I received a notice today rom a company I’ve done business with (high sticker price) and that I may do business with again.

They announced their brand new website. I had been on their website before and knew it needed to be updated.

So I took a look. It was much better. Colorful, updated, easier to use, and with more helpful information.

Then I took a peek under-the-hood, that is I looked at the code; specifically, I looked at the title and description tags, which are critically important for good search results. The tags all appeared to be auto-generated and poorly so at that. Often the title and description tags for different pages had exactly the same information.

For a commercial website, the title and description tags are very important because Google often uses them when it displays search snippets.

The title tag helps Google to discern the subject of each page.

The description tag helps the searcher to discern if he wants to click through to your website.

For example, here is a set of poorly written tags:

In a Google search, the above may render in a snippet:

A better way to write this tag would be:

Of the two snippets, which would you be most likely to click on?

Notice the improved snippet has keywords, geography, and a unique selling proposition.

Yes, there’s more to writing title and description tags than what I am describing here, but if you do just this task, you’ll be off to a good start.

Thankfully, today’s website editors make it easy to do.

Easy Web Tip 324: Please don’t skip seriously paying attention to your title and description tags.