Optimizing Post Meta Description Tags: Guide With Examples

Adeniyi Salau

2 years ago

Optimizing Post Meta Description Tags: Guide With Examples

Here are some of the steps to follow when you need to optimize post meta description tags:

Make descriptive and engaging (this is the most important part to get right)

Try to make your listing stand out from the crowd. Does the page contain any unique selling points?
Describe the page in a natural language and enticing enough to encourage click-throughs

Keep short and concise

Max space is 156 characters (around two short sentences)

Be careful with keywords

Include the main keyword or a close variation
Keywords in meta description DO NOT directly improve rankings, so avoid keyword stuffing

Some extra info:
Occasionally Google will write its own Meta Description tags in the SERPs if one hasn’t been written or isn’t deemed relevant enough to the keywords used by a searcher.

This meta description includes some benefits, that the process is going to be quick and easy. It’s written with the user in mind with “your specific riding habits”. It includes the main keyword but in a way that makes the snippet relevant to the user and not spammy.

The chosen meta description tag is: Quick and easy snowboard size calculator and sizing charts, to help you find the right gear for you and your specific riding habits.

Note:
In this example, the user searches for “snowboard sizing” and even though that exact phrase isn’t mentioned, a close variant (snowboard size) is mentioned, so Google chooses to bold the text. When text is bolded, this improves the chances of the listing being clicked on.

Over time a page will build up the trust and authority which is assigned to its URL. Changing a URL without redirecting appropriately can lose trust. Because of this, it’s best not to change a URL where possible and to try and get them right from the start.

Why URLs are important:

It’s a lightweight on-page SEO signal
They are seen in the search results so they can attract click-throughs when relevant
Search Engines index and retrieve pages based on the URL – and build up search engine trust through them

By default, URLs are often generated from the main heading of the page by the CMS. This is good as default as relevancy is added but the downside is that they often become long and repetitive, so ideally they need to be changed to something different and shorter.

How to optimize URLs:

Include the main keyword or a close variation
Keep short and concise (around 70 characters before truncation)
Set URLs right at the beginning
Stick to conventions

Use dashes “-” instead of underscores “_” to separate words
Use lowercase characters

Headings help outline what a webpage is about. They are used in a similar way as Microsoft Word. The main heading should be within an H1 tag, secondary headings in H2 tags, and tertiary in H3 tags and this can go all the way up to H6 tags.

Why headings are important:

Headings are one of the first things a user notices and the main heading (H1 tag) needs to be relevant to what they have searched. Users scan a page’s headlines before deciding whether to read the whole page or go back to where they have come from.
It’s a medium weight on-page SEO signal and adds relevancy to the page.

There are six header tags (H1 through to H6) which are used to outline the hierarchy of content. The main heading should be in an H1 tag. Secondary sub-headings should be in H2 tags. H3 – H6 tags aren’t used as often in body copy but work in the same hierarchal sub-heading way.

The main copy is ultimately where the user is going to find what they are looking for or not, so search engines pay close attention to it.

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PS: I know you might agree with some of the points that I have raised in this article. You might not agree with some of the issues raised. Let me know your views about the topic discussed. We will appreciate it if you could drop your comment. Thanks in anticipation.

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