A meta description summarizes the content on a web page. Google has long said that meta descriptions don’t affect rankings, but business executives often misunderstand how meta descriptions work.
Here’s what you need to know about meta descriptions from a search engine optimization perspective.
Not a ranking factor
meta description They often appear in snippets of organic search listings, letting searchers know what the page is about. However, Google does not consider meta descriptions when ranking web pages, unlike keywords in the title, for example.
Notice the example Google search for “practical e-commerce” below. In this snippet, the query (“practical e-commerce”) appears in bold, likely driving more clicks to the list. Therefore, meta descriptions with top keywords usually get more attention and clicks.
Searching for “practical ecommerce” will generate a snippet with the meta description of the page.
Not necessarily shown in search results
Google typically ignores a page’s meta description and uses the body content of the search snippet. Google admits this in its “Search Central” blog post:
Google primarily uses the content on the page to automatically determine appropriate snippets. We may also use descriptive information in meta description elements if it describes the page better than other parts of the content.
Search snippets are query dependent. Google tries to generate snippets that are related to the searcher’s word or phrase. Although it’s impossible to include every potential query in your meta description, a few tactics apply.
- Include the main keywords for your page. Google will likely display meta descriptions for these queries, giving page owners control over what searchers see with popular terms.
- Use variations of the brand name. optimize Brand search There are common deviations, such as “practical commerce” (without the “e”) or “practicalecommerce” (one word). Each option appears in bold to direct clicks to the page.
low priority
Unlike other on-page elements, meta descriptions are neither user-facing nor ranking-driven. In a post on Search Central, Google encourages machine-generated versions if they’re relevant to a page with a human audience.
…Programmatic generation of descriptions may be appropriate and is recommended. A good description is human-readable and rich in variety. Page-specific data is suitable for programmatic generation. Keep in mind that meta descriptions consisting of long strings of keywords don’t give users a clear understanding of your page’s content and are less likely to be viewed as snippets.
ChatGPT and Gemini can generate meaningful meta descriptions. My go-to prompts are:
My target keyword is (KEYWORD). This is a copy of my page: (text). Generates a meta description that includes the keyword in the first sentence. Make your description appealing. For example, include a call to action.
Other AI-driven tools include Create a descriptiontoo.
There is no ideal length
Countless search engine tools will claim that your meta description is too long or too short. Always ignore. Google continually experiments with the length and content of search snippets. date and rich elements. Most snippets in 2025 will be a single sentence (approximately 140 characters), but that may change.
Insert keywords at the beginning of your meta description instead of guessing the length. This will cause Google to use these queries more often and display them in bold.
