Let's Debate Meta Descriptions?

irishguru · Jun 5, 2010

Hey.

I gave up on Meta descriptions a while back.

But I've been hearing the Google team talk about it quite a lot recently but obviously they don't give a good example of how to write one.

The reason I gave up on them was because I've never learned how to write an effetive meta description.

It hasn't affected any of my corporate sites. They still get good traffic but I think it is affecting my blogs and news sites.

Are they recommended and if so is there a good learning resource for writing effective meta descs?

Paul Norman · Jun 5, 2010

Meta descriptions still have a value.

The key here is relevance. There needs to be a line up of relevance between the description tag, the page title, the <h1> titles and the page content.

And the driver of the relevance is this. I am talking about relevance to the searcher, and the search terms that you have chosen to target.

Because code is visible, you can see what your rivals are doing! And learn from them.

But remember, this is only one part of the mix that will help people find you.

irishguru · Jun 5, 2010

Paul Norman said:
Meta descriptions still have a value.

The key here is relevance. There needs to be a line up of relevance between the description tag, the page title, the <h1> titles and the page content.

And the driver of the relevance is this. I am talking about relevance to the searcher, and the search terms that you have chosen to target.

Because code is visible, you can see what your rivals are doing! And learn from them.

But remember, this is only one part of the mix that will help people find you.

Time to start scraping those top 10 results for many keyword terms and taking from it what I can.

Though one thing I have noticed is that Google still prefer you to have your keyword all together.

For example.

Best password manager

If you have those keywords on your page right beside each other it will rank better than.

Choosing a password manager is best left to the experts.

When I've tried both in Meta Descriptions they had an adverse affect on my rankings which is I guess something else I would love to up my knowledge on.

Effective copywriting for SEO. Start to finsih guide. So far I'm not finding what I want.

What you think?

irishguru · Jun 5, 2010

irishguru said:
Time to start scraping those top 10 results for many keyword terms and taking from it what I can.

Though one thing I have noticed is that Google still prefer you to have your keyword all together.

For example.

Best password manager

If you have those keywords on your page right beside each other it will rank better than.

Choosing a password manager is best left to the experts.

When I've tried both in Meta Descriptions they had an adverse affect on my rankings which is I guess something else I would love to up my knowledge on.

Effective copywriting for SEO. Start to finsih guide. So far I'm not finding what I want.

What you think?

EDIT: What's funny about the whole thing is that most of the top results writing about how to write a meta description don't even have any on their own sites.

cmcp · Jun 5, 2010

are you mistaking the technical seo benefits of the meta description with it's role as a marketing hook?

it's the tagline under your hyperlinked title in google. it's invaluable.

KM-Tiger · Jun 5, 2010

cmcp said:
it's the tagline under your hyperlinked title in google. it's invaluable.

It is indeed, and if your conversion objective is to get the prospect to phone you, you can put your phone number in it.

helmuc · Jun 5, 2010

cmcp said:
are you mistaking the technical seo benefits of the meta description with it's role as a marketing hook?

it's the tagline under your hyperlinked title in google. it's invaluable.

you are wrong whatever they say, even big G

here is the argument:
1) a website without meta description is not considered as finished or good (it is still a mistake)
2) G says - they value the construction of the site

so, make 2+2 and you will understand that it is important to have proper and related meta description

finejewellerys · Jun 5, 2010

helmuc said:
you are wrong whatever they say, even big G

here is the argument:
1) a website without meta description is not considered as finished or good (it is still a mistake)
2) G says - they value the construction of the site

so, make 2+2 and you will understand that it is important to have proper and related meta description

yes, i agree with u a lot,the meta description is still important to our sit construction.

trebor8 · Jun 5, 2010

helmuc said:
you are wrong whatever they say, even big G

here is the argument:
1) a website without meta description is not considered as finished or good (it is still a mistake)
2) G says - they value the construction of the site

so, make 2+2 and you will understand that it is important to have proper and related meta description

In case you're not aware I am running firefox version 3.0.14 and on your site, the featured listing, the descriptions next to the ads runs out below the containing background box

RedEvo · Jun 6, 2010

The W3C describes META data thus:
'HTML lets authors specify meta data - information about a document rather than document content - in a variety of ways.'

d

helmuc · Jun 6, 2010

trebor8 said:
In case you're not aware I am running firefox version 3.0.14 and on your site, the featured listing, the descriptions next to the ads runs out below the containing background box

dear Trebor,

Thank you for this message. I checked it with my firefox 3.6.3 and everything is fine... looks like the problem is in compatibility with older firefox versions.

actually I got worried... pfu..

but really - THANK YOU (this information is very useful)

have a nice Sunday everybody

Helmuts from Maidstone

I, Brian · Jun 6, 2010

cmcp said:
are you mistaking the technical seo benefits of the meta description with it's role as a marketing hook?

it's the tagline under your hyperlinked title in google. it's invaluable.

Quite right - treat the meta-description the way you would Adwords copy - short, simple, create a hook.

Also note that clickthrough rates are believed to influence rankings as well, so a tag line that does not entice clickthroughs could be very counter-productive.

Search

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Let's Debate Meta Descriptions?

irishguru

Paul Norman

irishguru

irishguru

cmcp

KM-Tiger

helmuc

finejewellerys

trebor8

RedEvo

helmuc

I, Brian

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