Writing the perfect Meta Descriptions

[TomKing]

I have a lot of Meta Descriptions to write and so this got me thinking, what is the 'perfect' way to write one?

I tend to stick to 165 characters and I now write them with the aim of getting the prospect to 'click through' and visit the intended page, I don't 'keyword stuff' though if I can include a keyword in the flow of the description then I will...

In this example, I need to write a Meta Description for a 'worldwide cruise destination' called Okinawa which is the largest in a group of islands between Japan and Taiwan...

Here is my Meta Description effort;

Okinawa is the largest of the Ryukyu Islands, steeped in history but has developed into a captivating worldwide cruise port with a wonderful and relaxed culture.

How would you rate my effort in a score of 1 - 10?

How would you write it better?

Thanks for your time!

Andy

[KevinBudzynski]

What is the objective of the landing page? Is it to sell a cruise or just information about the destination? If it's just information--not bad at all 9 or 10).  If it's to sell a cruise, some refinement will be needed to indicate to the prospect you are selling cruises to this destination.

Are your page titles compelling?

[TomKing]

Hi Kevin,

Thanks for your response - the page is basically just information about that particular cruise port \ destination.

With regard to Page Title (that was to be another post further down the line!), what would you suggest?

At the moment, the majority of Page Titles are something like this; (using Okinawa as the example again)

Okinawa | Worldwide Cruise | Andy Cockayne Cruises

I would imagine that you will be a bit more critical about that example?!

Thanks again

Andy

[KevinBudzynski]

Hi Andy,

I like to match the page title to prospect's search query as best as possible. So I would use something like this: Okinawa Worldwide Cruises + maybe branding/value proposition (though your example is fine). Here is a good guide: http://moz.com/learn/seo/title-tag

Kev

[K-WINTER]

It looks just fine, however I'd include the phrase you are optimizing for in your meta description. Reason being simply for the searcher experience. Google bolds the terms in your description so having that phrase there wouldn't hurt (as long as it does not become spammy), it could only improve click through.

[EGOL]

Match the title to valuable queries.  (toss all dead weight overboard)

Match the description to the strongest selling points (what people want to do/see/buy/etc there in this case).  Keep in mind that query words in the description will be bolded.

[TomKing]

Thanks everyone for your comments, I will take onboard all that has been mentioned!

Andy

[maxweb]

What about having a subtle call to action in there?

What you have written is fine, but it might be worth having a play around to see what works best. Maybe get 2 pages with similar performance in search, use one descriptive meta description like you already have and one with a call to action along the lines of "visit our website to find out about...". Then simply see which has the better click through rate.

[TomKing]

Thanks Mark, I have already (sort of) done that but have yet to establish any results - it might be worth looking into a bit more thoroughly!

Andy