Meta Description Template
-
For a blog that already has thousands of posts, what is a good template for meta descriptions?
I guess I assume that the best way to do it would be to do a custom one for each post, but given the amount of time that would take, I'd like to hear some alternatives.
Thanks!
-
Saw this on Yoast's blog:
"Auto generating a snippet is a "shortcut", and there are no real shortcuts in (WordPress) SEO (none that work anyway)."
Question answered
-
Hey Sha,
We already have the Yoast SEO plugin
As we have thousands of posts, we don't want to write a custom description for each one. Within the Yoast SEO plugin, we have the option to create a template for meta descriptions, so the purpose of my question was to see if there is a good "template" for meta descriptions that I can use for thousands of posts.
-
Hi Kyle,
Actually Nicholas is right on the money - you just have to use the right plugin to get a much more comprehensive and useful feature set than just editing page titles. There are several around, but by far the best I have found (credit to Alan Blewiss for the tip some time ago) is Yoast SEO.
The plugin allows you to enter your chosen keyword(s) and then indicates keyword usage for Title, description etc. If you have already entered a Title it will analyze and report on keyword usage. You can choose to either ignore the analysis and keep the existing title, or edit it along with description etc. All of these options and a whole lot more are available at post and blog level.
Yes, Google will grab something off the page, but I would always prefer to at least offer it a description that is written for conversion - that is what your description is for ...to help "sell" the site to a user who sees it appear in the SERPs as Stephan also described.
-
Hi. You want to make sure they are unique and the interesting stuff is up front. These descriptions can help with click through as that is what the search person will first see after the title.
I'd suggest something like: [blog title] - [blog category] - by [blog author] - [blog date]
This will keep them unique and if it gets truncated the important stuff is up front. With this in mind you could tell them bloggers to make sure they have relevant and catchy blog titles to garner that click!
-
Hey Nicholas,
Sounds more like a suggestion for a page title? Those are much easier to implement. We're already using an SEO plugin for Wordpress but aren't sure what to do as our meta description template. Titles are taken care of at this point.
Thanks for the response!
-
You could use an SEO plugin so that the meta description is the same formula (ex: "category" | "blog post" etc...), several are available for WordPress.
-
Yup, Google should just grab a piece it thinks is relevant.
Additionally if your meta description doesn't match what the user is searching for (but other content on you page matches) Google will sometimes show that instead anyway.
-
If the page isn't that important then you can actually leave out the Meta Description if it's that much of a headache for you.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
What is the best meta description for Category Pages, Tag Pages and Main Article?
Hi, I want to index all my categories and tags. But I fear about duplicating the meta description. for example: I have a tag name "Learn Stock Market", a category name "Learning", and a main article "What is Stock Market". What is your suggestion for meta description of these three pages that looks great for seo google?
On-Page Optimization | | mbmozmb0 -
Ensuring that Google Display my Meta Descriptions
Hello, I have a few pages that appear in SERPs with the page copy as opposed to the meta descriptions I wrote, is there any way to try & force the meta descriptions to be displayed? Its a WordPress site using Yoast
On-Page Optimization | | jasongmcmahon0 -
Should you aim for Google to use your meta tags?
When updating meta titles and descriptions, I'm taking note of whether Google is displaying the set tag or changing it to copy from the page. Does this affect the ranking position if Google is having to change the tag? How much should I worry if Google is choosing to change every other page? Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | Omar_aw0 -
URL / Meta info for Author bio pages
When you create a biography page for authors that point back to their G+ account, do you include any other signals in the URL other than the authors name? For example, would you use www.domain.com/sam-spade or www.domain.com/sam-spade-biography, etc? Similar question for the meta description. Do you add any signals there? Or, is rel=author strong enough. Best,
On-Page Optimization | | ChristopherGlaeser
Christopher0 -
Which meta descriptions should I fix first?
Our biggest issue with SEO right now is the lack of meta descriptions. There are a ton of pages that require meta descriptions that we don't know which ones to prioritize first, namely: corporate website pages landing pages for specific content offers that are gated behind a form blog posts Since we can't tackle everything at once, what's best practice around which pages to fix first? Thanks!
On-Page Optimization | | BizoMarketing0 -
Regarding the META KEYWORDS tag
Two questions regarding the META KEYWORDS tag: Does Google actually penalize you for using the KEYWORD META tag, or does it just ignore it? On a related matter, I've noticed that when I use the On-Page Optimization Tool, it indicates that my header includes the KEYWORD tag, although I've taken great pains to remove keywords from pages that had been optimized by a previous SEO. I'm using Magento - Could it be a legacy issue? Would that make a difference?
On-Page Optimization | | RScime250 -
Missing Meta Tag Description
I have received a number of missing meta tag descriptions on my website. They all are with the comments to posts and it says /feed at the end of most of them. What is causing this error??
On-Page Optimization | | haveuheard0 -
Is it ok to use encoded special characters in meta titles?
I've read blog posts stating that encoding special characters in title tags is both ok and not ok. Any definitive answer out there? Do the extra characters from adding encoding count towards the total number of characters that Google displays in SERPs? Or do they just count as one character?
On-Page Optimization | | BostonWright0