There is nothing more frustrating than browsing through dozens of search engine results and finding nothing. Especially when you stumble across a search result that matches the exact description or keywords you search for and it turns out to be a website with no relevance!
Don’t worry, you are not the first and you certainly will not be the last… this is a prime example of how powerful search engine results are and the significance of Search Engine Result descriptions.
Inside our tutorial, we will guide you through what Search Engine Result descriptions are, why they are important on search engines and finally how to write your very own to add to your website. As a Knutsford web-design agency, we want to help small businesses in any way, shape or form we can to help you grow your website on the web!
What is a Search Engine Result Description?
Search Engine Result Descriptions, often referred as a ‘Meta Description’ tag, is a written description that is usually between 150-160 characters with spaces. These short descriptions are the webmaster’s opportunity to advertise services and content to searchers by letting them know exactly whether the given page contains the relevant information they’re are looking for.
Example of a Search Engine Result Description. Usually found inside the “Head” of your code
Usually placed inside a snippet of code, the descriptions are usually placed inside the head of the code.
- Recommended Length: between 150-160 characters
- Avoid repeating duplicate descriptions
- Quotes used in descriptions will always be cut off
What is a Title Description?
Title tags define the title of an online webpage, file or document. The title tag is often used on Search Engine Result pages to display preview snippets for the page and are an important factor in SEO and social sharing.
The recommended length is between 50-60 characters which will display roughly 95% of your title on search engines such as Google. Much like the search engine description, the title tags are often used to provide an accurate description of the page content and usually provide a primary keyword, secondary keyword and finally a brand name.
Example of live ‘Search Engine Results’
Example: Search Engine Results for the keywords “Knutsford Web Performance”
Let’s use this example so we can define what each of these search results mean. The very top line highlighted in blue is in fact not the website URL; it is the ‘Page Title’ and is a very easy mistake to make. Underneath we have the green text which is in fact the Website URL. Lastly the text in black is the ‘Search Engine Result description.
Using ‘Google Adwords’ you may also see other bits of information at the top and right-hand side of your search result. You can spot the difference because they usually have the word ‘Ad’ highlighted in Yellow before the green URL or contain extra information such as a phone number or address
Why are Search Engine Result descriptions important?
Both search engine descriptions and search engine keywords will not have a physical impact on effecting Google’s ranking al for web search. Instead Google will use the descriptions as influence to return the results when a user searches for a more specific or advanced search term that matches the description tag content.
It is possible to control both the blue title text and black line description text. Optimizing these descriptions has been proven to improve click through rates as the descriptions usually give the user more confidence in your products and services if you have compelling copy.
Write your own descriptions
As you can see, writing and submitting your very own keyword-rich search engine content is very easy to do and it’s something that most businesses are not aware off. If you have a web-master or if you are one of our lovely clients then please get in touch and send your search engine descriptions so we can help you grow your website.
If you would like to discuss web growing strategies in more detail, why not get in touch with the Knutsford Web Design specialists. Call the office on 01565 653616 or send us an email at admin@untitledtm.com. We look forward to hearing from you