What is Meta Data?
Meta data is a snippet of text in Google’s search results that describe each page’s content for users and search engines. It is written in HTML code for the search engines algorithms and should custom-targeted for online searchers to increase click-through-rates (CTR) from search result pages to your website.
Meta Data Code
<meta name=”description” content=”Overdrive Interactive is a Boston SEO, online media, and SEM agency focusing on brand building and customer acquisition to deliver measurable success.” />
<meta name=”keywords” content=”search engine marketing,overdrive,overdrive services,search engine marketing services,search engine optimization,search engine optimization services,sem,seo,paid search,strategic marketing services,lead generation campaigns” />
We recommend unique, keyword-targeted meta data on every page, including PDFs, of your website for a successful SEO campaign. Content Management Systems (WordPress, Sitecore, Expression Engine, etc.) that offer plugins and modules can help with bulk-implementing meta data.
Title Tag
A title tag is the strongest signal to Google. You are essentially telling the visitor and Google the content within the link in the search results in under 65 characters. A title tag is one of the most important ranking signals considering its visibility within Google’s search engine results page with a blue hyperlink for each listing.
If the content on your webpage does not match a searchers intent, they will select their browser’s back button, thereby signaling to Google the page does not provide enough value to be in the top three positions for a keyword.
No time to write title tags for all your pages? Ask us to write them for you with selected target keywords.
SEO Best Practice for Title Tags
- Use two target term keywords, one based on page content at the beginning of the Title Tag.
- No more than 65 characters in length to avoid truncation in search results.
- End each title tag with your brand name. For your homepage, if your brand is well-known or receives a lot of navigational searches, insert the brand first for a better search experience Note: Your brand name is not included in the 65 character limit.
Title Tag HTML Code
<title>Overdrive Interactive | SEO, SEM, Online Marketing, Lead Generation, Boston</title>
Have an eCommerce Website?
You have more opportunities to A/B test your title tags and meta descriptions by including action terms–buy, purchase, browse, shop, free shipping–to measure the click-through-rate (CTR) performance on your pages.
Have International Websites?
Create custom title tag and meta descriptions translated into the local language with geo-specific, target keywords to see improvements in click-through-rates and organic rankings.
Meta Description
A meta description is a powerful benefit statement that taps the “innermost desire of the searcher” based on their prospective search.
SEO Best Practice for Meta Descriptions
- Contain one to two terms from your target terms as well as one or two terms based on the page’s content.
- Limited to 150 characters to avoid truncation in search results.
- Avoid extraneous descriptions and bridge phrases with conjunctions. Use concise statements, instead.
Although meta descriptions are not considered ranking signals on Google, Yahoo and Bing, they can affect your website’s click-through rate (ranking signal) in online searches. Each page’s overall ranking improves for an online search if it receives a favorable click-through-rate for relevant searches.
Meta Description HTML Code
<meta name=”description” content=”Overdrive Interactive is a Boston SEO, online media, and SEM agency focusing on brand building and customer acquisition to deliver measurable success.” />
Meta Keywords
Meta keywords are not for humans to view. They are implemented in the HTML code of a page to describe the content on the page using target keywords for search engines.
SEO Best Practice for Meta Keywords
A list of the high value and on-page relevant Keywords:
- 8 – 12 Keywords.
- 60% of keywords should come from your target terms; 40% should come from naturally occurring keywords on the page.
- Include terms used in the title tag and meta description.
Although Google declared that meta keywords are not a “ranking factor” in their algorithm, Yahoo, Bing, and Yandex still use meta keywords to help them determine a page’s content. Some marketers are not aware, but Yahoo, Bing, and other search engines make up 37% of search engine traffic.
SEO Warning: Competitor websites can look at your meta keywords to determine the exact keywords you are targeting on pages.
Meta Keywords HTML Code
<meta name=”keywords” content=”search engine marketing,overdrive,overdrive services,search engine marketing services,search engine optimization,search engine optimization services,sem,seo,paid search,strategic marketing services,lead generation campaigns” />
Do You Need Meta Keywords?
To see the percentage of traffic your site receives from non-Google search engines and why you should be optimizing for them:
Login to your Google Analytics > Navigate to Acquisition > Overview > Select “Organic Search” in the table > and Select “Source” in the sub-navigation.
Summary
- WRITE your meta data for HUMANs, then Google! Google does a good job of figuring out your page’s content.
- Start by optimizing your most important pages with a targeted title tag, meta description, and meta keywords.
- Finish the remaining meta data once you have implemented your most important pages
- Tactic: Optimize Meta Data by Page
- Visit Google Webmaster Tools (Google Search Console) or Google Analytics –> Acquisition –> Google Search Console –> Landing Page an analyze the click-through-rate by landing page to see what a page’s CTR has been. With these Google tools, you can discover a page’s top keywords by impressions, clicks, and ranking in search results to see if a word or phrase in your title tag or meta description is underperforming.
