In 160 characters, you must convince the audience your web page provides them the information they need.
An insurance professional or financial advisor who builds a website has taken strides toward pulling ahead of the competition, but still has a long race ahead of them. Successful digital marketing involves knowing how to optimize your website for higher traffic and more referrals. In other words, it’s good to have a website but to get the most benefit from it, it’s essential that you know how to use it.
What is a meta title tag?
A meta title tag is a title you give a page on your website that is visible only to the search engine robots. It may be slightly different from the page title that is visible to your website visitors. Whenever possible, you want to insert your target keywords into your meta title.
What is a meta description tag?
A meta description is a preview of the page providing a concise description of the contents of a particular web page. This description will be used on search engine results pages to inform readers about the contents of the page.
Will good meta tags ensure higher traffic to my website?
There are many different factors that influence your web traffic, and meta tags are simply one cog in the machine. While a meta description is less important in terms of search engine rankings, it can be very important in gaining click-throughs from search result pages. Since the purpose of the meta tag is to provide viewers with a preview of your page’s content, this is your opportunity to entice them to click through to your website.
Meta titles, however, can be instrumental in driving traffic and achieving desired search engine rankings as search engines look at meta titles in an effort to determine the content of any given web page.
What are the best practices for meta description?
In 160 characters, you must convince the audience your web page provides them the information they need. There are three things to take into consideration when writing your meta description:
- 1. Every word counts.
You don’t want to go over 160 characters, because your paragraph will be cut off in the search page results. Your description should express a full and complete thought in only one or two sentences. - 2. Make the content relevant.
Imagine what your audience might be looking for when they encounter your page in search results. Your description should let them know the information they seek is just one click away. Including key words is a good idea, too, because Google and other search engines bold the keywords in search results - 3. Include a call to action.
Subliminally, this tells your audience what to do, rather than leaving it up to chance that they will do it. Avoid vague descriptions like, “this page is about upcoming events.” Instead, motivate your audience to act with a statement like, “Sign up today to attend our fifth annual Client Appreciation Event.”
Are meta title tags important in social media?
Social media sites like Facebook and LinkedIn use a page’s meta title and description when displaying the link to your content. Therefore, your meta tags help social media users decide whether your content looks compelling enough to warrant a click through to read it. When your content is shared across social media, the meta tags are a critical factor in the amount of views you garner, and will contribute to the overall success of your social media marketing strategy.
For more information on meta tags or other website-related content, please contact your CreativeOne sales team at 800.992.2642.