The importance of Meta Descriptions Tags has changed over time. Initially it was felt that they helped a web page rank highly for the keywords within the tag, but there’s general agreement in the SEO world today that this is no longer the case. However, do not dismiss the importance of the tag because it still plays a vital role in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Page). But not in the sense of where your site falls within the SERPs but in whether the person viewing the SERPs decides to click into your site or your competitors.
When you enter a term in the search box you are then presented with a list of websites that supposedly are a match for your term. Each website entry on the results page is composed of three specific parts:
1) The first text you see for a particular result is in larger text than the rest of the text for that entry and it is underlined. This text is called the ‘title’ element and is typically either the title of the page or a truncated version of it.
2) The next section is called the ‘snippet’ and this is essentially a description of the page you would be clicking into. This is where your meta descriptions tags could come into play and will be discussed below.
3) The final section is the actual web address of the page.
With Google, the ‘snippet’ you see is typically the first instance of text that appears on the page itself although I’ve had Google pull in the words from my Meta Description Tag. As do the other search engines. So the importance of writing good copy on the page and good “Description” tags cannot be overly stressed. And here’s where its’ inherent value comes in. When someone looks at their results from the search that they just performed, research shows that they typically scan the first several entries of the organic results listed. But to decide from there which site to click into first they often rely on the ‘snippet’ to decide which site appears to best relate to what they are interested in. So in a sense, the ‘snippet’ is actually the advertising for your site. And the better your advertising is with regard to: 1) the person’s intent when searching, and 2) being better than your competition – the better your chance of YOUR site being the site that they choose to click into first.
Keep this in mind when writing your Meta Description Tags and your page content – the payoff from putting in a little extra time on these can translate into significantly increased relevant traffic to your site. And make sure you have your vital keywords in both! Just remember that the Meta Description Tag needs to be short and concise – between 140 and 200 characters. And just like page content – the Meta Description Tag is page specific too.
Optimized Usability- Copyright 2009