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How To Generate and Preview Meta Tags Following SEO Best Practices

What are meta tags?

Meta tags are snippets of hidden text that does not appear on a website page to an end user, but provides information about website pages to search engines. Search engines like Google will then display this submitted meta data to users – this is the text description of websites you see when you perform a search. Meta tags can be optimized for length, structure, and to target keywords.

Why are meta tags important to SEO?

Optimizing meta impacts how your website pages appear on search engine result pages (SERPs). Because search engines are often the first digital touchpoint for users, having well-structured and optimized meta tags can positively impact your websites traffic and click-through-rates (CTR). Targeting highly searched key phrases by incorporating them into meta tags will additionally improve search engine rankings – leading to more organic website traffic for your website.

When you do not submit meta tags, search engines are forced to scrape what available text they can find on your website, in order to display to users’ information about your website pages. This means search engines control your messaging, rather than you determining what to display to users.

How do I write optimized meta tags?

The elements that users see in SERPs include the Page Title, and the Meta Description:

Poorly optimized meta tags will be truncated, or shortened, by search engines – so it is important to write clear, concise, and compelling copy. There are defined limits how many pixels or characters search engines will show in results, so ensure your entire message fits within the allotted space.

Also be sure to incorporate target keywords in both your Page Titles and Meta Descriptions, as this will provide an indication to the search engine user that your page is a relevant match for their query.

Finally, always include a value-add, or call-to-action (CTA) to entice them to visit YOUR web page instead of the thousands of other search results that appear – especially those of your competitors.

Free Meta Tag Preview Tool

Campaign Sherpa has developed and released a free Meta Tag Preview Tool, to allow you to preview Google’s SERP snippet.

USE FREE META TAG PREVIEW TOOL NOW

Visitors can use the tool as an SEO guide to creating optimized meta data. You can simply enter your website URL to view current Page Titles and Meta Descriptions, or use the editor to see if your meta data falls within the recommended optimized range. To simplify the process, the free Meta Tag Preview Tool will turn red once the recommended lengths are exceeded, so you can ensure all of your website meta data is optimized for search engines.

After editing or creating new optimized Meta Tags, simply copy and paste your new Page Titles and Meta Descriptions into your Content Management System (CMS) or your website code (with the help of your webmaster or the Campaign Sherpa team).

Once updated, search engines will crawl and index your new Meta Tags, and the changes will become visible to search engine users!

To learn more about SEO best practices, or for help creating SEO friendly meta tags, reach out to us today.

Get started using the free Meta Tag Preview Tool below: