How to write a meta description that gets clicks

A meta description is the short summary that can appear under your page title in search results. It does not make a page rank higher on its own, but it often decides whether a person clicks your result or the one below it. Most people write them in a hurry, or leave them to chance and let a search engine pull some text from the page. This guide explains what a meta description is, how long it should be, what to put in it, and how to write one for different kinds of page, with before and after examples and character counts. It also covers the common mistakes, how to deal with a large site, and how to check that your descriptions are unique and fit.

By Valtrinity. Updated 18 October 2026.

What a meta description is and what it does

A meta description is a tag in the head of a web page that holds a one or two sentence summary. Search engines may show it as the snippet under the title and address of your result. They may also ignore it and write their own snippet from the page text when they think it better matches what someone searched for.

It is not a ranking signal that you can use to push a page up. What it does is act as a small advert. A clear, accurate summary helps the right visitors recognise that your page answers their question, and helps the wrong visitors skip it, which is good for you too.

Because the snippet is often rewritten, the aim is to give the search engine a good summary to use, not to control the result. A well-written description that matches the content of the page is more likely to be used.

How long should it be?

Search results are cut off by width, not by a fixed number of characters, so there is no exact limit. A sensible target is 120 to 155 characters, including spaces. Descriptions in that range usually display in full on desktop and phone screens, while longer ones get cut off with an ellipsis, which can hide the end of your message.

Put the important part first. If only the first 100 characters are shown on a small screen, the reader should still understand what the page is and why to click.

Do not pad a short description to reach a length. A clear 125-character summary is better than a 155-character one with filler. Count the characters, spaces included, before you publish, and check the preview with a tool rather than guessing.

What to include

Start with what the page is or does, in the words a visitor would use. Then add the main benefit or the detail that sets it apart: the number of examples, the year of the figures, the fact that there are worked examples, the area covered. Finish with a gentle reason to click if it fits naturally.

Include the main phrase people use to find the page, because search engines highlight matching words in bold, which helps your result stand out. Use it once, naturally. Repeating it to get more highlighting looks spammy and reads badly.

Write in active, plain language and in the same variety of English as your audience. For a UK site that means UK spelling and pounds, not dollars. Avoid quotation marks in the text, since some systems cut the description at the first quote, and avoid special characters that may not display.

Before and after examples

Take a page that calculates how much paint is needed. A weak description is: 'Paint calculator. Paint, litres, walls, rooms, coverage, tins, ceilings, emulsion, gloss, cheap paint calculator online.' That is 120 characters of keywords with no meaning, and it reads like a list a search engine might dislike.

A better description is: 'Work out how much paint a room needs. Enter the size, doors, windows and coats to get litres and suggested tin sizes.' That is 117 characters, says what the page does, and names the inputs and the result.

Now a guide page. A weak version is 'Working days in 2027.' It is short and says little. A better version is 'Find out how many working days there are in 2027 for England and Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, with every bank holiday date listed.' That is 139 characters and names the places and the content.

Writing for different kinds of page

For a tool or calculator, describe the job and what the visitor gets: what you enter, what you receive, and any useful detail such as the tax year. For an article or guide, summarise the answer or the main points, and say what makes it useful, such as worked examples or a table.

For a product page, mention the item, the key feature and a reason to choose it, and include the price or a price range only if it stays accurate. For a service page, name the service, the area you cover and what you offer, such as no-obligation quotes or same-day response, if true.

For a home page, state clearly what the organisation does and for whom. It is usually the most visited page in a search for the name of your business, so it should read well to people who already know a little about you.

Mistakes to avoid

The first mistake is duplication. If every page shares the same description, search engines have no way to tell the pages apart and the snippets are useless to visitors. Each page needs its own text, even if it is brief.

The second is misleading text. A description that promises something the page does not deliver causes people to leave at once, which hurts you more than a lower click rate. Do not use claims you cannot support, such as the best or number one, unless there is evidence.

A third is stuffing keywords, and a fourth is leaving the field empty on important pages. A missing description means the search engine picks a random sentence, which may be a menu item or a cookie notice. Missing and badly cut text are the issues to fix first on a busy site.

Handling a large site and checking your work

On a site with hundreds of pages, write descriptions by hand for your most important pages: the home page, the main categories, the top products or articles and the pages that already get traffic. For the rest, build a template that fills in details from each page, such as the name, the main feature and the price, and review a sample for quality.

After publishing, check three things. First, that each page has a description and none are duplicated. Second, that the lengths are within your target. Third, that the text matches the page content. A meta tag checker can show what a page currently contains, and a generator can help you count characters as you write.

Review the descriptions every few months. In your search reports, look at pages with many impressions but a low click rate. Those are the ones where a better description or title might help most. Change one thing at a time, so you can see what made a difference.

Tools mentioned in this guide

Frequently asked questions