Description guidelines for SEO
Each page should have a single, unique description that accurately reflects the contents of the page.
Explanation
Most search engines display the content of the <meta name="description"> tag in search results; it is often the most visible and most valuable opportunity to persuade potential customers to click through to your page.
The <meta name="description"> tag is one of the most important tags that the site developer controls that can influence the relevance and ranking of a site in search-engine results. A precise snippet of descriptive text can improve the click-through volume to the site.
Guidelines
The <meta name="description"> tag should be defined in the <head> tag section of the page, between the <title> tag and the <meta name="keywords"> tag.
Review the <meta name="description"> tag of each page in the site to make sure that it accurately describes the page that contains it.
Check each <meta name="description"> tag for the following:
Each page should have a
<meta name="description">tag.For more information, see WEB1027 - The description for the page is missing.
Each
<meta name="description">tag should be a child of the<head>tag.For more information, see WEB1022 - The <meta name="description"> tag is not inside the <head> tag section.
A
<meta name="description">tag should occur only once in a page.For more information, see WEB1026 - The <meta name="description"> tag should be declared only once in a page.
Each
<meta name="description">tag in a site should be unique.For more information, see WEB1028 - The <meta name="description"> tag contents are not unique within the site.
A
<meta name="description">tag should not be empty and should not exceed 150 characters.For more information, see WEB1024 - The <meta name="description"> tag contents are too short and WEB1023 - The <meta name="description"> tag contents are too long.
The
<title>and<meta name="description">tags should have different content.For more information, see WEB1045 - The title and description for the page are identical.
See also
Concepts
Page and site guidelines for SEO
Title guidelines for SEO
Heading guidelines for SEO
Keywords guidelines for SEO
Image guidelines for SEO
Hyperlink guidelines for SEO
Send feedback about this topic to Microsoft. © 2011 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.