Optimal page description is the heart of any search engine optimization

The page description, also called meta description, is the summary of your website. That's why it doesn't make sense to lure potential visitors to your site who are then disappointed, because they didn't find what the site description promised.

As we have already continually repeated in the earlier posts such as "Topic-relevant content" or "Optimal page title" :

The longer a visitor stays on a page, the better the Google ranking is.

If a visitor stays on your site for a longer period of time, Google & Co assume that the content of the website matches the search term. And this circumstance is good for your ranking.

Describe the content of your pages in the description attribute. This text is shown in the SERP's at Google and should animate the user to visit your site.

• The optimal description of your page should not be longer than 156 characters including spaces and should also contain the keyword.
• Each of your pages should have its own individual description.

Just as with the optimal page title, Google has set a width of 600px in two lines for the description. With a font size of 13px this would mean two times around 100 characters. But it wouldn't be Google if it was that easy! The description is "cut off" with the obligatory 3 points in the second line after 50 to 80 percent of the line. Nobody knows when and according to which criteria a cut will be made.

An optimal page description should therefore provide the essential information at first. It should be about 156 characters long, including your keywords. The keywords are displayed in bold type by Google, which, just like icons (✓ ❶ ➜), draws attention to your ad.

For further interesting information, visit the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) guide. SEO guide