Search engine listings form a key part of a company’s web presence. In many cases, though, companies have no input on how search engines list their sites. Meta descriptions can help you ensure that search engine listings for your company’s website reflect your brand.
Meta Descriptions and Search Engines
A meta description is a tag that provides a succinct summary, usually about 150 characters, of a webpage. Search engines display meta descriptions, when present, in their search result listings. If a meta description is not present, a search engine will instead automatically pick out a short block of the page’s text containing the user’s keywords.
Failing to include a meta description cedes control over a websites’ presentation to search engine algorithms. In many cases, your company will benefit by adding meta descriptions to pages and retaining control over search engine listings.
When to Use Meta Descriptions
It is wise to include meta descriptions on pages targeted toward a few crucial keywords. A meta description can be written to include these vital keywords. This way, a user seeing a search engine listing for that page can easily discern what the page is about.
Meta descriptions are especially helpful for pages that include an abundance of visual elements. Search engine algorithms are unable to glean very good descriptions from images, animations, videos, tables, and other illustrations. Even if a beautifully laid-out page is highly relevant to a user’s query, the user will never find that page if its search engine listing does not provide a clear, convincing description.
Meta Descriptions and SEO
For all these reasons, meta description tags are a critical component of SEO. Although these tags scarcely affect the placement of search engine listings, they give search engine users a clear idea of what the listed pages are actually about.
To learn more about how your website can work for you in your SEO endeavor, call us at 713-489-7445. Our team of professionals use time-tested and proven strategies to get results.