A Meta Description is your elevator pitch to your prospective customers.
They will quickly glance to see if you have what they need and move elsewhere if you don’t. You only have a few seconds to capture their attention.
What is a meta description used for
Search Engines display meta descriptions on their search engine results page (SERP) as snippets to give users additional information about a webpage.
Meta Descriptions don’t directly influence SEO rankings but rather help attract visitors to your site and improve Click Through Rate (CTR) if you have a clear and relevant description.
And by getting more traffic to your site, you will indirectly boost your rankings.
How to add a meta description
Meta Descriptions are not limited to just your home page. You can add a different meta description for as many web pages as you like.
The only catch is you can only have one description per page.
HTML
If you’re working with HTML files, you can add meta descriptions by adding a <meta> tag within the <head> tags.
Here’s an example description of a fictional pet food company
<meta name="description" content="Our range of wet and dry food will provide your pet with the nutrition it needs to lead a healthy life without sacrificing taste.">WordPress or other CMS (Content Management System)
If you use WordPress or any other CMS, there should be plugins or tools you can use to add meta descriptions to your pages.
Yoast is a popular plugin for WordPress users. It has an intuitive interface (below) to update your descriptions, so you don’t have to go around fiddling with code.
What are good meta description examples
Keep in mind that the goal is for a human to click on your link.
A good meta description should be short and easy to understand, with a clear description of your product and services.
A call to action is also handy if you got the space.
Let’s look at some real-world examples.
Ikea
19 words, and you already know everything you need to know about Ikea
Samsung
It can be challenging if your product line is as extensive and diverse as Samsung, but they did a great job here. You can also see they emphasised being at the cutting edge of technology.
Levi’s
Levi’s Australia pointed out that they have all sorts of available options. They wanted you to know whatever you need; they have it.
Asos
You can tell from Asos’ description that they have an extensive product range. They also included a call to action.