Meta descriptions for 50 + products

[Benjib]

Hi guys,

I'm having some trouble writing affective meta descriptions for 50 odd items with near the same titles and descriptions. I understand how important these descriptions are for the sites SEO so I'm wondering what you guys would do? is this a common problem for stores selling lots of very similar items?

Thanks in advance, Ben

 

[fisicx]

The meta descriptions have no SEO value. What they will do is attract clicks so use them to market the business.

 

[Romil Mahant]

Meta description plays an important role in search engine visibility of any website. It helps search engines to understand what the page is all about. However Meta keywords no longer hold a lot of importance. I guess you are confused between Meta description and Meta keywords. Tip: develop business representative Meta description. This will also increase your SERP click through rates. Feel free to get in touch with me if you need any help regarding online business growth and visibility.

 

[Shopclicks]

Meta description plays an important role in search engine visibility of any website. It helps search engines to understand what the page is all about.

No, it helps users understand what the page is about. Google isn't interested in anything that is easily manipulated (in this case, keyword stuffed) and discounts its value.

 

[Benjib]

thanks chaps now I know they are not that important to SEO/Keywords it make things much easier, how about meta titles? are they now no longer as important?

 

[Shopclicks]

how about meta titles? are they now no longer as important?

Vitally important.

Keep it simple, write about the page content, be engaging and importantly use your major page keywords first where possible. Keep in mind that most searches are going to to find your category pages, so don't flood your product title meta with the same keywords (be specific with the product meta).

 

[Tin]

Hi guys,
I'm having some trouble writing affective meta descriptions for 50 odd items with near the same titles and descriptions.

It takes time to write decent meta descriptions but it can be done as long as you have the inclination to do the job properly. Most people don't which is why you see identical meta descriptions on many ecommerce pages.

Meta descriptions are best used for getting the reader in Google's search results to click on your listing and not one of the other results, you've just lost a potential sale when this happens. And to get that reader to click on your result, you must say something in your description that leads to a click.

Even if you've a bunch of similar products there's always an angle to go down for unique meta descriptions being written, you just need to find that angle. I wrote a lesson on this topic some time ago which you can read here, it should help.

 

[makeusvisible]

thanks chaps now I know they are not that important to SEO/Keywords it make things much easier, how about meta titles? are they now no longer as important?

I think it's important to clarify something. The Meta Description you use is massively important.

Imagine you were running a 3 line advert in a local newspaper. The big bold title of that advert is your TITLE, and the text describing your product/service is equivalent to the meta description.

Every time your product page appears in search results, the TITLE and Meta Description are what will likely appear. Both need to focus on enticing the user to click. i.e focus on your USPs and key product info. The Meta Description is going to be the biggest influencer on users either scrolling past your listing, or clicking on it.....so in this regard it couldn't be any more important.

To clarify....when people say "meta description doesn't matter for SEO", they are talking about ranking signals....which is correct. The Meta Description isnt used to determine where your site will rank on Google...... but consider the above and you will realise that there is no point in putting the effort into ranking a page of your site, only to display a poor description which isn't going to entice anyone to click.

 

[Benjib]

great advice thanks chaps

 

[websensejim]

Meta descriptions have no direct influence on rankings, but they're indirect influence is huge, in fact more so than ever before because of the way Google now utilises user signals. The initial ranking given to any web page by Google is not necessarily the final ranking. A rank modification can be applied depending on user feedback (click-thru rates, dwell time, and bounce back to SERPS, for example). CTR is a very important part of this. Google knows how many clicks your page should be getting (approx) depending on where it ranks (1st position gets 25%-30% , 2nd position gets 10%-15%, and so on). So lets say a web page under performs and gets a significantly lower CTR than their ranking would typically get, Google sees this as a sign of user dis-satisfaction and it could mean that page is demoted in the rankings. Its more likely to happen if its combined with other negative user signals (such as bounce back to SERPS and choosing another result instead), but you can see how CTR is a very important first indicator.

Writing meta descriptions is not easy, especially with e-commerce product pages, but Ray has just given you a link to his detailed guide on Meta Descriptions, and I can vouch for his copywriting expertise (having read his excellent training course). I would urge you to read through it thoroughly. Lots of gold nuggets in there.

 

[webgeek]

Meta descriptions and titles greatly influence Click Through Rate (CTR).

CTR is a strong ranking signal.

Ranking signals influence search rankings.

Therefore meta descriptions strongly influence rankings.

It's logical, really it is.

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The title catches their eye.

The URL triggers brand recognition, if any, and immediately incites trust or not (especially if you're on a freebie domain, have 4 or 5 hyphens in it, or a dropped domain name picked up and repurposed - like when you see an article about flea removal on a domain about north korean missile defense fundraising).

Meta description is what people usually use to decide whether they will click or not. It's your chance to get your value proposition across.

Meta description is where you focus on incredible price, selection, guarantee, and/or whatever USP's or items you've got that others don't.

Flea and Tick Dog Shampoo 250ml | Pets At Home
www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets/flea-and-tick-dog-shampoo-250ml
Flea and Tick Dog Shampoo 250ml is available to buy online at Pets at Home, the UK's largest petshop with fast delivery and low prices.

I searched for flea shampoo for dogs and got this number one organically.

The title, url and start of meta description all point me to the fact it's what I'm looking for.

The meta description let's me know I can buy it online (essential if I'm shopping from home and don't want a trip to the shop), their brand (which is recognised), the fact they're the biggest, with fast delivery and a good price (not necessarily the best).

What they haven't done is shown any review stars, no mention of what brand the shampoo is, if it's vet recommended, hypoallergenic, best price, overnight or same day delivery, etc, etc.

They're a decent option and surely get massive CTR.


The 5 Best Pet Flea Shampoos - Wise Bread
www.wisebread.com › Frugal Living › Health and Beauty
7 Jul 2016 - Hartz UltraGuard Rid Flea & Tick Shampoo for Dogs With Oatmeal. The Hartz UltraGuard Rid Flea & Tick Shampoo for Dogs with Oatmeal provides immediate relief from adult fleas and ticks, including deer ticks, which may carry Lyme disease. It contains Pyrethrins, which kills fleas and ticks that can carry diseases.

This one is giving me multiples - so if I'm trying to figure out which one to buy, they're review or category page will give me multiple choice with comparison of the best. Everyone wants the best, if it's cheap

Hartz is a recognised brand, so they're giving me a trusted brand, just so I know that they're not pimpin' out a bunch of never heard of snake oil choices to get rich quick.

They're also getting breadcrumbs / sitelinks (breadcrumbs to be accurate and oldschool). These are giving context out the wazoo. This is a massive advantage over obfuscated urls with long numbers and erroneous crap, or where the product is dropped into the root folder rather than nested in silos of logically sorted content.

There's a lot more to this than meets the eye - but this is a bit of an overview. Check out the course over on Fresh Bananas if you want the full scoop.

 

[fisicx]

CTR is a strong ranking signal.

Strong? I'm a little sceptical about this, if it were as strong ranking signal it could be easily manipulated. I could write a script that spoofed random searches from any old IP address that suggested hundreds of clicks to my website.

 

[webgeek]

If you were going for positive CTR SEO - you'd have to simulate various IP's, behaviour, javascript / simulated mouse movements, typical path flows on the site. It ain't easy. It can be done, but Google can detect novices doing this and filter/penalise accordingly.

Your script would only be valid as long as you had a list of MANY proxies which weren't already on Google's radar as SEO proxies (which they have many on that list already).

You can't spoof IP's effectively vs Google search engine - either not at all, or not for long. I'd bet money on the scale being small and the term being short, if at all.

Bounce attacks are done in the battle for real money and are very effective negative SEO attacks.

They work on both organic and PPC when done by the hardcore with the right tools (which I won't list here). I don't do these personally, but have run across enough people who have.

Doubt it? Test it!

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If you notice in the SERP's, you'll have keywords that jump, not bounce to and fro, but which Google promotes from page 2 to page 1. They monitor your CTR and bounce on these and then decide whether you earned the promotion, or didn't deserve it. Depending on your performance, you'll then keep it, or be returned to whence you came.

It's at this critical stage that CTR determines your fate.

This isn't theory, it's science.

 

[Shopclicks]

For the OP's sake, I think we all agree that using the meta description to engage and 'sell' the product is more important than any SEO specific tactics.

As for the SEO value in CTR from SERPs, stand alone, it's worth as much as a no follow click from this forum. Combine SERP CTR with dwell time and/or interaction and its value improves.
I could write the most compelling, must see, click now or miss out, meta description ever seen in a SERP result but if the page doesn't solve someone's problem, it won't help my rank.

Again for the OP, the meta title and page title & content (in part) tell search engines which keywords you want to target. The interaction that comes from SERP clicks (in part influences) where to rank you for those keywords in relation to other sites competing for the same keywords.

 

[Benjib]

some fantastic advice there chaps really appreciated!!