Does Meta Descriptions have role in SEO?

Meta descriptions are HTML attributes which provide concise explanations of the contents of web pages. Meta descriptions are commonly used on search engine result pages (SERPs) to display preview snippets for a given page. The Meta description will then appear under your page’s URL in the search results.

Reasons of importance of Meta Description:

The function of a meta description for your page is simple: its main purpose is to get the visitor from Google to click your link. In other words, meta descriptions are there to generate clickthroughs from search engines.

Search engines says “There is no direct ranking benefit from the meta description – they don’t use it in their ranking algorithm”. There is an indirect benefit, though: Google uses click-through-rate (CTR) as a way of determining whether you’re a good result. If more people click your result then they would expect based on your position, they move you up. This is why optimizing the meta description is so important, as is optimizing your titles.

Then,

 How to write effective and Great Meta Descriptions???

Writing a simple, effective, compelling meta descriptions is no harder than writing a simple, compelling, effective sentence or call to action.  A well written descriptions can improve Search Engine Optimization SEO rankings and business. In fact, your meta descriptions, at the most basic level, is a just short summary of what your web page or blog post is about. Some ways to create unique and attracting metas are;

Focus on Keywords: Always make sure your most important keywords for the webpage show up in the meta description. Often search engines will highlight in bold where it finds the searchers query in your snippet.

Write legible, readable copy: This is essential. Keyword stuffing your meta description is bad and it does not help the searcher as they will assume your result leads to a spammy website. Make sure your description reads like a normal, human-written sentence.

Make call to action : Make Meta description as compelling and as relevant as possible. The description MUST match the content on the page, but you should also make it as appealing as possible.

 Do not use long meta description: A meta description should be no longer than 135 – 160 characters long (although Google has recently been testing longer snippets). Any longer and search engines will not display so make sure any important keywords are nearer the front.

Do not duplicate meta descriptions: As with title tags, the meta descriptions must be different for every page. Google may penalize you for mass duplicating your meta descriptions.

Consider using rich snippets: By using schema markup you can add elements to the snippets to increase their appeal. For instance: star ratings, customer ratings, product information, calorie counts etc.

So always try best to write attracting and call to action meta description. So that finally you can have better rankings as well as Google can reward your site.