Meta description

Anatomy of a strong description

A 140-160 character paragraph that:

1. Names the topic in the first ~70 chars (Google bolds query matches)
2. States the unique value (what’s special about this page)
3. Ends with a soft action, “Learn the framework, ” “See the data, ” “Get the playbook”

Example for /blog/geo-vs-seo/:

“GEO and SEO sound similar but reward different content patterns. A field guide to what stays, what shifts, and how to optimize for both Google and generative AI engines without splitting your stack.”

Best practices

• 140-160 characters (Google truncates around 160 chars on desktop, less on mobile)
• Unique per page, duplicates cause Google to use random snippets from your page
• Action-oriented language, verbs over nouns
• Avoid quotation marks, they cause SERP truncation issues
• Don’t keyword-stuff, Google increasingly rewrites meta descriptions when they read as spam
• Include UTM-free numbers, dates, percentages, concrete claims boost CTR

When Google rewrites your description

Google generates its own snippet when it thinks yours doesn’t fit the query. This happens often, by some measurements, on 60-70% of SERPs. You still want a strong description because:

• For queries that match your description well, Google uses yours
• A good description establishes the canonical “framing” Google’s generated snippets often follow
• Social shares (Facebook, LinkedIn, X) use the meta description as the share text fallback

Common mistakes

• Empty meta descriptions (CMS default templates)
• Same description across hundreds of pages
• Description doesn’t match the page topic
• All-caps or excessive punctuation
• Truncated mid-word at 200+ characters