A good meta description can be the difference between a user clicking on your content or not.
Fortunately, WordPress SEO plugins like All In One SEO simplify the process with tools that make writing good meta descriptions quick and easy.
In this article, we will show you how to add meta descriptions using the All In One SEO plugin.
How to Set Meta Descriptions in All In One SEO
- After you have logged into your WordPress Dashboard, the first step you need to take is to install and activate the All In One SEO plugin.
- After the plugin has been installed, select which existing post or page you would like to optimize.
- From within a post or page, scroll down to the bottom until you see AIOSEO Settings. Under the General tab, scroll down until you find the Meta Description field.
- Enter your desired meta description, then click Save draft at the top of the page or post.
As you type out your meta description, All In One SEO will automatically keep track of your character count. While most meta description best practices recommend keeping your description to 155 characters or less, All In One SEO extends that recommendation to 160 characters.
All In One SEO Meta Description Previews
The All In One SEO plugin allows you to preview your meta descriptions as either a desktop or mobile result.
In the Snippet Preview section, there are two icons in the top right corner. One looks like a desktop monitor and the other looks like a smartphone or tablet.
To preview the desktop version of a meta description, simply click on the icon that looks like a desktop monitor. For a mobile preview, click on the smartphone/tablet icon.
All In One SEO Smart Tags
Another cool feature of All In One SEO is the ability to write meta descriptions with the help of smart tags.
These tags can be added by selecting a tag from the options provided above the meta description box, or by clicking on the View all tags link. Additionally, you can also type the hash character ( # ) in the meta description field to display a list of available tags you can choose from.
For ultimate control over your meta description, you can also enter text in the field or combine text with smart tags.
There are more than 20 smart tags that you can utilize. They are:
- Post Excerpt: The current month, localized
- Post Content: The content of your post
- Separator: The separator defined in the search appearance settings
- Author First Name: The first name of the post author
- Author Last Name: The last name of the post author
- Author Name: The display name of the post author
- Category Title: Current or first category title
- Current Date: The current date, localized
- Current Day: The current day, localized
- Current Month: The current month, localized
- Current Year: The current year, localized
- Custom Field: A custom field from the current post
- Permalink: The permalink for the current post
- Post Date: The date when the post was published, localized
- Post Day: The day of the month when the post was published, localized
- Post Excerpt Only: The excerpt defined in your post. This will not fall back to the post content
- Post Month: The month when the post was published, localized
- Post Title: The original title of the current post
- Post Year: The year when the post was published, localized
- Site Title: Your site title
- Tagline: The tagline for your site, set in the general settings
- Taxonomy Name: The name of the first term of a given taxonomy that is assigned to the current post
Congratulations, you should now know how to set and customize meta descriptions using the All In One SEO WordPress plugin.
Want to learn how to set a meta description with another SEO plugin? Check out How to Add Meta Descriptions in Yoast SEO.
