A while back, we posted an article about the 7 most common meta tag mistakes publishers make. And here’s the thing: You all NEEDED that information because you have been clicking on it since we wrote it. We wanted to give you more.
Before jumping in, let’s review the original mistakes you might make with your meta tags.
7 Meta Tag Mistakes Publishers Make
- Duplicate tags
- Lack of a hostname in URL tags
- Appending tracking parameters to canonical link and Open Graph URL tags
- Not encoding HTML quote characters
- Not stripping HTML tags
- Using the wrong DateTime format for Open Graph date tags
- Not using an Author Tag
4 Mistakes Publishers Make In Their Posting
Now that we have recapped the meta tag mistakes, there are more things that you’re probably cutting corners on. No shame, we promise. There is so much territory to cover, and there are a lot of things that can get overlooked.
You may have noticed that we focused on website structure the first time. However, there are things you should be doing in every post. Here are four essential elements you need to include:
1. You are missing custom meta descriptions
Social and search will pull the first sentence if you don’t create unique content. While you may like the copy, is it doing much to boost your content? Probably not. Each meta description should be unique to the article or blog post.
2. You don’t include a call to action
Remember, this is the content seen when someone shares a link on social media and when it is found through a search. You want to entice the reader to keep on reading and click through.
What you don’t want to do, though, is give away your entire value proposition in the description. If you turn up in a Google search and give people the answer they’re looking for without clicking, you won’t get much traffic. Give enough to avoid clickbait without giving away your entire story.
3. You have 155 characters, and that is it
Make sure you are using each and every character to its full potential. You have 155 characters, and that is it. Most importantly, don’t use this space for keyword stuffing. If you aren’t sure what keyword stuffing is, it’s repeating keywords in an unnatural way to try to increase ranking. It’s a great way to get flagged as a spammer.
4. Your meta descriptions don’t include target keywords
While this is more for SEO than anything else, having a target keyword within your meta description is best practice.
Meta tag mistakes are easy to make but also easy to correct. While it may seem daunting and a lot to manage, keeping these rules in check will help you grow your online presence through more optimized social sharing and increased SEO visibility—a win/win for publishers.
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