Meta Title & Description

Introduction – What is a meta title & description

WhatIsAMetaTitleDescription

On the internet a meta title and meta description is a small snippet of code added to a webpage which contains the title of the page and a small description to show search engines like Google and Bing.

This description is then used to show a snippet within search results before users click through to a webpage in search results.

Meta information is usually auto-generated by a website CMS (Content Management System) such as WordPress or Shopify and is based on the specific content on the page.

The content inside the meta description and title is controlled by the website developer and is made on the website and then shown in search results.

Some search engines like Google however may ignore the content in the description and instead automatically generate a description from content on the target page based on the specific query of a user in search results.

Examples:

The image below shows the title and description for the search term “nike shoes” which displays a page with information.

Meta-Title-Description-Example

The links shown on the bottom are also automatically generated by search engines and are called “sitelinks” which are relevant pages on the website that relate to the users query.

Implications for SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

When creating and improving pages SEO Consultants will often tweak this data to include keywords and a user-friendly description to provide both keyword relevance and useful information to entice users to click through in search results.

Meta descriptions amongst many other factors help play a role in a website ranking higher especially if the description captures the users attention and results in traffic coming in.

Related links from our glossary:

Bounce Rate

Sitemaps

Content Marketing

SEM (Search engine marketing)

SERP

Web Analytics

Conclusion

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