Small but beautiful – make the most of meta description tags
A web page’s meta description tag lives in the header section of the source code. It is used to describe the page’s content to searchers. Written well, it is a powerful little advert that inspires people to click through and visit your site. Here are a few hints and tips to get your meta descriptions in great working shape:
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Restrict them to 150 characters including spaces – if they’re too long search engines will cut them off mid-way and you’ll dilute their effectiveness
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Use a sentence or phrase that describes the page’s content really accurately
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Avoid repeating words – it wastes valuable space
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Don’t include your site URL in the meta description
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Use key words or key phrases that are directly relevant, targeted tightly to the content in each page
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Don’t use ’special’ characters like ! @ # $ % – some browsers and search engines can’t understand them
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Make it exciting enough to attract click-throughs
