Are metadescriptions really necessary for good seo?

[holacarinados]

I see a million ads for increasing one's SEO that include basics like meta tags, metadescriptions, etc. I checked my blog on hubspot. It has a 99% rating out of 100% and is approximately ranked 2,200 out of 315,000 blogs. Now, I have NO metadescriptions in the blog--at least the hubspot spider couldn't find any, and that was in its report. So are these rules of thumb about SEO pretty unreliable or are there so many things that go into seo optimization, the lack of something doesn't necessarily matter. All I do on my blog is blog without any gimmicks

[Alex G]

Well, it certainly doesn't hurt you. It was a must back in the days but people started "stuffing" there meta descriptions. Google has then changed its algorithm to fight against stuffing and many believe there is little to no value or them.

-Alex
http://www.seoforsmallbusiness.org/

[Tedel]

Google has already said it ignores the meta keywords tag. Other search engines still use them, but in different degrees. Most search engines use the description tag to write the text which goes under a link in the search engine result pages, so I would try to keep it if I were you.

[HarvesT]

Google says they don't use the meta tags anymore, but I guarantee other search engines like Yahoo and Bing do use them. If you are not adding meta tags to your pages I would definitely start.

If you really want to start ranking and show up on multiple search engines, I would use an SEO company like http://www.flagshipseo.com They know what they are doing and have all the tools to do it.

[James Charlesworth]

Meta descriptions are important for increasing your click-through-rate in the search engines. Having keywords in the description itself does not affect the placement of your ranking, but writing a clear and enticing meta description tag will increase the number of clicks.

James
http://www.seoatl.com

[Freedom]

The on-page SEO factors you are talking about (meta-data) only accounts for about 10% of Google's considerations. The other 90% is dependent on backlinks.

That said, let's talk about meta-data.

Google has publicly stated it no longer uses meta keywords at all in their consideration. However, meta descriptions are a different story. Meta descriptions are the little blurb for each webpage you see when you search for stuff in Google.

It can help SEO a bit if you have your keyword in the meta description, however, the real advantage is you can use that space to draw in human visitors. If that description sucks, people will not be attracted to it. But if the description sounds like what they are looking for, they will click your site over all the other sites, even if your site is ranked lower in Google.

SEO rules are not unreliable, though some are outdated. It's like this. Good SEO is putting your best foot forward, like you do in your resume when you are applying for a job. You may be the best at whatever you do, but if your resume doesn't present it well, then you won't even get a chance. So SEO is like your resume, while your site's actual content is how well you do your "job."

But meta descriptions are still important.

[James]

Yes and no.

Meta descriptions help potential users who are seeing your site via a search on search engine. This may help them decide to click on through and potentially give you a sale or an ad click. Now, if you have a poor meta description or none at all they may be weary to give your site and chance and you may miss out.

Just make one that is short and to the point, also doesn't help to use your keyword(s) once or twice in the description.