Writing metatags: a few handy tips.

The metatag — everyone has seen one. The short intro to a page that sits just under the title of a search result. That is a metatag, also known as a meta description. The metatag gives you roughly 155 characters to convince your potential visitor that they should click your link. In principle it is the first contact between you and your visitor. Not entirely unimportant, then! We will teach you how to write metatags by way of a short course.

TIPS FOR WRITING METATAGS

• Make sure the keyword you want to be found on appears in the metatag. Preferably as near the start of the text as possible. Here the rule is: the earlier, the better.
• Make the text a good description of the page. Write something the page isn’t about and you will lose your visitor again soon enough.
• Always keep your text easy to read. Don’t twist sentences to get your keyword in earlier. That is treated as spam and Google will penalise you for it.
• Put a call to action in your text. That means trying to draw your visitor in. You can do that with terms like “free” and “saving”, for instance. A good example is “request a free quote now”. People love free!
• You have a maximum of 155 characters — don’t go over it. The description of your page will be cut short and your visitor could miss exactly the piece of information you worked so hard on.
• Look at the highest-placed results. They will surely have done something right to score that high. Do stay original in writing your metatags, though. Google doesn’t like copies.

With these short tips, writing metatags gets a little easier. Even so, it is harder than it looks. Practice makes perfect. When are you going to get started and lift your online marketing to a higher level?
Do you have additional tips or comments of your own? Then put them in the comments and join in!