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You’re working arduous to market your organization. You’re writing your product descriptions, optimizing your pictures, and mastering many of the different parts of efficient SEO (search engine marketing).
Nonetheless, when you’re like many enterprise house owners, one side of ecommerce SEO may very well be providing you with hassle: meta descriptions. This information covers what meta descriptions are, and the way to write compelling meta descriptions and optimize your website for engines like google.
What’s a meta description?
A meta description is an HTML tag that summarizes a webpage’s content material. It’s the snippet of textual content, usually round 160 characters lengthy, that seems underneath your web page title in search engine consequence pages.
Within the screenshot under, the meta description reads “Strive Shopify free and begin a enterprise or develop an present one. Get greater than ecommerce software program with instruments to handle each a part of your small business.”
Search engines like google present it in search outcomes when the meta description additionally contains the key phrases being searched. Not like the web page title, meta descriptions aren’t an SEO rating issue, however they do entice customers to click on by way of to a web page and are a part of efficient on-page search engine marketing. You’ll see them in a web page’s code as <meta title=”description” content material=”a written description of the web page”>.
A meta description is the promise you make to searchers. Amongst a sea of competing webpages, it calls out to them and says, “That is the web page you’re on the lookout for.”
If you kind a search question into Google—let’s use “momentary tattoos” for example—the algorithm shows outcomes on the search engine outcomes web page (SERP).
This web page is extraordinarily sophisticated, however for now let’s ignore all of the shopping ads, pictures, and movies in favor of the extra conventional natural search outcomes.
The blue phrases on the prime are the “title tag.” They’re the title of the webpage. Under them you’ll see a web page description of not more than 155 characters. That is the meta description.
Does Google rewrite meta descriptions?
Sure, Google rewrites meta descriptions. So, why trouble writing meta descriptions if Google will show no matter it desires anyway?
The final word purpose is the correlation between greater search quantity key phrases and decrease rewrite charges. Kim Herrington, an search engine marketing & SEM advisor, has explicit experience in writing meta descriptions for ecommerce companies, in addition to with optimizing their shops for search.
By way of Kim’s personal expertise, she’s realized that if shops goal excessive site visitors keywords, your unique meta description is extra more likely to seem as you wrote it in your web site. “search engine marketing may be time consuming and costly for ecommerce shops with a excessive quantity of merchandise,” Kim says. “Approaching your meta descriptions figuring out they’ll be rewritten can release sources.”
Far more productive, she suggests, is specializing in writing actually good meta descriptions to your highest quantity key phrases, as a result of Google is extra probably to make use of them: “Focus primarily in your bestsellers and class web page meta descriptions slightly than each single merchandise you promote.”
Concentrate on the pages that get essentially the most natural site visitors from engines like google. Take your prime 10 or 20 pages and ask, “Are we actually promoting the product right here, or is there a manner we are able to enhance the click-through fee?”
Meta description examples
Homepage
Studying different folks’s meta descriptions will make the method look deceptively easy, however that simplicity is the very factor that makes it so arduous to put in writing. The tough 160-character restrict means the meta description can’t be for much longer than a tweet.
Good descriptions offer you a short overview of what the location is about, in addition to a compelling purpose to click on the title tag. All of it occurs so rapidly and painlessly, many searchers gained’t even discover themselves making a call. They’ll merely click on on the hyperlink, satisfying their curiosity with out having to consider it.
Right here’s an instance of an excellent meta description:
Intelligent naming helps Death Wish Coffee pack a punch right here. With the primary three phrases, “Loss of life Want Espresso,” you already get an thought of what the corporate sells (espresso) and its defining model function (hardcore, however tongue-in-cheek about it).
Loss of life Want then says it’s “right here to gas your ardour.” With these phrases, it positions itself as motivating. The phrases “highest high quality arabica + robusta” lets readers know the model sells good espresso merchandise.
Product web page
Writing meta descriptions to your product pages is a bit simpler than writing them to your homepage, as a result of your product pages aren’t supposed to talk for your small business as an entire.
As a substitute, they’re talking for one thing that provides a tangible profit to buyers:
- Promoting spatulas? Let the reader know that this spatula will make cooking a lot simpler.
- Promoting garden mowers? Have the reader think about a quick and straightforward journey by way of the grass.
For a very good instance of a persuasive meta description, let’s try the search consequence for So Worth Loving stickers:
Instantly, and in all caps, the outline makes you notice that lots of stickers don’t final so long as you need them to. Then, SWL guarantees that its stickers clear up that drawback.
Capitalizing the meta description is a daring transfer, and I definitely wouldn’t advocate capitalizing the entire thing. However right here it really works, as a result of the capitalization doesn’t seem to be it’s there simply to seize consideration. It additionally does the work of separating the observe from the remainder of the textual content. After the observe, this description works nicely as a result of it retains the give attention to the reader.
You do want to present some thought of what differentiates the product. So Value Loving does this by emphasizing sturdiness and by letting its website title counsel that its stickers are going to be actually, actually cool. However after that, it’s all about letting the client visualize themselves with the product.
The outline suggests the enjoyment a purchaser may get once they see the sticker as a “greatest little reminder,” providing numerous methods the sticker might simply match into their life: “Stick them in your automobile, laptop computer, water bottle, wherever you wish to see them.”
The ending, particularly, works superbly. It begins the sentence by suggesting the product will make you are feeling some highly effective emotion, however then it makes you click on the title tag to seek out out what that emotion truly is.
Although some search engine marketing consultants will inform you to verify your meta descriptions all end with full sentences, a half-sentence can do wonders to your click-through fee (CTR).
For those who’re going to make use of this technique, it’s good to get your meta description as near the tough 160-character restrict as doable.
Class pages
The following meta descriptions to give attention to are your class web page, or assortment web page, meta descriptions. The aim of this web page is to group related merchandise collectively for purchasers to browse. Assortment pages can present up for broad, high-volume key phrases, like “girls’s footwear” or “males’s sandals.”
Your class web page meta description ought to draw folks in by exhibiting related details about the gathering, like how DSW lists out the completely different shoe varieties in its girls’s footwear class.
It additionally makes use of easy motion phrases like “Store on-line for …” and “take pleasure in a big choice and free transport …” to encourage clicks from browsers.
If you wish to boost your description, Doug Pierce, Director of Hong Kong–primarily based advertising and marketing company Cogney, suggests utilizing emojis. “A trick I prefer to make use of is utilizing verify marks (✔️) to name out the sub-collections of merchandise now we have if it’s a product assortment web page,” he says.
Doug additionally suggests together with numbers within the description (the place related) and utilizing energy phrases like “free” or “unique” to seize folks’s consideration. And in case your retailer is working any particular affords—like free transport, prolonged warranties, or gross sales—it may be good to incorporate in a meta description as nicely.
How you can write a very good meta description
Now that now we have an understanding of meta descriptions, you’re in all probability questioning: What are the very best methods to use this data to my enterprise?
- Consider the customer mindset
- Make it unique
- Keep it at optimal length
- Make it actionable
- Add a call to action
- Use your target keyword
- Try to avoid meta description generators
1. Think about the client mindset
First, give attention to what would compel a searcher to click on in your title tag. That requires answering two questions:
- What are you providing?
- Why ought to I purchase from you?
For product pages, the primary question has a easy response: you’re providing your product. The second shall be resolved by the straightforward reality that you simply’re the one promoting the product.
Meta descriptions to your homepage are a bit trickier. As we noticed within the Loss of life Want Espresso instance, the very best factor is to repeatedly emphasize your model. That’s the one factor your complete retailer affords, and it’s the rationale clients can buy from you.
Picture: courtesy of Google2. Make it distinctive
Let readers know what you do, inform them about your unique selling proposition, and convey this data a number of occasions, as a result of the meta description isn’t a spot for subtlety. Struggling to provide you with an efficient meta description to your homepage is widespread, so it’s greatest to be affected person and suppose arduous about your model.
For those who’ve been round for some time, what do returning clients say about your small business? And when you’re new, what made you suppose this enterprise would get clients?
The purpose of your meta description is to get clicks, but it surely’s additionally an opportunity to point out off your model. “Consider meta descriptions as a continuation of your model and a possibility to obviously outline your USP [unique selling proposition] utilizing related key phrases,” says Stephen Gentle, CMO and co-owner of mattress firm Nolah. “They’re little advertisements and, although the character size can really feel constraining, are wonderful brief bursts of promo.”
Discuss to folks about your small business, formulate the outline such as you would an elevator pitch. You’ll in all probability wish to undergo a pair drafts. It’s necessary to get issues proper as a result of this would be the first publicity many purchasers need to you and your model. You additionally don’t wish to have duplicate meta descriptions all through your web site, as a result of it might hurt your probabilities of rating.
Picture: courtesy of Google3. Hold it at optimum size
Keep between the 155- to 160-character restrict when contemplating your meta description size. Google will probably lower off any textual content after that. Put your most necessary textual content to start with of your description, equivalent to motion phrases or a number of phrases about your model, like Fashion Nova does under.
4. Make it actionable
Consider meta descriptions because the welcome mat to your ecommerce retailer. Make certain your description is obvious, thrilling, and actionable. Inform readers what they need to anticipate in your web page.
Keep away from utilizing too many adjectives or fancy phrases—whereas it’s tempting to put in writing “superior” or “showstopping,” it would detract searchers from clicking by way of. For those who do use artistic copy, be certain that it’s related.
This description under from Bonobos is a superb instance. It’s brief and motivating, and it addresses the reader straight. You already know you’re going to seek out an excellent pair of costume pants by clicking by way of.
Picture: courtesy of Google
5. Add a name to motion
A call to action in your meta description will compel folks to click on by way of to your web page. They assist readers perceive what you supply and what to anticipate after clicking. For ecommerce stores, give attention to completely different motivations behind their search.
If somebody’s on the lookout for a extra broad search time period, like girls’s footwear, you’ll discover lots of class pages rating. Folks use class pages to browse, versus product pages the place they purchase. Replicate these intentions in your name to motion.
Some name to motion examples for ecommerce are:
- Store now
- Discover the gathering
- Uncover new tendencies
- Browse our merchandise
Picture: courtesy of Google 6. Use your goal key phrase
Discover a technique to embody your target keyword to assist engines like google rank your web page. Make certain it feels like a human wrote it. For instance, stuffing all of your goal key phrases right into a meta description like “Purchase Ladies’s Sneakers, Ladies’s Tennis Sneakers, and Ladies’s Sneakers on Sale right here!” isn’t a very good search for your model, as a result of it feels pressured and robotic.
As a substitute, naturally tie the key phrase into your description, just like the Shoe Carnival instance under:
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