How To Write Effective Blog Descriptions [Tips & Examples]
Struggling to write effective blog description that can drive your more click and increase your website’s organic CTR?
But not to worry because writing engaging meta descriptions is not a rocket science.
Just you have to follow the tips that I am going to tell you in this blog.
So, without any further ado:
Let’s jump straight into it.
What is blog description?
A blog description is a piece of text that appears below the link of your website in Google SERP.
It is one of the first things which users see before clicking on the link of your website.
How many types of blog descriptions are there?
There are two types of blog descriptions:
- Blog description – It is the description of the homepage of your website which is present below the link of your website’s homepage.
- Blog Post description – It is the description of the individual blog posts on your website which is present below its link.
What elements should a good blog post description have?
Here are some elements which should be present in a good meta description:
Why is it important to have a custom blog description?
Many newbie bloggers ignore adding a custom blog description for their blog.
They either left it unfilled or straight copy from another website ranking on Google.
Which is the main reason why the organic CTR of their website drops like a stone.
It is because meta description tells the reason why users should click on the link of your website in Google.
And what they would get from it.
Do add a unique description to all the posts and pages of your website.
It would consume some of your time, but it is worthful I promise.
What are benefits of blog description?
Here are some benefits of adding a blog description that would motivate you to write a unique description for each post or page on your website:
How to write blog description in WordPress?
It is quite easy to add a blog description of your WordPress website when you have an SEO plugin installed.
Whether you use RankMath or Yoast SEO plugin on your website.
Just follow this step-by-step tutorial that I am going to tell you:
1. In Yoast SEO
However, if you use a custom homepage, then adding a blog description to it is a bit different.
Here is how you can do that:
- Click on the homepage of your website.
2. In Rank Math
If you have a custom homepage for your website, then here is how you can add a blog description to it:
Tips to create effective blog description
Along with that, it gives the reason why users should click on your website’s link on Google.
You have to write it in such a manner that the user can’t resist clicking on it.
If you write it properly, then it can help you get only targeted traffic to your website which is really interested in your website’s content.
It increases the time-on-site and also reduces the bounce rate of your website as well.
Here are some tips to write a click-worthy blog description:
Some blog description examples
Here are some examples of blog descriptions of well-known websites around the web.
This will help you understand which elements they add to it to increase their organic CTR.
1. Masterblogging – USP
What’s in it – Ankit through his blog description tells the USP of his blog that through his blog he teaches you how to grow blogging as a business.
2. Tech Radar – Niche
What’s in it – Tech Radar through his description tells what they discuss on their blog such as gadget reviews etc.
So, only those users will visit their website who are truly interested in the content they provide.
3. Digital Photography School – Social Proof
What’s in it – Digital photography school through its description tells the trustworthiness of its website as it is read by 3 million people worldwide.
4. Dr. Axe – Trust Point
What’s in it – Dr. Axe through his description tells why his reader should trust him as he is a chiprotractor, natural medicine, etc.
It is very much needed, especially in the medical niche.
5. Engadget – Trust Worthiness
What’s in it – Through the description, they tell how old their website is. And in the online world, old means trust.
6. Lonely Planet – Curiosity
What’s in it – Lonely planet in their very first line adds a question that evokes curiosity and gives the user a reason to click on their website’s link.
7. Fitness About – Target Customers
What’s in it – Fitness about clearly tells through his description which type of people are their target audience.
Which are health and fitness enthusiasts who are experimenting with different routines.
8. Backlinko – Unique USP
What’s in it – Brian through his blog description tells that Backlinko is a place where he discusses next-level SEO and backlink strategies, which is actually unique.
9. Iwillteachyoutoberich – Social Proof
What’s in it – Ramit Sethi clearly tells the reason why people should trust his website for money-making tips.
10. Pinch of Yum – Niche
What’s in it – The blog description of Pinch of Yum clearly tells what the users are going to get through their website.
Which are simple, healthy recipes and food blogging.
What is blog post description?
Blog post description is the description of an individual blog post that appears under your blog post headline in the SERP.
The blog description tells the user what you cover on your whole blog whereas the blog post description tells you what you are going to discuss in that blog post.
Similar to blog description, blog post description also gives users the reason to click on your search result instead of others.
Here is what a blog post description looks like:
Also, blog post description increases the CTR of that blog post which helps you get more organic traffic without ranking it higher.
How to write blog post descriptions in WordPress?
Blog post description is the description of the blog posts on your website which is present below your blog link in SERP.
Here is how you can add a blog post description:
1. In Yoast SEO
2. In Rank Math
Now you know how you can add blog post descriptions in WordPress using both Rank math and Yoast SEO plugin.
But do you know how you can optimize it so that it can get the maximum clicks?
For that, continue reading this post to know the “secret sauce” to optimize your blog post descriptions to drive more clicks.
Tips to write awesome blog post description
Here are my personal tips and tactics that I use to optimize my blog post description for better organic CTR:
1. Use emotional words
The first and the easiest tip to optimize the meta description is to add emotional words to it.
Emotional words add curiosity to the readers, which leads to more clicks and in turn CTR.
Also, there is a study by Backlinko to back this up which says that using emotional words can increase the CTR up to 7%.
2. Use your main keyword
Using the main keyword in your blog post description is super important.
Because it increases the relevance of your blog post in the eyes of Google for that keyword.
So, use your main keyword one time in the description, preferred in the first line.
Don’t use the main keyword a lot of time in your description because it can cause KEYWORD STUFFING!
3. Use Power Words
Power words are a double-edged sword!
Because if it is used in limit then it can skyrocket your website’s CTR.
But when used excessively can cause a 14% decrease in CTR.
So handle it with care!
To be on the safer side, you can use these power words in your description without going overboard:
- Best
- Killer
- Awesome
- Great
- Groundbreaking
Here are some more power words that you can use.
Along with that, here are some phrases that you can use to start the description:
- Learn how to
- What happens
- Here are some great tips
- Our research found that
4. Use a CTA (Call to Action)
Using a CTA (Call to Action) in your blog post description makes it easier for the user to click on your website’s link.
And go to your website.
If you use it wisely without going overboard, then it can actually benefit your website.
Here are some CTAs that you can use at the end of your blog post description:
- Click to know more.
- Here’s how to do that
- Want to know more?
- Here’s how to get it!
5. Use a conversational tone
Writing your blog description in a conversational tone with you and I help you grab the attention of the user and also add curiosity.
Which generates more clicks.
6. Word Limit
The optimal length of meta description is around 160 words because if you add more words to it then Google will automatically cut it.
Which doesn’t look good and can cause a steep decrease in the organic CTR of your website.
You can use the word counter to see if your description is within the given word limit or not.
7. Add Questions
Questions are great weapons to induce curiosity within the users, which can help them to take action.
I have mentioned in my 25 tips to write persuasive blog post article as well.
I personally start most of my blogs with a question so that the readers have a sense of curiosity to read the post till the end.
And this trick works great with blog post descriptions as well.
Do add a question at the starting of the meta description of your blog post.
So that users can take action by clicking on your blog’s link.
8. Be Unique
As I have previously said that new bloggers don’t give much importance to adding meta descriptions for their blog posts.
They copy it from other blogs ranking on Google, which causes a duplicate content problem.
So, always add a unique description to all the posts and pages of your website.
9. Competitor Analysis
You can easily see the meta description of the posts and pages of any website on the web with the help of Detailed SEO Extension.
Just you have to go to the post which you want to see the description and next click on the extension.
It will give you the meta description of that post or page.
You can pick some phrases or words from it and add them to yours, which would increase your website’s CTR.
It is a great way to write a blog description, especially for beginners who don’t have a single clue on how to write a proper blog description.
10. Pro Tip – Cross Platform CTR Method
This is my personal used technique which I use to optimize my description of more clicks.
Here is a step by step way how you can implement the Cross-Platform CTR Method:
Go to YouTube and type in the keyword you are targeting.
For example, “Free SEO Course for beginners”.
Click “Enter”.
See the ads on the top of the search pages.
Next, pick some words and phrases from it.
For example, here are some words that I picked from these ads:
- Enhance your skills
- Top Rated courses
- Industry experts
- Brand case studies
- Professionals
- Job-seekers etc.
Add these keywords in your blog post description and see the increase in your blog’s CTR.
But why does this trick work?
It is because, in these types of ads, advertisers have very few words to convince the user to click on that ad.
So for that reason, they have to use only those words which can seriously increase their CTR.
Which makes this method one of the best CTR increasing methods.
11. Use a description template
You can use a pre-made description template to craft a blog post description for your blog.
Here is a description template by Brian Dean which you can use:
Blog Post description examples
To find a great blog post description let’s jump to Google and type in “on-page SEO”.
Here is an example of a blog post description of the backlinko’s on-page SEO guide.
What’s in it – Brian Dean has given a gist of the blog post topic through the description which would induce interest in the user about that topic which would increase the CTR.
Next, let’s now search “Siteground vs Hostinger” on Google.
Here is the blog post description example of the first search result.
What’s in it – Website planet has mentioned the result of this blog post that Hostinger is better than Siteground.
However, the majority of people think the opposite and it would generate curiosity in the user to click on that search result.
After that search “best laptops for blogging” on Google.
Here is an example of a blog post description of a search result for this keyword.
What’s in it – In this blog post description, Aisha has told her verdict that which laptop is best for bloggers.
It would increase the user’s curiosity in buying that laptop and knowing its specs which would eventually lead to more sales.
How to add keywords in blog description effectively?
As I have previously told that:
So, you should definitely add your main keyword one time in your description.
But don’t use it for more than one time.
Instead of that, you can use one or two LSI keywords as well to increase the relevancy of your description for multiple keywords.
You can use LSIgraph to find LSI keywords.
But don’t fill your description with keywords. Just be natural and add keywords naturally to it.
How to add Blog description on blogger?
Now it’s time for all the blogger users out there.
Here is how you can add blog description to your blogger website:
How to add blog post description on blogger?
If you want to add a description to the individual blog posts on your blogger website then here is how you can do it:
Case Study about blog description by Moz
There was a case study posted by Moz telling that:
They analyzed 70,000+ blog descriptions and found this:
So, this is the main reason why the exact meta description which you added to your post or page doesn’t appear on Google.
It is possible that Google may have added some extra words or may have cut down some words from it.
Also, it is possible in some cases Google may rewrite the whole meta description by itself like this:
Here is the original meta description of this post.
Why Google has rewritten the whole description?
This case study also answers this question:
“It says that the original description was too short, which fails to tell properly the purpose of the post”
And that is the reason why Google rewrote this description.
Hope you got what I am trying to say.
Do blog description help in SEO?
Google has previously said that blog description doesn’t have any direct SEO benefit.
They say that:
“Our web search (the well-known search at Google.com that hundreds of millions of people use each day) disregards keyword meta tags completely. They simply don’t have any effect on our search ranking at present”
But still, Google says that webmasters should fill their meta description with a unique summary about the page or post topic and what users are going to get in it.
So, we must add a description to all of our site’s pages and posts.
It might not have a direct SEO benefit, but it still, increase the relevancy and also gives the user the reason to click on our search result.
Is the time spent optimizing the blog description worth it?
Yes, of course, it is totally worth optimizing your blog description.
Because even if it doesn’t have an SEO benefit but many experts such as Neil Patel, Brian Dean and even Google suggests you write unique meta description to all the posts and pages.
Along with that, I have previously mentioned that adding a blog description to your post and pages can increase CTR up to 5.8%.
So, repeat with me:
Frequently Asked Questions
Final Words
Writing an effective blog description that can increase the organic CTR of your website is not that tough!
Just follow the tips that I have told you in this blog post, and you will get the secret sauce of writing an effective blog description.
At last, tell me which strategies from this post you are going to use first?
Write down your answers in the comments down below.
One small request, share this post so that it can reach many other bloggers.
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