Why embed cards are worth looking at
Elevator pitches for your webpage aren’t just for social media websites.
We don’t always get the opportunity to meet potential clients, customers, or connections in person, to explain why your idea is worth learning more about. Sometimes, all we get is a hyperlink.
An embed card is a hyperlink with bonus information. It is one way to pitch to a person why they should visit your web page. Similar to social cards in social media, they provide users with a preview of what they can expect when they click that link.
Data is pulled from the page to populate the card. This is the same whether you’re linking internally to a featured page on your own site, or being linked to by other websites.
Nice way to review your metadata
The metadata of your web pages is helpful information about your pages. It contributes to the SEO (Search Engine Optimization) of your website, for example. Since embed cards are created with this metadata, it’s a useful way to audit this sometimes-unseen data.
Embed cards generally consist of:
- a feature image (we find 2:1 works best)
- page description/manual excerpt
- site name
- favicon (the logo that appears on browser tabs when your site is open)
- sharing icon
Concentrate on your calls to action
What is the purpose of your website? Whether it’s getting people to purchase an item, book a service, or sign up for a newsletter, using embed cards (in addition to buttons and hyperlinks) is a great way to lead folks to the main call to action of your site.
Another aspect of embed cards is that the information is automatically pulled from the metadata to update the embed card. If your appointment system has changed (let’s say, from telehealth to in-person appointments), as long as the metadata description is updated, that information will be updated in all embed cards leading to that page.
Just make sure to stay on top of it! I recommend setting a calendar reminder to update the description if you include any info that will expire.