10 SEO Tactics for Writing an Effective Meta Description

Your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts aren’t complete until your website has the perfect meta description. The path to getting more clicks on your webpage is paved with this unavoidable SEO element. Don’t underestimate that concise website summary. The meta description provides users a quick introduction to your website, gives them a sneak peek of what it is all about and helps you grab their attention. The users won’t have to go into the unknown when the meta description clearly explains what awaits them.

Instead of leaving the fate of your meta description to a content-sharing system that will automatically generate one for you, take this matter into your own hands. This is your opportunity to improve your SEO. 

So, how do you maximize the effectiveness of meta description? 

Here Are The SEO Tactics That Will Help You Reach Meta Description’s Full Potential

1. Ensure That It Is Original

The quickest solution is to copy and paste a sentence or two from your web content – but it is not a favorable option. Your website content isn’t created nor optimized for a meta description. Therefore, it won’t properly serve the purpose.

The meta description needs to be original content. Write it from scratch and orient it towards introducing the audience to your website. 

2. Mind the Character Count

If you don’t pay attention to character count, your meta description will be botched. You don’t want to cut off your reader in the middle of their informative journey. It can make it seem as if you just slapped some content in the meta description without much care.

The meta description needs to be concise to look complete. To avoid your text being cut off, keep it between 150 and 160 characters.

3. Make It User-Oriented

When you write your blog posts, add your marketing links and craft your product descriptions, you do it with your audience in mind. The same should apply to meta descriptions. Rambling on about how great your brand is can repel the users. They don’t care what you say about your brand, they care about what you can do for them.

People turn to search engines to find an answer to a problem, need, desire and the like. You should tell them what kind of solution your website provides.

4. Focus on the Value

What makes you different from the rest of your competitors? If you want to rock the meta description game, you should include your unique value proposition. Outline what you can offer that others can’t. Don’t just state that you are the best at what you do, explain why. Give specifics on what makes you worthy of people’s attention. 

5. State the Issue

Start the meta description with the problem that you can provide the solution for. Agreeing or openly calling out the issue will catch people’s attention. Why? Because they will relate to it. Once you state the issue, follow it up with the promise of a solution.

For example:

Staying productive when your work remotely is hard. Find out how to boost your productivity with our 7 expert tips.

You want to make people feel seen and understood. To achieve that state the common issue. Another good form of doing that is by opening up with a question:

Do you struggle with staying productive while you work remotely? Find out how to boost your productivity with our 7 expert tips.

6. Be Honest and Direct

False promises or vague descriptions can raise your bounce rate. You don’t want search engines to disregard you because of that. Meta description needs to be truthful, direct, and clear. It should explain to users what kind of experience they can expect, not confuse them. The better you specify what your website is about, your chances of getting more clicks will grow.

7. Add Your “Focus” Keyword

Just as your website content has a “focus” keyword, your meta description needs to have one as well. Search engines will spot this keyword in your meta description and count on it when matching the users with relevant search results.

Typically, content creators use the same “focus” keyword for the title, web content, meta tags, and meta description. Therefore, you can stick to your primary keyword as long as it matches the context.

8. Use the Active Voice

If your meta description bores the readers, you’ll lose them. Provoking and retaining the users’ interest is the goal. What can drive you away from that goal is using the passive voice. The passive voice makes the content dull and dry. It strips it off from excitement and friendliness and gives it a cold and impersonal tone. That’s why you should write solely in the active voice.

The active voice gives readers a push. It motivates them to take action. What’s more, active voice is less character-consuming and therefore, allows you to add more relevant information. 

9. Brand It

The meta description should reflect your brand just as your logo design and web content do. The style that is consistently used throughout your content should be visible in the meta description. Write in the style you typically use. That’s what will make you stand out in the crowd. Let the readers see that you are a brand with an attitude. Show your uniqueness through your writing and the users will get interested.

10. Don’t Settle

You’ve written your meta description but the results aren’t what you’ve hoped for. Should you just sit and wait? No!

Test different meta descriptions until you find your click magnet. You can add a new keyword that you want to rank for or update your meta content when you make changes to your website. Also, pay attention to highly-ranked websites and observe their meta descriptions. Rewrite your own based on the findings you’ve made. 

If your creativity gets blocked you can hire an academic writing company to help you write a new informative meta description. Sometimes it is helpful to give someone else a chance to describe your brand.

Final Thoughts

Underestimating the power of meta description is a huge SEO mistake. That sentence or two is just what you need to intrigue the users. Craft a click-worthy meta description with the help of these tactics and watch how it drives traffic to your website.