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Titles and meta descriptions are used by search engines like Google (or Bing if you’re in the minority of searchers) to display a list of web pages (“Search Engine Result Pages” or better known as “SERPs”) relevant to a query searched by potential website visitors.)
Optimize page titles, descriptions, and content for Google, but write for visitors searching for services like yours. You know, the people who want to give you money.
But why should you spend extra time optimizing title tags and meta descriptions? And how do you write them so your content ranks without sounding like a robot wrote them?
Title tags and meta descriptions are the page titles and brief descriptions that appear on a search engine’s results page next to a link for a blog post or web page.
You can write specific page titles & descriptions for Google to use for your page or post in the search results.
However, Google could override the titles and descriptions you’ve written with an excerpt from the page/post that better matches the visitor’s search query.
Google will pull an excerpt from your content but it might not be the most helpful or relevant preview of your content.
Visitors use the page titles and descriptions in the results to find the most relevant result. Any keywords they’re searching that appear in your title or description will appear bold.
Google (and Bing if you’re into that sort of thing) use this information to help signal a page’s relevance to a visitor’s search.
The titles and meta descriptions are important, not only because they give Google a better idea of what’s on the page, but also because they’re one of the first things people see when visiting your site.
The titles and meta descriptions matter for SEO for two main reasons:
The titles and meta descriptions are the only details besides the link URL (except for an occasional preview image) that display in the search results. And searchers have a lot of results to sift through but often only get as far as the first, MAYBE second, page of results.
Meta descriptions aren’t actually used by Google to rank content so write your descriptions strictly for your reader. You can still include the keyword phrase as long as it makes sense
The goal of a meta description is to give visitors more info than the page title offers on what they can expect to read about if they click on your page in the search results.
So why does it matter if you use keywords?
Using the target keyword phrase for the page in the meta description isn’t necessary. Google has made it clear that meta descriptions aren’t a ranking factor.
However, Google will highlight keyword phrases that the visitor has searched to help them navigate the search results. So if you can naturally include the target keyword phrase in the description, go for it!
It can be difficult to balance writing for potential clients and optimizing for Google. While your writing should sound natural, you also want it to be clear to Google and searchers what your content is all about.
SEO Writing Tip
When writing a title or meta description, keep in mind that they are usually only seen by potential visitors viewing search results.
When optimizing titles and meta descriptions, it’s important to not over-optimize. The titles and the descriptions should provide a preview of the page topic.
Avoid using “keyword stuffing” tactics or keywords that are irrelevant or barely relevant to the content on the page.
My Process for Optimizing Page Titles
Total Time to Optimize: 15 minutes
First, write your page title summarizing the content in a short but descriptive phrase. Don’t worry about including the specific keyword phrase right away.
Use Google Search Console and Google to find relevant keywords that visitors will actually be searching.
After you’ve written your page title to appeal to potential clients, find a natural place for that keyword phrase. If that phrase just doesn’t fit naturally, find a different variation that makes sense to your visitors.
Page titles should have less than 50–60 characters. Titles with closer to 60 characaters could be cut off on mobile so shorter would be ideal.
First, write your page title summarizing the content in a short but descriptive phrase. Don’t worry about including the specific keyword phrase right away.
THEN re-read your title to find a natural place for that keyword phrase.
Ideally, you should include your target keyword phrase towards the beginning of the page title. But this isn’t necessary unless the phrase could potentially be cut off on mobile results.
Example of a Target Keyword Phrase:
“Page Titles & Meta Descriptions”
Example of an Optimized Page Title:
“How to Optimize Your Showit Page Titles & Meta Descriptions for Google”
Example of a Quality Meta Description:
“Learn how to write page Titles and Meta Descriptions and optimize them in Showit & WordPress to help your content rank better.”
A: It’s not necessary and can be a red flag to Google (and visitors) that your content is keyword-stuffed and, therefore, not valuable content.
A: If titles are too long, they might end up being cut off or scrolled past. It’s better to keep them short and concise. You can use a Second Title plugin to clarify a topic for visitors once they get to your page/post. Though the Second Title will not likely display in the search results.
A: Put your target keyword phrase towards the beginning of titles so that if Google only displays part of your title, visitors can still read what your page/post is about, meaning Google will be more likely to rank that page/post.
A: Yes. Separate the words with hyphens AND exclude any “stop words,” like to, and, for, etc.
A: If titles are too long, they might end up being cut off or scrolled past. It’s better to keep them short and concise. You can use a Second Title plugin to clarify a topic for visitors once they get to your page/post. Though the Second Title will not likely display in the search results.
October 7, 2021
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