How to use Meta Descriptions, Keywords, and Tags on your Blog
During the last several Content Camps, we received many questions regarding Meta Descriptions, Meta Keywords, and Tags. Here is a complete explanation of all three of these elements!
Meta Descriptions
What is a meta description?
A meta description appears on a Google search results page under the Page Title. Any keywords that match a users' Google search query will appear in bold. Here's an example:
How to create a meta description
The meta description should follow these guidelines:
- Be less than 150 characters (but not under 100 characters; take advantage of the space you have)
- Incorporate the primary keyword and a secondary keyword you're targeting in the blog post. Include keywords in a conversational format; don’t just cram in keywords for the sake of listing them
- Provide a valuable, compelling reason for why someone should visit the page (like a call to action)
You can edit the meta description in the "Advanced" tab of your HubSpot blog post creator.
Meta Keywords
What is a meta keyword?
Meta keywords are no longer used by Google or Bing to determine a site's ranking (relevance), so don't overthink meta keywords. Smaller search engines still might use them in their algorithm, so we recommend adding them anyway. They are invisible to site visitors both on your site on in the search engines.
How to create meta keywords
The meta keywords should follow these guidelines:
- The meta keywords should be the same as the tags you're using in the article. The image below shows that I'm using the article's tags as its meta keywords.
- Separate the keywords with commas
You can edit the meta keywords on the "Advanced" tab of your HubSpot blog post creator.
Tags
What is a tag?
Tags are often called "categories" on other blog tools like Wordpress. They're used to make it very easy for your readers to find a topic they're interested in on your blog. All the tags that you use in each of your blog post will be listed on your blog sidebar if you have the tag module installed.
How to create tags
The tags on each blog post should follow these guidelines:
- Add no more than three tags to each blog post
- The tags you choose should be a little broader than long-tail keywords, as you are summarizing the topic of the blog post
- The tags should be used in the blog article's meta keywords
You can add tags at the bottom of the "Article" tab of your HubSpot blog post creator. For example, here are the tags I'm using for this blog post:
If you have any more questions about meta descriptions, meta keywords, or tags, please let us know in the comments below!
