Overview

The description meta tag is used by search engines to generate the page description users will see in search results.

(SCREENCAP)

Hm... it's the first thing a user reads about your site... has to convince them within seconds that your page is so compelling they have to click it... has to do all this within a very small number of characters... yep, it's pretty important to get this one right.

Fortunately, SEO-Rx knows what to look for to keep your description tag on point.

What does SEO-Rx check?

SEO-Rx checks whether a description tag is defined, then analyzes it for character count and invalid characters.

If SEO-Rx finds a problem with the description tag, you may see the following alerts:

• Meta description missing

• Meta description too short/long

• Meta description contains special characters

What should I do?

The Description meta tag is located in the Meta Tag tab of the Info Pane.

Here's what to do if SEO-Rx diagnoses a problem:

Meta description missing

• If your page does not have a description tag, that is a meta-911 emetamergency! Create one, stat!

• Review the tips in the Best Practices heading below, and give your page the description it deserves.

Meta description too short/long

• The meta description should be more than 25 characters, less than 150 characters.

• Revise as needed. For length, keep an eye on the character count below the description entry (circled in green above).

Meta description contains special characters

• The meta description should not contain the characters: \ ' " < > { } [ ] ( )

• Pretty simple: remove any of those characters.

Best Practices

• Each page should have a unique description. Don’t use the same description for multiple pages.

• Keep it within the recommended length of 25-150 characters. This minimizes the risk of your description being truncated at an awkwa…

• The description should describe the page content clearly, accurately, and succinctly.

• Don’t stuff the description with keywords. Search engines penalize for this.

• Give users a reason to click. Show them that your page is exactly what they’re looking for!

For more information

• Some links here