Meta Data and Effects on SEO
As far back as 2007, Google has maintained its stance that meta descriptions do not impact search engine rankings. Accordingly, people have either neglected the addition of meta descriptions to their web pages or handed the task off to someone low on the totem pole. The thinking here is that if it doesn’t help SEO, why waste the time? Well, while it is true that meta descriptions won’t necessarily help your site rank, they are in fact important for SEO. While the content in a meta description does not directly factor into Google’s search ranking algorithm, user behavior is a factor that is looked with click-through rate (CTR) being part of the ranking process. And, the meta description just might be the tilting point on whether or not someone clicks through to your site from a search result page. I attempt to explain this here: Meta Descriptions and the Search Algorithm In 2007, Google stated, “It’s worth noth...