How do you write the “perfect” page title and meta tag description?
Well, the first thing that you need to do is you need to do a bit of research and see how Google is showing page titles and meta tag descriptions in your searches. So, for example, let’s head over to Google and we’re gonna search for a website designer in East London. Not the sort of search that you would usually use.?
If you were looking for a masterclass in page titles and meta descriptions, it has to be set. So, up at the top here, we’ve got the ads. They’re not page titles or meta descriptions. They look like them. But these are set inside the Google Ad platform. Down here where we have the organic results, is where we have page titles and meta descriptions.
We can see that some of these have been truncated. Now, this is a pretty good page title, because what have I searched for? We can see here that the page title uses our target keywords there. Designer, East London. It’s using the phrases I’ve searched for, which is a good idea. And what they’ve done though, is their page title is too long, so Google’s truncated it. This one here says website SEO East London, which isn’t what I’ve searched for. I search for website design in East London, which is slightly different. So one of the things that they could do to push this site even further up the rankings and challenge position one is to have a website design service landing page on their site.
Now if we move over to have a look at the meta descriptions, we see a similar sort of thing. Some of these are showing the meta description in its entirety. Some of them are showing a kind of truncated and automatically generated one, using the content from the page.
Generally, you want to have as much control over how your site is shown in search results.
So, you want to try and keep under character limits to make sure that your meta description is being shown exactly how you intend.
When you’re having a look through and researching the sort of page titles and meta descriptions that you’re seeing in your space, one of the best things to do is to. Is to think about the sorts of things that are enticing you to click through to the website. So, things like USPs and reasons your business is different to somebody else can be a great way of attracting clicks. For example, let’s imagine that one of these website designers offered a free work estimation service, where they designed it free of charge, and then they’d come and build it out if you wanted to work with them.
Well, that might be a really useful thing to put in their meta description, because then when I see that, I’ll think, oh, yeah, that looks great, that’s a great first step for me to take. And I click through the website.
The great thing is they’ve just got me as a visitor to their site, but also, I’ve now got in my head, where’s that free design consultation? Some of these are displaying the whole meta description. And some of them are showing a shortened and automatically created version that uses the page’s content. In general, you want to have as much control as possible over how your site shows up in search results. To make sure that your meta description is shown exactly as you intended, you should aim to stay within the character restriction.
So, if you’re looking through and investigating the types of page titles and meta descriptions you’re seeing in your area, one of the finest things you can do is consider what types of things entice you to click through to the website. So I’m already pre-converted on that thing.
You want to stand out in your meta description, so explain the reasons people should click on you instead of someone else.
The page title, on the other hand, is slightly different.
Because Google uses the keywords in the page title as a ranking indication, you’ll want to make sure your page title contains your target keywords. It doesn’t matter as much in your meta description, but it is crucial in your page title. And, if at all possible, you should apply them immediately. What is the first thing I want to see if I’m looking for a web designer in East London? I’d like to see a web designer in East London because that’s what I’ve been looking for. I’m looking for that familiarity, that recognition.
Understanding your searcher’s aim is another thing to consider.
In the case of the meta description, I’m referring to, we’ll teach you how to accomplish it. Also, how to uncover the template for the ideal page title and meta description, which will be much more appealing to a searcher. It would be more of a commercial search if I were looking for a web designer in East London. As a result, I’d like to make sure that my page title and meta description reflect the fact that I’m aiming for a commercial audience. I may say something like, “Get a free quote,” or “We provide free no-obligation consultations,”. All of this is meant to be appealing. Another thing that can be designed to be attractive to someone who is looking to move forward on a buying journey.
What is the perfect length for your page?
For your page titles and meta descriptions is no particular character limit. The challenging thing about page titles and meta.
Does Google have a pixel width as the greatest length, not several characters? For example, if your page title, for whatever reason, was the letter, one over and over again, you could fit a lot more ones in that space, then you might be able to. So it doesn’t make sense to have a character limit for page titles. Instead, you have a pixel width.
Having said that, most page titles are between 30 and 60 characters, and usually, we want to give as many characters as possible in that space.
There are lots of different page titles and meta description length checkers that you can use online. It will measure the pixels in your page title and show you where it’s gonna be truncated. But usually, we say up to 60 characters in your page title.
Now, what about meta descriptions.
Between 730 and 928 pixels, pretty difficult to track. So if you’re just sticking to a limit of 130 to 140 characters, you’re usually pretty safe. To make things even more tricky, Google uses different page titles and meta description lengths on mobile as desktops. But generally, because you need a rule to live by, the best rule to live by is a maximum of 60 for page titles, and a maximum of around 140 for meta descriptions
