Google Snippet Generator

Why meta information is so important for users and the search engine 

The meta information Title and Description can be compared to the signpost of a website. Together, they make up the snippet of a web page and are the first thing that users see when they search for something specific on Google and other search engines. If the search engine decides that a certain page matches the current search query (e.g., answers a question asked or offers a product searched for), this page is then displayed on the search engine’s search results page. 

Well-structured meta information helps search engines better understand which web pages should best be displayed on the Search Engine Result Page (SERP) for certain search queries. This snippet information is therefore vital, as it gives Google and Co. important initial clues as to what a particular landing page or product page is about. 

On the other hand, meta information also plays an important role for the search-engine user. This information tells searchers what they can expect if they click on a certain result and visit the corresponding website. That is precisely why you should stand out from the competition by using high-quality wording in your meta data. This is the only way to ensure that potential visitors – often in the form of potential customers – first (and perhaps exclusively) click on your own search result. 

Having said that, it is important to note that the most convincing titles and meta descriptions are of little use if a user does not find what they expected on the landing page. In the case of an online store: traffic generated by well-written meta information is of little use if it results in a high bounce rate and little to no conversions (newsletter sign-ups or orders) once the user has visited the website. Snippets should therefore be precise, clear and appealing, but also honest. 

A unique snippet for each landing page or product page 

Individual snippets should be available for each individual page of a website. This is only necessary for websites that are indexable and therefore want to be found by search engines. For smaller company homepages or private websites (such as those of craftsmen or doctors’ practices), it is easy to write many unique, meaningful titles and meta descriptions. 

For large websites such as online stores with many thousands of product pages, this will usually not be possible, in which case a semi-automatic solution comes into question. Here the snippets are mainly structured according to the same pattern and only differ in individual aspects – for example, in the name of the product, the brand name, various properties such as colour, cut, size, and so on. As a result, the individual meta snippets are not exactly creative, but at least they have a sufficiently unique arrangement. 

However, the more important a particular page of a web store or a company’s web presence is, the more individual and more carefully formulated the meta information should be for the search engines. For example, every e-commerce entrepreneur should take the time to create the meta data for their service page (customer support) or certain landing pages on popular topics, products or promotions (such as competitions or new releases). After all, these pages are frequently searched for, and their title and description are therefore the very first to be displayed to many users. And as we all know: first impressions count!  

The same applies to the career page of a company that wants to inspire potential employees: the snippet itself must be designed in a serious, inviting and attractive manner. It should convince the aspiring applicant to apply directly to you there and then. 

Important to note: If no meta information is set by the website operator for a particular page, the search engine creates its own snippet from the webpage content. As a rule, Google uses the main heading (“<h1>”) and the first lines of the body text. Often, the result is only moderately pleasing to the eye and also not very meaningful, since the H1 heading and the first two lines of text rarely contain all the relevant information in precise wording. 

A good structure is recommended for titles and descriptions 

For the meta data to convince not only Google and other search engines, but also a searcher, it should follow a certain structure and contain some relevant information. Why it is important that this information should also correspond to the truth is obvious: High traffic alone does not make for a high conversion rate or lead generation. 

On the contrary, sooner or later Google will notice a high bounce rate and in future will place the corresponding search result further back on its SERP. After all, as a signal a high bounce rate is a clear (although not the only) indicator that users regularly do not find what they were looking for on this website. So why should Google place it at the top of their SERP? 

It all comes down to the right keywords 

So, what should be in a good snippet? Keywords. The title and meta description should contain the terms that users use to search for something specific. This shows the search engine that your web page is relevant to a particular topic, and it makes it clear to users on the search results page that they will find what they are looking for on this page – be it answers, explanations, products, articles, news, images, GIFs, memes or whatever. 

For obvious reasons, it makes sense to place the search term with the greatest relevance to your topic or product, i.e., the main keyword, right at the front of the title. This way, it immediately catches the eye and there is no danger that the most important search term might be cut off by a text that is possibly too long. 

Other relevant terms and phrases such as secondary keywords, synonyms, and grammatical variants (singular/multiples, inflection of nouns and verbs, and forms of intensification) are then used in the meta description. Space in both the meta title and description is limited: the title will usually comprise of a short bullet point or headline, while the meta description allows for more elaborate sentences. 

Increase brand awareness with brand naming 

If possible, the (brand) name or domain should also be included in the title, so that searchers can see immediately whose website they are visiting when they click on the search result. In addition, it increases so-called “brand awareness”, because the more your search-engine-optimized pages appear on the search result pages, the more your brand name appears and becomes imprinted in the collective memory of the internet community. 

To ensure a uniform appearance across all pages, i.e., across the entire website, it makes sense to define a pattern for the brand name. For example, this could mean inserting the brand name at the very end of the title after a pipe dash (|) or after a dash (-): “Buy the most powerful tractors online | TRUCK-ROCK”. However, it is also possible to incorporate your own name “organically” into the wording: “Buy the strongest tractors online at TRUCK-ROCK”. 

If it is not possible to include the brand in the title due to lack of space, this should be done in the meta description. You are quite free in the construction of the meta description, so it is worth asking yourself the following three questions: 

1. How do I include relevant keywords in the short text so that users have the best possible idea of what the page is about? 
2. How do I formulate the meta description in such a way that it sounds attractive and makes users want to visit the site? 
3. How do I stand out from the competition so that my description catches the eye compared to the other search results? 

To a certain extent, the use of various special characters and symbols or emojis is also possible. However, there is no guarantee that different search engines will display them – and if they do, it cannot be said with certainty that this will remain the case forever. It’s best to simply try out different formats for yourself and see what currently works best for Google and Co. 

The length is what matters: Space is limited 

In order for the search results pages to be nicely compact and precise, and for a selection of different results with their respective snippets to be possible, the length of the meta title and description is limited. Unfortunately, Google, for example, never officially says what the current limits are. The only thing that is clear is that currently they do not go by the number of characters, but rather by the number of pixels. 

How many pixels still appear in frame before a search result is cut off by ellipsis points (…)? That you have to find out by yourself. And the limits change from time to time. That’s why Claneo’s Google Snippet Generator & Optimizer is so valuable to us as well as other marketers and online editors: 

We always strive to keep our tool for testing titles and meta descriptions up to date and to react quickly to any changes in Google’s text length limitations. We also use the snippet checker ourselves in our daily content marketing work for the different websites and online stores of our customers.