How to write meta descriptions people actually click
Meta descriptions don’t directly boost rankings, but they can win you the click. A simple formula, real examples and the length that fits.
A meta description is the short summary that often appears under your title in Google. It isn’t a ranking factor: Google has said for years that it doesn’t use it to decide positions. But it’s your advert in the search results, and a better advert gets more clicks from the same ranking.
The length that fits
Google trims descriptions by width too, at roughly 920 pixels on desktop. In practice that’s about 150–160 characters. Shorter is fine; a crisp 120-character description often reads better than one padded to the limit.
A simple formula
Most good descriptions answer three quick questions:
- What is this page? (“A step-by-step guide to compressing images…”)
- Why is it useful? (“…so your pages load faster on mobile…”)
- What makes it different? (“…free, in your browser, with no upload.”)
Put together: “A step-by-step guide to compressing images so your pages load faster on mobile. Free, in your browser, with no upload.”
Before and after
Weak: “Welcome to our website. We offer many tools and guides about SEO and more. Click here to learn more about our services.”
Better: “Check how your title and description look in Google before you publish, with live pixel-width warnings. Free, no sign-up.”
The better version is specific, describes the page honestly, and gives a reason to choose it.
Common mistakes
- The same description on every page. Each page should describe itself. Duplicate descriptions are often ignored.
- Keyword stuffing. Google bolds words that match the search, so including your main phrase once helps. Repeating it three times looks spammy.
- Promising what the page doesn’t deliver. It might get a click, but visitors bounce straight back.
- Leaving it empty. Google will pick text from your page, and it may not be the best part.
Why Google sometimes ignores yours
Google often writes its own snippet when it thinks another part of your page better matches a particular search. That’s normal, and it happens more for long, varied pages. A clear, accurate description still gets used for many searches, especially ones closely matching your main topic.
Try it
Write your description in the SERP Snippet Preview to see it next to your title with a live width check, then copy the finished tags from the Meta Tag Generator, which also adds the Open Graph tags used when your page is shared on social media.