Titles and meta descriptions are the two most crucial elements of on-page SEO and should not be taken for granted. These small but immensely powerful elements impart an idea about the content on the website. Just like the blog post or text copy on a webpage, titles and metadata also should be optimized using relevant keywords. Search engines learn about a website and the intent of the post through its heading and index the page based on the relevancy of the keywords.
Title Tag
If you are considering a title tag, the headings of the page, you might be wrong. This key SEO element doesn’t appear to the user on the page but is required in all HTML/XHTML documents. It defines the title of the document and appears just above the URL on the result pages and at the top of a browser. It is a primitive piece of information that gives a quick insight into the content, so the viewers can decide whether it can answer their query or not. Its length must limit to 70 characters for the readers to read it in just one glance on the result page. Keyword spamming should be avoided though because using the same word repeatedly in such a short phrase doesn’t make a point. Your brand name or site name should also be included in either the beginning or the ending of the title with a delimiter like a hyphen, colon, or pipe, separating it from the rest of the tag. To make sure it is unique and distinct, Google Webmaster tools offer an HTML suggestions page that lists missing and problematic tags, so you can go for it as well.
Meta Description
It is like a summary of the content, fused into limited characters. Google’s former head of Webspam, once said that no metadata factors into Google’s ranking algorithm. However, it is used by the search engine in case it believes that it is an accurate synopsis of the webpage. So, if you write accurate metadata, you also mount the click-through rate. Generally, this description can toil between a character limit of 150-160. It should be like a site-level description for the main website page and aggression pages and a page-level description for other webpages. The motive of the writer must be to pave a keyword-rich sales pitch that engages visitors and compels them to click through the site. There is no such limitation as using a full sentence as it is bound to include the most relevant facts such as author listing, date of publication, and byline information.
How to Optimize?
Yes, the search engine is important but when tackling the meta descriptions and title tags, the intent of the end-users must be met. As easy as it might appear, writing each of them can be a little tricky if SEO pledges to take them to the next level by motivating the user to click. This motivational factor can be induced by using action verbs like “Show Now”, “Read More”, “Schedule Now”, or “Sign Up Today”, etc. Call out value prepositions like “Voted easiest to use” and “Two-minute sign-up” can also be relied upon for encouraging the user to act. You can also experiment with unique characters and punctuations and capitalization to emphasize important words.
The forgoing on-page SEO guideline and tips might appear too spammy or pitch-oriented but that’s totally fine. These title tags and metadata are written for catching the eye of the users and promoting interaction with them, so it being pitch-oriented is justified. We need people to view us on the result pages and visit our site, so, to begin with, it is wise to work on titles and metadata that actually brief the content and give readers a reason to click through the website.
