What is a Meta Description

Have you ever heard the term Meta Description and wondered any of the following? What is a Meta Description? What does a Meta Description look like on Google? What does a Meta Description look like on my website, or how do I write a Meta Description? I bet you have because most people learning about SEO want to understand what Meta Descriptions are, why they're important, how they work, and how to write them for their website. Let's jump right in.

What is a Meta Description?

A Meta Description is an element you optimize on your website to help Google better understand your website. You optimize it similarly to your Title Tag.

A Meta Description is similar but not the same as your Title Tag. It's up to 160 characters (including spaces) and tells the potential visitor more about your website page or blog post. Think of it as the introduction to your content or business. You want to entice the reader to click to visit your site and learn more. 

It also tells Google more about your page or post, including what the page is about, because you use your SEO keyword in your Meta Description.

What does your Meta Description look like on Google?

Here's an example of a search engine result. The Meta Description is the sentence under your URL & Title Tag. In this example, the Meta Description is,  Learn SEO in my online SEO course for beginners and find out how to make your website rank higher and get more traffic. SEO made easy with Rachel.

The Meta Description's job is to provide more information about your business and, hopefully, get the reader to visit your site to learn more (and buy!).

What does a Meta Description look like on my website?

Depending on your website builder (WordPress, Squarespace, etc.), this may vary slightly. It will be in the same area where you add your content to create a new page or blog post. In some, it will be at the top of the page, such as this example.

In WordPress, if you're using Yoast SEO, it's at the bottom of the page in the Yoast plug-in area. If you're not sure where to edit your Meta Description on your website, Google the following phrase, and it should bring you the information you need

Where do I change a Meta Description in (X platform) *** Replace X platform with what you're using – Squarespace, Kajabi, WordPress, etc. The platforms almost always have the information you need to locate your optimization elements.

How do I write a Meta Description?

Now that you understand what they look like and why they're important, I bet you want to know how to write Meta Descriptions for your website, don't you? Good! I'm glad.

You'll want to use your most important keyword (unsure how to choose the right SEO keyword, read this post) and keep it under 160 characters, including spaces. You want to write in a way that entices the potential reader to click to learn more on your website. Keep your Ideal Customer in mind; what do they need? What information do they want? What are they looking for when they're searching online?

If you're ready to start SEO on your website, I have two easy next steps for you.

First, request a copy of my SEO Quick Start Guide, and it will walk you through how to do SEO on your website, and there's a super handy SEO checklist on the last page that will let you make sure you've done everything you should for SEO on your page or post before you hit publish.

Second, sign up for my FREE SEO class. 

The two together will help you get started with SEO.