– In this video, I'm gonna show you how to write the perfect, asterisk, page title meta description for your website in 2019.
(dramatic music) Asterisk: perfect doesn't exist.
(laughs) (dramatic music) (button clicks) Well-optimized pagetitles, i.
e.
title tags, and meta descriptions can help increase your click-through rate from search, get you more traffic from organic search, and also help your rankings.
So they're really, really important.
In fact, we go so far as to say that page titles inparticular are word-for-word one of the most important SEO elements on any page of your website.
So first up, what are pagetitles and meta descriptions? Well, page titles and meta descriptions are both forms of metadata.
So metadata is code on your website which isn't actuallyvisible when you're browsing on a page.
So let's look at page titles first of all.
When you're navigating on a website, and you see the titleof that page in the tab, that is usually the page title.
Likewise, when you're on Google and you see this bigblue link, or it's purple once you've clicked on it, blue link at the top here, this is the page title.
Now, the meta descriptionis the descriptive text that's there.
So that's what page titlesand meta descriptions are.
How do they impact SEOand how they help you get more traffic to your website? Well, they help you getmore traffic to your website because if you have compelling page titles and meta descriptions, when people see your page in the search results, they're much more likely to click on it.
So I've just searched forhow to write page titles and meta descriptions, and you can see that Exposure Ninja'sblog post on this topic is ranking at the top of Google.
We have the featuredsnippet, and we also have this top organic result here.
Now, you can see thatbecause I've searched for “how to write pagetitles and meta descriptions” that's the terminologythat I have in my head.
That's what I'm looking for.
So, what have we got here? We've got how to write pagetitles and meta descriptions.
That matches exactlywhat I'm searching for.
Then here we have “Title Tag, 2019 SEO Best Practises”.
It's kind of what I'm looking for, but doesn't actually usethe same terminology.
And so on, and so on, and so on.
So, because I've matched exactlywhat the search query is, I've got the most chanceof getting that click, and also showing Googlethat I'm really relevant for that term.
Exactly the same with meta descriptions.
If, for example, we see ameta description like this, “Learn how to write the bestmeta descriptions here”, “Although page titles mightvary, all pages will appear “to be the same becauseall of the”, dot dot dot.
It's a poorly formatted meta description, and it's gonna make meless likely to click on it, because it's less descriptive and it's slightly confusing as well.
Now, what's often happeningwith meta descriptions is if Google doesn't likethat meta description you've submitted, it's justgonna be using its own, and it's gonna create its ownfrom the content on your page, and that's most likely what'sgonna have happened here.
So page titles and metadescriptions are important, because they're gonna increasethe percentage of people that see your website in search results and click through and visit your site.
And obviously, it's thevisitors that we want.
It's all well and good ranking on Google, but if people aren't actuallyvisiting your website, they're never gonna be able to convert.
Every page on your site has a page title and has a meta descriptionif you choose to use them.
Probably the easiest wayto find your page title and your meta descriptions, if you go view page source on any page, and what you're looking for is this section here whichstarts with the little title tag, and inside that is the page title.
The next thing that you're looking for is the meta description, sothat'll start something like meta name=”description”, andthen you'll have the metadata, which makes up your meta description.
If you're using WordPress for example, you can see the Exposure Ninjasite is built on WordPress, we're using the Yoast SEOplugin, and that's allowed us to put the meta description in there.
The page title is set on theWordPress page editor itself.
So every page on your site should have a different page title, andshould have a meta description, and you can see thembehind the scenes here.
So how do you write the perfect page title and meta 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 descriptions in your searches.
So, for example, let's head over to Google and we're gonna search forlandscape gardener Nottingham.
Not the sort of searchthat you would usually use if you were looking for a masterclass in page titles and metadescriptions, it has to be said.
So up at the top here, we've got the ads.
They're not page titlesand meta descriptions.
They look like them, butthese are obviously set inside the Google ad platform.
Down here, where we havethe organic results.
This is where we have pagetitles and meta descriptions.
So we can see that some ofthese have been truncated.
For example, you cansee there, dot dot dot, dot dot dot, dot dot dot.
Some of these are shown in their entirety.
For example, that one.
Now, these is actually apretty good page title, because what have I searched for? “landscape gardeners Nottingham”, and we can see here that the page title uses our target keywords there.
“landscape”, “gardening”, “Nottingham”.
So, it's using thephrases I've searched for which is a good idea.
Here's MyBuilder, same sort of thing.
“Landscape Gardeners in Nottingham”.
Pretty good, and what they've done there is their page title is toolong, so Google's truncated it.
This one here says “GardenDesign Nottingham”, which isn't actuallywhat I've searched for.
I've searched for “landscapegardeners Nottingham”, which is slightly different.
So one of the things that they could do to push this site evenfurther up the rankings, and possibly challenge for position one, is to have a landscapegardening page on their site, which is called “LandscapeGardeners Nottingham”.
Now if we move over to having a look at the meta descriptions, wesee a similar sort of thing.
So some of these areshowing the meta description in its entirety, andsome of them are showing a kind of truncated andautomatically generated one, using the content from the page.
Generally, you want tohave as much control over how your site is shown in search, so you want to try andkeep under character limits to make sure that your meta description is being shown exactlyhow you would intend.
So when you're having a look through, and researching the sort of page titles and meta descriptions thatyou're seeing in your space, one of the best thingsto do is to think about the sort of things that are enticing you to click through into the website.
So, things like USPs and reasons why your business isdifferent to somebody else can be a great way of attracting clicks.
For example, let'simagine that one of these landscape gardeners offered a free landscape garden design 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 firststep for me to take, ” and I click through onto the website.
The great thing is, they'vejust got me as a visitor to their site, but alsoI've now got in my head, “Oh, where's that freedesign consultation?” So I'm already kind ofpre-converted on that thing, and when they get on the page, I'm looking for that call to action.
So I'm more likely to convert.
In meta descriptions, youtypically wanna stand out.
You wanna give reasons whypeople should click on you rather than somebody else.
In the page title though, it's slightly different.
Because Google uses the keywordsmentioned in the page title as a ranking signal, you wanna make sure that you're using your targetkeywords in your page title.
It doesn't matter so muchin your meta description, but in your page title it'sparticularly important.
And where, you want touse them at the start, because if I've just searched for “landscape gardeners Nottingham”, what's the first thing that I want to see? I want to see “landscapegardener Nottingham”, ideally, because that's thething I've searched for.
I'm looking for thatfamiliarity, that recognition.
“Right, I'm in the right place.
“Let's go.
” Another thing that can be really useful to do is understandyour searcher's intent.
So if in the meta descriptionI'm talking about, “We're gonna show you.
“You can learn how to do this.
“Discover the templatefor the perfect page title “and meta description”, that'sgonna be much more attractive to an informational search up.
If I was searching for alandscape garden in Nottingham, that's more of a commercial search, so I want to make sure that my page title and meta description reflect the fact that I'm targeting a commercial searcher, so I might talk about things like, “Get a free quote.
” I might talk about the fact that we offer free no-obligation consultations.
All of this stuff is designed to be attractive to someone is looking to move forward on a buying journey.
What about length? What's the perfect length? So the question that's on everyone's mind is what is the perfect length? Well, the perfect lengthfor your page title and meta descriptions, actually it's not a particular character limit.
So the challenging thingabout page titles and metas is Google actually has a pixelwidth as a maximum length, not necessarily a number of characters.
For example, if your pagetitle, for whatever reason was just the letter 1, overand over and over again, you could fit a lot more 1s in that space than you might be able to Ws.
So it doesn't really makesense 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 you wanna give asmany characters as possible in that space.
They are lots of different pagetitle and meta descriptions length checkers that you can use online, which'll measure thepixels in your page title and show you where it'sgonna be truncated.
But usually we say up to 60characters in your page title.
Now what about meta descriptions? Well, between 730 and 928 pixels.
Pretty difficult to track, so if you just stick to a limit of say 130 to 140 characters, you're usually pretty safe.
Just to make things even more tricky, Google actually usesdifferent maximum page title and meta description lengthson mobile as desktops, but generally, because youneed a rule to live by, generally the best rule to live by is maximum 60 for page titles.
Maximum around 140 for meta descriptions.
So let's look at examplesof perfect page titles.
Perfect doesn't exist, butif it did, these would be it.
So first one up here.
“Best Laptop 2019: WhichLaptop is Best for You?” Why is this good? Because people are searchingfor “Best Laptop 2019”, so they use that at thestart of the page title.
That's the target keyword.
Wallop, there we go.
Then we've got a variation of that phrase, “Which Laptop is Best for You?” And then we've got the brand name at the end, “Tech Advisor”.
Often you'll see Googletruncate a page title to put the brand name in, soif you can put in yourself, that's a really good thing to do, 'cause then you control how it's shown.
Next example, “How to Get a Small BusinessLoan in 5 Steps – NerdWallet”.
People might not be looking for how to get a smallbusiness loan in five steps, but they're looking for howto get a small business loan.
Five steps sounds niceand easy to consume.
Nice and easy to do, so that's great.
So that's a really good page title.
“The Best Monthly MakeupSubscription Boxes in 2019”.
People're gonna be searchingfor “best monthly makeup “subscription boxes 2019”.
Pretty good.
So, you get the gist.
Basically, you just wannareflect what your audience is gonna be searchingfor in your page title.
There's really no need to overthink this.
What about meta descriptions? The key mistake that peoplemake with meta descriptions is they use the same meta description for multiple pages on the website.
This makes no sense, becausethe content of every page on your site is, hopefully, different, so why would you describeit in the same way if it's different content?(mimics explosion) So use unique meta descriptions.
Now, whilst Googledoesn't necessarily look in your meta descriptions for the keywords that you wanna rank for, it's still a good idea to use your target keywordsin your meta description, because those are thethings that your audience is looking for, and we always wanna talk in our audience's language.
Let's look at some examplesof perfect meta descriptions.
Perfect doesn't exist, but if it did, these guys would bestanding on the podium.
“Are you looking for the bestmattress for back & neck pain? “Read what you need toknow before purchasing “a mattress for back pain.
” OK.
“Mattress for back pain”is obviously the phrase that we're targetinghere, and they've also kind of sewn a bit of a seed of doubt in the “Argh!” “You need to read this before you buy, ” so I'm likely to click on that.
High click-through rate.
Well, it definitely means more traffic, potentially means better ranking as well.
Really good thing to do.
Amazon, “FAST FREE SHIPPINGfor Amazon Prime Customers.
“Buy Carrier Slings at low prices.
“Large selection of morethan 1500 products.
” We've got our USPs in there.
We've got the fact thatfast free shipping.
Everyone loves that.
They've capitalised it, so (mimics explosion) really hit us over the facewith it, so that's great.
Let's have a look at Santander.
“Save tax-free for your firsthome with Help to Buy: ISA.
“If you're a first time buyer, “save up to 200 pounds amonth towards your first home “with a Help to Buy ISA.
” Pretty good.
If we're looking for HelpTo Buy ISA, (fingers click) they're repeating that, but it's not become spammy.
Benefit: “save up to 200 pounds a month “towards your first home.
” “Save tax-free, ” soit's clearly describing what's on that page.
I'm pretty likely to click on that.
Here's a really good one.
“Get FREE instantconveyancing quotes online”, “Fill in the form for establishedconveyancing solicitors “with genuine user feedback.
” So we've got the benefit, what I get, free.
The fact that I get instantconveyancing quotes.
This isn't just fill in the details and someone's gonna contact you.
And then this “establishedconveyancing solicitors “with genuine user feedback”, so another benefit, anotherUSP, so really good job there.
Now one quick tip before we go, writing your page titlesand meta descriptions is not just a one-off task.
You don't just write it and you're like, “Yeah, frickin' smashed it.
“Off you fly, my beauty, to the top of Google.
” It's something that you'regonna want to revisit and you're also gonnawant to measure the impact of changes to your pagetitles and meta descriptions.
That's why at Exposure Ninja, when we're working on an SEO campaign, we'll periodically revise pagetitles and meta descriptions based on the click-through data that we're getting from Search Console.
So, you wanna change your pagetitle and meta description after recording what the old one was, and what your click-through rate was then, change it, have a look at yourclick-through rate changes, and then you might wanna optimise, or you might even wanna revert back to your old one if yourclick-through rate drops as a result of the change.
Recap! Step one: understand what pages titles and meta descriptions are.
They are metadata forevery page on your site that give users and searchengines a clear indication of what your page is calledand what it's all about.
The first step to writinga perfect page title or meta description isspend some time on Google having a look at how they are displayed.
So have a look at what sort of page titles are enticing you toclick, what the format is of the page titles that are ranking best for your target phrases.
Likewise with the meta descriptions, have a look at the differentUSPs, benefit statements and calls to action people are using in their meta descriptionsto see what might be a good approach to take for you.
The next thing is tounderstand the perfect length for page titles and meta descriptions.
There is no such thing as perfect, but if there was, it wouldprobably be a maximum of 60 characters for your page title, and around 130 to 140 charactersfor your meta description, but always check in a pixel checker first, before changing your pagetitles and meta descriptions.
Next thing is to go and reviseyour page titles and meta, so write killer page titlesusing your target keywords at the start, and yourbrand name at the end.
Write your perfect meta description by summarising what's on the page, why people should click on your site rather than any of the othersites in the search results, and then include in somekind of call to action or next step.
And then you wanna getthose page titles and metas updated on your site.
But you're not just gonnastick 'em up, and leave 'em, and never revisit them.
You're actually gonna checkback in Search Console to see how your revisedpage titles and metas have impacted your click-throughrate from search results.
And then once you've updatedyour page titles and metas, you're gonna want to keep an eye on how your click-throughrate in Search Console changes over time to make surethat your new changes are having a positive effect, and you haven't just tankedyour click-through rate and you're getting low traffic.
So I hope you found this video useful on writing the perfect pagetitle and meta description.
Perfect doesn't exist, but if it did, then hopefully it'll be aresult of watching this video.
Don't forget to like and subscribe, and comment if you want usto cover any other topics in our weekly, twice-weekly, however many videos we do per week, then leave a comment, and don't forget also tocheck us out on social media.
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There's shinobis everywhere.
And don't forget also, if you want some help improving your website'svisibility in the search, you wanna generate moreleads and sales through it, then you can request a freewebsite and marketing review from the ninjas at Exposure Ninja.
What will do is take a look at your site, how you're driving traffic to it.
We'll also have a lookat what your competitors are doing and what'sworking best in your space.
We'll put all of thisinto a 15-minute video, which we'll send over to you via email, usually within 3-4 working days.
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Go and check out some of itsreviews on Google and Facebook.
Until the next video, keep chasing perfection.
You will never attain it, but hey, we've gotta chase something.
See you soon.
.
