask questions about the
these, but I have combined all characteristics that make sense to option ‘Date in snippet previewʼ whic
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1. Up to 155 characters – and sometimes more ‘showʼ, it ‘ll just add the date in the sn
preview in our plugin, not to Google!
The right length doesnʼt really exist; it depends on the message
you want to convey. You should take enough space to get the But it will help you decide on the righ
message across, but keep it short and snappy at the same time. length of your meta description, as yo
description may be cut short if Goog
Every now and then, Google changes the length. Nowadays, youʼll publish dates to your articles. So che
mostly see meta descriptions of up to 155 characters, with some Google does that first! If it does, sele
outliers
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 2. Actionable and written in an active voice
Of course, it should. If you consider the meta description the invitation to the page,
you canʼt just make it “A mixed metaphor describing a non-existent, yet implicitly
high level of qualification.” Thatʼs a dull description and people wonʼt know what
theyʼll get. Iʼll explain this further with some examples later on.
3. Including a call-to-action
“Hello, we have such and such new product, and you want it. Find out more!” This
overlaps what I said about the active voice, but I wanted to emphasize it. Itʼs your
sales text, where your product is the page that is linked, not the product on that
page. Invitations like Learn more, Get it now, Try for free come in handy here.
4. Containing the focus keyword
If the search keyword matches a part of the text in the meta description, Google
will be more inclined to use that meta description and highlight it in the search
results. This will make the link to your site even more inviting.
5. Possibly showing specifications
For example, if you have a product for the tech-savvy, focusing on technical specs
of the product could be a good idea – manufacturer, SKU, price, things like that. If
the visitor is specifically looking for that product, chances are you wonʼt have to
convince them, and the presence of information like the price will trigger the click.
Note that you could, of course, try to get rich snippets for this as well.
6. Matching the content
This is important. Google will find out when meta descriptions trick visitors into
clicking and might even penalize the sites that do this. But apart from that,
misleading descriptions will probably increase the bounce rate. Itʼs a bad idea for
that reason alone. You want the meta description to match the content on the
page.
7. Unique
If your meta description is the same as those for other pages, the user experience
in Google will be hampered. Although page titles might vary, all pages will appear
to be the same because all the descriptions are the same. If you intentionally
want/need/are tempted to create a duplicate meta description, youʼd be better off
leaving the description blank. Google will pick a snippet from the page containing
the keyword used in the query.
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Spider to check for duplicate meta descriptions.
 Examples of a good meta description
While researching this post I read many articles covering meta descriptions, and
while I found plenty of wisdom, there were almost no examples. But thereʼs nothing
like actual examples to make it easier for you to learn to construct a proper meta
description. Letʼs take a look at a few, taking the seven numbered points above
into account:
The right length

This meta description describes what youʼll find on the page and stays within 155
characters.
In an active voice

Active, motivating and addressing you directly. And youʼll know what youʼll get!
Including a call-to-action

‘Learn how to use it to your advantageʼ; thatʼs the call-to-action!

Including specifications

The electrical heart sensor, thatʼs what I wanted to know. I donʼt need that sales
stuff here; I just want that watch.
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Containing the focus keyword

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 The focus keyword and variations: note that Google sometimes highlights
synonyms like [Academy Awards] as well when searching for [Oscars]. This will
make your search result stand out even more.
Want to see this in your own snippet preview as well? In Yoast SEO Premium you
can add synonyms of your focus keyword.

Adding a meta description with Yoast SEO

In the ‘Meta descriptionʼ field in the snippet preview in Yoast SEO, you can enter and edit
your meta description.

If youʼre
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 slug. Moreover, you can check immediately what it looks like in the snippet
preview:
Want more of this? Marieke also wrote a detailed explanation on how to create
awesome meta descriptions with Yoast SEO.

Iʼve got lots of pages; where to start?

Do you feel like you need to change all your meta descriptions? But not sure how
to fit that in your schedule? Google has the answer:
If you don’t have time to create a description for every single page, try to
prioritize your content: At the very least, create a description for the
critical URLs like your home page and popular pages.

You can check which of your pages rank highest with Google Search Console.
Simply take it from there. And be sure to add meta descriptions to all-new content
from now on.

Troubleshooting meta descriptions

Iʼm sure you can think of others, but I think these are the two main issues:
1. My meta description isnʼt showing
Your meta description is a suggestion to Google. Thereʼs no guarantee that itʼll
actually be shown. So, if you donʼt see your description, that means Google
probably made something up for you. Perhaps it felt the meta description you
created didnʼt represent the content of the page, or is a duplicate, for instance.
Here youʼll find all the possible reasons why your meta description doesnʼt show.
2. Another description for social sharing?
Do you have Yoast SEO? In that case: check the social tab in the Yoast SEO meta
box below your post or page. You can add a separate description for your social
media channels there. In Yoast SEO Premium, you even have social previews! If
you donʼt have Yoast SEO, add OpenGraph tags or Twitter Cards to your website
and use any description you want.
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