If you want to get organic traffic to your blog, the biggest thing you should apply to your website is on-page SEO, but there’s not only one on-page SEO. This includes many checklists in there.
Meta description is one of them, but you want to know how to add meta description on WordPress. If you add meta description with a plugin, it will take a while, and i dont recommend to use more plugins to your website because it might affect your websites speed so I recommend adding meta description and meta keywords without the plugin. Here’s the complete guide to it.
What Is A Meta Description ?
A meta description is a description that contains a brief description of your article, such as what the content is about. A meta description is shown below the title of your article in Google search results.
It’s important for bloggers to consider because it’s part of on-page SEO.
With the help of meta description, Google understands your article as what the article is about.
Why Is It Important To Write A Meta Description For Every Blog Post ?
The Meta description is very important for users and search engines to know about your content.
Users can understand your content by seeing your meta description, which is shown below the title in search results.
For The Purposes Of Ranking
Meta description is as important for ranking purposes as others, because meta description helps Google to understand your content and what this article is about so that they can rank it better.
For Users
Your meta description is shown below your title in search results through which users can understand your content, like what is this content about before visiting your blog post. It also helps users stay on your website.
How To Add Meta Description In WordPress Without Plugin ?
You can do this in two ways. Firstly, with the help of a plugin, and secondly, without a plugin.
Adding meta description with a plugin will take a little bit of time and if you use more plugins on your website, it might affect your website speed in a negative way, so you should add this without a plugin.
Here’s a step-by-step tutorial for this
Step 1- Go to the appearance section in your WordPress dashboard and click on the “theme file editor section.”
Step 2 – select the function.php section in the theme file editor.
Step 3 – copy this code, which is mentioned below, and paste this code into the last where code ends in function.php and click on the save button.
You can add meta description manually. Here’s the guide.
How Do I Manually Add A Meta Description To My Blog Post ?
You can write a meta description manually for every blog post, but it may not be shown below the title in search results. Google will take some paragraph from your article as a meta description.
Step 1- Go to the post section of your WordPress dashboard and click to the “All Post” option.
Step 2 – Click to edit for which post that you want to write a meta description or add a new post to write a meta description for that.
Step 3 – Scroll down and go to the meta description section and write your meta description for that particular blog post.
Step 4 – write your meta description
Step 5 – click to the “cut” option.
What Are Meta Tags
Meta tags are also known as meta keywords. Meta tags are a group of keywords which are used for websites for ranking purposes.
Such as, if your website is in the blogging niche, your meta tags can be seo, blogging, make money online, etc. That relates your website niche if you add new categories to your website like affiliate marketing , you can add this into your meta tags.
Are Meta Tags Important For Websites ?
Meta tags are not as important. The meta tags are not a ranking factor and won’t boost your website’s ranking, but the question is why is this used for?
For example, meta tags are used to give signals to Google about the relevancy of your website. For example, if your website is in the blogging niche, your website is also related to making money online, and in the future you can add some categories to your website like marketing, seo, affiliate marketing, etc.
so that Google might understand your website in a better way, like what your website is about.
What’s The Difference Between Meta Description And Meta Tags ?
A meta description is a short description of a web page, like what the web page is about, and it can include meta tags related to the web page.
“Meta tags” are related keywords to a specific keyword which is used to give a relavancy signal to Google and users.
Meta description is a ranking factor and it might improve your website’s ranking. Meta tags are not a ranking factor and won’t affect the ranking position of your website. They’re just used to give a sign of relevancy.
Read : What Is The Difference Between Blogging & Content Writing
How To Add Meta Tags In WordPress Without Plugin ?
For ranking purposes, meta tags are not important, but it’s important to give a relevancy signal to Google. But the question is how to add Meta tags in WordPress without a plugin. Here’s the complete guide.
Step 1-Go to Seoptimer and fill in the details about your website like
Site title: your website’s name
Site Description: What Your Website Is About
Related Keywords: related keywords to your website’s niche.
Yes, allow robots to index your page.
Yes, allow robots to follow all links.
What is your site’s primary language—your website’s language?
Author: your website’s author name
Step 2 – Click on the “generate meta tags” button and copy the code.
Step 3 – Log in to your website’s dashboard and go to the appearance section of your dashboard.
Step 4 – Click to the “theme file editor” section
Step 5 – Select the header.php
Step 5 – Paste the code under the head section that you copied.
How Many Times Do I Need To Write A Meta Description For My Blog Post In A Manual Way ?
This is not for one time, you have to write it again and again because the meta description tells Google and users about the particular content. So when you write an article, you have to write a seo-friendly meta description for your blog post.
I’ll tell you later in this article how you can write an SEO-friendly meta description for every blog post.
How To Write SEO Friendly Meta Descriptions Manually For Blog Posts.
Writing meta descriptions won’t be a ranking factor for your website. A seo-friendly meta description will be a ranking factor for your website.
In the meta description, include your main keyword from the blog post; this is important for SEO-friendly meta descriptions, and Google will notice it. It might help your article rank in search engines.
Don`t write a meta description longer than 160 words because you have a word limit for the meta description.
Write a meta description related to your content, through which users can understand what your content is all about.
Read : Should I Use Long Tail Keywords Or Short Tail Keywords
Write Your Meta Description In No more Than 160 Characters.
Try to write your meta description within 160 characters so that it is visible to users in search results.
If you write your meta description with more than 160 characters, it won’t be visible in the snippet through which users will be unable to read the full meta description.
How Do I Add a Meta Description To My WordPress Home Page ?
Adding meta description is your choice, but I say add meta description for your home page too, so a user can know about your website before visiting it. Google can also know about your website.
Step 1- Log in to your WordPress dashboard and go to the Rank Math section of your WordPress dashboard.
Step 2 – click on the Titles & Meta option
Step 3 – click to “home page “
Step 3 – Write a description for your website, like what your website is about, or you can also use the variables.
FAQ
Should I add meta description by using a plugin or without it ?
You can add meta description in both ways by using a plugin or without a plugin, but I recommend adding meta description without a plugin because having too many plugins on your website might affect your website speed. It might slow your website speed.
Should I add meta descriptions for blog posts to my website manually ?
Yes! It would be good because you could optimise your meta description for blog posts better. You can add related keywords there.
Should I write meta descriptions for my home page too ?
Yes, it would be good. With the help of meta description, users and search engines can understand what your website is about.
Conclusion
Meta description is important to add for your blog post because with its help, Google will know what your blog post is about and users will know as well.
Adding meta descriptions is important, so you can add meta descriptions for your website or blog post by following the steps mentioned above.
In this article, I will tell you how to add meta descriptions in WordPress without a plugin and best practises for writing meta descriptions for your blog posts.
I hope you liked this article. If so, please let me know in the comments. Got any questions? Tell me in a comment. I will reply as soon as possible.