When you’re describing Calgary, you can’t forget about its towering skyscrapers and looming mountains. This city is sunny year-round, which illuminates its picturesque scenery. It has a robust music and theatre scene, with venues like the Jack Singer Concert Hall and the Arts Commons. Despite its booming economy, it’s still an affordable place to live, thanks to the lack of provincial sales tax. 

You want to build a business that can keep up with this fast-paced city. To do that, you need a website that’s easy for customers to find.

Describing Calgary is easy. It’s another thing to write meta descriptions for your Calgary-based business. They inform readers of what your content is about and why they should click it. If you want to learn more about how meta descriptions can help your SEO, keep reading:

What is a meta description?

This text appears under the website URL and title tag in search results. Meta descriptions tell users what your content is about. Even if you don’t write one, Google will pull one from your page content (usually a sentence or two that contains the user’s search query terms). Sometimes, your meta description will be reworded or altered even if you do write your own. 

Meta descriptions get cut off after a certain length. In general, aim to write between 50-160 characters. That means you only have around 15-30 words to get readers to click your page. If you mislead readers, you’ll end up with a higher bounce rate (which measures the percent of people who click your website but take no further actions). That’s why it’s important to write a meta description that accurately summarizes your page content. Keep it concise, correct, and captivating. 

Why are meta descriptions important?

Meta descriptions are like an ad for your website on search result pages. They motivate the user to act, either by reading your content or calling your business. Descriptions also serve to distinguish your site from other results on the page.

When you’re writing a meta description, take note of these dos and don’ts:

• Do answer the search query. When visitors come across your page, what terms have they been searching for? Seek to answer their questions in the description so that you lead them to your website.

• Don’t be dull. You want to make your website stand out from others on the page. A verbatim description of your content won’t make for the most engaging meta description. 

• Do include a call-to-action. Words that encourage your reader to click your page (like keep reading, for more information, or try it now) make for an effective meta description. 

Meta descriptions play an important role in SEO, which we’ll get into next:

What are the SEO benefits of an optimized meta description? 

Search engine optimization is the ever-changing art of helping websites rank higher in Google. Meta descriptions play an important role in your SEO strategy, and here’s why:

• A compelling description entices users to click your website.

A quick way to boost your CTR (click-through rate) is by writing a meta description. Talk about an easy win. By writing copy that attracts readers, your website will generate more traffic, which signals to search engines that your content is relevant.

• Meta descriptions include keywords that help you rank.

Try to write in your primary keyword within your description—just be sure it’s natural. There’s a fine line between an optimized description and one that’s keyword-stuffed. The latter won’t look good to your readers or search engines. 

But if you include your targeted keyword just once, it can get you more visibility in search results. Any keyword that a user searches will be bolded in your description, which makes it easy to catch their eye.

• Search engines use descriptions to understand your website and rank its relevance.

Google doesn’t have a brain.

So how does it know what your website is about?

Search engines use text bots to crawl the content of your website. Your meta description gives it rich information that summarizes your page. It’s a useful section for Google when it’s ranking your website based on its relevance to different queries.

• Use meta descriptions to avoid duplicate content.

Google doesn’t like replicated content—it wants to promote sites with unique information. When you make each meta description distinct, you won’t have to worry about running into this ranking issue.

Need help with your SEO in Calgary? Contact First Rank. We’re an SEO agency that’s committed to getting the best results for our clients.