SEO Best Practice #5: Meta Descriptions 📲

As an SEO copywriter & strategist, there’s a tight rope of copywriting best practices and SEO best practices that I know and am particularly skilled in helping you walk. Meta descriptions are one of those elements.

You may not know what a “meta description” is called, but I guarantee you know what it is.

You’ve seen it before in the wild—follow me... 
→ You go to Google
→ You type something in the search bar
→ You hit enter & see all those websites & blogs

The couple of grey sentences is called a "meta description." And every website has a spot on the backend where you can plug in one of these descriptions.

Meta descriptions play a critical role in your online visibility. In this episode, I’m explaining how they can help or hurt your visibility, mistakes to avoid, and sharing 2 tips to help you craft an effective meta description for your Home page.

→ Get the full show notes here!

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Transcript

Brittany Herzberg:

Hello and welcome back to The Basic B Podcast. I'm your host and favorite SEO coach, Brittany Herzberg. And today I've got two words: Meta descriptions. You may not know what it's called, but I guarantee you know what it is. Follow me. 

You go to Google, you type something in that search bar, you hit enter and see all those websites and blog posts, those gray couple of sentences that is called a meta description or SEO description or page description. It is super annoying, but the website hosts are not on the same page about what they call that on the back end of your site. But trust that you do have a spot for this on your website. 

In my SEO group coaching program, we've hit the turning point. The moment where it all starts to click, where the curriculum layout makes sense, the vision starts taking shape and everything is just moving right along. The keywords, the SEO pieces, the entire website. We met that moment just last week. Those first few weeks always just feel like a lot and there's no way around it. Your brain is rewiring, old beliefs are being scrubbed and new ones are sliding into place. I'm talking everything from social media marketing is the only way to SEO is so much more sustainable from do people even want what I have to look how many people are searching for this? From SEO is only for my website to oh, that's how I show up in AI searches. The unknown, AKA SEO in this case suddenly goes from this scary monster to your biz bestie. And it is such a fun journey to watch unfold.

Among other things that happened last week, I got a comment in a Google Doc from one of my SEO and growers and that inspired this entire episode. This SEO and grow business owner is super motivated. She's also already familiar with SEO. She's in the program to take things to the next level. That's a story for another day though. What you need to know is that everyone sends in homework for me to review things like their list of initial keyword research to SEO titles and meta description drafts. 

When I was reviewing her homework, I noticed a recurring theme. Her meta descriptions did not feel like her. Before I get into what I shared with her so that she could change that very easily. Let's back up a bit. 

A meta description is supposed to be a summary of what's on that page or blog post. It should be 140 to 155 characters. Now, you can technically go up to 160 characters, but I suggest aiming for 155 because that way if you go over a couple, then you've still got space and you can totally run with that one. This should be unique for every single website page and blog post. If you have podcast episodes like I do that you turn into blog posts, you can always templatize the meta description. 

If you ever go look at mine, they say something like in this episode of the Basic Bee podcast, they need to be filled in. But you don't need to break your brain in order to create these meta descriptions. To snoop on your own meta description, I want you to open a Google Chrome browser and and make sure you've downloaded detailed SEO. It's a Chrome extension. I'll have a link below in the show notes and if you ever don't see a link mentioned, go over to the blog post that's always, always linked in the show notes. I keep all of the links in that episode blog post. Okay, back to this. Once you've got the detailed SEO extension loaded, you'll type your website into the browser. So I would type BrittanyHerzberg.com remember, whatever page you have pulled up, that is the meta description you're going to see. 

So if you have your homepage pulled up, you'll see your meta description for your homepage. If you're looking at a blog post, that's the description for that post. Once your site is pulled up, you'll click on the purple letter D, that's the extension, and you'll see something that says title, something that says description underneath that. The description is what we're paying attention to. So you want to notice if it says missing or if you have a description, notice how many characters long it is. Again, you want it ideally to be a minimum of 140 characters and an absolute maximum of 160 characters. Ideally it's about 155 characters long. That's it. You're just observing right now. It means absolutely nothing about you as a person or as a business owner, period. Stay with me because we're going to talk through ways to take this description to the next level. But first, to locate your meta description on the backend of your website host, you can always go to Google and type in something like Meta Description for Showit site or Meta Description for WIX site. 

If you happen to be on Squarespace, that's where I host. You'll go into the section that says Pages and you'll find the settings wheel next to each page. Click on that, look for SEO. Click on that and you'll be able to make changes in there. The one exception is the homepage you'll still find the settings wheel next to home. You'll click on that, click on SEO, but just know it'll take you to another page and that's where you're going to update your meta description, but only for the homepage. All the rest of them are just easy and they have the settings wheel and you just click on that for each page. 

Every website has a space to type in your unique meta description for that page. Some of them are just easier to get to than others. One more thing I want to point out here is that you'll likely see some kind of character count right next to the meta description. But you cannot trust that for whatever reason, website hosts don't put the same character count there. And they don't typically even put the accurate character count there. So listen to the advice I gave you earlier and stick with that, okay? Promise me. 

This is what I see go wrong with so many meta descriptions. They're not even there. They're too short, they're too long. They're the same for multiple pages, or they're written in third person. Something that reads like Britney helps online business owners with their SEO. These don't work because you're either giving zero information and asking the bots to take a guess, or you're sharing too much, which actually gets cut off and leaves people feeling subconsciously like you're not giving them the full information or being so vague and general about your business that people aren't able to easily self select and say, yes, that's me. This is what I've been looking for. Listen up. If you've tuned me out, come back because this is how to do meta descriptions. 

Well, let's pick up once more with the SEO and grow student. Her meta descriptions were not feeling like her. She's got such a big fun personality that kind of comes at you like a bear hug from your grandpa. That's what I expected, but that is not what I got when I was reading the drafts. And because I always have both hats on at all times, SEO strategist and copywriter, I spotted an opportunity. Get ready to take notes. 

Pro Tip Incoming Start by pulling copy from that page. You do not have to start from a blank page with a blinking cursor. Use copy you already have. Bonus points because this is good for consistency of your messaging. If this page is live and you like the copy that's on there, pull copy from that page. If, however, you're reworking the copy in a Google Doc, pull the copy from that document. Use whatever is most in line with your business vision and offerings as they stand for this upcoming season. Just like what I shared in my Google Doc comment with this student, starting with copy you already reviewed or wrote ensures that you're weaving in your voice and vibe from the jump. And for anyone meeting you for the first time as an answer to their Googled question, that's an instant trust builder. 

Next pro tip Write your meta descriptions in first person when you write your meta descriptions like a little mini love letter from you to the potential website visitor, AKA lead, AKA aligned human, this is just another way you can establish a connection and possibly trust very early on. If this is the first time they're interacting with you online and they feel like you're talking to them, that's huge. If that feels really personal and especially given the service you offer, think birth photography or a functional medicine practitioner or even website designer. That personal touch, that connection can often lead to so much to them feeling comfortable with you wanting to go visit your site, taking the next step to sign up for your email list, Taking a moment to reach out to you filling out your inquiry form. 

All of these things we want to have happen can start with just a simple little love note written from you to your ideal person in that meta description. With all of that being said, your task is to review your homepage meta description. What's happening? What does it say? Is it written in first person? Is it 140 to 155 characters long? Does it even feel like your voice or your vibe? If you're not happy with it for any of those reasons, your next step is going to be to rewrite it. 

This is usually where people are like, uh, did I do this right? Brittany? If you want that extra layer of support and insurance that you've done it right, SEO and Grow is the best place for you to be in there. We're looking at meta descriptions for every single one of your main website homepage. About Page Services pages, opt in pages, sales pages. You get the idea and then we move on to doing the same thing for your blog posts. You get really good at creating solid meta descriptions that intrigue people and lead them to click to your website and often to take a next step like sign up for your email newsletter or listen to your podcast or even fill out your inquiry form. 

My SEO titles and meta descriptions were some of the very first pieces of my SEO strategy that I changed once I learned about SEO. And you know what the changes I made led to everything I just shared with you. More traffic, engagement, inquiries, even sales and my clients get to experience those same wins, sometimes in record time. I'm talking, like, two weeks. It is shocking how quickly your website can go to work for you once you program it with the right information. 

Take action this week and come find me on Instagram. I want to hear your experience and your wins. I love getting to celebrate with you. I'll be back here very soon. And in the meantime, remember, I'm cheering you on on your SEO journey.