Do I Need to Use Meta Description in Wordpress Posts & Pages?

In WP with the SEO plugin I usually use (Yoast) it offers a box to put in the meta description for the post or page but I never fill it in. I do the title and I just hope and expect that is all Google is looking at but maybe I'm wrong, do I need to fill in the Meta Description too?

Meta description is the description that shows up on Google etc. below your link. If you aren't interested in it then forget about it. Google automatically extracts the description if you haven't entered any in the meta.

The meta description isn't looked at for rankings, but it's what a potential visitor sees on the search page. You want to make sure your meta description entices someone to click on your link over those around you. While it doesn't help for search rankings, using your targeted keywords can help attract visitors because the words they looked for that are in your meta description show up in bold.

A good question to ask is if meta tags are still necessary. They used to be more helpful, providing important information to the Internet browser. As browsers became more sophisticated, they stopped needing a lot of hand holding in order to figure out if your site is in English or Chinese.

Google does no longer use the meta keyword and they confirm this in their Webmaster Central Blog: Google does not use the keywords meta tag in web ranking. Some search engines don't use the meta tag information any more because many people abused it. In fact, meta tags may not represent the content of your site, but, it still doesn't hurt your status with search engines if you make use of these little bits of information, and do so truthfully.

Without a doubt, content is the biggest contributor to search engine page ranking, so if you want to raise your rankings, make sure you have quality content.

Covering all the reasons meta tags are and aren't important to search engines is beyond the scope of this article. In the Resource section below are some links to more information on meta tags and their impact on search engines.

Yeah that makes sense that it is used in the listing on Google but not the actual search ranking, it's easy to forget these things. I guess I should use it when possible to entice the searcher to click through...

Well I never fill that boxes, I let google decide what text suitable to show as snippets..

You do not need to use it but this won't hurt it.
Take few minutes to fill it out.

I always try to write my meta description to incorporate a couple of relevant keywords/phrases but also entices the user to click through and find out more.

Why don't you search for your website in the SERPS and see what it looks like

Title:Your website:your keyword.
Desc: some random snippet.probably the start of a first paragraph that tails of halfway through a senten...........

Or you could take your time to hand write -140 characters of sales driven copy that will make people overlook the other 9 sites listed and think.....this ones worth a click.

So to answer your question. No from an seo point of view it's not Important but if you want to convert then it's crucial.

Doing without a description is lazy and stupid.

It is used in the actual search ranking, and it is far more than a slug that shows up in search engines.

The description is a hinge pin and one of the most important pieces of on page SEO, and doing without it will hurt your ranking and traffic both.

The description is used by search engines to better determine what the page content is. If the description supports the title, and the heading tags support the description (and title), then you are halfway there with on page SEO.

This is especially important if the terminology on your page has multiple meanings.

Take for instance a site on "Jitterbug".

To many people, a Jitterbug is a dance. To others, for instance to welders, it is a tool that is used to chip away flux from a weld before capping the weld with another pass: to a concrete person it is a vibrating torpedo looking device that you drop into newly poured forms to vibrate all the air bubbles out to eliminate voids in the concrete.

If you build a site about "jitterbug" and do not use a description, you will get traffic looking for dance info instead of welders looking for tools. Good for a dance site, bad for a welding supply.

For local sites, the on page is critical. You are essentially telling Google to choose an excerpt off the page to display in the SERPS. instead of telling you potential visitors what you want to tell them about your site.

Having no description is like an Adwords ad with no text.

Tere are some good points in last few posts. I have to say though that as I have many blogs and articles are posted daily by my authors then it qould be quite time consuming to put a meta des in each one as I check and approve them. I had always just let Google make it. I guess I will try to finf the time in the future to put one in when I can.

oldweb said:

Tere are some good points in last few posts. I have to say though that as I have many blogs and articles are posted daily by my authors then it qould be quite time consuming to put a meta des in each one as I check and approve them. I had always just let Google make it. I guess I will try to finf the time in the future to put one in when I can.

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If you pay them to write, let they write meta also.

Frank75 said:

If you pay them to write, let they write meta also.

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I don't pay them, they just want blogs like mine to publish unique content and that works fine by me.

They are allowed to include a link or two in the article, that is how they get something out of it.

oldweb said:

I don't pay them, they just want blogs like mine to publish unique content and that works fine by me.

They are allowed to include a link or two in the article, that is how they get something out of it.

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its such symbiotic mutualism i think good idea

In my point of view, I will write manual meta description with one of my main keyword for that page. I dont know will it help for ranking factor but when I search in Google using any keywords, in result page I can see if the website meta description contains that word it will looks like "bold". Writing description for page wont take much time so I will do it.

While on this subject, are there any recomended resourses to check out on writing the best meta descriptions?

i'm looking for a plugin with the option to Auto Generate Meta Description and to get the Title of the Post, any ideas ?
Need this for auto blog, i have a few hundred of pages and all meta is puled the same, it ridiculous, i forgot to Encourage Search Engines Do not index my blog, and i just realized that was indexed, and it's a total mess out there...

Please suggest me some plugins

Thanks