Glossary
Meta description
A meta description is a short summary of a page, written in the head of its HTML. Visitors do not see it on the page itself, but Google sometimes shows it as the snippet, the few lines of text under a search result.
When Google shows it
Google determines each snippet automatically, and most of the time it draws on the content of the page. It sometimes uses the meta description instead, when it judges that yours describes the page better than anything it could lift from the page (Google Search Central).
Google also fits the snippet to the search. Two people looking for different things can see different lines from the same page (Google Search Central).
What to put in it
Google describes a good meta description as a short, relevant summary of what the page is about, like a pitch that tells the searcher this is the page they want. It sets no limit on length, but it trims snippets to fit the screen (Google Search Central). Put the part that matters most first, so a trimmed version still makes sense.
It does not have to read like a polished sentence. Google suggests using it to gather facts that are scattered across the page. Its example of a better description says what a shop sells, when it opens and where it is, and it warns that descriptions made of long strings of keywords are less likely to be shown (Google Search Central). For a service business, that means the service, the area you cover, your hours and what happens when someone gets in touch.
Give every page its own. A description copied onto every page tells a searcher nothing about which of them to open, and Google advises against it (Google Search Central).
Where to start on a site with many pages
Google's advice is to give the home page a description of the whole site, and every other page a description of that page alone. If you cannot write them all at once, start with the home page and the pages people visit most (Google Search Central).
You may not need to touch any code. Google notes that a site builder may give you a settings page for these details in place of the HTML itself (Google Search Central). Check your pages' settings for a description field first. If it is there, writing the descriptions is a job you can do yourself.
How it sits beside the title
The title and the description share one search result, so write them as a pair. Google chooses the clickable title from several sources, the title element among them (Google Search Central). Let the title say what the page is. The description can then say why this page is worth opening, and what to do next.
How the scan checks it
The free scan counts every page it read that has no meta description and reports them as C4, naming the first few by address as examples. It does not judge the wording of the descriptions you have, or notice one copied across pages, so that part is yours to check. Titles have their own check, C1, which flags a page with no title and a title that several pages share.
What the free scan checks
Questions
Other lines show under my result. Is my meta description broken?
Probably not. The snippet is picked for each search, and your description is used only when Google judges it the better summary of the page (Google Search Central). Google says long strings of keywords are less likely to be shown, and a description that no longer matches the page is not the better summary. Rewrite it to match the page, and expect some searches to show other lines anyway.
Should my meta description repeat the page title?
No. The two sit one above the other in the same result, so repeating the title wastes the lines that could tell a searcher more. Let the title name the page, and give the description the detail a searcher weighs next.
Can an out-of-date meta description hurt my business?
It can mislead the people who read it. If it still mentions a service you dropped or last year's opening hours, a searcher may call for something you do not offer, or pass you over for something you do. Whenever a page changes, read its description again and change it to match.
Where this fits in our work
We handle this as part of Content: Service pages, local pages and articles that answer what your buyers ask, with every statistic linked to its source.
Related reading
Posts that use this term
- Does my website need to work well on phones to show up on Google? Google reads the phone version of your pages to index and rank them. What that version has to carry, and what to check on your own phone.
Related terms
- Title tag: The page title Google often shows as the link in results, and how to write one for each page.
- Search intent: What a searcher wants from a query, how Google reads it, and why a page has to answer that want rather than repeat the words.
- Internal links: Links from one page of your site to another, how they help people and Google find pages, and how to choose the words you link.
- Alt text: The words that describe an image for people who cannot see it and for search engines, and how to write them for each kind of image.
Sources
- Google Search Central: Control your snippets in search results, updated April 20, 2026. Checked September 26, 2026.
- Google Search Central: Influencing your title links in search results, updated December 10, 2025. Checked September 26, 2026.