SEO, or search engine optimization, is all about getting your page ranking high on the search engine results page (SERP).

The first position on Google gets almost twice as much traffic as the website in third place.

Every little bit of SEO juice can count. Picking great real estate keywords is just a start.

Completing your meta descriptions is an SEO best practice. In theory, it should help with click-through rates and selling would-be website visitors that your page answers they need.

What is a Meta Description?

Meta descriptions are essentially mini-ads, located beneath the search result headline, designed to encourage people to click on your link.

Google search results feature a “meta title” tag and a “meta description” tag on the search engine results page (SERP).

The title is usually whatever the title of your article or web page is, but you can change it. It is the blue title link in the search result.

The meta description is the description of your page on your website underneath your link, usually a max of 160 characters (it was briefly up to 300 characters in 2018 until Google changed it back to the shorter 160).

3 beds, 2 baths, 1319 sq. ft. house located at 2606 NW 77th St, Lawton, OK 73505 sold for $115000 on Aug 24, 2009. View sales history, tax history, …

Technically, meta descriptions don’t help with your real estate SEO. But a well-written meta description can help with your click through rate (CTR), which indirectly helps with SEO.

Lots of clicks on your real estate website links is one factor that shows Google they should show your website more often. Over time, a good CTR will earn you a better search engine ranking and improve your odds of getting on page one.

Example Real Estate Meta Descriptions

Home Pages

Search homes for sale across Alaska including Fairbanks, Anchorage and more. Listings include large photos, local school info and more.

Find homes for sale in Maryland and DC, or list your property with help from the leading real estate experts at Northrop Realty.

The Terry Paranych Real Estate Group. With over 10,000 homes sold in the Edmonton market since 1991, it’s clear our values make a difference to our clients.

Neighborhood Pages

Interested in Prestonwood Polo & Country Club homes for sale? Check out available property listings or contact us for help with your DFW area home search.

Find Gulch View condos & townhomes for sale in Nashville, TN like a real estate agent! Instant access to today’s new Gulch View MLS listings in Nashville.

Listings 1 – 8 of 8 — See both new-construction and re-sale homes in Chantilly neighborhood of Charlotte, NC. See photos & subdivision sales history.

Blog Posts

How to deal with buyer’s remorse after you have already closed on a house purchase and how to avoid buyer’s remorse in real estate.

New discoveries after the contract signing, however, sometimes allow the buyer the chance to reopen negotiations on the sale price and other contract terms.

After closing the property, your mortgage lender may require an escrow account for property tax and home insurance. It’s called mortgage escrow.

This is an example of a blog post that did not have a defined meta description. This is quite common, especially for blog posts, it seems. You may want to consider whether forcing a meta description is even necessary for your blog posts.

IDX Listing Pages

Property Description. Location, location! Luxurious stucco, freestanding home is perfect for entertaining and enjoying the great outdoors.

Property 470 Intonation Street, Henderson, 89011 has 3 bedrooms, 3 bathrooms with 2654 square feet.

1715 NW 49th St, Lawton, OK 73505 is for sale. View 24 photos of this 4 bed, 2 bath, 1500 sqft. single-family home with a list price of $150000.

Other Pages

Premium Realty Group represents the region’s finest properties with exceptional skill using the most innovative technologies currently available.

Read our reviews! We have an awesome team available to help faciliate any real estate transaction. Get in touch now.

As you house hunt in Hanover, look for the yard with the greenest landscaping and you may just be looking at Jamie Kenton’s home. “I LOVE yard work!

Qualities of a Good Meta Description

There are lots of great online resources on best practices for writing meta descriptions. I won’t go in-depth as what you can find there. I’ll just focus on the 30,000-foot view.

Your meta-description is a short opportunity to let someone searching keywords online to know that your article has what they’re looking for. To get their attention, consider including:

• Keyword Phrases. Don’t keyword stuff. Meta description keywords are not that important for SEO. Plus you should already have at least one keyword in the meta title. But the meta description is another opportunity to sneak important keywords in and demonstrate what your content is about.
• A Call To Action. Consider a call-to-action like “Get Started Hassle-Free” or “Download Our Free E-book on Buying in Leesburg”. Something that drives them to action. You can even include a phone number.
• Deliver The Goods. Don’t hide what content you have in the article, thinking that they’ll want to click through your mysteriously worded meta title and description. They aren’t interested in games. They want something, and the first search result that looks like it’s going to give it to them will get clicked.
• Natural Language. Don’t just stick in keywords or disjointed phrases. Instead, write a concise, complete sentence.

My philosophy when I craft a meta description is to give value. No teasing. I want to communicate as much value from the article as I can in approximately 160 characters. Show that you are helpful and earn their click.

Editing the Meta Description

There are numerous ways to edit your meta description (as well as your page titles).

In my case, I use the Yoast SEO plugin for WordPress. Below the content, there is a section to modify the meta title and meta description however you like.

Other options include All In One SEO Pack.

Your website’s IDX listing pages also have meta descriptions. For your IDX listings, you would program your meta descriptions within your IDX provider.

For example, below is the section within IDX Broker where you would modify your SEO meta description settings.

Do You Need to Pick a Meta Description?

No.

If you don’t fill in the meta description, Google will sample your post’s text and fill in what it thinks is most relevant to the user’s search query.

What’s more, even when you have your own meta description, Google sometimes overrides it by pulling content from your actual article, anyway!

However, Google still recommends crafting your own meta description and it is an SEO best practice.

The few spots you definitely need to ensure you have a quality meta description are on your home page, your about page, and probably your city/neighborhood pages. Don’t let Google write those for you.

Conclusion

Hopefully, you found a good real estate meta description to inspire or model as you create your content and website!

Be sure to check out some of the top performing blogs and their top performing pages in their respective real estate market to get an idea of what is working for them.

Updated April 13, 2023; Originally published March 12, 2019.