Website writing starts with your page description meta tags. You should write these tags as if they were advertising copy... because that's exactly what they are! Get more clicks and more traffic with this simple technique.

Page description meta tags are your front line advertising message for all your organic listings in the search engine results pages. In fact writing your page description is one of the most highly creative and effective parts of on page search engine optimization.

How do page description meta tags affect organic search?

If you insert your targeted keywords effectively into your page description meta tags the search engines will use your page description meta tag content to create the "snippet". The snippet is  a selection of sample text from your web page that makes up your search engine listing. Here's an example of a well done page description that the search engines picked up verbatim to form the snippet:

Nicely done! Nicely done indeed! You are on your way to becoming a website writing guru.

This web page description was written to rank well for the phase "catering services". Because the word catering has been written into the web page description the search engines simply take what was written as the page description and use it to create the snippet. This is how you as a website copy writer exercise some level of control over what your page listing looks like on the search engine results pages of Google, Yahoo and Bing.

If you do not include a page description or use  one without your keywords the search engines will scan your visible web page content for snippets of text surrounding your keyword. This results in a more random effect, like so:

If you are writing web page content you should always give an extra measure of thought to what is contained in the page description meta tags. Keywords, extended keyword phrases, call to action, etc.

What makes a great meta tag page description?

if you have ever spent any time setting up pay per click advertising campaigns then you know that a lot of time and energy goes into writing the text that makes up the ad. Google Adwords (also Yahoo & Bing) only allow advertisers a ridiculously small 3 lines of ad copy to get the message across. With Adwords advertising copy every word is  weighed and every syllable must carry its weight or it gets cut. 

Writing for meta tag page descriptions should get no less attention. Okay, maybe you cannot test and track the page descriptions you write but isn't that all the more reason to spend the time necessary up-front to make sure you write an effective page description in the first place?

Writing website content is all about getting traffic 

To continue drawing out the parallels to writing for pay per click campaigns... the goal of writing website content is to get clicks, not impressions. You have to work hard to get your site optimized and ranked on page one of Google for your keywords. Don't blow it with a snippet that doesn't work hard getting clicks.

Take another look at our sample above. The carefully worded page description has worked in the keywords "catering, caterers" to grab the readers attention... but it also has a compelling call-to-action "Get up to 4 quotes" and generates trust "Read customer reviews". I don't need any catering done but I feel like clicking just to see what's there

So when you are writing website pages be sure to give a lot of thoguht to the page description meta tags. Make sure your listings in the search engine results pages are compelling and "clickworthy".

Website Writing Tips:

1. Do your preliminary keyword research for the web page's topic
2. Focus on the most important keywords- high volume low competition is good
3. Write a meta tag description that includes these important keywords and keyword phrases
4. Write a page description that is about 200 to 250 characters long
5. Write using an information hierarchy
6. Write keywords and keyword phrases at the beginning of your description (or as close to the beginning as you can). Follow with the second most important element then the third etc.
7. Try to include a call-to-action, an offer, a guarantee... think advertising! Write your page descriptions as if you were writing advertising copy
8. Write out your age description in a word processor so you can count the characters
9. In your word processor apply bold to the keywords so you see it like it will appear in the search engine results page listings.
10. Next add your page title above your page description so you see what the complete listing will look like
11. Tweak, adjust, change until you see something you would click on yourself 

Read This Entire Series On Page Description Writing

• Write Page Descriptions For Higher Click Rate & Ranking
• Website Writing: Meta Tag Description Is Advertising Copy
• Website Writing: Meta Tag Page Description Length