Remember when I talked about why using meta description tags is important for your website? In that post, I talked about how they are helpful for search engine optimization (SEO). I also ranted about some websites and their poor use or lack of meta description tags. This time, I want to share with you a nice success story!

Meta descriptions are quite helpful for people who may be interested in your website.

Search Engine Quandary

A few months ago, I searched for “technical communication blogs” and my website was located a few pages into Google’s search results. People who are looking for technical communication blogs might just look at the first or second page and the rest of the approximately 37,000,000 results are rarely seen. I thought of ways raise my website listing to the first few pages instead of page six or seven. Also, I’m aware my blog has been around since 2011 and it hasn’t been on the top of search results and not even on the first page of Google when searching for “technical communication blogs.” What could I do to move up the search engine results ladder?

The Plan

My plan was to clean up any meta description tags, rework the title of my website, and add relevant information about my blog. The problem with SEO is the landscape changes and sometimes without any warning, rhyme or reason. Also, you could take advantage of the mountain of books on the subject of SEO to jump ahead, however the core philosophy is to write quality content and maintain an honest website. For me, I treated my website like a science experiment.

Moving On Up!

Sometime this week or this month, my technical communication blog made it to the first page of Google search results. How would you feel if you published something that shows up on the first results page? Awesome.

Searching for “technical communication blogs” on Google.

What I want to emphasize is that meta descriptions are extremely helpful in addition to publishing quality content. The more people who get see your website by organic means, the chances are your page will show up higher in search engine results.

Little Effort, Big Returns

I wish I could repeat this more often, your effort will go a long way if you spend time adding meta description tags. Search engine display results are pretty complex, however it should be simple enough for you to create a great meta description. That alone should help you greatly be visible on the web.

Continue Improving

I’m quite proud to say that adding meta description tags and writing quality content was enough to break into the first page for this keyword. Now my challenge is to improve my work in order show up “above the fold” in the search results. That challenge also means maintaining my website’s current rank presence on search results.