Comments on: Description Tags Shouldn’t Describe – They Should Sell

By: Chotrul E-Commerce Design

Chotrul E-Commerce Design — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:36:55 +0000

Yes, ultimately the meta description tag is about inducing a click when the user finds you in the search results, and not about getting a higher search ranking per se. It’s good to be clear about this, I think.

By: Darren Ullery

Darren Ullery — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:21:02 +0000

Hey skillful post, I certainly enjoyed it, specially with reference to the second commentary that you made.

By: Kevin

Kevin — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 14:25:10 +0000

Thanks for chiming in Khalid, we recently re-launched Design A Mosaic, and we weren’t the original web developer. Previous to our engagement, they weren’t even ranking for that term, so we don’t really have any data to draw comparisons to unless we switch their description to something else for a period of time assuming that their rank remains consistent. Other than that, we can’t tell what click-through others are getting on that key phrase necessarily. What we usually do is determine the “reach” in the search results by using the number of visitors from that key phrase vs. the # of searches as estimated by keyword research tools. We can compare that to the typical CTR on SERPs based on position but again, I don’t think DM has remained consistent in any one position (as of this comment they are now 3rd in the SERP for that term) – at least, not yet.

By: Khalid Saleh

Khalid Saleh — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 23:06:36 +0000

Excellent tip Robyn. Did you test to see which of these descriptions actually drive more click through to the site? I am almost sure the sell description works better but i am not sure what kind of uplift it might create.