Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Are Meta-descriptions important for blogs?
-
I am tasked with optimizing an existing sites SEO. I have added meta's to all the menu pages, however they have blog section with over 700 posts. How important are meta descriptions when it comes to a websites blog? Do I need to take the time to go through 700+ blog posts and create unique meta descriptions for each one?
-
Yes, as your question for 700 posts to write descriptions for all those I would say yes. For your website overall ranking you must write the description for all page uniquely.
-
Hi Bek,
You surely would not have to add meta descriptions to all 700, however i would look at the posts that get the most traffic and are still relevant and find ways to improve the technical seo to these posts. You may also try to update non-performing posts with meta descriptions and technical seo if you feel they are important to the brand.
Thanks,
Don Silvernail
-
Hi Bek,
The short answer is that updating meta descriptions will have zero impact directly on how well these pages rank, however a more compelling meta description combined with a pretty URL and a decent title tag will help boost click-thru-rate (CTR).
CTR as a ranking factor is the latest Google Conspiracy theories amongst SEOs. Google denies they use SERP data however a lot of professional (including I believe Rand Fishkin, founder of Moz) disagree with this assertion based on their experiences...
So basically updating metas could have an indirect benefit for ranking, but mostly there will be zero impact and thus wouldn't be worth prioritizing over high-impact SEO activities.
If you had to update some, I'f urge that you evaluate which pages already rank on the first page and prioritize them for the best chance of a direct impact.
Or again if you have limited time, just focus on the title tags themselves. These will have the biggest impact!
More Info: https://moz.com/learn/seo/title-tag
I hope this sort of helps and puts you on the right path,
Nick
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
-
How important are author bios to SEO?
I'm trying to understand the importance of author bios to Google and its latest algorithms. Some say author bios affect rankings, but others say that has not been specifically stated by Google — but it does affect the user experience. Anyone have input on this? Thanks!
Algorithm Updates | Jul 30, 2019, 10:27 AM | SallieJ0 -
If my article is reposted on another blog, using re=canonical, does that count as a link back?
Hey all! My company blog is interested in letting another blog repost our article. We would ask them to use "re-canonical" in the mark-up to avoid Google digging through "duplicate" info out there. I was wondering, if the other site does use the "re=canonical", will that appear as a backlink or no? I understand that metrics will flow back to my original URL and not the canonical one, but I am wondering if the repost will additionally show as a backlink. Thanks!
Algorithm Updates | Dec 15, 2016, 7:16 AM | cmguidry0 -
Dates appear before home page description in the SERPs- HUGE drop in rankings
We have been on the first page of Google for a number of years for search terms including 'SEO Agency', 'SEO Agency London' etc. A few months ago we made some changes to the design of the home page (added a blog feed), and made changes to the website sitemap. Two days ago (two months after last site changes were made) we dropped subsantially in the SERPs for all home page keywords. Where we are found, a date appears before the description in the SERPs, dating February 2012 (which is when we launched the original website). The site has been through a revamp since then, yet it still shows 2012. This has been followed by a few additional strange things, including the sitelinks that Google is choosing to show (which including author bio pages showing in homepage site links), and googling our brand name no longer brings up sitelinks in the SERPs. The problem only affects the home page. All other pages are performing as standard. When Penguin 4.0 came out we saw a noted improvement in our SERP performance, and our backlinks are good and quality, largely from PR efforts. Of course, I would be interested in additional pairs of eyes on the back links to see if anyone thinks that I have missed anything! We have 3 of our senior SEOs working on trying to figure out what is going on and how to resolve it, but I would be very interested if anyone has any thoughts?
Algorithm Updates | Jan 19, 2018, 3:00 AM | GoUp3 -
Does Google ACTUALLY ding you for having long Meta Titles? Or do studies just suggest a lower CTR?
I do SEO in an agency and have many clients. I always get the question, "Will that hurt my SEO?". When it comes to Meta Title and even Meta Description Length, I understand Google will truncate it which may result in a lower CTR, but does it actually hurt your ranking? I see in many cases Google will find keywords within a long meta description and display those and then in other cases it will simply truncate it. Is Google doing whatever they want willy-nilly or is there data behind this? Thank you!
Algorithm Updates | Sep 24, 2015, 5:23 AM | Bevelwise0 -
How to content marketing: Should my blog posts link to my sales page?
Hi, I've been doing a weekly blog making sure that each blog post contains my money keywords in the text, sometimes in h2 tags etc. My blog posts never contain any links to my actual sales page. Should I link each blog post to my sale page or is it overdoing it? Will internal linking of all my blog posts to my sales page will improve its page authority or have any SEO benefits? What about using exact match anchor text on these internal links? I couldn't find any resource online about this matter. Thank you for your opinion and help! -Marc
Algorithm Updates | Aug 19, 2013, 9:38 PM | marcandre0 -
Guest Blog Post or Article Content Should be Do-Follow or No-Follow Link ? Help Plz !
Many SEO writers and blogs after Google Matt Cutt said, You should not allow no-follow link in Guest Post. What should we do. ? I am allowing Guest post - what they ask in return a do-follow link to their site or blog. other articles or post i wrote about inspiration collected from different source or single portfolio site - i credit them(as blogger - we should respect them). What i am doing right or wrong ? Please advise and help me on this ! http://searchengineland.com/google-guest-blogging-for-links-you-better-nofollow-those-links-166218
Algorithm Updates | Aug 1, 2013, 2:40 AM | Esaky0 -
Can I have the same item description on Amazon, eBay and my website?
Hi guys, After looking on the Internet and reading the Learn SEO section on this site, I've realised that Google doesn't like duplicate content and penalises it, whether that's duplication on your own site or of another site's content. We are an online retailer currently selling on different platforms including Amazon, eBay and our own ecommerce webstore. Is it okay to have the same item description (i.e. main page copy) on each of these sites, or will our search rankings get negatively impacted? Thank you in advance, I have researched on this issue also but I couldn't find a concrete answer. Tanay
Algorithm Updates | Sep 19, 2012, 2:00 PM | goforgreen0 -
Keyword density and meta tags
Hi, I've just checked the number of keywords appearing on my website's pages. On some of them the keyword density was way too high (7-10%) if you included the meta tags, but all under 3.5% if I didn't include the keywords and description meta tags. So my question is - when looking at number of keywords used per page, do I have to worry about what's in those meta tags? Do the keywords in there count towards keyword density / number of keywords per page? Thanks, Luke
Algorithm Updates | Apr 24, 2012, 12:33 PM | McTaggart0