Why is Meta Tag editing important for e-commerce?

Unlike the page title, meta descriptions are not an SEO ranking factor, but they do entice users to click through to a page and are part of effective on-page SEO. Meta descriptions have an indirect impact on search rankings and especially because they can significantly impact user behavior, it's important to put some effort into writing them.

As per Backlink o's 5 Million Google search results study from 2019:

1. Title tags between 15-40 characters have an 8.6% higher CTR than lengthier

2. Further tags that: a. contain a question had a 14.1% higher CTR than those that don’t, b. containing “power words” had a 13.9% lower CTR,

A 2020 Ahrefs study on meta-descriptions found that a. Only 74.98% of top-ranking pages have a meta description — which is a missed opportunity given they factor into search rankings. b. Google rewrites meta descriptions 62.78% of the time. But Kim Herrington, an SEO & SEM consultant, has particular expertise in writing meta descriptions for e-commerce businesses, as well as with optimizing their stores for search.

Through Kim’s own experience, she’s learned that if stores target high-traffic keywords, your original meta description is more likely to appear as you wrote it on your website.

How do I write a Good Meta description and Title?

The best practices for creating good meta descriptions are very similar to those for writing great ad copy. Use researched and targeted keywords in your meta descriptions:

• Make sure the description and title relate to the content on each page;

• never use the same meta description throughout your site.

• For Description communicate the benefits of each product, not the features.

• The meta description and Title both should intelligently employ the page’s target keywords. The keywords in your meta description that match the user's query will be highlighted in bold, which will catch the eye and make your search result stand out.

"Keyword - The focus keyword or keyphrase is the search term you want a page or post to rank for most. When people search for that phrase, they should find you."

To identify the Focus keyword you must know the user intent. Search intent (also known as user intent) is the reason why a user types a particular query into a search engine. It represents what the user is trying to achieve with their search, whether that's finding an answer to a question, looking for a specific website, purchasing a product, or exploring a topic.

Let's say someone searches for “best dog food” on Google.

They're not trying to navigate to a specific page. And they don't want to buy a specific product either. (At least not yet.)

They want to do their research before making a purchase.

That means the keyword has commercial intent. And we can use this knowledge to adjust our content to target this keyword better.

43% of people click on a given result, solely based on the meta description.

• Make use of your brand name in the title, even if it ends up not being shown on the SERPs, it’ll still make a difference for the search engine.

• use an eye-catching call-to-action, a unique proposition you offer, or additional hints on what to expect – ‘Learn’, ‘Buy’ constructions, etc for writing Meta descriptions

Here is an example from a site https://www.next.co.uk/ check the images below 👍

In the above image, you may check the Product Title is - Epsom Coat And on the other side where the inspect window is open, you can see text written with green color starting with

// <!--meta name="og: title" content=" Buy Epsom Coat from the Next UK online shop"/>

is the Meta Title If you will notice this meta title appears as a Tab name on your browser.

In the above Image under the Inspect section you can check the Product Meta Description -

//<meta name="description" content="Shop for Epsom Coat at Next.co.uk. Next-day delivery and free returns to store. 1000s of products online. Buy Epsom Coat now!">

Meta description examples for Clothing & Fashion

1. Gym Shark

What's good:

• ✅ Included primary keyword in meta description

• ✅ Included product features important for customer: aesthetic look, tapered to leg, tonal.

What could be improved:

• ❌ The meta description is too long and is automatically truncated by Google, and thus could be missing important keywords.

• ❌ Missing call to action

1. Red Dress

What's good:

• ✅ Included product features important for customer: gold base, secure lock

• ✅ Included call to action: Shop now!

• ✅ Correct meta description length

• ✅ Included primary keyword in the meta description

Tip:

1. Use Your Title to Attract Attention

   The title tag is Prime SERP and it also functions as a tab title in your web browser. This can be used to attract a user’s attention. For example:

It’s the exact approach used by Facebook/LinkedIn to show you you have notifications and can be used to pretty good effect.

1. The meta description doesn’t have to be just a sentence or two.

   As Google informs us, you should also add some information about the page that the search engine will scrape for a more colorful SERP.