Meta Description

In many instances, search engines merely capture whatever meta description you've created and then include it in the actual listing. Keep in mind, though, that most search engines will condense whatever you've written down to a couple of lines.

So, if you happen to write this incredibly long meta description, there's a good chance only the very first part of it is going to appear in the search engine listing. In fact, the average guideline is to limit your description to around 25 words or less.

Now... what do the search engines do if there's no meta description? They merely extract something from the text content of your web page. And usually, it's the very first text the search engine spider comes across.

That's why you see so many descriptions that say something like, "Welcome to my website. I hope you enjoy your stay because we've got a lot of great things to show you and..."

Not much in the way of describing the actual website content, is it? Of course, sometimes the spiders extract text even if you do include a meta description. So the best advice is this. Don't start your website content with some personal welcome message. Make certain it's as relevant as possible and keyword enriched (we'll get to that shortly).

Getting back to the actual meta description, it's quite likely that it will include the same (or close to the same) wording as your title. Using The Murphy Corporation as an example, the description might read:

<meta name="description" content="We specialize in developing computer software for financial institutions. Professional hands-on programming at affordable rates.">

Naturally, the description can be longer, but remember, you want to make certain that the most relevant part of your description comes first. That way, if a search engine cuts it down for their actual listing, you won't risk losing any of the really important information.

Another important factor is to make certain you include at least one of the primary keywords associated with the content of the page for which you're writing the meta description.

Naturally, on-page keyword optimization is much more beneficial, but any chance you have to "naturally" include keywords is an added bonus. So make certain you take advantage whenever and wherever you can.