WHY Your Page Title & Meta Data Are Important for SEO

In the world of SEO, there are many, many, many variables to pay attention to. That's part of the reason why SEO is a full-time job for people like me. So if you're someone that's interested in doing it yourself, or you're someone that wants to get a leg up, so when you talk to someone like me, you know what you're talking about. One of the very first things you need to understand is a concept called page title and meta description. I'm Melanie Gorman. I'm the founder of Crownsville Media. We're an SEO, content creation, and web development company. We've been in business for a handful of years, but in this gig for more than 20. So if you're curious about the value of a page title or a meta description, we're going to debunk that now so you know exactly what to do. Okay, let's begin. When you go to Google or Bing or any other search engine, you're going to be presented with results. What you see, the blue link that you see is the page title and the words or the little mini paragraph below, that is the meta description. So what's the value of those? SEOs hotly debate this topic. Many people say there's no value, it means nothing. I strongly disagree. And not because it has keyword value or because it's going to, if you write the perfect page title or meta description, it's going to get you at the top of Google results. That's not why. The value of a page title and a meta description is for people like me and you when we're doing a search. It has to do with informing the customer or the searcher what they're going to get when they go to your page. So it should be absolutely specific to the page that they're going to land on. So if it's an article, it should be about the article. If it's a landing page that's selling a service, it should be about that landing page. The idea for you is to know the rules. So let's go over those first. Page titles are 60 characters, no more, and often less. So the blue link is going to be limited in characters based on the width of the letters. So max is 60. And if you have a lot of W's where they're wider, you're going to get fewer. And if you have I's, you're going to get closer to the 60 count. So a good rule of thumb is, you know, 52, 55 characters. And it does include spaces. So think about that. The meta description beneath it, you get 160 characters. And again, same rule applies. If it's a lot of W's, you're not going to get as many. What happens when you write your page title and your meta description are if you go over the 60 characters for the page title or the 160 for the meta description, you'll see an ellipse. So an ellipse is the dot, dot, dot that will follow. Ideally, you don't want to put your keyword at the very end. So if you have a phrase that you're trying to optimize for, for SEO, you don't want that to be at the very end because you risk it not being seen. You risk the ellipse showing up and then somebody can't actually know what your keyword is. So ideally you put your keywords at the very beginning of the page title and the very beginning of the meta description in the best way possible. Now that you know the rules for page title and meta description, let's talk about why they really are important. So here's how people search. They put in either on their phone or on their computer, whatever the phrase is they're looking for. Let's say I'm looking for best camping spots in Arizona. What happens when you put that in the search result is that the Google will decide what is going to show on the first page. Those are 10 results, and then there'll be the next 10. That's page 2, and then the next 10. That's page 3. You and I are going to click through as many results as it takes to get what we're looking for. So being incredibly descriptive in your page title and meta description help people discern what to click on. The phrase they put in their search result will be bolded. And so if you do a little experiment with this, like you can see here, the search phrase will be bolded. So it helps to draw the consumer's eye to those results that are most relevant to what they're looking for. So those words will be bolded, and that is Google trying to help you and I understand what to click on. Now, the devil's in the detail. I may be looking for best camping spots for kids, and you may be looking for best camping spots to see the stars. The more descriptive you can be about who should read your result, the better. When your page title is too general, So you're looking for anybody looking for any camping spot. It's hard for Google to understand why they should show your result over another. In this discussion about page title and meta description, the thing to understand is that you're not writing this to show higher in search. You're writing this so that you and I, when we do our search, can find the exact result we're looking for. And you have to always remember that your audience isn't actually me and you searching, it's Google. So you're educating the robot that is Google, and you're helping Google to show your results to people who actually need whatever it is you're writing about or whatever it is you're trying to sell online. So in conclusion, as you're thinking about page titles and meta descriptions, don't think about them from the perspective of, did I use the best keyword or am I stuffing my keyword in there enough times? Think about what you would click on. Take a minute and follow this instruction. When I'm writing a page title and meta description for a client, The way I approach it is I go to Google and I pretend I'm the consumer looking for that result. I look at what shows up on page 1, but not just page 1. I look at what shows on page 2 and page 3 as well, because I want to compete and I want to get to the top of the results. So I have to know what's already showing. Look at what those results are all about and ask yourself, how can my page fit into this myriad of results? And show something unique and different. Because what you're really trying to get Google to see is that there's value in putting you in that competitive pool. If you write a page title or meta description that is exactly the same as what everybody else does, there's no reason to show you because Google's already decided who's giving the best results. You need to offer something unique. You don't need to be just like everybody else. So if you're running all your content through ChatGPT or whatever AI tool, and there's nothing unique about what you're offering, you'll never show on the first page of search. So in conclusion, your page title is 60 characters. Your meta description is 160 characters. Aside from those rules, you are having a direct conversation with the consumer, me or you, who are doing the search and looking for results. So do page titles and meta descriptions matter? Absolutely. But not because they are stuffed with keywords or they get you to the top of search. They matter because they help the consumer understand why they should pick your result over somebody else's.