A meta title and meta description are a type of metadata and as such, are stored in the source code of your web page. They are not visible on your website, but visible to search engines. It is part of the website code that search engines crawl to match search queries with the correct keywords used.

Meta title is a text that tells what your page is about, and it is displayed in the search engine results. In the source code of your website it will look like this -

<title>rankingCoach - SEO software - Simple do - it - yourself SEO</title>.

Meta description’s main characteristic is to provide a summary of your page. Meta description or a summary of your page will be visible in SERP results just below your URL and page title, and you can recognize it in the source code if it is written in this way:

<meta name=”description” content=”rankingCoach is the award winning software for small businesses. Take control of your search engine optimisation and improve your search engine rankings in Google!”/>.

An example can be seen below of how it appears in Google search results, and how it can be found in the source code of the website.

Your titles will also be displayed on your browser tabs as seen below:

Meta title and description are types of data that can be found on your website, and they give visitors a quick overview of what your page is about. This means that they can be crawled by search engines but they are not visible on your website. As we saw in another article though, both of them are visible on search engines’ SERPs, and they help your page visibility.

Now that you know what meta title and meta description are, what is it that you need to take into account when working on them?

When writing your meta title and description always make sure that you check:

The title of your website should be between 45 and 70 characters long, ideally below 60. Your description should average anywhere between 150 and 160 characters.

Please note that these indications are approximate, for the title, the actual length depends on the number of pixels and the meta description might be replaced by other more relevant content from your website. The actual length of the displayed information in the SERP may change, but if your tags are too long, you risk them being cut by the search engine.

As this is the first piece of information that internet users will find about your website, it is mandatory that the title and the description are well written and invite potential visitors to actually click on your website. Match the title and description so they reflect your website and what the business is about. Be unique, yet easy to understand.

Both the title and the meta description should include three keywords that describe your business the best. Try to choose keywords that describe different aspects of your industry so that you show up in as many searches as possible.

For example, instead of choosing “furniture”, “bedroom furniture” and “furniture for your bedroom”, try to use “bedroom furniture”, “beds” and “dressers”.

Keywords are an important part of your website for two reasons. First, they help your users to understand what the page is about. Second, clear content and keywords associated with your website also help search engines to rank you better.

Location is only necessary if you operate locally, for example, if your area of business is in just one city in one location. Adding country or city location in meta title and description can help with visibility, but use it only if it makes sense in the context of the website.

Keep in mind that each page of your website needs its own metadata, and each page needs its own specific keywords. That way you’ll be able to show up for all of your keywords through its homepage, but also through its subpages. Good meta title and description help both users and search engines to index and get to your page.

Thanks to rankingCoach, we make it easy for you to edit, manage, and optimize your keywords into all your website's meta titles and descriptions. If you want to learn more about how to do SEO with rankingCoach and our easy to follow step by step instructions check out our article here. The easy-to-use rankingCoach app allows you to maximize all areas of your online presence, on-page, off-page, reports and real time competitor notifications.

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For more topics and help check out our pages https://help.rankingcoach.com/en/.