This article is about an important topic in search engine optimization (SEO), namely the optimization of your meta description (usually called meta description). In this article, you'll find out what you need to bear in mind and how you can store and change the meta description in WordPress.

What is the meta description?

The meta description is part of the so-called snippet. The literal translation of "snippet" would be "snippet". In this case, snippet stands for the preview of a website in the results pages of search engines such as Google, Bing etc. The best-known parts of the snippet are the so-called metadata. The metadata is the URL, title tag and meta description. However, the snippet can also be expanded to include additional data (rich snippets). For example, the creation date, ratings, prices, etc. can be displayed. 

The meta description is a short description of the content of a website. This description is not visible to visitors to your website at first glance, as the meta description is not displayed when you open a website. However, in a Google search, you will see the meta description in the search results under the respective title of the website. In addition to the title, the meta description therefore provides a brief summary of the content in the Google search results displayed.

Appearance of the meta description

This is what the meta description looks like in the search results:

At the top you can see the page title, the so-called title tag. Below the title tag is the meta description. If the search term entered is present in the meta description, the keyword is highlighted in bold. This emphasizes the relevance for the searcher.

Aim of the meta description

As mentioned above, the meta description is only displayed in the search results. If users search for certain search terms on Google, they have to select the right search result for them from the results displayed. The meta description therefore helps to decide whether the desired content is hidden behind the displayed search result. 

If you have your own website, it is therefore important that the meta description - in addition to the title tag - ensures that the search result displayed is clicked on and that your website receives visitors. You can find out how to write click-worthy meta descriptions in a moment.

Meta Description - A ranking factor?

Maybe you're wondering if the meta description is a ranking factor? The answer is: "No, but maybe it is". Unfortunately, it's a bit confusing. The meta description itself is not used by Google as a ranking factor. This has been the case since 2009. However, click-through rates (CTR) could be a ranking factor. A good meta description will also give a website a better click-through rate. If you want to know more about "CTR as a ranking factor", you can find out more in this article from OMT.

Keyword stuffing in the meta description - i.e. the frequent use of a keyword - will not improve your ranking. Nevertheless, the keyword should of course appear in the meta description. More on this in a moment.

Automatic generation of the meta description

If you do not define a meta description, Google will generate a meta description on its own based on your website texts. This could be the first few lines of text on the page, for example. So it definitely makes sense to enter a meta description yourself so as not to leave it to chance. 

Another case in which Google generates a meta description itself can be certain search terms for which Google considers the existing meta description to be irrelevant and therefore generates its own meta description.

In the following section, you will learn how to write a click-worthy meta description and what you need to pay attention to.

How to write a good meta description

Optimal length

The meta description should be between 150 and 160 characters long. Spaces are also included. If you exceed this length, your meta description will be abbreviated to "...". In this case, a longer description does not add any value.

To find the right length for your meta description (and title tags), you can use the character counter tool or the SERP snippet generator from Sistrix, for example. 

Text optimization

• Arouse the interest of users. Why should Google users visit your website? What makes your offer different from your competitors? What do visitors learn on your site? What is someone searching for when they enter the keyword?
• Try to write the meta description as briefly as possible and with as much content as possible. So make it as concise as possible. If there is a way to explain something simply, use it.
• The meta description is the description of the page. Content that you describe in the meta description should actually appear on the respective page. 
• There should be no duplicates on your entire website, i.e. all subpages. Each page is unique and should therefore also have a unique description.
• Use active instead of passive language, as this is more appealing. 
• Use special characters and emojis. This allows you to make your meta descriptions even more appealing. The hook special character and emoji is often used, for example. 
• In an online store, for example, you can mention product features in the meta description on the product pages

In the following, I would like to show you three examples of well-written meta descriptions.

1. First an example of the use of special characters such as arrows and tick marks:

2. here is an example of a meta description that arouses curiosity and addresses the search intention:

3 Finally, an example of the use of emojis in the meta description. The color also attracts more attention.

Next, I'll show you how you can store meta descriptions for individual subpages in WordPress.

Change meta description in WordPress

With the help of SEO plugins, you can create your meta descriptions and optimize your content for search engines with just a few clicks in WordPress. If you're not sure which SEO tool is right for you, take a look at the article "Yoast vs Rank Math: WordPress SEO plugins in comparison". 

Instructions for Yoast:

Yoast SEO shows you a preview of the page in the search results. Yoast is not only available for WordPress, but also for Typo3. Yoast also shows you the optimal length of the title tag and meta description.

First, you need to go to the page (or post) in the WordPress backend on which you want to edit the meta description. You can either edit the meta description using the button in the top right-hand corner with the "Yoast" symbol. Or you can edit the meta description by scrolling down the page.

Instructions for Rank Math

Editing in Rank Math is similar to editing in Yoast. In the backend of the respective page, you can click on the button with the score at the top right and the Rank Math menu will open. You can then edit the snippet there. It works in exactly the same way as Yoast.

Further optimizations 

Rich Snippets

If you want to further optimize your snippets in addition to the meta description and have already optimized the title tag, you should look into rich snippets. Rich snippets are additional information that is presented in the search results. What possibilities do rich snippets offer? With rich snippets, you can, for example, display ratings, prices or author details directly in the search results.

Social Media

If you want to customize the metadata of your website for social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, etc., you can do this with the help of social media tags. You can also edit these in Yoast and Rank Math.

Tip: Facebook Sharing Debugger

If you are having problems displaying your snippet on Facebook, I recommend using the Facebook Debug Tool. First enter the URL of your page and then click on "Debug".

If you do not see the current meta information (e.g. an old image or an old title) when sharing the link on Facebook, click on "Scrape again" to update the data.

Conclusion

Tweaking your meta descriptions is an important part of any search engine optimization. Although the meta description does not directly influence the ranking, it is important for the click-through rates in the search results. Now you know how to write click-worthy meta descriptions that will bring more visitors to your pages. Have fun optimizing! 🙂