What is a meta tag description?

What is a meta tag description?

A meta description (sometimes called a meta description attribute or tag) is an HTML element that describes and summarizes the contents of your page for the benefit of users and search engines. Why meta descriptions are important to you and to your SEO rankings.

Is meta description still important?

“Meta description tags, while not important to search engine rankings, are extremely important in gaining user click-through from search engine result pages (SERPs). SEOmoz uses meta descriptions on their homepage and product pages, but not their blog posts.

What is meta description in digital marketing?

A meta description is a 160-character summary of the content of each page on your site. These tags should be unique for every single page on your site, and they should give search engine users an accurate idea of what to expect if they click through to your page.

What is meta description of a website?

A meta description is the small blurb that appears underneath your website on the SERP that includes information about your page. It is designed to provide users with a brief summary of the content on your page so that users know if the page will answer their question.

How do I find meta description?

If you want to find out whether a given page is using meta tags, just right-click anywhere on the page and select “View Page Source.” A new tab will open in Chrome (in Firefox, it’ll be a pop-up window). The part at the top, or “head” of the page, is where the meta tags would be.

How do you use meta tags?

The tag defines metadata about an HTML document. Metadata is data (information) about data. tags always go inside the element, and are typically used to specify character set, page description, keywords, author of the document, and viewport settings.

What do you need to know about meta tags?

A meta description tag should generally inform and interest users with a short, relevant summary of what a particular page is about. They are like a pitch that convinces the user that the page is exactly what they’re looking for. Meta descriptions, however, are not a direct ranking factor. Google says:

Where do you find meta description in HTML?

Meta description is an HTML <meta> tag that is located at the <head> of the HTML, and part of the meta elements used to specify and summarize the content of the page. Meta description is not visible on the page itself, but search engines are able to identify them with the following HTML code:

How many meta description tags are displayed in Google search?

In fact, according to a Moz analysis [2], only 35.9% of original meta description tags are displayed “as is” in Google search. The Moz study, which examined 70,059 original meta description examples, also discovered that:

When to use meta elements in a document?

Meta elements are typically used to specify page description, keywords, author of the document, last modified, and other metadata.

What’s the purpose of the meta description tag?

Write compelling ad copy. The meta description tag serves the function of advertising copy. It draws readers to a website from the SERP, and thus is a very visible and important part of search marketing.

How many characters should be in a meta tag?

There are a number of recommendations for filling in the meta tag description: The description should not exceed 300-320 characters. It is this amount of text that is placed in the output (under the link to the page). The correct description should contain keywords that optimize this page.

How many meta descriptions are used in Google search?

In fact, according to a Moz analysis, only 35.9% of original meta description tags are displayed “as is” in Google search. The Moz study, which examined 70,059 original meta description examples, also discovered that: In 15.4% of cases, Google used the original meta description tag but added some text.

When to rewrite your meta description for SEO?

Sometimes multiple SEO related plugins can cause issues and duplicates. If your meta description tag is shorter than say 125 characters or longer than 160 characters – rewrite it to fit under the 160 characters range and see if it gets pulled. Make sure you are not using weird characters like quotation marks which can cause weird effects.