How to Write a Meta Description for Your Local Business

---

So, you have been ranking for certain crucial keywords in the SERPs but failing to draw decent traffic? 

Maybe, you need to work on your preview snippets, particularly your meta description. 

An intriguing meta description earns you a high click-through rate, more leads, and conversions. 

Moreover, Google values a searcher's experience, and so it appreciates the high CTR of your listing. CTR is an acronym for Click-Through Rate, measured by the number of clicks divided by the number of impressions (Click ÷ impressions = CTR). 

This has a considerable effect on your SEO performance. 

When you target a local audience, you might need to be more precise with your meta description. Even Google Search Advocate John Mueller suggests having an effective meta description. 

But, crafting an ideal meta description is easier said than done. And so, here are some crucial tactics to frame promising meta descriptions for your local business.

7 Easy Tips to Write Meta Descriptions for Local Businesses

---

1. Prioritize Crucial Information in the Initial 70% of the Description

Your meta description might not directly factor into your Google search rankings. However, it is a substantial part of the search experience you offer. And Google is the ultimate connoisseur of this search experience.

Moreover, Google will most likely alter your meta description if it finds it irrelevant. It might deprioritize your meta tag and use another snippet from your page content that is more relevant to the search query. For example, take a look at the below screenshot. 

A Moz study on 70,056 original meta descriptions reveals that: 

• 15.4% of these descriptions made it to the preview snippet, and some added text by Google.

• Only 35.9% of these descriptions appeared "as it is" in Google search results". 

So, keeping the most crucial part of your meta description in the first 120 characters is better. So, if Google truncates the remaining part or alters it, you can showcase your value. 

Take a look at this example from a local HVAC service provider in Austin: 

The company has prioritized its phone number and added a crisp call to action in the initial part of the description. No wonder they are generating valuable enquires out of this description!

2. Add Localization to Your Meta Description

You must leverage localization when crafting a meta description for your local business. 

A localized description is more likely to ring bells with local customers. 

E.g., Your address is on the street named 'A' but this street is locally popular by the name 'B'. In this case, you must instead refer to the street as 'B' in your meta description. 

Moreover, keep your meta description tags relevant to the local season. 

E.g., If you are a local photographer, you might highlight "wedding and portrait photography" in spring. And you would wish to highlight "family shoots" in the winters. 

The searchers and Google both are willing to see highly relevant meta descriptions. And prudent localization adds some extra spotlight to your description. 

Ensure to use local address references, currencies, the local language, dialect, etc. 

The below screenshot shows how a business can use local references in their description.

Think of your meta description as a chance to advertise on Google. Local consumers might like to draw some answers to their direct queries from the description. 

These queries can be related to: 

The contact number of a place, address of a place, schedule an appointment, search a nearby business, etc. 

So, unless you answer these quick queries in your description, you might fail to gain good CTR and inquiries. 

It also reduces Google's job of finding a relevant snippet from your page content. And this indirectly promotes your ranking and earns you a high CTR. 

3. Include a Highly Relevant Call to Action to Your Meta Description

A significant percentage of searchers would skim through the meta descriptions before clicking on a search result. 

And you wouldn't want to keep the searchers guessing for the next step when they see your listing. Instead, you must give them a clear call to action in the meta description. 

You might want to experiment with different 'call to action' based on the page's purpose.

These can include: 

• "Book an appointment."
• "Click to read/discover."
• "Visit our store at [address]."
• "Call us at [Phone Number]."

The below screenshot shows an example of the same.

A relevant call to action gives the viewers a subconscious push to click through your listing. 

Moreover, the number of local searches through mobile devices has increased significantly. So, a quick call to action like phone numbers can help searchers with direct call inquiries. 

Here is an example of how a dental clinic in Austin adds a call to action to its meta description:

It will work ideally for mobile users who want to inquire about the schedule and consulting price on call. 

4. Create a Highly Intriguing Meta Description

So, you have created a meta description that briefly describes the context of your page. But, your meta description fails to intrigue the searchers and offers a low click-through rate.

That is a general case with boring meta descriptions. Your meta description must promise you the best of both worlds: 

• It must showcase the context of your webpage
• It must intrigue the searcher to click on your listing or take a call to action

That said, boring meta descriptions are a BIG 'No'. 

Would you like to click on a listing with a description like: 

Huh, I couldn't read past the first line! 

Instead, you must be creative with your descriptions. 

Here is a good example of a creative meta description: 

5. Keep Meta Descriptions Concise and Clear

You must ensure that your meta description does not exceed a particular length. And you might need to be extra conscious about the character length if you target mobile users.

Google will truncate anything over 120 characters for the mobile platform and 160 for the desktop version. 

The screenshot below shows how Google truncates the descriptions, making them convey incomplete context. 

If Google modifies them for better search relevancy, you may notice some longer descriptions in search results. Google reserves that leeway!

But, the ideal practice must be to craft an intriguing and concise meta description. 

Also, do not try to replace your meta description with catchy (and irrelevant) one-liners. A meta description that is too short or inadequate might just bounce back searchers. 

It must utilize the ideal character length, showcase the page context, and offer high CTR. 

Here is a valuable example by a local salon business: 

The business has crafted its meta description to showcase its location, specialties, and contact info; All that in limited characters. 

6. Create Your Meta Description Highly Relevant to Your Page Content

Contextual relevance remains a crucial aspect when crafting a promising meta description. 

An inconsistent description is most likely to be replaced by Google. And you might also witness issues with page indexing due to an inconsistent description. 

More crucial is that searchers wouldn't stress decoding a confusing meta description. Instead, they would skip your listing. 

Look at the screenshot below showing a meta description that offers incomplete context and confuses the reader with grammatically incorrect sentences. 

How about creating a highly-engaging meta description that is inconsistent but promises high CTR? Sounds lucrative, right? 

We wouldn't recommend it as it is close to a Black Hat SEO attempt. Google will most probably alter your description, or it might also release a soft penalty. 

Stick to the ideal practice of creating a description that defines the page's purpose and context.

So, page relevancy remains your North Star while you are working over a description's CTR and character length.

7. Add the Relevant Keywords to Your Description

No, we aren't suggesting stuffing your meta description with page keywords. Moreover, Google has also stated that keyword-rich meta descriptions wouldn't directly impact the rankings. 

But, placing relevant focus keywords smartly in a meta description wouldn't hurt. For example, there isn’t a single keyword in the screenshot below. 

Mentioning keywords indicates to users that it has the information they want. 

You can consider meta description as an extension of your Meta Title. And while you place your focus keyword in the Meta Title, add the secondary keywords in the description.

Contextual keywords in your meta description will display their high relevancy to the page. Moreover, users and search engines will likely notice these relevant keywords. 

If the keywords in your description match a user's query, Google will most probably highlight these keywords. And this will help you capture the searcher's attention more effectively. 

Thus, you can expect high CTR and an indirect positive effect on your search rankings. 

Check out this example: 

The description covers the keyword "Physicians in Houston", and Google highlights it for relevant queries. 

Read: Frequently Asked Questions about Keywords and SEO

Key Takeaways

---

Crafting a strategic and rewarding meta description isn't going to be easy. Use these tips to simplify the process: 

• Prioritize the most crucial part of your description in the first 100 characters. 
• Answer quick queries like phone no., address, offerings, etc., in the meta description. 
• Localize your description with local address references, currencies, seasonal references, etc. 
• Add crucial 'call to actions' like "Call us at [number]," "Book an appointment," "Visit us at [address]," etc. 
• Be creative with your meta description; it must intrigue your audience to click through. 
• Consider the ideal character length, i.e., 120-characters for mobile and 160-characters for desktop. Use this meta title counter to ease your description creation. 
• Add the crucial page keywords naturally to your description. It communicates your page's relevancy with a searcher's query.
• Ensure to stick to the fundamental idea that your meta tag must communicate the purpose of your page.