Search engines
Meta Description
A meta description is a short summary in a page's HTML that search engines may display beneath the title in results. It is not a ranking factor, and search engines frequently replace it with text drawn from the page when that better matches the query. It still matters because when it is used, it is the sentence deciding whether someone clicks.
Google states plainly that it rewrites descriptions when a different passage suits the search better. Writing one is therefore proposing a summary rather than setting one.
A description that works names the specific thing the page delivers. Generic promises get replaced most often, because a page's own sentences will nearly always be more specific than a vague summary of it.
Roughly 150 to 160 characters display on desktop and less on mobile, so the important part belongs at the front.
Every page on a site needs its own description written for what that page actually says. Copying one description across many pages, or leaving the field blank so a search engine pulls the first sentence it finds, produces the same generic snippet on every result and gives a searcher no reason to pick one page over another.
Why it matters
It has no effect on ranking and a direct effect on whether the ranking turns into a visit.
Related terms
Last reviewed 2026-09-04. All Saige glossary terms.