How to Write an SEO Description for Your Small Business Website
- Rhiannon
- Apr 27, 2023
- 4 min read
Updated: May 9
An SEO description (also known as a meta description or a page description) is a short summary of a website page's content. Whilst it is not generally considered to be a major ranking signal / factor, it can impact a website's click-through rate (CTR). Therefore, it is worth knowing how to write compelling SEO descriptions if you want to drive more organic (free) website traffic. In this guide for small business owners, I will show you how to write an SEO description for your small business website.
This guide covers:
What is an SEO Description?
An SEO description is a short summary of what your website page is about. SEO descriptions appear just underneath SEO titles in search engine results. Search engine users will use SEO descriptions to determine what the page is about, and decide which result to click on first.
You can see SEO descriptions in the search engine results. SEO descriptions usually appear in grey, immediately underneath the SEO title of each listing (see the example below).
Note: If you have not specified an SEO description for your website page, search engines will generate them automatically. However, automatically generated SEO descriptions will not perform as well as purpose-written descriptions. Therefore, it's always worth writing your own SEO descriptions.
How to Write an SEO Description for Your Small Business Website
Before you start writing your SEO descriptions, make sure you have carried out keyword research. See my article on How to Find Keywords for SEO for a more detailed guide to keyword research. Once you have your keywords and allocate them to your website pages, you can start writing your SEO titles and SEO descriptions.
Writing SEO descriptions does not have to be difficult, but it can be fiddly. There are three main criteria for SEO descriptions, which can make them tricky:
Character limits: SEO descriptions should be around 150-160 characters in length
Focus keyword: Ideally, your SEO description should contain the focus keyword for that page. However, this is less important than it is for SEO titles
Unique: Each SEO description should be unique
These criteria are guidelines. it is not always possible to write the "perfect" SEO description, and the most important this is that you write an SEO description that tells your audience what the page is about.
Remember: If you don't write your own SEO description, search engines will generate one automatically based on the website page content. However, these SEO descriptions may not always be accurate and are unlikely to perform as well as purpose-written SEO descriptions.
Tip: I have a spreadsheet, which I use to keep track of my SEO plan. Each row is a page on my website, and the columns list the focus keyword(s) for each page, along with the SEO titles, SEO descriptions and h1 tags. This is really useful for keeping track of your SEO strategy, especially if you have a larger website!
SEO Description Checklist
Your SEO descriptions should aim fit as many of the following criteria as possible. This gives your website the best chance of driving traffic. here are 10 SEO description best practices you should aim to adhere to:
Your SEO descriptions should be 150-160 characters long to avoid being truncated (cut off) by search engines, and so that they provide enough information to search engine users.
Include the focus keyword for that page in your SEO description - whilst SEO descriptions are not generally considered to be a direct ranking signal, it can help to encourage search engine users to click when they see the keyword(s) they are looking for.
Each SEO description should be unique
Use full sentences that are compelling and easy to understand — the SEO description should encourage people to click on your website
Avoid keyword stuffing — don't just list your keywords in your SEO description. Include them naturally where you can.
Match search intent — consider what your audience is looking for, and reflect that in your SEO description
Make your SEO description relevant to the whole page
Include a CTA (e.g. "find out more" or "book a free call today") where relevant
Use an active voice and strong verbs (e.g. "learn how...", "explore services")
Summarise the page's value or benefit — what will the reader gain from clicking?
Get Help With Your SEO Descriptions | SEO Help for Small Business
Optimised SEO descriptions are ket to driving traffic to your website (and your business), but they are only a small part of a successful SEO strategy.
As a specialist SEO consultant for small business, I help small businesses and independent service providers get found in Google Search and drive more organic traffic to their websites. As part of my marketing services for small businesses, I can help you write compelling SEO descriptions that drive more clicks to your website.
To take the first step towards driving more traffic to your small business website, book your complimentary discovery call and explore how I can help you with my marketing services for small businesses.
