SEO & Search
What is a meta description?
A meta description is a short summary of a page set in its HTML, which search engines may show beneath the title in results. It is not a direct ranking factor, and Google often substitutes its own extract, but a well-written description still matters: when shown, it is the page’s pitch for the click, and it frames what the visitor expects to find.
Why it matters
The description does not influence rankings, which leads many sites to neglect it, but when Google shows it, it is your listing’s sales copy: the two lines that argue for the click against every other result on the page. A specific description that names what the reader will actually get tends to outperform boilerplate, and even when Google substitutes its own extract, a written description still feeds link previews on social platforms and messaging apps.
Writing useful descriptions
Describe what this page specifically offers, not the company in general
Front-load the substance; truncation cuts from the end
Match the intent of the search the page targets
Skip keyword-stuffing: it reads as spam to the person deciding whether to click
Related terms
The description pairs with the meta title as the page’s pitch on the SERP; its success measure is click-through rate.