How Long Should a Meta Description Be? (2026 Guide)
A meta description should be about 120 to 160 characters. Google's actual limit is a width of roughly 990 pixels across two lines on desktop and about 850 pixels on mobile, so long words push you over sooner than a character count suggests.
A meta description is the two-line summary under your link in Google results. It isn't a ranking factor, and Google says so plainly. It is still worth getting right, because it's the sentence that decides whether someone clicks you or the result below you.
The length
Aim for 120 to 160 characters. The real constraint is width: about 990 pixels across two lines on desktop, about 850 on mobile.
As with titles, character count is a proxy. A description full of long words ("internationalization", "comprehensive", "documentation") hits the pixel limit sooner than one made of short ones. The SERP Snippet Preview measures the actual width and shows you where the cut lands.
Too short is also a problem, just a quieter one. A 40-character description wastes space you could have used to make a case.
Why Google rewrites most descriptions
Studies consistently find Google rewriting the majority of meta descriptions, often 60–70%. That statistic gets quoted as a reason not to bother. It's the wrong conclusion. Google rewrites when your description is:
- Missing. It grabs a sentence from the page, usually the first one, which is rarely a pitch.
- Duplicated across many pages.
- Too long, so it truncates and then decides it can do better.
- Keyword-stuffed or written as a list of phrases.
- Off-topic for the query. This is the big one: if someone searches for something specific and your description doesn't mention it, Google finds a passage on the page that does.
That last point explains the apparent contradiction. Google isn't rejecting your description because it's bad; it's swapping in something more relevant to this particular search. A page that ranks for twenty queries will show different descriptions for different ones. That's working as intended.
What you control is the default: the description shown when the query matches your page's main topic. Make that one good.
Writing one Google keeps
Put the point in the first sentence. If it gets cut, the important part survives.
Include the main keyword naturally. Google bolds matching words, and bold text pulls the eye down the page.
Say what the reader gets, not what the page is. "Free redirect checker: paste up to 20 URLs and see every 301 and 302 hop" beats "This page contains our redirect checking tool."
Write one per page. Duplicates are the fastest route to a rewrite.
Don't promise what the page doesn't deliver. A great description on a thin page just raises your bounce rate, and Google notices when people come straight back.
Examples
Weak:
Welcome to our website. We offer a range of SEO tools and services for businesses of all sizes.
Better:
Paste any URL and get a health score with 25 real checks: HTTPS, sitemap, title tags, speed and broken links. Free, no signup.
The second one is specific, says what happens, and removes the risk ("free, no signup") in the last four words.
A quick checklist
- 120–160 characters, under 990 px on desktop.
- Main point in the first sentence.
- Keyword included, said naturally once.
- Unique on every page.
- Describes the outcome, not the page.
- Matches what the page actually delivers.
Check yours in the SERP Snippet Preview, or run the whole page through the SEO Checker to see the description flagged alongside the other on-page basics.
Frequently asked questions
How long should a meta description be?
Around 120 to 160 characters. The real limit is about 990 pixels across two lines on desktop, so check the width rather than only counting characters.
Does a meta description affect rankings?
Not directly. Google has said it is not a ranking factor. It affects click-through rate, which is why it still matters.
Why did Google change my meta description?
Google rewrites descriptions when the one you wrote is missing, duplicated, too long, stuffed with keywords, or doesn't contain the searcher's query.
Do I need a meta description on every page?
On pages you want clicks from, yes. If you leave it out, Google picks a sentence from the page, which is often a poor pitch.
Try it on your site
Free, no signup. Takes about ten seconds.