Meta Description

Sitecheck Team

An HTML tag summarising a page content, shown as the snippet in search engine results.

A meta description is an HTML <meta> tag in the <head> of a page that provides a brief summary of the page content. Search engines often display it as the snippet beneath the title link in search results.

Why it matters: While not a direct ranking factor, a compelling meta description improves click-through rate (CTR). Google bolds matched keywords in the snippet, drawing the reader's eye.

Quick tips:

  • Keep descriptions between 150–160 characters to avoid truncation in SERPs.
  • Make each page's description unique and action-oriented (start with a verb).
  • Include the primary keyword naturally — do not stuff multiple keywords.

See also: Canonical Tag, structured data, keyword.