As we continue to walk through the SEO process, another crucial pillar is the use of meta tags. A meta tag is a piece of a website that helps search engines like Google decipher important information about the site. These meta tags can come in the form of title tags, description tags, or certain keywords. The rest of this blog post will be devoted to some tips for optimizing description tags.
The first tip is to utilize quality keyword proximity. Put relevant keywords near the beginning of the description tag and it will help users get a quick handle on the relevance of your site to their search. In other words, if you sell soap, your description tag on a search engine results page should have something to do with you selling soap on it so that someone browsing could easily understand what your site may help them with. The next tip is to be truthful. This one is quite simple. Do not lie to your customers and do not lie to Google. “Keep your nose out of trouble and no trouble will come to you.”
Another helpful tip is to create a succinct, memorable, and inviting, description tag. The goal here is to wrestle with the question: what best converts a looker into a buyer? How can I get someone to find interest in my description tag and want to interact with my page? Get creative! Have fun with this one! But always refining your description to get the best results. Sites must not be complacent with the amount of traffic they receive. They must research and adapt to current events and search trends and adjust their description as necessary. Interestingly enough, Google actually prefers certain parts of description and title tags more than others. For example, Google tends to not like quotation marks and ALL CAP words in the title and description tags because it looks as though you are trying to outplay your competitors on an even playing field. So, Google may not put you as high up on the SERP…so don’t do that. Finally, the most important part of creating a description and title tag is to resonate with your users. SEO is really user focused, so the best meta tags are the ones that speak the most clearly to your target audience. Try to think if YOU were looking for your site, would your title and description tags help you discover what you were looking for? What needs to be adjusted to enhance that process?
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