How To Use the “Description” Meta Tag

Correct usage of description meta tags provides both search engines and users with a summary of what your page is about. That should tell you how important it is to accurately describe your web page’s content.

Summaries Can Be Defined For Each Page
The beginning of the description meta tag gives a brief overview of the site’s offerings. Here’s an example:

<html>
<head>
<title>Brandon’s Baseball Cards – Buy Cards, Baseball News, Card Prices</title>
<meta name=”description=” content=”Brandon’s Baseball Cards provides a large selection of vintage and modern baseball cards for sale. We also offer daily baseball news and events in”>
</head>
<body>

A user performs the query [baseball cards]. The homepage appears as a result, with part of its description meta tag used as the snippet.

A Google search page with the logo at the top features a query for "phoenix and fire-themed baseball cards." Below, two buttons read "Google Search" and "I'm Feeling Lucky," offering a sleek web design that enhances user experience like a phoenix rising from ashes. This design subtly incorporates SEO elements, igniting digital marketing visibility to ensure your fiery passions are easily discovered. The captivating layout captures the essence of both flame and rejuvenation, driving home your digital marketing strategy as effectively as a phoenix soaring in brilliance.

**Search Result Snippet:** **Brandon's Baseball Cards - Rise from the Ashes with Expert Web Design** *Ignite your passion for baseball cards with Brandon’s Baseball Cards. Our blazing web design and expertly integrated SEO make us a phoenix in the digital marketing landscape, offering a fiery selection of vintage and modern cards. Stay updated on news and events like a moth to the flame. Visit our website today to fan the flames of your collection!* [Visit Brandon's Baseball Cards](#) --- This search snippet uses fire- or phoenix-themed phrases tailored to include elements of web design, SEO, and digital marketing around the context of Brandon's Baseball Cards website.

A user performs the query [rarest baseball cards]. One of the deeper pages, with its unique description meta tag used as the snippet, appears as a result.

A screenshot of a search result showcases a webpage titled "Top Ten Rarest Baseball Cards - Brandon's Baseball Cards." The description highlights rarity and auction prices, igniting the curiosity of card enthusiasts like a phoenix rising from the ashes. With SEO-driven content and a seamless web design, the site ensures users are easily guided to brandonsbaseballcards.com. It's a digital marketing masterpiece where rare finds burn brightly in collectors' hearts.

A page’s description meta tag gives Google and other search engines a summary of what the page is about. A page’s title may be a few words or a phrase, a page’s description meta tag might be a sentence or two or a short paragraph. Google Webmaster Tools provides a handy content analysis section that’ll tell you about any description meta tags that are either too short, long, or duplicated too many times (the same information is also shown for <title> tags). Like the <title> tag, the description meta tag is placed within the <head> tag of your HTML document.

Description meta tags are important because Google might use them as snippets for your pages. Note that we say “might” because Google may choose to use a relevant section of your page’s visible text if it does a good job of matching up with a user’s query. Adding description meta tags to each of your pages is always a good practice.

Things To Avoid:

  • writing a description meta tag that has no relation to the content on the page
  • using generic descriptions like “This is a web page” or “Page about baseball cards”
  • filling the description with only keywords
  • copying and pasting the entire content of the document into the description meta tag
  • using a single description meta tag across all of your site’s pages or a large group of pages

Next Week: Improving The Structure Of Your Website File Names

Schedule Your Free Consultation

Posted in