When it comes to improving a website’s search engine rankings, you need to apply . To do it effectively, you have to know SEO and the many ways to take advantage of it.
If you use , the meta description, the meta title and the main keyword phrase are some of the most important SEO elements of your page. If you use them correctly, your page will rank better in search engine results pages (SERPs).
In this article, you will learn how to add the main keyword phrase, meta title, and meta description to a WordPress page.
What is the meta description
A meta description in WordPress is a short piece of text that describes the content and purpose of a page. This snippet appears in the SERPs and helps users understand if the page meets their search intent without having to open it.
WordPress allows you to customize the meta descriptions of posts and pages. If you don’t add a meta description, Google will automatically take snippets from the pages and generate a description for each page.
Although it may seem convenient to leave this task in the hands of Google, you risk missing out on an opportunity to generate traffic if you write an attractive and relevant meta description for your audience.
How do meta descriptions work?
When users use search engines like Google, they get a results page with a list of content from various websites. They can see page titles, URLs, and meta descriptions in the form of a short paragraph for each site.
The search engine will query the available meta descriptions for that particular page. If the search engine doesn’t find any, it will generate one itself.
If you already have a meta description written for a page, search engines will display this text on the results page. However it is not always so.
Search engines may consider your meta description not relevant to the keywords being searched for. In that case, they will still take a piece of the content.
That is why it is essential to write a meta description that contains the target keywords and is relevant to the content. It must also be attractive and well written so that people visit your site.
According to , millions of blog entries are published every day, so you will find yourself with competition when trying to position yourself in the Google SERPs.
Results from the first page of the SERPs get the and the top five get the 67.60% of all those clicks.
That is why it is important to write the meta title and meta description, as well as incorporate a target keyword phrase. This helps search engine crawlers know what type of content the page or post is about and whether they should rank it higher.
Meta descriptions also provide the first impression of your website to users. They display information about the content they will find within, allowing them to decide whether or not your site answers the search query.
To summarize, here are some brief definitions of meta title, meta descriptions and target keyphrase, as well as the reasons why they are a vital part of the :
- meta title: This is the title of the page that appears in the SERPs and may differ from the actual name of the site. The title tag is an important aspect of on-site SEO, as its wording can affect click-through rate.
- meta description: short excerpt summarizing the content of the page. The meta description should be attractive and consistent as it should catch the reader’s attention at a glance.
- target keyphrase: The keywords you want to rank for. Use the main keyword phrase in your meta title and meta description in WordPress to improve SEO positioning.
How to add meta description, meta title and target keyword phrase in WordPress?
The easiest way to add the target keyword phrase, meta title and meta description in WordPress is to use a . In this guide, we are going to optimize with Yoast SEO.
This method doesn’t require any programming knowledge or extensive WordPress experience, making it perfect for beginners.
First of all, you need e . Once activated, you will find a Yoast SEO section under the post and page editor. From here, you can access the meta title and meta description features for your keywords.
Meta Title
To add a meta title using the Yoast SEO plugin, you have to go to the specific post you want to work on and compose it there. This is how you do it:
- From the sidebar of the , navigate to Tickets -> All Tickets. You should see the list of posts in your WordPress sidebar. Pick one and select Edit.
- Once you are in the post editor, scroll down to the plugin section Yoast SEO and open the dropdown section of the google preview.
- You will see the box SEO Title. This is where you should write your meta title. We recommend less than 55 characters to avoid the name being cut off abruptly. A bar below it will be colored orange or green, indicating the quality of your meta title. Make sure this bar is green.
Alternatively, you can use the function insert variable to include variables like site title, title, main category Y separator. In this way, Yoast SEO will generate a meta title according to the arrangement of these variables.
- Lastly, check how your meta title appears in the Google preview section.
Meta Description in Posts and Pages
To write a meta description using Yoast SEOnavigate to the list of all posts or pages, and select the blog post or page you want to work on.
The box to add a meta description is in the same section of Yoast SEO as the meta title. You’ll find it under the fields SEO Title Y slug.
Start writing the description of the post or page. We recommend that the final description be between 50 and 150 characters.
A short meta description will not provide enough information to attract people. On the other hand, if it’s too long, search engines will cut off your description in the SERPs.
Pay attention to the bar below the meta description to see when it turns green. This indicates that the ideal length has been reached.
Again, you have the option to use the function insert variable to insert meta tags that will automatically generate meta descriptions. However, these descriptions may not be good enough, and search engines will substitute their versions for them.
Once you’re done, go back to the google preview to view the meta description of your WordPress page or post.
Meta description on the home page
Since a landing page should convey the purpose of a website, you will need to provide concise and understandable information about your business in your meta description.
- Go to the section Pages -> All Pages from your WordPress admin area.
- Look for the homepage and click Edit.
You can also go to the Yoast SEO dashboard and click on the link editing the home page itself on the tab Generalin Appearance in the search engine. This link will automatically take you to the home page editor. - Once you’re in the editor, navigate to the bottom section, where you’ll find the Yoast SEO. click on google preview to add the meta description in WordPress.
A single sentence of less than 160 characters is recommended for the home page description. Within that sentence, try to define what your website is about, what you offer, and why people should choose your business.
Default meta description in Yoast SEO
When using Yoast SEO, you can use a feature that allows you to set default meta titles and meta descriptions that apply to all posts and pages.
Go to Yoast SEO settings from the sidebar of your WordPress admin panel and open the tab Content Types in Appearance in the search engine. Here you will find four dropdown menus where you can edit the default meta title and meta description for your site’s posts, pages, landing pages and templates.
- go to Content Types and be sure to check Active in We show Tickets in search results Y Show SEO settings for posts. This will allow search engine robots to index your posts or pages.
- Add the SEO title and the meta description to set your default title and meta description tags. You can insert default words that will be displayed for each page or post, but it is better to insert a variable like Title, Page, Separator Y site title.
This way, if you keep using Yoast SEO, it will automatically generate the proper page titles and meta descriptions, even if you forget to do it yourself.
target keyphrase
Custom the target keyphrase with Yoast SEO will allow the plugin to analyze your content based on the keyword you want to rank for. It will also give you suggestions to optimize the content of the site. Here’s how to do it:
- write your main key phrase in the target keyphrase box at the top of the search tab. SEO. Please note that there should not be more than one entry with the same target keyword phrase on your WordPress website.
Once you’ve entered your target keyword phrase, go to the SEO Analysis dropdown menu. You should see three sections: problems, to improve Y good results.
the section of good results will show the correct practices of SEO, while those of problems Y to improve are some aspects and suggestions that you can work on to improve SEO even more.
After making the necessary improvements, the SEO Analysis tab icon should turn green, signifying that your post is ready to be published.
How to write good meta descriptions?
You should now know how to add meta descriptions to your WordPress website. Here’s a list of best practices to ensure the meta descriptions you write are compelling and effective:
- Pay attention to search intent: Think about what drives users to search for a specific keyword to get the information they need. Write your meta description in a way that explains how your website content answers their query.
- be brief: Do not exceed 160 characters, as Google will cut the snippet.
- Includes call to action words: If you think it’s appropriate, use a call to action like “read more”, “save money” or “get yours” in your meta description.
- Avoid including too many keywords: do not use the keywords repetitively. Ideally, you should only include the target keyword phrase once…
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