:INFO
How to Write a Page Title and Meta Description That Earn Clicks
Two lines of text decide whether anyone clicks your page from Google: the title and the meta description. You could have the best maker page on the internet and still lose the click if your snippet reads like a database field nobody filled in properly. Learning how to write a meta description, plus a title to go with it, comes down to three things: a formula, a character budget, and the discipline to say the specific thing instead of the vague one.
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:INFO [links:https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/title-link]
Front Load the Title or Lose It
Google shows roughly 50 to 60 characters of your title before it cuts you off mid word, so put the words that matter first. A pattern that works for makers: the thing you make, then a qualifier, then your name. Your name goes last because it is the least useful part to a stranger searching for what you sell. Line 1 below is the tab a thousand other sites also have. Line 2 is the same shop, rewritten.
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:CODE [language:xml]
Home | Clara's Studio
Hand-thrown ceramic mugs, made in Leeds | Clara's Studio
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:STATS
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:QUOTE [quotetype:personal]
A concrete detail beats an adjective every single time.
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:INFO [links:https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/snippet]
The Description Has 150 Characters and a Job
The description will not move your ranking on its own. It is your ad copy, the bit that turns an impression into a visit. Google displays about 150 to 160 characters, so write to 150 and assume everything past that is gone. Two jobs: confirm the page matches what someone searched, then hand them one reason to click. Line 1 below could belong to any shop on the internet. Line 2 could only be this one.
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:CODE [language:xml]
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:POLL
Same mugs, same shop, two descriptions. Which one gets your click?
A variety of high-quality products for all your needs
Fired in a Leeds garage studio, a couple left from the last drop
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:NOTE
Notice what the second one spends nothing on. No "high-quality", no "for all your needs". Filler words burn the budget you needed for the place, the method, and the small piece of scarcity that happens to be true.
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:CHECKLIST
Three habits that keep you out of trouble
[ ] Write a fresh title and description for every single page
[ ] Use your keyword near the front of both, once, where it sounds human
[ ] Keep the promise the snippet makes
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:NOTE
When pages share one description, Google often rewrites it for you, badly. And if the snippet says current collection, the page had better show stock. Visitors who bounce straight back to the results are telling Google the promise was empty, and the ranking quietly slides.
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:INFO
Tune to the Limit Instead of Guessing
Counting characters by hand is the fussy part, and it is where most snippets go wrong: written blind, then never looked at again. A Slatesource slate lets you set the title and description per page in the editor and preview the snippet before it goes live, so you write to the budget instead of hoping you landed inside it.