How long should a meta description be?

Keep a meta description to about 150–160 characters, and aim for 120–155 with the important words first. Google has no official character limit: it cuts snippets by pixel width, which on desktop works out at roughly 150 to 160 characters. Check yours with the character counter as you write.

The meta description is the short summary a page offers search engines. Google may show it under your title in results, where it works as an advert for the click. Too long and it is cut off mid-sentence; too vague and people scroll past.

The practical length

Google does not count characters. It cuts snippets by pixel width, which depends on the letters used: a line of “w”s fills the space faster than a line of “i”s. In practice, around 150 to 160 characters fit on desktop before the cut-off, and mobile results can show a little more or less depending on the layout. Aim for about 120 to 155 characters, and put the most important part first.

The Character Counter checks text against a 160-character meta description limit and a 60-character page title limit as you type.

What a good description does

• Says plainly what the page offers, in the words searchers use.
• Gives a reason to choose this result: free, step by step, with examples, updated for this year.
• Matches the page. A description that promises what the page does not deliver costs trust and clicks.
• Is unique to each page. Duplicate descriptions across a site make every result look the same.

Example for a guide page: “Work out the deposit you need for a home, with a worked example showing how 5%, 10% and 20% change your monthly payment and interest.” At 133 characters, it fits and makes the content clear.

Why Google rewrites it

Google often replaces the meta description with text from the page that better matches the specific search. That is normal, and it happens more for longer, broader queries. A well-written description is still used for many searches, especially the main topic of the page, and it is also used by social networks and messaging apps when the link is shared.

Does it affect ranking?

Google has said meta descriptions are not a ranking factor. Their value is in persuading people to click once the page is shown. A better description can raise the click-through rate from the same position, which is often the cheapest improvement available on a page that already ranks.

Social previews

Links shared on social networks and messaging apps use the Open Graph description if there is one, and often fall back to the meta description. The Open Graph Preview shows how a link will look when shared and lets you check or write the tags. The guide to Open Graph link previews covers the details.

Common mistakes

• Leaving it empty on important pages, so Google picks a random sentence.
• Stuffing it with keywords separated by commas.
• Using quotation marks carelessly; in some set-ups a double quote ends the attribute early.
• Copying the title into the description, which wastes the space.

For writing to a character limit generally, see characters with and without spaces.