How Longer Meta Descriptions May Affect SEO
In recent months, Google has introduced an update wherein they increase the length of meta descriptions from the usual 165 to 320 characters. Of course, many SEO specialists have been jumping at this update stating that this could change the SEO game as a whole.
While this little change does warrant a different kind of metadata strategy, what exactly does it mean for website owners? Does it mean that existing websites will have to lengthen their existing meta descriptions? Or does it mean new ones have to make longer ones? Probably it means that you have to get a web design company in Manchester to change your whole SEO layout? Let’s find out.
What Is This Update About?
Basically, the update involves the character limit that Google places on the line for meta descriptions. The original rule only limited it to 165 characters unless the website is looking for very special search results. This is around two to three lines of text in the search results. With a 320 character limit though, you now have five to six lines of text in the search engine. This change happened sometime during the mid-November of 2017.
How Does This Change SEO?
Of course, the biggest question still is: How does this change the SEO game? Well, you’ll find a few changes that you may have to make if you’re a marketer.
More space to write content
Basically, you have more room to create a nice and enticing meta description. Do you remember back then when you had to cut down on those really beautiful and attractive words because of the 165 word limit? Well, marketers have more freedom now to flaunt those words to get a higher ranking.
Possible higher click through rate
With the higher character count, users can have the chance to have longer worded searches. This is good if you’re searching for something complicated that can’t be explained in just a few words. Marketers now have the chance to reach out to these people who have more complicated queries that they need to search. This may increase the overall click through rate of your website.
More Opportunities for New Websites
While most of the older websites are not really updating their meta descriptions, newer ones have a better chance of taking advantage of this. As we mentioned above, higher character count gives room for users to search for longer queries. New website owners who can cater to this need can grab these people. This can allow these websites to get more traffic.
More work for web design companies
The more updates there are, the higher the demand for the help of a web design company Manchester. If this update will prompt you to change your SEO strategy as a whole, then you need to change the design of your site. You’ll need the aid of a web design company Manchester for that. A web design company Manchester can help you not only revamp your entire SEO strategy, but also redesign your site to fit the update.
Conclusion
Should you edit your meta descriptions if you already made one? Well, for most website owners, they don’t really need to anymore since they have the regular traffic that they want. So it’s completely up to them if they want to. However, newer websites will want to look into going longer with their meta descriptions. It might work out well.