Description: features of the tag
A description is a tag that briefly describes the content of the page. The meta description should be 155-160 characters long and should include keywords. The latter help to make the page visible to search engines and thus promote it in the rankings.
If the Title tag is a mandatory tool for SEO and directly affects the ranking, then the description does not significantly shape the site’s position. However, the tag helps to draw the user’s attention to the resource. The better the meta description reflects the topic of the page, the more likely it is that a person will click on the link. This, in turn, has a direct impact on improving the CTR.
The description is reflected in the snippet in search results, with keywords highlighted in bold. When you open the HTML code, the meta description is at the top of the page, enclosed in a <head> tag. Its content can be entered manually, but nowadays, this is not really necessary. Modern CMS is equipped with a visual editor through which all the required attributes can be filled in.
Filling principles
The principle of filling a description is similar to that of creating a contextual ad. In both cases, the snippet’s content is filled in for search engine output, but in a different way. The meta description aims to attract organic traffic and, in the case of contextual advertising, paid conversions.
The tag should match the content of the page and highlight its main idea. For example, if it’s a product page, the tag should specify the product itself, its model and briefly describe its characteristics. A volume of 160 characters is quite enough to tell you about it. At the same time, the meta description can go beyond the limit, but in this case, when the search engine reduces the text to the right size, it will be incomplete. When it comes to the resource of a company operating in the B2B sector, it is better to focus on the brand itself.
To get the description right, you need to think from the user’s point of view. The information provided here should help the user make a choice and convince them that the content on the page is relevant to their query. And the text should not be a set of keywords. It must be concise, clear and well thought out.
The presence of the description is not a mandatory rule of page design. If there is no tag, the search engine generates a snippet of the page’s text content. However, it is better to write your own meta description for the home page and sections that are focused on high traffic. The text for each page should be unique and serve as an additional tool to promote the resource.