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Don’t Forget Your SEO Meta Titles & Descriptions

improve SEO

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This week in our Monday Morning Minute episode we started our SEO series! SEO (search engine optimization) can be a scary term for a lot of our clients, and well, pretty much anyone who’s trying to be successful online. After all, while Google and other search engines have worked to improve the way they work, marketers have grumbled about how “difficult” those changes could be on the work they did for their clients.

While we, like any other digital marketing firm, have a love/hate relationship with the all-mighty Google, we also understand that they are simply trying to provide their client (the searcher) with the best possible product (the right result for their query).

So, How Can You Improve Your SEO?

One of the first things we look for when auditing a client’s site is whether or not they are using proper meta titles and descriptions. What are those you ask? Visuals tend to work best! Look at the top of your browser tab. That text in each tab is the meta title, and it lets your user and Google know what your page is about. That title should be 60 characters or less in order for nothing to be cut off when it appears in your Google search.

Your description, on the other hand, mostly is seen by those who have found your site through search. This description should include some keywords or phrases that you are targeting, but should mostly be focused on encouraging that search to click. Give them a call to action so they know a) why they want to visit your page (what problem of theirs you’re solving) and b) what they’ll find when they do.

And because I said visual is best, check out this screenshot of our own result when you look for Hexcode Designs.

meta title and description

Start Writing Those Titles & Descriptions

Meta titles and descriptions are one of the basic pieces that every site needs to set them up for success on Google. They are key to helping Google and your browsers know exactly what they’ll expect to find on your page. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve literally seen just Home as the meta title on a site. That will explains nothing about what your company does and is a huge waste of valuable real estate.

If you have a WordPress site, we love using the Yoast SEO plugin. This will help you ensure that your titles and descriptions are the right length and makes adding them to your site quick and easy.

Stuck on what you should be writing? Look at some of your competition and how they appear in search results. Think about the main topics your page covers and, when possible, always try to include your business’s name in the title so people remember where they are. And with your descriptions, make sure to let them know why they want to click.

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Posted in SEO

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