And so here is the million dollar
question again!! Do we really need to re-evaluate what should be present in the
meta description tags? This section, although has been there from the very
beginning but has aroused curiosity in the minds of webmasters. Most of us
obviously know that although meta keyword tagging has been found to be useless
for the past so many year, still site owners are seen to stuff keywords in the
meta tag description. It is now obvious that we really don’t need the meta
keywords tagging component but is that for real?
One question that seems to haunt the
minds of individuals is that is the meta description tag become useless now and
should we no longer be writing custom meta tag descriptions for any of our web
pages? What is happening nowadays is that most webmasters feel that the meta
tag description has lost its importance and is totally worthless. So, let’s
find out what exactly is the truth!!
Are meta description tags of no use? Is
that true? Let’s evaluate using an example…
I have written a custom meta tag
description for one of my web pages – the home page. The keyword that I have
placed is the name of my establishment. I would want Google to track the
keyword in my meta description in the search results. So, is
it true that meta description is worthless? I would say absolutely no. You
still have control in some way. For some search results, I can see SERP displayed
my website basis of my meta description. So, in a nutshell you can in a way gain
control through messaging.
I did mention that ‘in a way’ you can
have some control over the search results by offering appropriate meta
description tags for your web page which would include Google as well. In fact,
it is worth going for meta description tags for any of your web page. Google
will show your description in search results. In some cases, your meta
description tags may not show up and something else gets displayed instead.
Google usually makes a decision using
their internal algorithm which tends to change on fixed intervals. Basis their
algorithm they would decide what to show in their search results and how to
display it. It has been evident that Google was about to change your title tag
as when they felt appropriate. And, we also know how they would change your
meta description tag so is true that we really need meta tagging components?
The underlying algorithm that Google
runs on is somewhat unpredictable. I personally feel that Google hasn’t made
too many changes to the way their algorithm functions and how they interpret
tags but that is only my feeling.
Experts are of the opinion that it is
always best to have unique meta descriptions rather than not to have meta
descriptions at all. Instead of having the same description run throughout all
the web pages it is better to have unique ones as that would increase your
chance of getting detected by Google. I also think that it is in your best
interest not to duplicate any of your meta description tags. Instead of
duplicating it is better not to have meta description tags at all. In other
words do not repeat descriptions or better not to have them as that may have a
negative impact.
So, this gives way to another question.
Should we re-evaluate whether or not we use meta description for site
promotion. I would say no… it is not necessary to re-evaluate but go ahead with
unique descriptions.
Another factor worth considering is the
time to write custom meta tag descriptions and that too bearing in mind the
number of web pages you have on your website. You would also need to avoid
duplications as that may have an adverse effect. In most cases, it would be
best to delete all duplicated meta tag description than to keep the same tag on
each and every web page. If in case the number of web pages on your site is
huge, it might be better to write custom tags for each and every web page. This
may consume a lot of man hours but it is certainly worth going for.
Your worst nightmare would be to
duplicate any of the meta tags on any of the web pages or on multiple web
pages. If in case you do not have the time to create unique descriptions then
it is better not to have any tag description at all and this could have a
negative impact on your search ratings. Frankly speaking, if I had a huge
website I would create meta tag descriptions for important pages that would
help me draw visitors. This way I would be able to promote my website more
effectively on search engines like Google.
Last but not the least, do use your
keywords judiciously while creating meta tag description for your website. Too
much of keyword stuffing would again have an adverse effect and have a negative
impact on your search results. It could also be considered as spam and your
site being blacklisted. Choose your keywords carefully and create descriptions
that would make sense and can be easily interpreted by visitors. Try to keep
the description text relevant and compelling as far as possible.
Author Bio:-
Sophie Hyde is a technical news junkie and works
at Search
Eccentric in India. She loves everything about
digital world, Search
Engine Marketing, Internet Marketing, Social Media and gadgets.
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