I Never Meta-title I Didn't Like
When I first started here at Wealthy Affiliate, I was... a bit slow.
Like some people, it took a bit of work to get used to keywords. In fact, i figure that I am still learning and will continue to learn for some time.Or at least I hope I will....
That said, I think I am generally pretty good in using them well in titles and in text, but I often overlooked meta titles and descriptions.
I never used to pay much attention when people would talk about meta-this and meta-that. I figured I was doing ok to have some good keywords and write half-decent content.I thought that would be enough.
I was familiar with the concept of keyword density and tried not to overdo it.
"Google doesn't like keyword stuffing!" I was told a couple of times. To avoid risking it, I mainly stuck to including my keyword in the title and the first paragraph.
I didn't realise at the time that I had some "prime real estate" that I could put my keywords in.
I am now going back over my old posts and making sure I fill in the spaces you see above. Why? Because these are awesome spots to plug in your keywords without worrying about stuffing.
In fact, you really want to make sure you have good snippets. With some of the changes occuring in the nature of Search, snippets are occupying Position Zero, as it were, on SERP.
Devices that use voice search (which is becoming more and more common, by the way...) will read out loud the snippet that appears in position zero, so here is a great opportunity to give yourself the air of authority by claiming that spot.
Use these spaces to write a good snippet and description featuring your keyword. You will increase your keyword density without fear of stuffing. and make your post more attractive for ranking.
And we all want that, right?
So, as I said, I am reviewing my old posts again (on to version 3 now), but with each revision, they are becoming stronger.
Making use of all the tools available to us shouldn't be viewed as optional, but necessary to succeed.
Working toward my goals one step at a time.
Recent Comments
104
Great advice, Craig.
I'm also guilty of sometimes forgetting to complete snippets and I am always reviewing pages and posts to either remedy that fact or improve on ones I have already created.
On my 4th or 5th iteration, I think. A neverending process - but, worth the effort in rewards reaped.
Jim
Jim, If you are obsessed about meta descriptions one great technique is to use the search term you are trying to rank for and model (not copy!) the meta descriptions of the higher ranking posts
Craig,
I really like your creative post title. I had to laugh when I read it, very clever. Your Devo joke was funny as well. Gotta love the 80's.
Your post provided great information, I never thought before to put the keyword in the description. I have always put it in the Meta Title, but not in the Meta Description.
Lisa
Craig,
I really like your creative post title. I had to laugh when I read it, very clever. Your Devo joke was funny as well. Gotta love the 80's.
Your post provided great information, I never thought before to put the keyword in the description. I have always put it in the Meta Title, but not in the Meta Description.
Lisa
Same here. Something new to learn every day.
I wish I had learned it several posts earlier, though, haha.
Craig,
I really like your creative post title. I had to laugh when I read it, very clever. Your Devo joke was funny as well. Gotta love the 80's.
Your post provided great information, I never thought before to put the keyword in the description. I have always put it in the Meta Title, but not in the Meta Description.
Lisa
Oh, Craig, you really made me Laugh Out Loud! I used to love that Devo song...I think I was singing it just a few weeks ago when it came on the radio.
You make a valid point: what appears in our back office isn't just there to look pretty, but is there to enhance our sites.
Strive to Thrive...and Snippet Good!
Ha ha! I really wasn't too sure how many people would get it. I'm glad that at least a few did!
I agree to this. I do it too this way. I wonder however, as you put in your picture, you shouldn't have written more than 60 characters in title and 160 in description, but does it really matter all that much if it is more?
I know it might not be displayed anymore on search results...but that's about it.
I wrote it that way just for the sake of a joke, but yeah, don't go over the recommended amounts.
I always assumed that it was simply less than ideal to go over, but I have found out that it might actually cut you off mid-sentence or mid-word, so that it won't make sense anymore.
What a great piece of information. It is very helpful! Remember that you can also put more than one keyword into the keyword box. You may be targeting only one, but you may also have used others in your posts. This is something I am just learning and have been adding as I go along.
I went back through all of my old posts a while ago and filled in the Meta descriptions because of a post like yours. I had been sure I read in the training that the All in One SEO did it for you. Turns out I read it wrong... ooops.
Now I always do it.
With Grace and Gratitude
Karen
Well, it does kind of look like it does it. They threw me off at first, too, because I would see that some info was filled in without me touching it.
In the end though, you will always do things better than something automated.
Great post, Craig! Such a catchy title!!!!
I have always used Meta titles with the All in One SEO Pack and Yoast SEO. I have gone back several times to tweak them, too. It's all in the journey to a better site! Great points here. I love the second to last line you wrote: "Making use of all the tools available to us shouldn't be viewed as optional, but necessary to succeed." That says it all..nice summary!
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Actually, I am of the believing that not using forced meta titles and meta descriptions are better. Just have the keyword in the first 160 or so characters and boom thats it!
By having the keyword in the first 160 characters and in your title search engines will "Pull" that data and highlight them in bold. but..
And the big but...
If you limit yourself to forced meta descriptions and titles google and other search engines and "forced" to use that in the SERPs meta description and WILL NOT bold or highlight other semantic keywords that your articles are ranking for when other search terms trigger your article to be ranked in the SERPS..
Now, given that a meta description with bolded search terms in the meta description get the attention of the readers eyes vs meta description without one - which do you think gets the higher CTR?
(google btw will just pull a meta description from your content and put the search term in bold and place it in the meta description).
This is something I have researched and split tested. On average I got a 20% increase n CTR with zero negative impact on rankings and traffic, naturally traffic increased due to greater CTR.
The non use of meta description and non use of meta titles , sure hands over a little bit more control over to the search engines but for the higher click through rate and traffic its worth it.
This is something I picked up from both Boomer and @@Rich, who explain the functionality much better than I do.
So, Derek, are you saying that we should just ignore meta titles and meta descriptions and let Google bots "crawl" that information from our posts? Is that a better strategy?
Because, I've noticed that since I started becoming religious about the meta titles and meta descriptions, my CTR has dropped drastically. I just thought that it was some kind of change in Google's crawl procedures...
Jim
Yes.
I am religiously removing all my previously forced meta titles and meta descriptions. I have tested over almost 6 months and over 200 posts. Result is higher CTR across the board for both targeted keywords and LSI keywords.
Then, I am going to give this a shot, too. As I remove my meta titles and descriptions, I will keep them handy in case I want to put them in again.
And, if I see an increase in CTR without them, they will go into my archive files.
Thanks, for the guidance!
Jim
You're welcome, I questioned the technique after picking it from Boomer, I was lucky @@Rich chipped in and fully explained it and with screen shot example of how it works in SERPs. I've not looked back since.
Split test test it and see how it goes.
What post of Boomers discussed it?
Jim
Well, I think the key word in this is "forced".
One of the points of using the meta title and description is to include the keywords, but without just stuffing them in.
I wouldn't recommend forced usage either. It should always sound natural.
Unless I am missing your point.