What Are Meta Tags And How To Use Them

Hello there my non-techie compatriots. We are going to the vast unknown world of meta tags, how to use them properly, why you should use them, and I am going to debunk some meta tag SEO myths.

So meta describes what the page, post or article contains. A page description, content description called it whatever you want, it is just short for a page excerpt.

Just the word meta will make any non-techie want to run in the opposite direction. Well, it is nothing complicated, and when I discovered what it meant, I laughed. Seriously some names sound more technical than they are in what they mean.

Now you know what meta means what is the purpose of this tag? When you make any search in google there is a list of websites with the URL showing up first, the page heading second and then a short description of the article.

The following is what an average search on Google would look like.

The website URL

The page heading or title (meta title tag)

The meta description tag

The reason you should adjust your meta tags

Adding a meta tag will give all your possible page viewers an idea of your content, and, written well, a reason they should choose yours over the next article. So be persuasive or mysterious. For example, tell your readers why your page is just the right one to read. Alternatively, put doubt in your reader’s mind by saying they should read your article before going ahead with a specific purchase. Of course, you must deliver as well because it is bad business to make false promises.

How much writing space do you have

For page title tags, your space is by pixels rather than characters. So if you wrote “iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii” as your page title, you would be able to write many more as opposed to writing “wwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww”. Yeah, I counted! The number of w and I are the same. Make a proper heading that makes sense just remember Google will only put up part of it, so make sure your keywords come at the beginning of your title text. Additionally, the first few words should catch your reader’s attention. There is no fixed rule, but if you must have an approximate, then the ideal title tag would be sixty characters long, shorter is okay but not longer.

For meta tags (page excerpts), you can write a hundred and forty characters to give your viewers a feel of what your blog is about. You can also skip this step, and if you do, Google will just snip part of your writing and put it up as a meta tag. For a good SEO strategy, it is not better to write your custom meta tag. Usually, meta tags are a line and a half or two lines long, so do not overdo it guys.

The best meta tags to make and why you should not bother with Yoast for meta descriptions

Make no mistake a good meta title or meta description is good for SEO, but we are all misled! You see even if you write a fun meta tag and add it in via the Yoast plugin or in some other way Google will say “oh I do what I want“. So you could be taking an extra 10 or 20 minutes writing a meta tag description for no reason. There is a small 5-10% chance that Google will use it.

Now you must be thinking “fine no more meta descriptions, why waste my time”. No my dear reader you should write a meta tag but just do it differently.

I use a technique in which I make a title like “How to make money watching movies.” Now write your first introductory paragraph, which should be two or maximum three sentences long. The next paragraph should be an answer to the question in your meta title tag.

1. The title is “How to make money watching movies.”
2. The second paragraph that answers the question immediately, “You can make money watching movies using two websites, which are site1 and site2. With these sites, you can earn anywhere from 5-1000$ every month.“

These are just examples, and you can make your sentences longer. I make mine bold for better user experience. Additionally, Google will sift through your page and look for the most significant text as a meta description to put up as your title excerpt. By using this technique, Google will look at your page and say “wow the title is here, and a straight answer right away, perfect!“

After doing a lot of research on this topic, I found this to be the most useful information that very few people touch upon. In some cases the SEO tips all over the web are fantastic, sadly some SEO standards that have been circulated and standardised are just out of date and in some cases false.

An example of how Google works now

The algorithm of Google is becoming smarter and smarter every day. Have you noticed how when you search, you open a post, and the answer to your question is already highlighted? Just like if you type a query into the YouTube search bar if the video that comes up has the answer to your question, and the video will start at that point. The blue line is already telling you where to begin to get an immediate response.

The highlighted text is usually in the first two paragraphs of the post. So you are optimising your blog posts for Google, and this will make you rank higher. Therein lies a big fat “but”. To be ranked higher is to be useful online. You may have read major blogging advisors say write at least 2000 words per post. Well, the posts that rank at the top are between 3000-4500 words long. This is because a post that is honestly written with an introduction and paragraphs that explain your topic effectively are resourceful information. You should be writing content that is worth something. So the next time you hear about SEO and meta tags just ignore and move on. You will be deemed relevant for great content, and that is always first and foremost.

Writing bigger posts are better but fluff is not good

We have established that writing more extended posts are better, but you might be thinking “how on earth should I write this much? A five hundred word post will answer the query swiftly and succinctly.” Well, there are millions or hundreds of thousands of webmasters thinking just that, and you are only dust collectors in the dark recesses of Google somewhere on Google search page 52. Honestly, when do you even go to the next page of the search result on Google? The vast majority will just modify the search query to make a more accurate search.

To stand out from the crowd, you have to be informative, helpful and better than the rest. Google should look at your site and “say wow this guy has made an easy to read post with so much information that will leave any reader on the topic satisfied and more knowledgeable on the subject, so yeah lets put this post on page #1.” Additionally, if you get third place on page one, that is great and do not fret! You will be fine.

Google released a document on all the things it wants from webmasters online and how they grade us. A reason that was given for longer posts being ranked higher was that a reader should feel satisfied after reading the article. So apparently satisfaction is reached after at least 2000-2500 words. 😉 Your readers are even more satisfied with another thousand words.

How to write at least 2500 words with ease

Stop thinking about the numbers! Think about when you were in school. When I went to school, we wrote essays with a beginning paragraph, at least three paragraphs about the topic and a closing paragraph. So if you wrote five paragraphs and each section has 300 words, then you already have an immediate 1500 word post.

At first, it may seem overwhelming, but this is the best way to fool yourself into writing more. Additionally, subheadings with small 300 word paragraphs are easy to read and scan for all readers. Breaking things up is the best for online posts.

If you want to write faster and efficiently, then try spending an hour or two on finding your title meta tag. When you have these titles saved somewhere in your notepad writing an entire post will be more comfortable. At home, if you plan what you are going to cook the next day, and keep a menu list; making food the next day is super easy because your mind is ready for what to expect.

I make a title list on the topics I am going to write about in a week, then when I sit at my laptop, I pick one title and just write. When I was not using this technique for my writing, I was often facing writers’ block.

Why you should not obsess over meta description tags

Why should you worry about this if you can make a meta description that answers your titles query effectively? You can write it in bold for a better reading experience. If you were the reader, you would be happy to find it at the beginning of the article. It makes finding whether or not the material you have chosen is relevant to your search.

Your title tag is the most important meta tag

You do need to worry about this meta tag but not too much. It is what someone somewhere is typing into a search online. So make it a good title. The best way to find this title is not in a keyword tool. You see keyword tools are not only inaccurate but also they do not search the entire web for the result. Why use them then? Most keyword tools cost money; some charge a whopping 70$ each month!

I have agreed with some bloggers on this one point. Use Google search, not Google keyword tool! When you type your keyword or phrase into Google search, go to the bottom of the page and see all the related searches. You see, Google is already showing you what everyone is searching online.

Where to add your meta tag and how

A plugin called Yoast lets you add custom meta tags without any trouble. If you have not activated it yet, you can activate it now. After you have it installed you will find handy dandy Yoast at the bottom of your every post page. It will look like the following image:

Click on the Edit snippet button to add your meta tag. Here you will be guided by Yoast as to how long your tag should be. The green line indicates a great length.

So this is how you can do it, but Google will do it for you. Furthermore, they will often pick what they deem relevant and use that as your meta description tag. I have added this for anyone who may want this information, but if you read everything before this paragraph, I hope you have a different outlook on the meta description tag.

Yoast, is it good or not

Yoast is useful for guidance if you are new to blogging, but you should not think, according to Yoast. Because your content could be fantastic, but this plugin will put you down because you did not use your keyword repeatedly. Google has a different algorithm and different requirements, so concern yourself with good content over keywords and meta descriptions. Your website will ultimately take eight months to a year before you will make any money.

A website is, in fact, a business so like all businesses if you work hard consistently, then the rate of your success is amplified. Most sites fail, but if we work hard at anything we can, and will be successful. That is what I believe, and that is why I am writing here today.

Final thoughts

I hope you are able to understand everything “meta tag” related better after reading this post. good luck everyone. If you understand the system properly you will be able to please your audience, Google and be successful all at once.