Do I need a Meta description for every page?
-
HI Guys,
We have just developed a new website and I'm looking to add meta descriptions with relevant key words to the pages . As the site has over 80 pages it is quite an undertaking and i was wandering if pages, such as the shopping cart and FAQ's etc, need meta descriptions as well?
Thanks in advance : )
Pete
-
You might also consider using spcial characters within your meta description like: ★
Use only only one at a time otherwise google ignores it. But in general it is a great way to improve organic CTR's if used appropriately.
-
Hi Michael,
I'm not talking about the product pages that make up the site, just the actual cart and checkout pages.
I'm not sure what eCommerce platform you're running, but basically whatever page is displayed when a customer clicks "My Cart" and "Checkout" or whatever it happens to be on your site... the pages that are dynamically generated when user's add products and purchase items. There's no need to have a My Cart or a Checkout page ranking in Google that shows an empty cart or an error when somebody clicks the search result. Same thing for customer account pages like order tracking or order history... anything that's dynamically generated and requires a user to be logged in or have an active session on the site.
-
Secondly, some pages (like the Shopping Cart or other customer specific pages), you don't really want showing up in Google, so it's best to instruct Google not to index these pages (either via the robots.txt file or meta-robots tag). If Google doesn't index the page, then there's no need for the Meta Description.
Why would you not want google to index these pages or use meta titles or descriptions? I am kind of in the same situation as the OP and have had some success on making some of my products in my shopping cart rank in google.
warmest regards,
Michael
-
80 pages and the amount of work involved is all worth it my friend.
-
Hear hear. Thumbs up.
-
Also, if you have none present, Google will make up it's own based on what's on the page - sometime not always the right context - if you include your own, you're more likely to have control of what's displayed.
-
Agree with Anthony - a unique meta description should be present on each page. Won't help with rankings but will help with click-through-rates
-
Hi Pete,
Good question.
First thing, don't worry too much about keywords in your meta descriptions. Google will make them bold, which might draw some attention to your listing on the results page, but keywords in meta descriptions don't actually improve rankings.
Instead, use the meta description area to entice the searcher to visit your site. What set's you apart from the competition... do you offer free shipping?... any special promotions? Using the Meta Description as an informative snippet and a call to action is much more effective in increasing CTR (Click Thru Rate) and Conversions than packing them with keywords.
Secondly, some pages (like the Shopping Cart or other customer specific pages), you don't really want showing up in Google, so it's best to instruct Google not to index these pages (either via the robots.txt file or meta-robots tag). If Google doesn't index the page, then there's no need for the Meta Description.
Lastly, I'd recommend investing the time in writing good Meta Descriptions for the pages that you anticipate will be receiving the most impressions and traffic, and use a default description of the site for the pages that will likely rarely appear in results.
Hope this helps!
Thanks,
Anthony
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
-
Meta Description
Hey folks, I'm having a little problem with meta description. https://www.google.com/search?q=SSl-5+duncan&oq=SSl-5+duncan+&aqs=chrome..69i57j0l5.3486j0j4&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=91&ie=UTF-8 If you look at that first result it looks like this: Custom Staggered Strat | Seymour Duncan <cite class="_Rm">www.seymourduncan.com/pickup/custom-staggered-strat</cite>Custom Staggered Strat SSL-5. Home; / Pickups ... Maserati tribute - Fender Stratocaster with seymour duncan ssl 5 ... Talk Tone @seymourduncanpickups ...Even while the meta description code is this:name="description" itemprop="description" content="The ultimate overwound Strat single coil pickup, found in the bridge position of the David Gilmour Signature Fender Stratocaster." />We are seeing the same issue here in many places:https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=seymour duncan blogUsing the All In One SEO Pack - Any suggestions as to what might be causing this or how to fix it?
On-Page Optimization | | ScottOlson0 -
Sub-pages have no pa
I took over a website a few months ago which is not performing well at all for chosen keywords. When I first inspected it, I found a rel canonical tag pointing to the homepage on every page. This was quickly deleted and all the pages were fetched in webmaster tools. 3 months later and the website is still performing badly. When I use the mozbar, it shows that all of the sub-pages have a pa of 1. It is only a small site and all of the pages are linked to on the navbar in a simple way. The links are not made using javascript and all the pages are on the sitemap which is submitted to wmt. I have checked that all of the changes that have been made have been indexed as well. Could it be possible that google still sees the canonical tag even though its not there? I can't think of any other reason why the pages have no pa or why it is so far behind the competitors despite having better content and links. Also, the site is appropriate for adults, but I found (among the mess left for me) a meta ratings tag set to "general". This has now been deleted, could it negatively affect rankings?
On-Page Optimization | | maxweb0 -
Deleted pages still registering as 404 pages.
I have a an all html site that I can only work on through the ftp. The previous marketing company ran a script that built thousands of location landing pages, but all they did was change the tags and headers and the keywords in the pages, other than that they are all duplicate pages. I removed them, but Google is reading them as 404 pages. How do I tell Google those pages don't exist? or do I just need to let the bots crawl it a few times and it will see that eventually?
On-Page Optimization | | SwanJob0 -
How to treat pages that are removed?
I have a website that need be very up-to-date, I mean, pages can be published just for 30 days, after that it should be unpublished. Everyday more than 300 pages is "removed", For theses pages I am returning http code "410" (Gone), also I remove from the sitemap. Now, I am checking Google WebMasterTools and I am getting thousands of pages not found. So... My questions Does it have SEO impact? How is the best approach to treat it?
On-Page Optimization | | thobryan0 -
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 -
Is it ok to put a strapline on every website page or does it confuse the bots?
We have just started doing SEO for a new client. Their web design agency has built a cms website for them and in the footer area of each page there is some global content which contains: a) the company's address b) a strapline, ie "family law specialists" I have 2 questions: I have understood from previous SEO classes I've been to, that putting the same keywords on each page of a site is a no-no as then Google won't know what page to bring up for that keyword. However, is it ok to put an address on every page and can Google tell that it is just an address? What about the strapline? Family law specialists isn't actually a keyword I'm currently tracking but I could add it to SEOMoz. however is it a problem having on every page or is it ok because it's in the footer?
On-Page Optimization | | mfrgolfgti0 -
URL for location pages
Hello all We would like to create clean, easy URLs for our large list of Location pages. If there are a few URLs for each of the pages, am I right when I'm saying we would like this to be the canonical? Right now we would like the URL to be: For example
On-Page Optimization | | Ferguson
Domain.com/locations/Columbus I have found some instances where there might be 2,3 or more locations in the same city,zip. My conclusion for these would be: adding their Branch id's on to the URL
Domain.com/locations/Columbus/0304 Is this an okay approach? We are unsure if the URL should have city,State,zip for SEO purposes?
The pages will have all of this info in it's content
BUT what would be best for SEO and ranking for a given location? Thank you for any info!0