Want to boost your search traffic? Write compelling blog descriptions.
If youโre struggling to increase your traffic from Google, you should start focusing on the basics first.
The SEO basics like having a compelling blog description and writing effective meta descriptions for your blog posts matter A LOT.
If youโre looking for a helpful guide on crafting perfect blog descriptions, this post is just for you.
In this post, weโll talk about;
- What is a blog description?
- Types of Blog Descriptions
- Great Blog Description examples
- How to write better descriptions for your blog (and blog posts) and much more
Are you ready? Letโs get into the details without much ado.
Table of Contents
- What Is a Blog Description?
- Types of Blog Descriptions
- 5 Great Blog Description Examples
- Things To Remember Before Writing a Compelling Blog Post Description
- Method To Write a Powerful Blog Description
- 5 Extra Tips For Creating a Powerful Description For Your Blog
- How Do You Include Your Primary Keywords In The Blog Description For High CTR?
- Final Thoughts On Blog Description
- FAQs About Blog Description
What Is a Blog Description?
A blog description refers to a brief summary that provides insights into the content and purpose of your blog post. It typically appears below the title of your blog in the SERP.
The main goal of the blog description is to inform users about the blogโs content and gain the click-through to the site.
Hereโs an example of a blog description on our site.
Benefits of blog descriptions:
Blog descriptions offer you the following benefits.
- Blog descriptions improve your websiteโs organic click-through rates (CTR).
- They will create an impact on your websiteโs conversions and sales.
- They will improve your websiteโs indexing so you can rank higher on search results.
- They will help you attract s target audience to your site.
Types of Blog Descriptions
There are typically two types of blog descriptions;
- Blog description
- Blog post description
1. Blog Description
A blog description is a short summary of your blogโs homepage which appears below your site link in SERP (Search Engine Results Page).
Hereโs an example of a blog description;
As you can see above, the blog description appears right below the blogโs homepage.
2. Blog Post Description
A blog post description is a description of your individual blog post which appears below your blog post link in SERP.
Hereโs an example of a blog post description;
As you can see above, the blog description appears right below the blog postโs title.
Did you know that pages with a meta description get 5.8% more clicks than those without a description?
So make sure to write a meta description for every blog post you publish.
5 Great Blog Description Examples
Looking for a great blog description sample? Hereโs a handpicked list of some of the best blog description examples across various industries.
Example 1: Unsplash
Why itโs great?
Unsplash is one of the popular websites to download royalty-free images online. In just a few words, Unsplashโs blog description conveys what their website is all about. It also tells you why their platform is better than the others.
Example 2: Udemy
Why itโs great?
Udemy is probably the #1 platform for learning and teaching various skills. It has a powerful blog description where it conveys the number of courses along with the students who use their platform. Also, it includes what type of courses you can discover on their website.
Example 3: Codeacademy
Why itโs great?
Codecademy is an online interactive platform that offers free coding classes worldwide. Its blog description includes the number of users using their platform along with a benefit (getting a job you want).
Example 4: PicMonkey
Why itโs great?
PicMonkey is a powerful photo editor and its description includes what you can do with their software. Itโs simple yet compelling enough for people to click on their website link.
Example 5: YNAB (You Need A Budget)
Why itโs great?
YNAB is a popular budgeting software and it uses powerful words in its blogโs description to convey to its users to get out of debt and save money. It clearly shows you the โWhyโ of using their software.
Things To Remember Before Writing a Compelling Blog Post Description
Want to learn how to write powerful blog post descriptions that get more clicks and traffic to your website?
Here are some of the proven ways to create great meta descriptions for your blog posts.
1. Use questions
We often use questions while writing descriptions for our blog posts. They often work like a charm as they create instant curiosity.
Hereโs an example;
As you can see above, weโre using a question in our blog postโs description to get more clicks.
2. Use Power Words
One of the best ways to entice your blog visitors with your blog post description is to use power words.
Power words are enticing and descriptive words that trigger a positive or negative emotional response.
Some of the power words include:
- Instant
- New
- Secret
- Limited
- Essential
- Powerful
- Best-selling
- Expert
- Advanced
- Complete
- Free
- Best
- Guaranteed
- Exclusive
- Ultimate
- Proven
- Editor’s Choice
- Pro
- Breakthrough
- Results
3. Donโt Use Clickbait
Most people use clickbait headlines within their blog post descriptions to attract more clicks and traffic.
Unfortunately, clickbait headlines mislead your website audience as they contain misleading wording instead of using the right words that are relevant to the content.
ALWAYS write descriptions that match your content. NEVER trick your audience into clicking your link by using clickbait headlines.
4. Implement Structured Data
If you want to create persuading blog post descriptions, implement structured data.
Structured data uses a predefined schema that helps search engines easily understand the information provided on a web page.
The most common types of structured data metatags include star ratings for product reviews, business names, addresses, and more.
Hereโs an example of a start rating powered by structured data;
You can use plugins like Rank Math to easily implement structured data on your blog. You can also read this guide from Rank Math to learn more about it.
Method To Write a Powerful Blog Description
So to create an effective blog description? Here are some of the best ways to write a click-worthy description for your blog or website.
First things first: install an optimization plugin like Rank Math. It also has a free version which is incredible.
Rank Math SEO plugin provides an option to easily write and edit your blogโs homepage description.
Once you install the Rank Math plugin, go to Titles & Meta and click on the Homepage tab.
Hereโs how it looks like;
As you can see above, youโll see a homepage title and homepage meta description for your blog where you can add a description for your blog.
5 Extra Tips For Creating a Powerful Description For Your Blog
Here are 5 amazing tips to create a compelling description for your blog or website.
1. Explain what your blog is about: Blog description length is typically between 120 to 158 characters, up to 920 pixels. So you need to explain what your site is all about within those characters.
Analyze your competitorsโ websites. Learn how authority websites in your industry are crafting their blog descriptions. Take inspiration and write your blog description.
Hereโs a perfect blog description sample:
As you can see above, ProBlogger explains what their blog is all about within a few characters in its blog description which is really compelling.
Suggested Read: Looking to improve your blog titles and headings? Click here for headline tips that convert.
2. Include your primary keywords: You must add your main keywords in the blog description naturally. Thatโs how search engines like Google will understand what your site is all about.
Have a look at the โCup of Joโ (popular lifestyle blog) blogโs description.
As you can see above, the Cup of Joโs blogโs description includes several keywords that are all relevant to their blog. Similarly, you too can add highly relevant keywords in your blog description to attract more search visitors to your site.
3. Display your expertise: One of the best ways to make your blogโs description unique and powerful is to expose your expertise.
Hereโs an example of Tim Ferrissโs blog description where he shows his expertise of being an investor for BIG companies like Facebook, Uber, Twitter, etc.
If you read it carefully, youโll also notice that Tim mentions being an author of the FIVE New York Times bestsellers.
4. Include benefits: If you want to entice your target audience with your blog description, make sure to add benefits.
Answer โWhatโs in it for them after visiting your blogโ.
What are the benefits theyโre going to get after landing your blog? If you can add benefits concisely in your blog description, youโll attract more visitors from Google.
Quora (which is the worldโs #1 Question & Answer platform) probably has the best blog description;
As you can see above, Quora shows the benefits of using their platform. If youโre someone whoโs looking to gain and share knowledge, you should probably create an account on Quora.
5. Add credentials: If you already have an online presence or a huge following, you should definitely add those credentials in your blog description. Adding credentials definitely helps you stand out from others.
Semrush does it best;
As you can see above, Semrush is sharing the credentials of its users (which is trusted by over 7 million marketers worldwide).
Enhance your blog descriptions with effective alternatives to Answer the Public. Explore more in our Answer the Public Alternatives guide.
How Do You Include Your Primary Keywords In The Blog Description For High CTR?
Whatโs the BEST way to get more traffic to your blog posts from search engines? Here are some of the proven ways to get better results with your blog descriptions.
Include your primary keyword in meta descriptions
Your meta descriptions matter a lot.
The meta description is an HTML attribute that provides a brief summary of a web page.
Make sure to include your target keywords while creating meta descriptions for your blog posts.
How can you do that?
Firstly, perform keyword research for every blog post you write.
Come up with at least ONE primary keyword and multiple secondary keywords so you can include them while writing blog post descriptions.
If youโre curious, hereโs a beginnerโs guide on finding better keywords like a pro.
Once you have a list of primary and secondary keywords to target, you need to include them within your content including blog post meta descriptions.
You can install a free SEO plugin like Rank Math (we use the same) to optimize your blog posts and pages.
Include your targeted keywords in the title
A title tag is the title of a web page that the search user sees in the search results which is displayed as part of the search snippet.
Hereโs how a title tag looks like;
Here are some quick tips to optimize your title tags.
- Make sure to use unique title tags. Do a quick search on Google to find out whether your title is totally unique or not.
- Put your most important keyword first in the title tag.
- NEVER stuff keywords in your title tags. They should look natural and appeal to your target audience.
- Watch your title length. Google usually displays the first 50 to 60 characters of a title tag. So stay within that limit.
- Avoid using the title tag for the page title. The title tag is displayed in search results whereas the page title is unique and is displayed on your blog post.
Final Thoughts On Blog Description
If you want to grow your search traffic, itโs extremely important to write powerful descriptions for your blog and individual blog posts.
Make sure to keep your audience in mind, analyze your competitors, and focus on benefits while creating meta descriptions.
So what are your thoughts about compelling blog descriptions? Did you find this post useful? Have any questions? Let us know in the comments.
FAQs About Blog Description
Here are some of the frequently asked questions about blog descriptions.
A blog post description is a quick summary of what your blog is about. Blog description is the text that appears below your website link in search engine results.ย
A blog post description should be approximately 150 to 160 characters in length.ย
Your blogโs description appears directly under your meta title on the search engine page when a user searches for your website.ย
If youโre using WordPress, make sure to install an optimization plugin called Rank Math which is free to use. It helps you easily write and edit descriptions for your blog and individual posts.
Yes, blog post descriptions have many benefits including;
– Helps you with better CTR (click-through rates)
– Helps you with more traffic and sales
– Helps you attract the right audience from Google
True sir Blog description really helps to get a higher rank in search engines and if you optimize it with your seed keyword and make it eye-catchy then you will rank higher and CTR will also improve. My blog really got better rankings in search engines after keeping these things in mind.
Thanks, sir for this valuable and informative post.
Regards
Ayush