ECommerce Product Meta Descriptions vs. Product Descriptions

[kennyrowe]

Wondering if using on-page product descriptions as the individual product meta descriptions is a best practice for an eCommerce site?

Instead of writing two product descriptions (one regular and one meta), I am thinking if the product copy is SEO rich, we'd be good to use just the one for both purposes.

Thoughts? Ideas? Suggestions?

Seems that many companies follow this practice. Thanks!

[AlanBleiweiss]

Are your product descriptions well written?  Do they accommodate "cut and paste" use within Meta Description fields?  Remember there's a character limit to Meta Descriptions - too short and searchers may not be enticed to click.  Too long and you leave it to Google to decide where to cut off...

Otherwise, the concept is a sound one, since the idea is you've said "product copy is SEO rich".

Then again what does THAT mean?  A description that is too "spammy" looking may be a deterrent to a click.

Best course of action is to have human review on that whole policy.

And if you want to automate as much as possible, have the first portion of the product description the exact content you want in the meta description field.  Standardize it. Make it a policy that writers need to keep that concept in mind.

[kennyrowe]

Thanks Alan!

Per your response, I will look closely at the product descriptions already written and either pull out copy that can have keywords added intelligently or simply write a whole separate meta description.

Want to be sure this is time well spent. Approaching this project partially utilizing what is already done could be my best bet.

Thanks again!

[AlanBleiweiss]

You're welcome Gretchen - would love to hear how it turns out in the end...

[BlueTree_Sean]

Hi. I know I'm a bit late to the question, but Google favours unique content. Google will issue warnings in GWT if you have just copied and pasted from the page content. You should be looking to write a compelling message that informs viewers of the content of the page and urges them to click through to read more.

I found this [relatively] recent article useful. I just so happen to be looking for more examples when I came here.

http://econsultancy.com/uk/blog/62553-33-examples-of-great-meta-descriptions-for-search