Writing a Meta Description: A Guide with Examples

What it is for

The description sums up the page in one or two sentences. People skimming the search results often decide which result to click based on this text.

Structure

1. What will the visitor find? (Topic)
2. What do they get out of it? (Benefit)
3. What should they do? (Action)

Example

“Heating installation in Stuttgart: advice, fitting and servicing from a single source. Fixed-price quote in advance. Book an appointment now.”

Rules

• A separate description for each page
• About 150 to 160 characters so that it is not cut off
• The main topic appears naturally
• No empty promises

What Google makes of it

The description is an offer, not a requirement. Google often chooses the text it displays from the page itself to suit the search query, if that answers the question better. That is normal. A well-written description is still often used, especially for queries that match the page’s main topic. Words from the search query appear in bold in the result, which is a reason to name the main topic explicitly.

Weak versus strong: a comparison

• Weak: “Welcome to the website of Muster GmbH. We offer many services. Visit us.”
• Strong: “Painting and decorating firm in Fellbach: interior and exterior painting, façade renovation and wallpapering. Free on-site inspection, quote usually within a few days.”

The weak version contains neither topic nor place nor benefit. The strong one names the trade, the region, the services and the next step. Only claim what you can deliver: a promise such as “quote within 24 hours” belongs there only if it is true.

Different pages, different descriptions

A service page can take a call to action (“Request a quote”). A guide article works better with a promise about its content (“How to proceed in three steps”). For pages such as the legal notice or privacy policy, a description is of secondary importance, and it can be short and factual. Concentrate your effort on the pages through which you want new visitors to arrive.

Mistakes that are easy to avoid

• One description for the whole website, copied automatically to all pages by the system.
• Quotation marks in the text, which in some systems cut off the field. It is better to work without them.
• Keyword lists instead of sentences. The meta keywords tag is ignored anyway, and lists of search terms have just as little effect in the description.
• Texts that are too short, with only a few words, wasting the space available.

Measuring the effect

In Search Console, look at the click-through rate for individual pages and compare it before and after a change over several weeks. If the rate falls or rises, the position may also be responsible. The comparison is therefore only meaningful if the average position has stayed similar.

A simple workflow

Write the description only once the title and content of the page are in place. Sum up the most important benefit in one sentence, add a concrete detail such as the region, the service or the next step, and then trim it to the available length. Read the result aloud: does it sound like a person or like a list of keywords? Then show the description to someone who does not know the page and ask whether they would click.

Good to know

A good description is the best basis, even though Google may rewrite it. See also Writing a title tag.