Meta description

A meta description is the HTML tag <meta name=”description”> that summarizes a page in 1 to 2 sentences. Google sometimes uses it as the snippet below the title in search results, when it describes the page more accurately than the on-page content.

What is a meta description?

A snippet is the description part of a search result. Google mostly generates snippets from the page content, choosing the part that best matches the query, so the same page can show different snippets for different searches. The meta description is used only when Google finds it describes the page better (Google Search Central, How to write meta descriptions, accessed November 2026).

There is no length limit on a meta description, but snippets are truncated to fit the device width. Put the main point first.

The meta description is not a ranking factor. In 2009, Google wrote that it sometimes uses the description meta tag for snippets but does not use it in ranking (Google Search Central Blog, Google does not use the keywords meta tag in web ranking, September 2009). Its value lies in CTR: a clear description gets the right people to click.

Meta title vs. meta description

For title elements, Google recommends a unique title per page that describes the content accurately and concisely, with no keyword stuffing and no long boilerplate repeated across pages. Put your brand name at the start or end, separated by a hyphen, colon or pipe (Google Search Central, Influencing your title links, accessed November 2026).

How to write a meta description

Following Google’s guidance:

• Write a unique description for each page. Short on time? Start with the home page and your most popular pages.
• Include specific information: author and publish date for articles; price, origin or manufacturer for products.
• Large database-driven sites such as product aggregators can generate descriptions programmatically, as long as they read naturally and differ from page to page.
• Do not write the description as a string of keywords.

Suggested formula: [What the page offers] + [specifics: price, timing, location] + [why click]. Example for a category page: “RO water purifiers for homes, from VND 4.5 million, installed within 24 hours in Ho Chi Minh City, 3-year warranty.”

Avoid: “Water purifier, RO water purifier, cheap water purifier, buy water purifier”; one sentence reused across hundreds of product pages; promising things the page does not have.

Blocking or limiting snippets

To stop Google showing a snippet for a page, use the nosnippet meta tag. To cap the length, use max-snippet:[number]. To keep a specific passage out of snippets, add the data-nosnippet attribute to it (same How to write meta descriptions source).

Example: rewriting a category page description (hypothetical)

A category page gets 10,000 impressions a month in Google Search Console at a 2% CTR, or 200 clicks. You rewrite the description to include the starting price and installation time. Next month CTR rises to 3% on the same impressions: 300 clicks, 100 more visitors without any change in ranking. If Google keeps pulling the snippet from page content, move those same details into the opening paragraph.

Frequently asked questions

How many characters should a meta description have?

Google sets no limit. Make the first sentence stand on its own, because the rest may be cut off on mobile.

Where do I edit the meta description in WordPress?

Google notes that a CMS often provides a search engine settings page instead of direct HTML editing. In WordPress, that is usually the description field of your SEO plugin.

If you need titles, descriptions and CTR reviewed across your site, see Adtek’s SEO solution. For the basics, read what is SEO.