A Beginners Guide To Writing Meta Details

Meta details are important when looking at SEO optimisation on your website. Meta details include meta titles and descriptions, these are your first chance to tell people (and Google) what each page on your website is about. The meta details should be used to entice readers and get them to click through to your website. Optimised meta details can improve click-through rate and avg time on page.

Here is an example of a meta title as it is shown on search engine results pages along with the description shown below.    

Three main tips for writing meta details:

Use relevant keywords

You need to include keywords that are relevant to the page. Google will favour your page on SERP’s if your meta details include focus keywords from your page. Using relevant keywords will also let the reader know what the page is about. Although it is important to use keywords you should try not to overuse keywords as Google will see this as ‘keyword stuffing’ and will penalise you.

Include relevant content

Your meta details need to have relevant content that describes what the reader is going to get from the webpage. Don’t write titles and descriptions that you think will make people click but are nothing to do with the page (click bait). If you do this then when the reader clicks on the page and sees that the content is not what was described in the meta details they are most likely to leave which will increase your bounce rate and reduce avg time on page.

Include call to actions

Using call to actions in your meta details gives the reader an action to act on. For example, write a short description about the page, don’t give too much away and at the end say; ‘find out more here’. This will entice readers to click on the link to get more information.

Here are some general tips on writing meta details for your website:

• Include call to actions
• Use emotional and psychological triggers
• Don’t duplicate any meta details, each page needs its own.
• Try to get your brand name in but focus on the message first.
• Keep the title between 60-64 characters
• Make sure what is described is what the reader will get
• Make the reader curious, give a good description but don’t give it all away.
• Keep descriptions between 150-154 characters.

Once you have written your meta details it will take a while to see any differences. Monitor them regularly but don’t make changes too often as this will make it difficult to see which changes are working. Monitor click-through rate and avg time on page. Pages with a low click-through rate probably need better meta details and pages with a low avg time on page will need to be optimised as this can mean that the reader isn’t getting what they thought from the page and that your meta details are not clear enough.

Your meta details are your first chance to introduce your page to readers on SERP’s so it is important that you optimise them well to get the click-throughs that you deserve. Take time to go through the meta details for every page on your website and you should see positive results. Get in touch today to see how we can help with technical optimisation.