A meta description is the short paragraph of text that appears below your page’s URL in the search results. In other words, it’s your chance to sell potential visitors on why they should click through to your website. And since 80% of people don’t bother reading beyond the meta description, you need to make sure yours is compelling! Here’s how to write a meta description that drives clicks:

First things first: what is a meta description? A meta description is the short paragraph of text that appears below your page’s URL in the search results. In other words, it’s your chance to sell potential visitors on why they should click through to your website. And since 80% of people don’t bother reading beyond the meta description, you need to make sure yours is compelling!

Keep it under 160 characters.

This may seem like a no-brainer, but it’s important to remember that your meta description will be truncated in the search results if it exceeds 160 characters. So, you want to make sure you’re including only the most essential information. Try to get your point across as concisely as possible.

Use keywords judiciously.

Including relevant keywords in your meta descriptions can help improve your click-through rate because it will let searchers know that your website contains content relevant to their query. But beware: stuff your meta descriptions full of keywords and you’ll not only turn off potential visitors but also get penalized by Google! Use keywords sparingly and only include them if they actually add value for the user.

Write for humans, not robots.

It may be tempting to stuff your meta description full of keywords in an attempt to game the system, but resist the urge! Not only will this turn off potential visitors, but Google will likely penalize you for it. Write each meta description with a human audience in mind—after all, they’re the ones who will be reading it!—and make sure it sounds natural and inspires them to click through to learn more.

Make each one unique.

Don’t try to take shortcuts by reusing old meta descriptions—you’ll just end up with something that doesn’t quite fit the new page’s content and purpose, which could confuse searchers and hurt your click-through rate. Plus, Google may view this as keyword stuffing and penalize you for it! So take the time to write unique, original meta descriptions for each and every page on your website. It may be time-consuming, but it’ll be worth it in the long run.

Obviously, spending time crafting the perfect meta descriptions for each page on your website is no small task—but it’s definitely worth doing if you want to increase your organic traffic and drive more clicks from the search results pages! Just remember to keep it under 160 characters, use keywords judiciously, write for humans instead of robots, and make each one unique and you’ll be well on your way to writing effective meta descriptions that help boost your bottom line.