Meta Description

Should it be consistant?

[u4eas]

Should the <meta description> be the same on every page or should it be dependant on section or page content?

Currently I have my description the same in each page of the site.

As far as Keywords they are the same for each page in a specific section, but each section is different.

Cheers-

u4ea

[pixel_juice]

Hi u4eas,
You should really put different meta tags in each page, and use the keywords the particular page is targeting, although I don't think meta tags are all that important these days.

[Oaf357]

Since most of my web sites are broken out into topic specific sections I use the same description tag throughout that section. Not really the best thing to improve rankings but you'll be hard pressed to get a 150 character description on quite a few pages. Now if meta descriptions were more relied upon I wouldn't use this method.

[u4eas]

So the best thing would be to create a different desc for each page on the site, but worst case stick to section based descriptions.

As for keywords change them for each page, and be relevant to the content of that specific page.

Correct?

Cheers Again =)

u4ea

[Oaf357]

Definitely stay relevant. Not doing so will get you canned.

[Susanne]

Now if meta descriptions were more relied upon I wouldn't use this method.

META description IS still important. The keywords tag is not, but it won't hurt to include it.

[Oaf357]

I agree it is important but nearly important enough for me to dedicate hours developing good descriptions for every single page on my site.

Speaking of keyword tags. I'm not even using them on my latest site.

[srbruce]

Oaf, I am new here...what do you mean by stay relevant? Does unique and regularly updated content keep you relevant? If this is not the right place to ask this, I apologize.

[watercrazed]

The meta description's impact may be debatable from a SEO perspective, (I think it is important) but from a marketing stand point it is critical. Most engines use it as the tag after your title when your site is displayed.

Say you are number 5 in the top ten on the 1st page, the 3 of the first 4 have descriptions of keyword1 keyword2 misc, misc, keyword 3, etc

You have a kick ass sales pitch in the first two lines. Who is going to get first click?

[Susanne]

Hi srbruce, and welcome to WebmasterWorld :)
I think Oaf357 means that the META description tag should be relevant to the content of the page. Unique and regularly updated content is great. That's the way to go!