Meta description

A short summary of a page in its HTML, which Google may use as the snippet in a search result when it describes the page better than the page's own text.

A meta description is a short summary of a page, set in its HTML with a <meta name="description"> tag. Google says it “generally informs and interests users with a short, relevant summary of what a particular page is about” (Google Search Central). Visitors don’t see it on the page itself.

Google may use it for the snippet, the description part of a search result. Snippets are made automatically, mostly from the page’s content, with the meta description used when it might describe the page more accurately. Each snippet previews the part of the page that best fits the search, so one page can show different snippets for different searches. Google can’t change snippets by hand for individual sites.

Google’s advice for writing one

• Give each page its own. Identical or similar descriptions on every page “aren’t helpful when individual pages appear in search results.” If you can’t write one for every page, start with your home page and popular pages.
• Gather the page’s facts. On a product page, Google names price, age and manufacturer as details a description can bring together from across the page.
• Skip strings of keywords, which Google says don’t give a clear idea of the page and are less likely to be shown. In its example, a sewing shop does better saying what it sells, its opening hours and where it is than listing its supplies.
• There’s no length limit, but Google shortens snippets as needed, typically to fit the device width.

Do you need an app for them?

If your site runs on a CMS such as Wix, WordPress or Blogger, Google says it might have a search engine settings page or another way to set meta tags without editing your HTML, so look there first. For large sites built from a database, such as product aggregators, Google says writing every description by hand can be impossible and generating them from page data can be appropriate, as long as they’re “human-readable and diverse.” If an app writes yours, the same advice applies: each description should fit its own page.

Related terms

• Title link
• Keyword stuffing

Tools for it

• Store and CMS SEO apps
• Technical SEO, audits and speed
• Content and AI writing

Sources

• https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/snippet (Oct 12, 2026)

Updated Oct 12, 2026.