 Welcome to the journey. Today we're talking about how to edit meta descriptions for your website. So if you're creating a website from scratch or using a website builder, you might have seen space on your website for your meta description. Yeah. And if you pay attention to search engine optimization, then you have undoubtedly heard about meta descriptions in the past. But if you aren't familiar with the term, you might not be able to say what a meta description is or how to use one properly. So learning how to write meta descriptions can not only help you with your search engine rankings for your pages, but you can also earn more click throughs from visitors who encounter your results on those search engines too. Yeah. And we'll start with the basics and then we'll explain how to write meta descriptions for each of your websites. Right. So let's start with what is a meta description? Well, a meta description is an HTML tag and an HTML code of your website that allows you to basically write a description for the page itself. And it plays a role with how your page is seen by search engine crawlers and how it appears in SERP. So in your website builder, you'll likely have a box that's labeled meta description where you can type in there. And in the back end, so the HTML, you'll actually have something like this. Right. Do a Google search. You'll see a list of web pages and that blue title right there, that's your meta title. And the description right below that is your meta description. Since this is one of the first things that your visitors see when they're looking through Google or other search engines, it's your chance to persuade those visitors to click that link and visit your website. So if your meta descriptions are in fact effective in this persuasion, here's what you're going to see. Hire CTRs. So click through rates. And it's also going to benefit your traffic, both organic and through your search rankings. Google search engine crawlers understand that meta tags in the back end of your code are meant to describe the nature of the content of your pages. Now, it's not certain whether your meta description affects your rankings, but it can affect your rankings in indirect ways. For example, a web crawler might use that meta description to learn more about what that page entails and make sure it appears for those relevant searches. So what is the purpose? Well, the meta descriptions are there to tell the web crawlers and the human users what the page is all about. Right. And for web crawlers, it serves as context for basically understanding the relevance of that page. And for human users, it's a chance to see what that page or that brand is all about. So for you, it's an opportunity to rank higher in relevant searches and persuade more visitors to go to your site instead of competitors in the S.E.R.P.'s. And now that we have a good understanding of what a meta description is, let's talk about the elements of an effective meta description. When writing an effective meta description, you'll have two main goals. You want to appease the searching crawlers for higher rankings. You'll also want to persuade visitors on those searching results to click your pages. So let's talk about meta description length. Now, historically, the length was about 155 characters, but Google has bumped that up to 320. And if you write anything beyond that, it won't be seen by web crawlers and it becomes essentially useless. Now, I'm going to read this directly. Try to keep it to 160 characters or fewer and use a maximum of two sentences. Meta description tone. Let's talk about that. Now, this should also be written with an active and energetic voice and a blunt straightforward description of the content on your page might actually help with crawlers to understand, hey, what is your page about? But it isn't going to motivate any clicks. Now, moving on to target keywords and phrases. So ideally, your page will target a mix of different keywords and phrases. So you'll have diversity of different competitive ranking opportunities. However, you'll want to avoid meta descriptions that are just so stuffed with specific keywords that it just reads unnaturally. Again, you're trying to persuade visitors to click on your link and it's just stuffed with keywords. It's going to appear spammy and not really relevant to their search, which makes me think of relevance, right, Nealey? So this is important to ensure that your pages rank for the most relevant phrases and to ensure that, you know, your visitors find appropriate content when they do click through. Yeah. And you'll want to basically differentiate your brand as well. So you'll be competing with a few other brands, if not thousands, on those search and your result pages. And web users will be evaluating your meta descriptions versus someone else. And if your sound's too generic or doesn't really hook them in, you're not going to get any clicks. Totally, Nealey. And that makes me think of persuasiveness. Your method of persuasion will depend on your target audience and your main goals. So think about what that is for you. But usually it requires you to tease potential visitors with a hint, you know, of what are they going to get out of this? What's the value that they'll receive when they actually visit your page and what new knowledge or skills will they attain when they read your content? What are your products and why are they better than others? Now let's talk about how to actually write a meta description. So now let's focus on you. What's the right way to approach writing a meta description? If you've never written one before. So we have a couple of straightforward tips that anyone can easily follow. So the first tip I have for you is to do your research. So starting with a round of keyword research to really learn the most valuable targets for your brand. And don't forget to jot them down. Jot down the main focus of each of your pages. Write down the idea that you want for each page and for which you need that meta description for. Yeah. And next up is to study the competition. And while you don't want to copy them verbatim, it is going to help you come up with some ideas that you can start using or looking down the path of for your own keywords in your description. And remember, you want to differentiate yourself. Make sure you're not copying from those brands exactly. And one of my favorite things to do and I recommend you do the same write an active first draft. I know I do before I send out any card regardless of the holiday. But remember to write it in an active voice to persuade your potential visitors. And the last tip here is to trim to size. So I want you to really clean up any ambiguous phrases with more specific keywords that talk about the page itself and adjust any tonal discrepancies to keep the focus on persuading that visitor to click on your page and see all the good stuff that it has to offer. And fortunately, there's some helpful tools out there for writing meta descriptions. Thank goodness. So if you're attempting to write a meta description on your own, there are some online tools that can help you out. One of them, I know of Yoast SEO for WordPress. It has a ton of features that make it easy to write, assign and edit meta descriptions for your most important pages. Yeah, Emma, that is a fantastic tool. I actually use it on every single one of my website builds for my client. So I highly recommend that one. Another one is SEO book. It has a free. It's basically just a free meta description generator. And you can likely find similar meta description generators all over the web, but SEO book is a pretty legit one. And these can be useful for helping you to come up with new ideas. But I would be wary of using them exclusively. Take the time to edit and polish their recommendations to perfect them. Meta descriptions are just one of several vital components for your onsite optimization strategy. Unfortunately, you don't have to shoulder the SEO strategy by yourself. And if you're really looking to work less and rank higher, don't be afraid to get a little help from the experts. All right, that's a wrap. Be sure to leave us a comment. Also, subscribe to our channel and ring that bell to these episodes. First, this is the journey. Thanks for watching and see you next time.