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