Meta tags and SEO – find out how to create them properly!

When working with SEO, meta tags come in handy. It helps to impact how your website appears on the Search Engine Results Page (SERP). It also helps in influencing the number of individuals who are enticed to visit your website. Therefore, meta tags help improve the traffic and engagement rate on your web page that, in turn, impact your SEO and its rankings. Meta tags are one of the essential parts of a solid strategy for SEO. You can find all the necessary details regarding types of meta tags and how to write meta tags for SEO.

How to write meta title tags for SEO?

Meta tags help in describing the content that the particular webpage has. This is a summary of the content in the most condensed form. Since this content is posted only in the website’s source code, it is not visible to the users. There are six types of meta tags that are important for SEO:

1. Meta Title.
2. Meta Robots.
3. Meta Description.
4. Meta Refresh Redirect.
5. Meta Charset.
6. Meta viewport.

As meta tags are a huge part of SEO, it is also the primary piece of information used to decide which result to click on. Some of the best practices that you can take up to write meta tags are mentioned below.

• Create a distinct title tag for each page: Since every webpage on your website is distinct, your title tags should also be different. Make sure that the title tags on each page of your website are customized to reflect the contents of a specific page appropriately. You want your title tag to tell search engines what the page is about.
• Be concise but detailed: You want your title tag to accurately describe what visitors will see if they choose to visit the web page. Users’ expectations match what they see on the page, which reduces the website bounce rate and more time spent on the site. These measures tell Google that your page is worthwhile and should continue to rank high.
• Title tags that are generic or ambiguous should be avoided: Title tags are brief and, hence, are a seemingly easy component of SEO. Don’t regard them as quick and easy just because they don’t require much writing. It may boost your rankings and click-through rates if you get it properly.
• Use sentence case or title case: Make the best of the Title Tag. Try highlighting the USP of the services/business by adding adjectives or explanatory phrases in the title tag. Your title tag should highlight the benefit of your service or must showcase the relevance of the webpage.
• Include your desired keyword whenever possible: Your web pages must solve a user’s query or give helpful information that someone is looking for. Your website will be more beneficial to those folks if it appears in search results for the proper phrase – precisely when they are seeking the information you supply.
• Keep it to less than 60 characters: Google and other search engines usually display 50-60 characters of a title tag before cutting it off in the search results, so you should normally strive for title tags of 50 characters or fewer.

Do meta tags matter?

You have read quite a lot of information about meta tags. They are an essential part of SEO, and there are many reasons why meta tags matter. Meta tags provide more information about your website to search engines and website visitors that come across it in the SERP. They may be adjusted to emphasize the essential aspects of your content and help your website stand out in search results.

Search engines are increasingly valuing a good user experience, which includes ensuring that your site responds to a user’s query as well as it possibly can. Meta tags aid with this by ensuring that the information searchers require about your site is provided upfront, concisely, and helpfully.

A Checklist for optimizing your meta tags

Meta tags may benefit both search engines and users. They may assist you with improving the user experience and the presentation of your company’s content. This can lead to increased authority, more search visibility, and, as a result, a higher ranking. If you’re ready to assess your meta tag performance, here’s a brief checklist to get you started:

• Check that all of your pages and blogs have distinct metadata.
• Pay closer attention to your headlines and the way you organize your material.
• Don’t forget to include alt text in your photographs.
• The use of robot meta tags instructs search engines on how to access your material.
• Look for duplicate pages and make use of canonical tags.
• Remove any duplicate pages that your website may have.

How to write a meta description for SEO?

A meta description is a small snippet, or description element in HTML, that describes the content of a webpage. The meta description shows beneath the page title and URL on a search engine results page (SERP). It’s an essential part of on-page SEO. Therefore, you should be familiar with its best practices for optimization. You need to follow some things about how to write a good meta description for SEO.

1. Create a meta description for each page. It is advisable to provide a meta description to every page of your website, including blog posts. If you haven’t done so and already have many pages on the website, then you must start with providing metadata for the most important pages.
2. Avoid using copied SEO meta descriptions. Metadata for each web page should be distinct. Use different sentences or phrasing for various rich snippets.
3. Keep it between 135 to 160 characters. Meta descriptions may vary depending on the technical aspects like type of device, screen size, and more. There is no hard and fast rule for how lengthy SEO meta descriptions should be. While that is true, keeping the length between 135 to 160 characters is advisable.
4. Include the intended keyword for the page. Every web page should have a targeted term for which the page is meant to rank. Perform keyword research to choose the ideal keyword, and then add it in the SEO meta description.
5. You should not use quotation marks. Since SEO meta descriptions are embedded in HTML, it is important to avoid characters that may cause the HTML language to break. A double quote mark is one of the most prevalent characteristics to cause difficulties.
6. Value propositions should be included. Give readers a cause to click on a link by describing the benefits of viewing the website. Highlight the benefits they will receive, the knowledge they will gain, and the issues they will address.
7. Strong page names should be used to support meta descriptions. Meta title tags, unlike meta descriptions, affect SEO results. This SEO material is also crucial in capturing the attention of searchers and readers.
8. Maintain an active voice of speech. Passive language is uninteresting and drab when the topic of the phrase is being acted upon. Active language, in which the sentence’s subject does action, is engaging and simple to see and comprehend.
9. Incorporate a call to action. Consider your meta description to be a part of your customer’s journey, and utilize wording that directs consumers to the next step. A Call-To-Action helps in taking the user forward in a buyer journey.
10. Don’t attempt to deceive the audience. While you should utilize meta tags to draw readers into your material, you must ensure that the content is relevant. Never use deceptive language, outlandish claims, or irrelevant text to promote or draw attention to your material.

What Are the Benefits of Using SEO Meta Descriptions?

Although meta descriptions are not ranking criteria, this material is still essential for driving traffic and enhancing a page’s search performance. There are five such benefits of using SEO meta descriptions:

1. A meta description is similar to a short advertisement for a website.

   When SEO meta descriptions show on SERPs and social media feeds, they serve as a short advertisement for the website. The language allows marketers to promote the page and explain why readers should click on it.

2. Defined meta descriptions appear more prominently in search results.

   By defining the text you wish to utilize, you can ensure that only the finest, most relevant material shows. When you don’t inform search engines and social media sites which page description to use, they make their own decisions. Text may be chopped off, vital elements may be omitted, and unnecessary page data may show.

3. Click-through rates are increased by using strategic meta descriptions.

   descriptions earn more clicks when they are correctly optimized for viewers. In your meta description, make it apparent that the page meets the search intent of the phrase you’re attempting to rank for.

4. Increased click-through rates boost search ranks.

   While an SEO meta description will not improve a page’s search rankings on its own, the results of a well-crafted meta description can. When a link in search results is regularly clicked on, it sends signals to search engines indicating that the page is essential and a good result that visitors choose. This improves the ranking of a page in search results.

5. Meta descriptions might be included as part of a bigger rich snippet strategy.

   Search engine results aren’t limited to only displaying a title, slug, and description. Several different tags (or schema) may be used to supplement search engine results with additional rich snippets.

Websites and businesses need to invest in a robust SEO strategy, of which meta tags are an essential part. Make sure that a lot of thought goes into providing this information so that your website ranks better and showcases relevance for the users as well as the search engine.