Reading this probably means that you at least have some basic understanding of search engine optimization (SEO). You could also be looking for ways to improve your site’s ranking, traffic, and conversion rates.
And if by any chance you’ve not been reaping the maximum benefits from your SEO efforts, your page titles and meta descriptions could be to blame.
But why are they important and how do you optimize them?
Page Titles: What Are They?
Also called meta titles or title tags, page titles are just what they sound like. They are simply HTML-embedded headlines that describe the contents of the page they lead to when clicked upon by the user after a search query on a web browser.
Meta Descriptions: What Are They?
A meta description, on the other hand, refers to the informative text snippet that usually appears under the headline/page title in search engine results. The meta description provides more information to internet users about the contents of the page displayed on search results, so they can decide to click or to move on.
Benefits Of Optimized Page Titles and Descriptions
They Serve As “Organic Ad Text”:
Specifically, meta descriptions, title pages, and search query snippets can also serve as organic ad text. Google has a tendency of showing meta descriptions as page summaries for ads that rank for certain keywords.
This eventually means a higher click-through rate for the page or site – and more organic traffic. They are incredibly essential when using SEO to drive sales or promote brand awareness.
Bringing In More Local SEO Traffic:
Optimizing with title tags and descriptions keywords and information relevant to a target audience in a certain demographic or geographical location can be a great way to improve local traffic.
If you want to attract more online visitors from Melbourne, for instance, optimized title tags and descriptions can help your SEO in many ways, and this includes improved traffic and increasing clicks from local searchers.
They Impact SEO Rankings:
Meta descriptions and title tags are basically among the first points of contact between your site/web page and a web user once they perform a google search.
Whether or not the user clicks on your page link will largely depend on how relevant and informative these texts are to their search intent, based on what they’re searching for online.
Consequently, they can have a significant positive impact on a page’s ranks of SERPs if optimized.
Tips To Optimize Page Meta Descriptions and Titles
Optimizing page titles and meta descriptions means curating them in a more appealing yet informative way that makes them more appealing to internet users as well as search engines.
You can make a detailed analysis of meta descriptions and page titles using one of the tools SEO-platform Sitechecker. This tool will help you understand exactly what you need to optimize.
Some ways to do this include:
1. Using the Right Keywords Wisely
No matter how well you write and promote your page title and meta description, one thing holds true. The best way to make them more effective is to use the right, relevant keywords and phrases in titles and descriptions without stuffing.
2. Observe Proper Length
Depending on the content and context, page titles and descriptions may vary widely in length. However, they shouldn’t be too short or too long.
The recommended length for SEO tags is usually 30 to 60 characters, whereas meta descriptions should range between 60 and 160 characters.
3. Make Them Unique
Especially when optimizing title tags for SEO, this is actually among the most important things to consider, but the same should also be observed for meta descriptions. And even though you are unlikely to make every meta description unique (because it’s likely the user doesn’t search for a specific term), every page title should be unique and different from every other one.
4. Use Text Optimization Tools
There are dozens of tools you can use to optimize title tags and description tags out there. This includes meta description generators and AI writing assistants like Copy AI, Jasper, and others. Some web development platforms and tools also have extensions that may help you make better meta tags and title tags.
In a nutshell, page titles and meta descriptions are incredibly important to any site’s SEO performance. They have an impact on a site’s or landing page’s online visibility, traffic, click-through rate, and even ranking.
Thankfully, you now have a few tricks up your sleeve on how you make them better and more effective at their job.
