Meta descriptions are Advertising Copy!

Meta descriptions are Advertising Copy!

Your meta description is advertising copy plain and simple. In fact meta tag description writing is one of the most interesting and creative parts of optimizing your site for search.

If you have ever spent any time with pay per click advertising (think Google Adwords) then you know how much time and energy goes into writing, testing and tracking those ridiculously small snippets of ad copy you are allowed. Every word counts and not a syllable is spared.

Meta tag description writing should get no less attention. Okay, maybe you can’t test or track meta tag page descriptions so well but that’s all the more reason you should spend the time up-front making sure your page descriptions are well written in the first place.

Here are some of the timeless tips:

1. Do some preliminary keyword research for the page
2. Focus on the most important keywords
3. Create a meta tag page description that includes these important keywords and keyword phrases
4. Try to keep the overall length of your meta tag page description to about 250 characters
5. Write with an information hierarchy… which means:
1. begin your description with the most important elements which is your targeted keyword 99% of the time.
2. Follow with the second most impotant element, then the third etc. etc.
3. Try to include a call to action or even an offer in you meta tage page description – think advertising! Do the same sort of things you would do for an advertising headline or an adwords text ad.
4. Try asking a provocative question etc. Do anything you might do in a paid advertisement
6. When your listing on the search engine results pages show up these keywords, and keyword phrases, will be highlighted in bold. The average searcher quickly scans the page and tends to only pay attention to the boldface keywords when deciding which listing to click on.
1. Write out your page description in a word processor and take a look at how it might look when it shows up on the search engine results page.
2. Add you page title above it to see the complete view of  how your search engine result listing might look.
3. Now bold the keywords or keyword phrases
4. Don’t like what you see? Start changing things around

Read More In This Series

• Folder and File Names: Use Keywords For Better Search Results
• Writing Anchor Text Links With Keywords
• Basic Content Writing Tips For Better Search Results
• Page Description Meta Tags: Writing For Better Search Results
• Page Title HTML Tags: Writing Tips For Better Search Results