If you have ever read a text about on-page SEO, one of the things you will surely read there is that writing a meta description is one of the most basic and important items when it comes to optimizing content on website page. Metadata, whose composition also includes the meta description, are short texts that describe the content of the page. They are often not seen on the page itself, but only in the source code of the page. The key elements that Google the views are not actually visible on the page itself that readers see.

Where is the metadata?

The only difference between the data you can see (on a blog page, for example) and the metadata you can't see is location: metadata only exists in HTML, usually in head-in pages and so are visible only to search engines (and people who know where to look). It could be said that metadata actually represents the data about the data on your page.

For a long time and for a long time, metadata has been a direct factor in search rankings. But they are no longer. Google was quite clear on that. So, add your target key words The meta description of the page will not give immediate results in the ranking. But meta descriptions certainly have an indirect impact on rankings.

The most important users of invisible metadata are search engines (Google). These elements provide important information to search engines about content and purpose website pages. In the visible world, metadata determines which text and link will work Google show when your page appears in the results after someone searches.

Two very important categories when it comes to metadata are SEO title (Meta Title Tag ) and meta description (Meta description).

SEO title

The SEO title is one of the most important elements on a page, which reveals to search engines what it is about and which keywords to focus on. An equally good title will definitely attract the attention of users and make them click on it. Titles should contain about 60 characters, including spaces. Titles with more than 60 characters are mostly shortened, and additional characters are not displayed.

Each page should have a unique and well-done SEO title. Use keyword research to identify the optimal words to use in headlines.

A good meta description is very important

A well-written description will attract users to click on the link and come to the site, and in the long run, if the content provided to them is of good quality, this will also improve the ranking of the site. The more informative the description, the more likely it is that someone will click on the link on the results page and visit your site.

There is one catch here, and that is yes Google I often choose my own meta description when displaying your page in search results. This can be quite frustrating, when you realize that your painstakingly crafted meta description has been completely ignored and replaced by Google I selected a specific snippet of text from the site page. But, for that very reason, you have to take care of the quality of the entire text and content that is on the site. Given that this is the case, the question is whether meta-descriptions are still important for SEO?

The answer is yes. As we have already indicated, a good meta description increases the CTR of the site, and thus has a positive effect on its evaluation by search engines.

The best length of the meta description can vary and is known to be Google changed the length of the characters it displays. The approximate range of the description is between 155 - 160 characters.

Metadata and Yoast

If you use WordPress site development platform, one of the useful metadata editing tools is Yoast plugin, which can greatly facilitate their optimization. Yoast provides the ability to create all metadata, while giving you technical guidance. After installing this Plugin below the content of each page or article, a menu will appear in which you can manipulate metadata.

By selecting an option Edit fragment You can set the SEO catch as well as the meta description. There is also an option to edit metadata for the social network. Be sure to use your main keyword in the meta description. When you're done, you'll be able to see what it will look like in the search view. When you do this your article or page is ready for publication with successfully set metadata.

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