How to Write Captivating Page Titles & Meta Descriptions That Capture Your Target Audience: Part 2 of 2

In the first part of this 2-part series, we covered page titles, and how to use them most effectively to attract clicks and drive more traffic to your page.

In this, the second part of our 2-part series, we look at meta descriptions, the all-important descriptive words that describe what your page is about, and add more detail to your title.

Before we go into detail about all-important meta-descriptions, first let’s cover where they appear.

When you search for something on a search engine, such as Google, a SERP (Search Engine Results Page) will appear. You will see a list of page titles (normally in blue) with a sentence or two below it. Those sentences are the meta description.

Meta descriptions are vital because they add so much more to the title. Pages that have meta descriptions can have a 5.8% higher CTR than pages without them. So take note of the following top tips for writing enticing meta descriptions to grab your target audience and get them clicking straight away!

9 Top tips for writing enticing meta descriptions

1. Use figures of speech

Figures of speech are there to make words more appealing and attractive. Alliteration is a good one to use. For instance, if the title of the page is “Celebrities Favorite Diamonds”, the meta description can read something like, “Diamonds so desirable they’re dripping with extravagance that celebrities can’t refuse. Read more to discover their favourites!”

2. Inject SEO keywords

Google, and other search engines, look at your page titles and meta descriptions and will often rank the titles and meta descriptions that match the search query the highest. The more similar the meta description is to the search query, the more clicks it’s going to get.

3. Make the content obvious

4. Use the active voice at all times

By using the active voice, your meta description comes across in a more authoritative, confident, and persuasive tone. This will help boost its performance.

As an example, write:

“Get your website the traffic you desire by using the right marketing agency. Read more to find out how First Page will help boost your website!”

Instead of:

“Getting your website the traffic you desire means finding the right marketing agency. Read more to find out why First Page is the agency to help you with this!” 

5. Use stats & figures

As mentioned in part 1 of this 2-part series, using numbers and symbols helps attract engagement. It’s the same with meta descriptions, except this time your focus needs to be on statistics and figures. That way it will sound more convincing and authoritative. For example, saying that your SaaS will help a business increase its ROI by 93.7% is far more effective than just saying it will increase its ROI.   

6. Keep it short

There is such a plethora of information on the SERP that people scroll through it quickly. If they find a title that interests them, they want to read a meta description that quickly gets to the point, and from there, they will decide whether to click on it or move on to the next title.

Just like the ideal character length for titles is between 15 and 40, the ideal character length for meta descriptions is around 156 characters. You’ll need to shorten words where possible, such as using numerals, as well as acronyms where possible. However, don’t write too short a meta description either.

WordPress is a popular CMS where every page of your website has a meta description tool at the bottom that indicates whether or not your meta description is too short or too long. 

7. Make sure it’s unique

Study other meta descriptions and use what you learn to create ones that are unique and different from the others. Allow yours to stand out in one way or the other. Use interesting and effective words that are straight to the point yet encapsulate exactly what your page is about.

Also, every unique page has to have its own unique meta description. If it doesn’t, search engine crawlers could skip over it and the page entirely. Make sure to adjust it ever so slightly, so that they are different from one another. 

8. It needs to be specific yet create curiosity

The meta description needs to be specific and describe what the page is about. However, you can also use words that add an air of mystery to it that is so enticing, a reader has to click on it, as they are so curious to find out more.

For example:

“These are the highest performing stocks of 2021. But hold your horses, you’ll never guess which one tripled in 2020! This is the one you need to invest in!”

9. Add a CTA (call to action)

Adding a CTA is always a clever marketing tactic. It pulls the reader in, and often makes them feel that if they don’t click NOW, they’ll miss out! They’re guaranteed to attract more clicks and drive engagement. Use words such as:

Conclusion

Get your titles and meta descriptions the clicks they deserve by using the information in part 1 and part 2 of this series, and watch your website’s traffic grow exponentially! It will boost your page’s SEO performance and user experience. 

Contact our professional team of Digital Strategists today, and they’ll help you with all your SEO requirements and any other marketing needs you may have to drive traffic to your site!