The meta description tag prompts you to click on your page in Google search results . It will allow you to stand out from your competitors among the first 10 results displayed on Google . Therefore, the meta-description tag encourages Internet users to click on your page and helps gain an additional visit to your medical website . The main role of the meta description tag is to inform your future patients about the content of your page.
Therefore write a coherent message, in line with the content of your page, and make the Internet user want to act (to click) on the advertisement of your medical web page . Integrate their symptoms, the solution (s) offered by your doctor’s office, your brand name, your title, your specialty, your location while contacting them directly.
What Google Says About The Meta Description Tag?
Source-Google Support: This tag provides a brief description of the page . In some cases, this description is included in the snippet that appears with search results.
John Mueller’s official explanations :
- “Using a meta description tag is optional and will have no effect on your positioning.”
- The official explanation from Matt Cutts (former SEO spokesperson at Google):
- “Even though we sometimes use the meta description tag to generate the snippet, we still don’t use it in our ranking algorithm.”
- We sometimes use the tag for description of a page to generate extracts in the results of research if we feel it provides users a description more precise than simply offered by the content of the page.
In general, meta description tags are used to inform Internet users, and to generate their interest, by providing a concise and relevant summary of the page. They constitute a kind of argument intended to convince the Net surfer that the page corresponds exactly to his research. There is no limit to the length of meta descriptions, but snippets of search results are truncated as needed, usually to fit the width of the device.
Why Can The Meta Description Tag Improve The SEO Of My Medical Website?
As we explained previously, the meta – description tag of your page is not a qualitative criterion for Google to get your medical site to the first page. However, it is very useful to be able to stand out from your competitors when you are on the first page.
You will thus discover all the subtlety and ambiguity of natural referencing . While this is not useful for improving your positioning, the meta – description tag does encourage action in Google search results .
Therefore we invite you to keep and optimize the meta – description tags of your medical website .
This is a description of your page intended for your patients and therefore to reassure them and make them want to click on your page.
As with other tags, the tag meta – description must be unique for each of your web pages. Therefore, the work must be done manually to ensure that each page of your medical website has a meta – description tag that matches the content of your web page .
From a mathematical standpoint, a well-written meta – description tag will increase your conversion rate (CTR). This rate is calculated between the number of times the impression ” the meta-description tag ” appears in search results and the number of clicks that the impression generated.
Examples:
- 1000 impressions generated 10 visits to your website, so you have a conversion rate per impression (CTR) of 1%
- 1000 impressions generated 150 visits to your website, so you have a conversion rate per impression (CTR) of 15%
We find that the meta description tag does not have a direct influence on the positioning of your medical website , but it does have an indirect influence on SEO . It is this which will make the Internet user want to click on the link of the page in Google’s search results.
Respect The Size Of A Meta-description Tag
For the meta-description tag there is no real size. We will define an order of magnitude. We recommend at least 90 characters to 300 characters so that the Google search engine selects the text of your meta description to make the snippet.
But also to make the Internet user want to click on your page, because it has been the essence of this tag for more than 20 years. Remember to put the description of your page in the first 100 characters of your meta description tag on your medical website.
What Happens To Pages That Have Too Short A Meta Description Tag?
They must be at least 50 characters long so that they are not marked as “too short” in the Search console and can generate Snippets in search results. While they are not reported in the Search console when they are “too long”. Therefore, we risk having additional penalty points from Google’s algorithms on a page with a meta description tag that is too short rather than too long. And above all, Google will draw a random piece of text from the content of your page.
What Are The Techniques For Finding Out Which Description Tags On My Medical Website Are Too Short?
To find out if the meta description tags of your health website are too short, you have several options:
- The manual method : you retrieve the meta description tags for all of your pages, then you count the number of characters in each tag. This method is tedious for a website with lots of content, however for a Site Web Health 10 pages of it could be playable.
- The manual method is : once the meta description tags are in your possession, you go to a site which will calculate the number of characters in each meta description tag . You just have to make a copy of your meta description tag , then the program will count the number of characters for you. This method is a little less tedious than the preceding one, however, beyond 20 pages, you may become discouraged and thus get tangled up in your brushes.
- Your webmaster : ask him to send you a report from the Google search console to find out which meta description tags on your medical website are too short. Only if your webmaster has configured your health website at the Google console serch.
- Go to the administration of your site , click on the description tag of your page and consult the number of characters. As a result, you can directly increase the number of characters in the description tag on your page and update your medical website . However, not all software has this option.
- Have you done an SEO audit by a medical communication agency specializing in the digital health sector .
Avoid Duplicates In The Description Meta Tag
Like the title tag, avoid the meta description tags duplicate in your website online medical . Each description tag must be unique for each of your pages. Although Google does not take description tags into account in its ranking, it does not like pages that offer the same meta – description tags . As a result, Google will penalize your medical website for duplicate content. This is one of the worst penalties imposed by Google on a medical website. We tell you again, take the time to write meta tags. – unique description .
What Are The Techniques To Find Out Which Meta-description Tags Are Duplicated On My Medical Website?
You can find duplicate meta tags in your health website in Google’s search console.
Moreover, if the duplicate meta description tag criterion is mentioned in the Google search console, it is because it must be really rigorous.
You can also do an audit by a referencing agency, which should logically during a report indicate which are your duplicate meta-description tags .
However, to manually detect duplicate tags , this may be long and tedious. Even if you want to start this task, directly update your meta description tags in the administrative part of your site which will be more efficient and constructive for you.
Name Of The Doctor or Name Of The Practice In The Meta-description Tag The Best Practices
Indeed, you can mention the name of one or two doctors in the meta-description tag , this will be reassuring for the Internet user and will encourage them to click more on your ad.
For the website Internet of a doctor who works with or without a collaborator collaborator, put its title, following his last name, first name, and his specialty is cohérant for Google and the web patients . In addition, the meta – description has a larger number of characters than the meta – title tag .
However, when there are several doctors , the meta-description tag should not be used to present all the last names of doctors. It would no longer make sense for Google as well as for the Internet user in the search results. In this case put directly the brand name of the medical practice and its specialty.
The Meta Description Tag In A Multilingual Site
The meta description tags must be translated and personalized in the language concerned to allow the patient a good interpretation in his language of the description of your page. But also to avoid having duplicate tags . In some CMS the tags are duplicated automatically. Apart from this warning, the rules imposed by Google are the same for all countries for writing a meta description tag .
Empty Meta Description Tag
When the meta description tags are too short, ie., less than 50 characters, Google will display an excerpt from the text of your website.
This also happens when the tags are well filled, Google will go and draw content from your page corresponding to the expression entered by the user.
It’s snippet creation, snippets are created automatically from the content of your web page.
In Summary For Writing An Effective Meta Description Tag:
- Make sure every page of your medical website has a meta description tag
- Write unique meta description tags for each page
- Put data that will appear in the content of your page
- Check that your meta description tags have at least between 90 and 100 characters
- Use the search console tools to find out if your meta description tags are healthy
- Have the meta description tags of the page translated into the language concerned
- Write a real quality description, do not accumulate keywords
- Do not repeat key words, favor lexical fields so as not to be considered as spamming.
- Geolocate your meta-description tags
- Remember to present your specialty, the symptom, the molecule or the technique and the pathology as the case may be.
