How to Stand Out in Search Results

Business people stand in a line with one higher on a podium

Getting your business website on the first page of Google search engine results is a BIG DEAL – the ULTIMATE goal for every business owner. As your company website’s chief SEO champion, you need to know how to stand out among your competition as consumers eagerly scour the web for brands that speak to them. Furthermore, you want traffic to flock to your site to actually click through it, not just on it! This is where a properly optimized title tag and meta description comes into play.

Search engines such as Google pull data from your website to list in the search results. There are two key elements that form the title and description that show up on the results pages: the title tag and meta description. Let’s explore what these terms mean and why they matter to your website’s SEO success.

Understanding the Title Tag

The title tag is an HTML code tag that allows you to give a web page a title. It is located in the browser title bar as well as in the SERPs (search engine results pages). Optimization of title tags is important as they play a crucial role in affecting your organic ranking (SEO). A well-crafted title tag helps search engines understand what your page is about, and it’s one of the first things users see in search results.

Understanding the Meta Description

The meta description is an HTML tag summarizing webpage content. It’s normally around 160 characters long (referred to as a “snippet”), appearing below your page title in SERPs. The meta description serves as a brief advertisement, enticing users to click through to your website. It’s your chance to grab their attention and highlight the value you offer.

Both your title tag and meta description should be unique for each page on your website. Don’t use the same title tag and meta description on every page! That’s a no-no! If you want to succeed at SEO, you must tailor these elements for every page you have.

Tips for Crafting Effective Title Tags and Meta Descriptions

Here are some tips to remember when authoring your title tags and meta descriptions:

Keep things simple and watch the length. Don’t be curt, but don’t get long-winded either. Optimal title tag length is between 50-60 characters. Anything in excess of 60 characters will cause the title tag to become truncated in some search engines. The ideal meta description length is around 160 characters.

  • Don’t repeat titles & descriptions. Make them unique to each page. Each page should have a different focus to target different keywords.
  • Study up on relevant keywords! Incorporate keywords naturally, but don’t stuff. Focus on relevance and user intent.
  • Put the most important words first in title tags. This helps search engines and users quickly understand the page’s main topic.
  • Be sure to include your brand name in title tags. This helps to increase brand awareness and recognition.
  • Entice users to click. Write compelling copy that makes them want to visit your site.
  • Write for people! While you need to think about search engines, you also need to be thinking of your human audience!

Good meta descriptions are written almost like a mini-advertisement. The goal is to entice consumers to click through them. For example:

Lonely Planet does a fabulous job implementing some pretty basic tips. They are an excellent example of putting many basic best practices to use. The Lonely Planet title tag and meta description both accurately reflect the content on the page itself. Consumers don’t like to be duped, so don’t write about free monkeys in your title tags and meta descriptions only to have a user click through to discover that nothing you’re offering is free and you don’t stock monkeys. You need to be very clear with your tags and descriptions about your brand and what you have to offer. Don’t get customers excited about something you never intend to offer! That’s just rude!

Be sure you are creating UNIQUE title tags and meta descriptions. This practice is one of the best ways you, as a business owner, can entice consumers to click on your website in search engine results. If your stuff looks just like everyone else’s, consumers won’t be compelled to click on your website. No one wants to look at 100 pictures of the same dog over and over again. The same principle applies with your meta descriptions and title tags.

As a business owner, you take pride in what you have to offer and that which makes your brand different. Placing these concepts into simple phrases should be a fun and easy task that is sure to make all the difference for browsing consumers and your bottom line!

Upward Engine specializes in helping businesses optimize their title tag and meta description for enhanced search engine visibility and increased click-through rates. Contact Upward Engine today to learn more about how we can elevate your SEO efforts.

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