Writing Good Titles & Meta Descriptions: Peak District SEO
Titles and Descriptions are metadata. We often get asked about the best way to write titles and meta descriptions for web pages. Metadata helps users and search engines understand what a website is about.
Page Titles
Titles are VERY important for SEO. The title is the name of the page, category page or a product page. When browsing the web you can see the title of the page on the Tab that you have open.
The image below shows how the three main web browsers display plage titles on the tab of a browser.
When displayed on a browser tab the title tag seems almost inconsequential.
Perhaps this is why it is so often overlooked?
However, the title is actually far more useful when we see how it’s used in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERP).
Here’s an example
As you can see, the title tag for Debenhams helps describe the website and what it sells. Titles, often called Meta Titles present you the website owner with a great opportunity to uniquely title each and every page on your site.
This information can help influence whether web users click the listing or choose another one.
We often see websites with many pages that do not have titles at all. When a web page doesn’t have a title, it appears in the SERP as UNTITLED DOCUMENT
Here’s an example
If your website has pages without a title, these pages lose an opportunity to convey your message or advertise your products and services.
How Long Should Title Tags Be?
Title tags should be no longer than 70 characters long or 600 pixels wide. *Google increased the allowed length of both titles and meta-descriptions in 2017.
The pixels measurement should not be ignored as that relates to mobile devices. In 2018 Google is switching over to the mobile first index, meaning that it will show mobile-friendly results first.
“The mobile-first index is Google’s attempt at looking at the web and indexing and ranking the web from a mobile-first perspective. This means that if you have a mobile-friendly version of your website, instead of indexing the desktop version, Google will first index that website’s mobile version.T
SearchEngineLand Feb21st 2018
Meta Descriptions
Meta Descriptions are also very important but are NOT a ranking factor.
We use meta descriptions to give users a further indication of what a web page is about. The same sorts of rules apply to an information page, a category page or a product page.
How Long Should Meta Descriptions Be?
The recommended length of meta descriptions changes over time. In 2018 the recommended length is 320 characters. This is a considerable increase from the previous limit of 155 characters.
Writing A Good Meta Descriptions
To write a good meta description you should mention what the page is about and who is writing it. In addition, you can mention any special features or interest points. The more compelling your meta description is, the more likely someone will click it. Provide as much information as possible in as fewer words as possible. The final part of a good Meta Description should use a call to action.
Useful Links
Big Leap – Metadata
I’m Phil Gregory, the MD and founder of Peak District SEO.
I’m an SEO & Google Ads Consultant with 28+ years of experience in I.T and helping UK Businesses improve website performance.
I built my first website in 1998, then I discovered the joys of website optimisation and never looked back.
If you want a no-nonsense, no-hard-sell approach and to actually get your website fixed with a solid, affordable, long-term approach, hit the contact button today.
Peak District SEO is a UK-based Digital Marketing Company.
We help businesses make more money, using traditional Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) , Ai Search / GEO and paid advertising (PPC).
Why Peak District SEO?
27+ years of experience.
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Our customers have hundreds of page one and position 1 rankings and we can prove it.
