Use This To Get Longer (4-Line) Description Tags

I’d estimate that Google uses a page’s meta description tag in the search results only about 50% of the time.

Instead, they tend to pull content from the page and use that as the page’s description. Sometimes these Google-made descriptions are twice as long as the typical 2-line descriptions we’re used to:

And it stands to reason that these results will get a higher CTR. The question is:

How do you get these 4-line descriptions? I’ve found that Google uses two factors:

1. The page’s overall authority
2. Actionable tips at the top of the page (how do they know it’s actionable? They’re Google. They’re smart)

So when it makes sense, put an actionable tip (or two) at the top of your page. Google may grab that tip and use it in an extra-long description.