Setting your page's meta description tag
20th August 2025
posted 20th August 2025
What is the meta description?
A meta description is a short piece of HTML code placed in the <head> section of a webpage. While it’s not visible on the page itself, it’s accessible to search engines and other tools that analyse your website’s code. Historically, search engines would display this description beneath your listing in search results to summarise the content of your page.
Although this is still sometimes the case, modern search engines—Google in particular—will often generate their own snippet based on the user’s search query and the content of your page.
How important is the meta description?
Meta descriptions are not a direct ranking factor in modern SEO. However, they remain important because they can influence whether a user clicks on your link. A well-written meta description can improve your click-through rate (CTR) by presenting a compelling summary of your content.
It’s also worth noting:
- Google may choose to ignore your meta description and show a different snippet from your page that it thinks is more relevant to the user’s search.
- That said, Google is more likely to use your meta description if it’s relevant, clearly written, and includes the search term (e.g. your brand name).
- Even if not always displayed, a strong meta description can still play a role in encouraging engagement.
How do I optimise my meta description?
To write a good meta description, focus on making it clear, relevant, and appealing to humans, not just search engines. Here’s what to keep in mind:
✅ Keep it between 140–160 characters (including spaces). Google may truncate anything longer.
✅ Make sure it accurately reflects the content of the page.
✅ Include a primary keyword or phrase where it makes sense, ideally early in the text.
✅ Avoid misleading text or over-promising content—this can increase bounce rates.
✅ Use sentence case and natural language that encourages a click.
✅ Think of it as a mini-advert for the page.
❌ Avoid keyword stuffing.
❌ Don’t just copy the first sentence of the page content—write something custom.
How do I technically add a meta description?
If you have direct access to the HTML code of your website, you can add a meta description by placing this line in the <head> section of your page:
<meta name="description" content="Your page summary goes here.">
If you use a content management system (CMS) such as WordPress, Joomla, or a custom-built platform, look for a section labelled SEO settings or Meta settings. Most modern CMS platforms allow you to set the meta description for each page without editing the code.
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