How To Use Title Tags and Meta Descriptions in SEO
Any successful search engine optimisation strategy will take into consideration on-page meta data like title tags and descriptions.
The title tag is a significant quality signal that search engines use to evaluate a landing page and the keywords it may be relevant too. The meta description is primarily used to describe a landing page to entice clicks.
With an increased character limit of 160, in comparison to the Title tag (160 versus 70) a meta description can be compared to advertisement text of a paid search advert.
Due to the exposure title tags receive in the search results and its editorial value, search engines treat the contents of title tags with high esteem.
Unlike meta descriptions, which yield no impact on a search engines ranking algorithm, the title tag is always visible to users, likely resulting in why search engines value its contents so highly.
There are a certain number of factors to consider when implementing title tags and meta descriptions and they are listed below:
Keywords:
Use target keywords within your search snippet based on the content of the landing page. Try and align the placement of your target keywords to match a user’s search query, without degrading aesthetics.
Relevance:
Look to include target keywords at the start of the title tag. Industry research has proven that users scan the search results in an “L” shape fashion increasing the importance of initial keywords.
Length:
Try to keep the title tag below 70, and Meta descriptions under 160 characters, otherwise after a specific amount of characters, the rest will be truncated and not displayed in the search snippet.
Branding:
Try to include branding within your snippet, while ensuring that it follows after the keyword target. Brand loyalty and frequent visibility of a brand can influence the number of navigational queries associated with a website.
Descriptive:
Try and best describe the landing page contents. Don’t target keywords that do not physically exist on the landing page, otherwise it may impact bounce rates and how search engines evaluate the landing page.
Uniqueness:
Ensure that every landing page has a unique search snippet. Having duplicate entries within a website inevitably reduces the reach or pool of potential keywords you can target.
Metrics:
Take into consideration the traffic and conversion metrics that could be attributed with each keyword. This will ensure the greatest return on investment is achieved for your actions.
Synergy:
Synergistic use of branding, keywords and messaging used within both the Title tag and Meta description.
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