Despite what some SEO “experts” may try and tell you; meta data won’t help to magically get your website to the top of Google searches. This was confirmed by Google themselves, but they do still recommend that you take some time to properly complete the title tags and meta descriptions for your pages.
These title tags and descriptions tell users what your website is about and describe the content of each page. By ensuring these are correctly filled out, with well written content, you could increase your click-through rate and reduce bounce rates.
What are title tags and meta descriptions?
The title tag is basically the page title which summarises what the webpage is about, for example ‘Website Development Services in Oxfordshire’. Search engines expect to find a relevant title tag for each page that includes keywords which accurately describe what the page is about. If Google deems your title to not be relevant enough, it may deide to display a different title instead.
The meta description is a longer description of the page, which gives you the opportunity to give visitors a reason why they should click on your page.
Best practice
Ideally, title tags should be within 50-60 characters to avoid anything being cut off and meta description should be kept within 100-150 characters. Every page on your website (where possible) should have a unique title tag and meta description. If your website has been verified with Google Webmaster Tools, this will tell you if there are any duplicates on your site.
Don’t fall into the trap of writing your content for search engines, write with the human user in mind and think about what they may be looking for. Provide just enough information to give them a brief idea as to what the content is about, but don’t answer all of their questions in your description as this will encourage them to click on the link to find out more.
Implementation
Any content-management system should provide the facility for you to amend the title tags and meta descriptions yourself, if your website hasn’t been built on a content management system, then talk to us about what is available