If you're familiar with SEO, you know small SEO elements need to be perfect, and every aspect has to work out flawlessly. But sometimes, it seems impossible for everything to work out perfectly.
SEO is a tricky subject. At one point, you think you nailed it, but at the next point, everything changes. Google reportedly changes its algorithm 500 to 600 times each year.
With time passage, search engine algorithms are becoming more intelligent. There are still many elements that need to be arranged perfectly to get your SEO to succeed.
The title tag and meta description are some of the cornerstones of SEO. They always have been and will remain.
The title tag is an HTML element that specifies the title of the webpage. The title tags are displayed on search engine results pages (SERPs) as clickable headlines for a given result. These are important for usability, SEO, and social sharing.
The title tag of the webpage should be an accurate and concise description of the webpage.
The sample code of the title tag looks like <head><title>Example Title</title></head>
Many people say "meta title tags". But technically, titles are not meta tags.
The title tags are one of the most crucial parts of search engine optimization and user search experience. Even though writing a perfect title is a little tricky and needs little effort, it's a highly impacting SEO task.
There are two main reasons why your title tag is essential.
The pixel width makes sense for the search engines to use in their SERPs but makes it difficult for web admins and SEO experts to control their search snippets, which is truly frustrating.
Therefore, the best practice is that your keywords are at the start of the title to increase the likelihood of being visible.
Some are the essential points to consider while writing a clickable title tag.
Google now uses 18px Arial for the title element. Previously it was 16px.
If your title is not optimized correctly, people will skip your page, making a negative impression. The search engine may determine that your webpage is not of high quality, which decreases your SERPs ranking.
Note: Some characters naturally take more space. An upper case letter like "W" would take more space than a small case letter.
The meta description is an HTML element that provides a summary of the webpage. Google often displays the meta description in SERPs, which is an influential CTR factor.
The sample code of the meta description looks like <head><meta name="description" content= "This is an example of a meta description. That will often show up in search results." ></head>
It provides a succinct description of the web page's content in conjunction with all the other meta tags in your website's HTML code.
Even though writing a perfect meta description is a little tricky and needs little effort, it's a highly effective SEO task.
There are four principal reasons why your meta description tag is essential.
Google announced in 2009 that neither meta description nor keywords tag is Google ranking factor. But SEO experts still advised writing a unique and clear meta description because Google often displays it in its SERPs.
Some are the essential points to consider while writing an eye catchy meta description.
Google still uses 13px Arial for meta description. Google often ignores our meta description and is free to show any text in meta description in SERPs.
If Google thinks that any other content of your webpage perfectly matches with the searcher's query, it can display that content in the space reserved for meta description in SERPs. And can show longer descriptions for longer queries.
The URL (Uniform Resource Locator) specifies the location or the address of the resource/webpage on the internet. The URL also specifies how to retrieve the source, also known as a protocol like HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, etc.
The optimal format for the URL should be https://www.example.com/category-keyword/subcategory-keyword/primary-keyword.html
Google uses 13px Arial for URLs. However, it should not be more than 512px in the SERP snippet, allowing room for the ellipsis and the arrow dropdown for 'cached' and 'similar' pages.
But that would not be remarkably accurate at all. Google sometimes shortens the URLs, sometimes after the root domain, and sometimes after the first folder level based on the search query, followed by the ellipsis at the end.
If your website is structured correctly, Google may use the breadcrumbs in the URL section of the SERP result. Therefore, it's recommended to use the Breadcrumb Schema.
Note: To render in all browsers perfectly, URLs must be shorter than 2,083 characters.
Disclaimer: Our Google SERP Preview Tool - SERP Simulator is not associated or affiliated with Google. We tried our best to replicate the visual feel of Google Search. But we cannot guarantee 100% accuracy. Google owns SERPs, which they can change anytime. It simply confirms that Google owns the results, not us!
