Effect of Meta Description on SE Rank

[hamncheese]

Hello,
I was wondering how important the Meta Desription was for Search Engine ranking.

My website(s) have pretty good ranking (top3) for most of my keywords, but I don't like the meta descriptions very much. I initally wrote them with having the search engine in mind and not the visitor. Therefore, my meta descriptions look a little "spammy" which most likley hurts my Click ratio.

So if I go and change 20-30% of all my meta descriptions, could this have a negative impact in terms of Search engine rank? I will still use keywords but will write them with the visitor in mind and not google.

What is the thought?

Thanks for sharing your opinion!

HP

 

[Linda Buquet]

The main keywords that are going to count in your description are the main keywords that are in your title tag. Search engines are looking for consistency to be sure the page is about what you say it is about.

So use the main keywords that are in the title of each page, in your description of each page - but then, like you said, write the description for the consumer, to attract more click throughs.

 

[hamncheese]

Hey Linda,

Thanks for the fast and informative reply. So, you don't think that changing 20-30% of all the meta descriptions cannot have a bad effect?

Also, what is the overall thought on:
- Meta Description Length
- Keyword Density

Thanks again,

HP

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks for the fast and informative reply. So, you don't think that changing 20-30% of all the meta descriptions cannot have a bad effect?

Well like I said, or tried to say but maybe wasn't clear, the words that count are the main keywords that are in your title tag, so as long as those are somewhere in your description, I ASSUME you'd be OK.

But please don't take my word for it. I used to do SEO years ago but don't really follow it any more. I'd get some more opinions, do some research and then maybe just change a few pages and see what happens.

NEVERMIND - I just found this. It sounds like they only use the description tag for SERP snippets and it does not factor into ranking.

<a href="http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2009/09/google-does-not-use-keywords-meta-tag.html">Even though we sometimes use the description meta tag for the snippets we show, we still don't use the description meta tag in our ranking.</a>

Sorry, I'm not sure what the recommended specs are any more for description length or KW density.

 

[djbaxter]

Linda is correct. The meta description tag is not used in ranking pages at all, but it's still important because of its potential for influencing click-through rates: A well-written and non-spammy looking snippet may well encourage searchers to click through to your site even before higher ranking sites.

Note that the meta description tag is not always used as the snippet. In part it depends on the search term and whether that appears in your description tag. Additionally, if you are listed in DMOZ/ODP, Google at least may use their description in preference to yours. This often is NOT a good thing for you since DMOZ editors write descriptions with the assumption that it will be read in the context of the directory "breadcrumb". To "force" search engines to use your description instead of the one in your DMOZ listing, add the following tag to the HEAD section of your pages:

< META NAME="ROBOTS" CONTENT="NOODP" >

(Spaces added after < and before > to display the tag here.)

Feel free to change the description tag as you wish, recognizing that it may take awhile for SEs to update their caches of the page.

As for the length, there is no real set length, although beyond a certain number of characters the remainder of the description will be truncated.

SEOmoz | Making the Most of Meta Description Tags

2.Character limits - currently Google displays up to 160 characters, Yahoo! up to 165 and MSN up to 200+ (they'll go to three vertical lines in some cases). Stick with the smallest - Google - and keep those descriptions at 160 characters (including spaces) or less.

 

[Linda Buquet]

Thanks David, was hoping you'd see this and weigh in.
I'm getting pretty rusty on my SEO knowledge.