What is a meta description?

It is an HTML tag that summarizes what a page is about. Google may show it as the text under the title in search results, so its job is to convince the searcher to click.

Does the meta description affect rankings?

It is not a ranking factor. Its effect is indirect: a good description can improve click-through rate from the results page, which is what you actually want from it.

Why is Google not showing my meta description?

Because Google builds snippets mainly from the page content and only uses your description when it thinks it describes the result better for that specific query. If it is empty, duplicated or does not match the search, Google replaces it with text from the page.

Meta description: how to write one that gets clicks

A meta description is an HTML tag that sums up what a page is about in one or two sentences. Google may use it as the snippet under the title in search results, so it affects how many people click your link.

What the meta description tag looks like

It sits inside the page's <head>, next to the meta title, and it is not part of the visible content:

<head>
  <title>Women's Trail Running Shoes | Example Store</title>
  <meta name="description" content="Compare 80+ women's trail running shoes by cushioning and grip. Free shipping and 30-day returns.">
</head>

In WordPress and most CMSs you do not need to touch code: SEO plugins (Yoast, Rank Math and similar) give you a field to write it on every page.

Does the meta description help you rank?

No. The meta description is not a ranking factor: putting your keyword in it will not move you up. What it does influence is CTR, the share of people who see your result and choose to click it rather than the one next to it.

If a page sits in position 5 with a 3% CTR and a clearer snippet lifts it to 5%, you get more organic traffic without any change in rankings.

Why Google rewrites your meta description

Writing one does not guarantee it will be shown. According to Google Search Central's documentation on snippets, Google creates snippets mainly from the page content and uses the meta description when it describes the page more accurately than the on-page text.

In practice, the snippet changes with the query. For a broad search your description may appear; for a very specific one, Google often picks the paragraph that best answers that search intent. This is not a bug to fix: it is normal behavior.

Google is more likely to ignore it when:

It is empty or identical across many pages.
It is a list of keywords rather than sentences.
It has nothing to do with what the user searched for.

Recommended length

Google does not set a character count: its documentation says there is no limit on the tag, but the snippet is truncated to fit the device width. The cut is made by pixels, not letters, so a sentence full of "m" takes more space than one full of "i".

As a practical guideline, 150 to 160 characters usually displays in full on desktop. Mobile shows less text, so put the important part in the first 100 to 120 characters. Treat this as a rule of thumb, not a Google rule.

How to write a good meta description

Write a different one for every page. If you cannot cover them all, start with the home page, category pages and the pages with the most impressions in Search Console.
Match the intent. An informational search wants to know what you will explain; a transactional one wants price, shipping or guarantees.
Include the query naturally. Google bolds terms that match the search, which helps your result stand out on the page.
Offer concrete value and a reason to click. Real details (number of products, delivery time, what the reader will learn) work better than empty claims like "the best" or "leading".
Keep it consistent with the title and the page. If you promise something the content does not deliver, the user goes straight back.

A before and after example for a service page:

Before: "SEO agency, search engine optimization, SEO London, SEO consulting, SEO experts."
After: "We audit your site, prioritize what can bring you the most traffic and ship it with your team. Fixed quote and first changes live within 30 days."

Common mistakes

Duplicate descriptions: templates that repeat the same text across hundreds of product pages or paginated pages.
Empty descriptions: Google has to improvise with any text on the page, sometimes a menu or a cookie notice.
Keyword stuffing: repeating the keyword several times adds no ranking value and hurts clicks.
Unescaped double quotes: since the content attribute is wrapped in double quotes, a double quote inside the text closes it early and the description gets cut off. Use single quotes or the " entity.
More than one description tag on the same page, usually because the theme and a plugin both add it.

To catch empty, duplicate or overly long descriptions, the free SEO audit checks the length of your page's title and meta description. It is a basic technical SEO check worth repeating after every template change.

Frequently Asked Questions

It is an HTML tag that summarizes what a page is about. Google may show it as the text under the title in search results, so its job is to convince the searcher to click.
It is not a ranking factor. Its effect is indirect: a good description can improve click-through rate from the results page, which is what you actually want from it.
Google sets no limit: it truncates the snippet based on the available pixel width. As a practical guideline, 150 to 160 characters usually displays in full on desktop, with the key message first in case it gets cut on mobile.
Because Google builds snippets mainly from the page content and only uses your description when it thinks it describes the result better for that specific query. If it is empty, duplicated or does not match the search, Google replaces it with text from the page.