A meta tag is a small piece of text that doesn’t appear on your website but gives search engines like Google an idea of what your website has to offer. A well-crafted meta tag can therefore contribute to a higher ranking, and thus more website visitors. You can read how to achieve that goal later in this article. First, let’s look at the different types of meta tags that exist.
What meta tags are there?
When it comes to meta tags, they can be categorized into the following types:
- Meta title: This tag contains the page’s title. It is often displayed in the browser’s title bar and in search engine results.
- Meta description: This tag contains a short description of the page’s content. It is often displayed in search engine results, below the link to the page.
- Meta keyword: The keyword attribute contains various search terms for which you want a page to be found; this is no longer used by Google, but is sometimes still used by Bing.
- The robots attribute provides additional information to crawlers. This lets them know how to treat the page.
- Alternative text alt tag: you add this to an image, and this text tells search engines exactly what the image depicts. This ensures that images on a website are also displayed in Google.
For example, meta tags can contribute to a better ranking
Meta tags can make a significant contribution to a website’s ranking. The page description also ensures that potential customers visit your website. If you can strike the right chord in this description and ensure that it aligns well with search terms you know your potential customers frequently use, there’s a good chance these customers will click on your website often.
With a strong meta description, there is a good chance you will achieve a higher click-through rate (CTR) and a higher conversion rate. This creates a positive feedback loop, as an improved CTR and conversion rate in turn have a favorable impact on your Google ranking.
Filling in Alt Text can also attract more visitors. Google displays images in the results based on the Alt Text you provide. So it’s a good idea to fill this in correctly.
Tips for writing effective meta descriptions
Now that we’ve established that a well-crafted meta description in particular can lead to good results for your ranking, it’s time to focus on how to take this description to the next level. To improve your description, it’s wise to keep the following tips in mind:
- Don’t make the description too long; preferably no longer than 160 characters. If you do make the description (much) longer, the potential customer will see a truncated sentence, and that looks less appealing.
- Make sure your description is an ultra-short summary of the page being linked to.
- Make sure to include the most important search terms in your description. This makes the consumer feel taken seriously and provides Google with valuable input.
- Write in a stimulating, positive, and engaging manner, for example, using a call-to-action (CTA).
