Meta titles and descriptions have gone through lots of changes over the years. Not only in terms of best practices but also in terms of their importance to SEO. Not to mention, Google has been dynamically generating page titles and meta descriptions recently, meaning that many of the metas we work so hard to write may not even see the light of day. But before we get all dramatic, let’s go over some basics.
What are meta titles and descriptions?
In case you’re new to SEO: meta titles and descriptions are HTML tags that search engines pull from to display on the search engine results page (SERP), providing a short and sweet preview of your webpage’s content. Think of them as mini ads that are meant to accurately describe the content on your page while enticing users to visit your site.
Are meta titles & descriptions still important in 2022?
Now for the big question: do we still need to care about optimizing meta titles and descriptions? Well, the answer is a little complicated.
A Run-Down of the Page Title & Meta Description Drama
Google is constantly testing and changing the way search results appear in the SERP. For example, back in 2017, the meta description length was increased from about 160 characters to 300 characters. Then, six months later, it was announced that the length had been shortened once again.
The most controversial change, however, started a few years ago when people began noticing that Google’s crawlers had been flat-out ignoring their sites’ meta descriptions and dynamically generating them instead. Some reasons Google gave on the subject included:
- The meta description was not accurately summarizing the page.
- To more accurately match a user’s search query if it is missing in the content.
- To more accurately match a user’s search query if it is missing in the meta description.
The same thing appears to have happened to page titles, as a Google update in August 2021 included code that will sometimes override page titles and make minor changes to them.
If Google is re-writing meta titles & descriptions, should I even bother writing my own?
While it may be upsetting to learn that Google has been rewriting your page titles and meta descriptions, it’s important to note that it doesn’t happen in all cases. Regardless of whether your metas are displayed by Google or not, meta descriptions should still be treated as an indirect ranking factor (with meta titles being even more important in this equation) that can affect click-through rates as well as user experience (both of which are ranking factors). As Google has previously stated, your SEO efforts should be focused on the quality of your webpage (think: content, load times, mobile friendliness, etc.), ensuring that it provides a positive experience for the humans visiting your website, not just the robots. So, if your meta description and title are great but your website isn’t – your rankings aren’t going to improve very much.
All this to say, writing meta descriptions and titles in 2022 is still worthwhile, if only to ensure that when Google does display your meta titles and descriptions, you have something to show that’s optimized and engaging. If you’re working with a large website with limited resources, however, focus on writing custom metas for your core pages (such as your services, products, and home page) as well as the pages that generate the most organic traffic.
Page title and meta description best practices in 2022
To give your metas the best shot at showing up in the SERP, you’ll want to follow the following industry best practices.
Meta titles
- Aim for a length of around 60 characters.
- Do not duplicate page titles on your site, they should all be unique.
- No keyword stuffing! Include your primary target keyword in a natural way.
- Include your brand name, particularly if is well-known, at the end of the title and separate it with a pipe (|) or a dash (–).
- Write for the user by thinking of what would compel a human to click your listing, not what will make a robot rank your site.
Meta descriptions
- Aim for a length of somewhere between 150-160 characters.
- Like page titles, duplicate meta descriptions on your site are a no-no.
- Include a short call to action such as “Learn More”, ”Shop Now”, or “Contact Us Today”.
- Accurately summarize the page’s content.
- Naturally incorporate your primary and/or secondary keywords into the content. Again, avoid keyword stuffing.
- Write for humans not robots, focus on creating a description that a human will find relevant to their search query and engaging enough to click on.
If you’re following the above best practices but Google is still rewriting your page titles or meta descriptions, the next course of action would be to optimize the first paragraph as Google typically pulls its own meta descriptions from the first paragraph of a webpage.
Looking to improve your site’s rankings? Contact the digital marketing experts at Ontario SEO today to get started.
