Meta data or meta elements (meta title and meta description) are actually read out by the crawlers of the major search engines, processed and taken into account for the ranking of a website. However, not all meta data are really SEO-relevant. Google and Co. only understand and interpret the following elements in this regard.
Meta Description
Google not only uses the meta description to calculate the ranking, but also uses it as a text excerpt on the SERPs for the so-called snippets. These are undoubtedly an important user factor. Snippets are the first point of contact with your website for searchers. They are essentially responsible for a good click-through rate to it. When creating meta descriptions, it is essential to adhere to certain text volumes. Furthermore, the most important keywords must not be missing for maximum SEO success.
Title
Like the meta description, the title element is also SEO-relevant because it tells the search engines what information a page offers. It is one of the approximately 200 Google ranking factors. The title tag is the clickable title of a search result on the SERPs. Each page of your website should have a unique title that succinctly describes the information provided there to search engines and searchers.
Robots
Through the values of the meta tag with the robots attribute, search engine crawlers are instructed as to whether
- the page in question should be included in the index (Index) or not (NoIndex),
- links on this page should be followed (DoFollow) or not (NoFollow),
- the information on the page may not be used as a featured snippet (NoSnippet),
- or the page cached by Google may not be displayed (NoArchive).
Viewport
The Viewport meta tag ensures the correct responsive display of a website on mobile devices. If it is not present, most portable browsers use a standard viewport of 980 pixels, i.e. the typical desktop width.
This meta tag is not directly relevant to SEO. However, you should take into account that Google prefers mobile-friendly websites – especially for mobile search queries. The search engine can use this attribute to check relatively easily whether a page is mobile-friendly or not. This makes it clear what weight this meta element can nevertheless have.
Headlines
The structuring of texts is extremely important in the context of creating perfect SEO content. On the one hand, recipients and thus customers can better absorb advantageously structured texts – and consequently consume them completely more often. This once again has a positive effect on the all-important user experience. On the other hand, clear structures also make it particularly easy for search engines to read and evaluate corresponding content, which can also contribute significantly to a ranking plus.
Search engines, such as Google, are guided by the search intentions as well as the expectations and behavioural patterns of human visitors. This is one of the reasons why it is so important for the creation of good SEO content to always carry out corresponding measures through the eyes of these real people. Your visitors certainly don’t want text deserts, but easily comprehensible information with sufficient orientation points.
So create orientation points for your readers. Divide text content into manageable information packets. In order to get the most out of this, you have various tools at your disposal – i.e. headings, subheadings, lists, mark-ups in the text etc.
Furthermore, it is important to direct the interest of visitors with the help of headlines and subheadlines. Good SEO content works with strategically clever headlines. These form the primary and thus the most important orientation points for the recipients. On the one hand, the optimal use of headlines and subheadlines allows your readers to understand more quickly and better what the article is about and ultimately process the information more quickly.
On the other hand, it can be used to direct the visitors’ interests. Quite a few of your website visitors hardly have the necessary time to absorb all of your content in full. They merely skim through it and scan the parts that are most important to them. The top information should therefore already be clearly filterable in the headings and subheadings.
H1 to H6 Hierarchy
When using headlines, it is always important to pay attention to the correct hierarchy. Based on HTML5, you can choose from six different levels for the design of your headlines and subheadlines, i.e. with regard to the creation of a beneficial headline structure: H1, H2, H3, H4, H5 and H6. These can also be selected in the large CMS or their text editors. The logical sequence of headlines and subheadlines can be easily determined by their numbering: first H1, then H2, then H3, and so on. The main topic of a webpage or the keyword associated with it should be listed in the H1 headline. The H1 gets such a prominent spot because Google and Co. – just like the users – take it as one of the main orientation points. There should still only ever be one H1 on a page. With a disorderly headline structure, you confuse not only the readers but also the search engines.
Enumerations
Lists and enumerations are less relevant for search engines, but they are important elements at the base to visually loosen up a text. In this context, images and other content types also play a role. Search engines also register a content mix as such. However, a direct SEO influence cannot be proven beyond doubt. Lists of key points are undoubtedly very helpful for readers. They quickly recognise the very important statements apart from the headlines. In addition, individual sentences or partial sentences that are packaged as a list are better remembered. Especially when writing a longer flow text, two to three bulleted lists are highly recommended. Ultimately, such content forms are a factor for a positive user experience that is not to be despised.