Affiliate Tips: How to Optimize Your Meta Descriptions
19-03-2018
SEO is not an easy marketing strategy to conquer. Throw in the fact that Google changes its algorithm hundreds of times a year and you’ll quickly feel the pressure that’s often felt by Affiliate Marketers worldwide. Today, we’re here to discuss a somewhat underplayed topic within the SEO community: meta descriptions. If you don’t know what that is, it’s the short blurb under every page result that pops up on your Google searches. It’s a generally accepted fact that meta descriptions don’t add too much to your over SEO value and rankings, but it does possess a little bit of weight and it can potentially help with your open rates. We’ll elaborate.
Benefits of the Meta Description
As mentioned, we’ll focus on the two top benefits of meta descriptions in order to highlight why they matter in your overall marketing strategy. Let’s start with the SEO value. Although Google has itself claimed that meta descriptions don’t count for or against your SEO rankings, here’s why it still matters: Google’s algorithm favours websites that provides great user experience. One of the ways it measures this is by taking into account your amount of click-throughs, page views, bounce rates and overall traffic. In short, user behaviour is a significant consideration to these search engines in order to determine the quality of your website. Meta descriptions might not have any SEO value in and of itself, but it does play a significant role in determining whether or not users will click on your link; thus, affecting your SEO indirectly. This leads to our second point: lead acquisition.
Meta descriptions have a significant say in whether visitors want to click on your website as opposed to other search results. Make note that your search terms are bolded in the meta descriptions of each search result, so it makes it easier for your target audience to find your website. The more relevant your description is to their search, the higher the chances will be of them clicking on your site. Of course you can’t always nail every popular search phrase in your meta descriptions, but we have a trick for that. Read on to find out.
Optimising Your Meta Description
Users simply want to find the closest answer they need for their search query, so use tools such as the Google Keyword Planner to find out what the most suitable key phrases are for your target audience. Then, with each blog post that you publish, update your meta description to mention those important keywords. That way, you’ll have a different meta description for every page that you offer. This gives you more room to persuade your audience to click on your post.
Another note to keep in mind is that meta descriptions are limited to 320 characters, so it would be best to make it short and sweet. Fluff and salesy words are welcome, but ensure that your meta descriptions contain the most important keywords to keep it relevant to the user’s search query. Here are a few more quick tips on how you can optimise your meta descriptions:
Make It Interesting: Users are going to the be ones reading your descriptions after all, so sell your website with creative words and strong sales terms. Make it unique and interesting to read. Let people know why they should choose your service or product above all the others.
Use Relevant Keywords: While it’s important to use creative writing to capture your readers’ attention, don’t forget to inject important keywords into your text so that it’s still relevant to your customers’ search query.
Customise Your Structure: You might have noticed how some meta descriptions come with photos or reviews that make them stand out much more than others. Only the highest ranking pages get to showcase this beneficial function, but you can start by using structured data before your website becomes that big.
To get more marketing insights like these, be sure to check back on our blog often for updates or speak directly to your Account Manager. Affiliates with T Dot UK get 24/7 access to their dedicated Account Managers, who help them create highly optimised websites for greater conversions. We highly value availability here at T Dot UK, so you’ll find it easy to communicate with our team regarding any questions or concerns that you might have. You can start by signing up here to become an Affiliate with T Dot UK. We’ll be in touch shortly for the next steps.
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