How to Write and Use
Description Meta Tags on Your Web Pages
By
Donald Nelson, copyright 2004
Many people are afraid to write
the meta tags for their websites, thinking that they would
have to be search engine optimization specialists in order to
do it properly. While you may not have any special expertise
in the field of search engine optimization, you should be an
expert in your own business’s area of activity, and if you
combine this knowledge with some simple guidelines you can
write accurate meta tags. Let us see how to write one of the
most important meta tags, the description tag.
The description tag is one of the “big three” meta tags, which
also include the title tag, and the keywords tag. These three
meta tags along with other tags are located in the html code
of your website between the sections marked <head> and
</head>. While this information is not seen on your web page
when someone views your site with a browser, the head section
is read by the search engine “robots” and helps the search
engines to “understand” what your web page is all about.
Writing the description tag is a good exercise because it will
force you to become clear about what you are doing and what
you are offering to your viewers. A description tag is in fact
like a short mission statement, explaining your enterprise in
a nutshell. If someone wakes you in the middle of the night
and asks you what your website or your business is all about,
you should be able to answer with a concise two or three
sentence description without any hesitation.
Here is step-by-step guide to creating and using effective
description tags:
1. Write like a journalist. Mention the important W’s,
such as who, what, where, when, why. In a description tag, the
“what” is the most important element. What do you do? What do
you sell? Where do you do it? What is this page all about?
Describe what you do in a simple sentence and be sure to
incorporate the words and phrases which are most likely to be
used when people search for your product or service.
Suppose your business is the Kenosha Wisconsin Window Cleaning
Company. A description tag for your main page might start off
like this: The Kenosha Wisconsin Window Cleaning Company
provides window cleaning services for residences and
businesses in the greater Kenosha, Wisconsin area.
2. Include your Unique Selling Proposition or USP: The
USP is actually the “why” of the classic “who, what, where and
why” formula. Why should someone use your service and not
someone else’s? The USP is what sets you apart from the
others.
Remember when someone makes a query in a search engine yours
will not be the only site that comes up. Your competitors will
also be there, and they will offer similar products or
services. In many search engines the description tag or part
of the description tag is displayed in the search results. If
your description tag provides some distinctive information,
conveying a unique benefit that you provide, then the
likelihood that a searcher will click through to your site
will increase.
Let’s go back to the example of the Kenosha Window Cleaning
site and add the USP to the description. The first lines of
the description read: “The Kenosha Wisconsin Window Cleaning
Company provides window cleaning services for residences and
businesses in the greater Kenosha, Wisconsin area.” Another
sentence saying “We guarantee a great job every time at a
price you can afford,” could be added to give more detail
about the quality, guarantee and the affordability of the
service.
3. Put this description in the meta tag section of the head
and in the text of the page itself.
You’ve just taken some time to explain what your web page is
all about, and have included some compelling reason why
someone should buy your product or service. Don’t hide this
information in a place where your readers cannot see it. If
you only put the description in the meta tag section, then the
search engine robots will see it but many of your visitors
will not.
Rather, use your description as part of your first paragraph
or even as part of your opening headline. Your description
contains your important key phrase and key words. If you place
it in the opening paragraph or somewhere on your page, then
the search engine optimization value of the description is
doubled or even tripled. A big mistake in search engine
optimization is to use meta tags, but then have no descriptive
text on the page, relying on images to convey the message. Use
the description tag to begin your text, and add some more to
amplify it and expand on what you have written.
4. Write a distinct description tag for each of your pages,
focusing on the unique content and purpose of that particular
page.
Another big mistake on many websites is to use the same meta
tags on all the pages. Each of your pages is different. Each
page has or should have a special item of importance. Look at
your pages and think of the special part that the page plays
in your overall marketing effort, and make a unique
description tag. As with the description tag for your main
page, put this description within the text of the page itself.
Even if you get a professional search engine optimization
service to write the main meta tags for your site, you can put
this knowledge into practice whenever you add new pages to
your site. Good description tags will help your site to be
found in search engine queries, and when used as part of the
main text of your pages will also help your web visitors to
quickly understand your most important marketing messages.
Donald
Nelson is a web developer, editor and social worker. He has
been working on the Internet since 1995, and is currently the
director of A1-Optimization (http://www.a1-optimization.com),
a firm providing low cost search engine optimization,
submission and web promotion services.
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