Meta tags: description and title. All you need to know

What meta description and meta title tags mean

Meta tags are HTML tags that deliver extra information about a page to search engines. Meta tags are added in the section of the HTML page.
A meta description tag is used to provide a short description of a page to generate a snippet in search engine results. A snippet is the description or summary of a search result that is usualy determined by the content of the page. They are designed to highlight and display the page content that correlates the best with a user’s specific search, therefore search engines like Google can show different snippets for different search variations.
You can stop Google from displaying a snippet for your site by using the data-nosnippet HTML attribute. This can also be used to exclude any content you do not wish to appear in a search results snippet. If you wish to specify the maximum length for your snippets, use the max-snippet:[number] meta tag.
A meta description tag looks like this:

<meta name="description" content=”Write the description here”>

A meta title tag is used to provide information about the topic of a page in search engine results. It looks like this:

<title>Write your title here</title>

Best practices to create the best meta descriptions

No identical descriptions

Similar descriptions for every page of a website are not useful because each individual page can appear in the search results. Instead of having the same description everywhere, try to create descriptions that illustrate each page’s content. If you don’t want to make a description for each page, try at least to create a description for the critical URLs like your home page and popular pages.

Use suitable descriptions

High-quality descriptions will be displayed on search engine results and have the potential to improve the quality and quantity of your search traffic. Always make sure that the descriptions used are explaining as best as possible the content of a page.
An example of a bad description:

<meta name="description" content="Flower bouquets, roses, lilies, orchids, tulips, peonies">

The improved version:

<meta name="description" content="Create a unique flower bouquet for your loved one. Open Monday-Friday 9-4 PM, located on Street nr. 1">

Include in your description any information about the site's content that could be relevant

It is not a rule to make a meta description in a phrase format, it can also solely include information about the page presented as a list. For example, a blog page dedicated to articles can list the author, date of publication and category. Incorporating these elements in the description will offer relevant information to users, information that might not be displayed in the snippet that Google automatically creates. Example:

<meta name="description" content="Written by A.B. Author, Date of Publication: 01.01.2024, Category: HTML">

Do not exceed 155 characters

Even though Google claims that a meta description has no limits when it comes to its length, search results snippets are usually made of 120 to 156 characters. Any description longer than 155 characters will be truncated.

Include a call-to-action

If you are selling a product or service, make sure your description will incorporate a call-to-action like “Find out more!” or “Try it now!”. This will make the potential clients feel like they have received an invitation to access your page, increasing the chances of having them visit your website/web page!

In conclusion, adding a meta title and meta description for your site’s pages is very important for attracting visitors and ensuring a high search engine ranking. By following the steps mentioned above, your description will be perfect and the search engines will love it!