This article will explain how to write the best description to improve SEO and increase user click-through rates.
- Why you should set description
- If you do not set description
- It does not directly affect search rankings
- Leads to improved CTR
3. How to set description meta tag
- Include SEO keywords in Description
- Write in a sentence format
- Make sure that Description does not overlap with Descriptions of other content
5. The number of characters in Description
6. 3 Tips for Writing Descriptions
- Ask the user a question
- Present the benefits
- Differentiate from the competition
7. Reasons why your description is not reflected in search results
- Crawlers have not yet crawled the page
- The content of Description does not match the keywords
8. Summary
1. What is description?
description is one of the HTML tags used to give search engine crawlers an overview of a page.
It is also displayed below the title of the search results. It provides an overview of the page to users who have searched for it.
It is one of the elements often discussed in SEO, just like the title. It has an essential role in SEO, as it can increase the click-through rate by setting it appropriately.
Why You Should Set Descriptions
As mentioned above, Description is displayed in search results. It has the role of providing an overview of the page.
In other words, Description is the only place on the Google search results where you can showcase your content to users.
Google search results, excluding advertisements, list ten site URLs per page.
The user selects and clicks on the page that "seems" to have content that matches their search intent.
Suppose Description is not written correctly, even if you have prepared a high-quality page that matches the search intent.
In that case, it will appear to the user that it "doesn't seem" to say what they want to know.
The content must be "straightforward" and "accurate" to the user. In addition, you must write description in the correct number of characters and with the right content to get people to click on it.
If you do not set description
Even if you do not set description, Google will analyze the content and display an excerpt from the article that "seems" to fit the search intent in the search results.
However, since it is only an automatic excerpt by the search engine, it may be unnatural or may not accurately display the article's content.
As a result, the content is less reliable from the user's point of view than if you set Description yourself.
It will make the content less reliable from the user's point of view than if you set up your description.
2. SEO Effects of Descriptions
In conclusion, setting description does not directly affect search rankings. However, it can indirectly increase search rankings and improve CTR.
It does not directly affect search rankings
Setting up a description has no SEO effect, asserts John Mueller in the English Google Webmaster Central office-hours hangout
In addition, as of 2022, Google's webmaster guidelines have no mention of Description meta tag.
However, as mentioned above, Description is an element that affects the user's CTR.
It improves CTR and leads to an increase in the number of PVs, time spent by the user, and the percentage of visitors, which is a factor that affects SEO.
Leading to CTR Improvement
CTR (Click Through Rate) is calculated from the number of times a website appears in Google search results and the number of times a user clicks through to the content.
By setting appropriate descriptions that match search keywords and content, users will be able to determine if there is valuable information for them, leading to improved CTR.
3. How to set description meta tag
In HTML, description is described in the head tag using the meta tag, with the name attribute fixed to description and the content attribute to description.
<head>
<meta name="description" content="Describe the page here">WordPress allows you to set description by installing a plugin such as All In One SEO Pack.
For All In One SEO Pack, Description is written in the "Description" field at the bottom of the post.
Setting up description in All In One SEO Pack.
4. How to write description
Here is a basic description of how to write description.
Include SEO keywords in Description
Like the title, Description should include the SEO keywords you have selected for each page.
Since Description can contain more information than the title, it is also recommended to include relevant words.
In the search results snippet, the portion of the snippet that matches the search keyword will be highlighted in bold to draw attention to it.
Example: If the search term is "PageSpeed Insights score"
■OK <meta name="description" content="PageSpeed Insights scores can be improved by increasing the display speed of the first view, but performance improvement must be combined with the cost of work. The following explains five effective specific measures that have improved scores on sites operated by our company."> ■NG <meta name="description" content="Performance measurement tool scores can be improved by increasing the display speed of the first view, but performance improvement must be combined with the cost of the work. The following explains five effective specific measures that have improved the scores of the sites I manage.">
Write in a sentence format
Description meta-tag describes Description in the form of a sentence.
■OK <meta name="description" content="PageSpeed Insights scores can be improved by increasing the display speed of the first view, but performance improvement must be combined with the cost of work. The following explains five effective specific measures that have improved scores on sites operated by our company."> ■NG <meta name="description" content="5 Measures to Improve Your PageSpeed Insights Score">
Users will be distrustful if the text is simply a list of keywords or if it is overstuffed with keywords and makes no sense.
Ensure that keywords are included appropriately and that the text is a concise description of the content.
Make sure that Description does not overlap with Descriptions of other content
I sometimes see sites that use the same description for all content on the site.
If you are mechanically setting the same description for all content, then Description is a summary sentence that does not match any content.
Such description will not evoke a click from the user.
To ensure that your content appeals to users correctly, set a separate description for each piece of content.
5. The number of characters in Description
A good rule of thumb for the number of characters in description is about 150.
Snippets that appear in Google search results are approximately 120-150 characters. Even if you write a long description, Google search results will display only a portion of the text.
However, the appropriate number of characters for description will vary depending on changes in search engine specifications.
Please remember that this is only a guideline for the number of characters for description in 2022.
Number of characters to be displayed
- About 150 characters on a PC
- About 120 characters on a Mobile
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| PC |
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| Mobile |
6. 3 Tips for Writing Descriptions
As mentioned above, the content of Description is related to CTR.
So, what exactly should you write description about?
There are many theories and points to consider, but here are three that are particularly important.
Ask the user a question
In the case of a website, you can use sentences that ask the user questions such as "Are you having trouble with XX? These sentences pose questions to the user, such as "Do you have any problems with XX?
It is essential to ask questions that make the user think, "This site may solve your problem," or "This site may be able to provide you with the information you have always wanted to know," based on the search keywords and the content.
Present the benefits
Description should describe the content of the article and indicate how the article will benefit the user.
Try to write more specific details such as what can be solved, information that can be learned, etc.
Differentiation from the competition
Users choose the sites they visit from a large number of search results.
Presenting the exact description and benefits as other sites will not increase the likelihood that many people will choose your site.
Look at Descriptions of your competitors' sites and differentiate yourself by offering benefits that you can provide and that your competitors cannot.
7. Reasons why your description is not reflected in search results
Even if you change Description meta tag, your settings may not be reflected in the search results.
There are two main reasons for this.
- Crawlers have not yet crawled the page.
- Description is judged as text that does not match the search keywords.
Crawlers have not yet crawled the page
The frequency with which Googlebot crawls a page can range from a few hours to several weeks.
Since it is rarely reflected immediately, observe the progress for at least a few days.
Indexing requests are also reflected relatively quickly.
The content of Description does not match the keywords
In the snippet portion of Google search results, one of the following will appear.
- The contents of Description meta tag
- Text automatically extracted from the page based on the search keywords
Google selects which text is appropriate to describe the page's content, so depending on the case, either Description or the automatically extracted text will be displayed.
Depending on the search keywords, description will be displayed, and in other cases, it will not.
If Description you set does not appear for any of the keywords you search for, Google may not be evaluating the content and Description as a match. Review the content of Description.
To prevent automatic extraction from within a page, use the data-nosnippet attribute in section, div, or span tags.
<div data-nosnippet>
Text you do not want to appear in snippets
</div>8. Summary
This article explained how to write descriptions with character count and SEO in mind.
Description is an essential element in increasing user click-through rates and appearing higher in search results, so think carefully about writing it.
Also, once you have decided on description, it is not the end of the process; it is also essential to improve it by changing it to see if it improves the click-through rate.
To learn more about SEO, check out the post below.
