The best way to write a meta description is to treat it as the one sentence that decides whether someone clicks your result or the one below it. It is not a ranking factor, and nobody reads it on the page itself. Its whole job happens on the results page, in the second or two a searcher spends scanning.
The checklist below follows Yoast’s guide to creating a good meta description. It is a plugin vendor’s editorial advice, not a measured study, but it is a sound framework and most of it is plain copywriting sense.
The best way to write a meta description, in seven points
Yoast’s list has seven parts. Keep it to a maximum of 155 characters. Write in the active voice and make it actionable. Include a call to action. Include the focus keyphrase. Show specifications where they are relevant. Make sure it matches the content of the page. Make it unique.
| Yoast’s rule | Why it matters | Common mistake |
|---|---|---|
| Up to 155 characters | Longer text is likely to be cut off in the results | Putting the key point at the end |
| Active voice, actionable | Reads as an invitation, not a label | “This page is about…” |
| Call to action | Tells the searcher what they can do next | Generic “Click here” or “Learn more” |
| Include the focus keyphrase | Google is more inclined to use and highlight a description that contains the searched words | Repeating the phrase two or three times |
| Specifications where relevant | Price, size, model or time gives a concrete reason to click | Vague adjectives in place of facts |
| Match the content | A mismatch means a quick return to the results | Promising what the page does not deliver |
| Unique | Each page has a different job | One template sentence across a whole section |
On length, we will not repeat what our meta description length guide covers in detail. The short version: front-load the point, so that a truncated description still makes sense.
Start with what the page gives the searcher
Before you write a word, finish this sentence: “After reading this page, the searcher will be able to…”. Whatever completes it is the core of the description. It forces you to describe the benefit rather than the topic, which is the difference between a description that sells the click and one that merely labels the page.
Compare two descriptions for the same fictional plumbing firm at example.com:
- Weak: “Example Plumbing is a plumbing company. We offer a range of plumbing services to customers.”
- Better: “Boiler stopped working? Book a Gas Safe engineer online and get a fixed quote before we arrive. Same-day slots across Leeds.”
The second is active, specific, and ends with a reason to act. It also names the problem in the searcher’s own words, which brings us to keywords.
Active voice does more work than it seems. “Compare three plans and switch in five minutes” invites the reader to do something. “Plans are compared and switching is made easy” describes something happening to nobody in particular. Read your draft aloud: if it sounds like a label on a filing cabinet, rewrite it as an instruction or a promise.
Put the keyphrase in, once
Yoast’s reasoning for including the focus keyphrase is practical: if the searched keyword appears in the description, Google is more inclined to use it and to highlight the matching words in the result. Bold text in a snippet draws the eye, and it reassures the searcher that this result answers what they typed.
Which phrase? Use the one the page is built around, in the form people search it. If the page targets several close variants, pick the most common and let the rest of the sentence cover the others in plain language.
Once is enough. A description that repeats the phrase reads like it was written for a crawler, and searchers notice. Use the natural form of the query, and let a related term do the work if a second mention is needed.
Specifics and a call to action
Specifications are the most underused part of the checklist. For a product page, the model number, price or key dimension is often the thing the searcher is checking. For a guide, it might be the number of steps or the time it takes. A fictional example for a shop at example.com: “Oak dining table, 180 cm, seats six. Free delivery and 30-day returns. See finishes and order online.”
The call to action should be honest and specific to the page: “compare plans”, “see the checklist”, “book a slot”. It does not need to be pushy. It needs to tell the searcher what happens when they click. Uniqueness matters most on large sites, where templates tempt you to reuse one sentence across hundreds of pages. If you cannot write a distinct description for a page, that is often a sign the page itself lacks a distinct purpose. Pair it with a strong title, which our guide to SEO title length covers, because the title is read first and the description has to follow on from it.
When Google ignores your description
You can follow every rule and still see different text in the results. Google often rewrites descriptions, usually pulling a passage from the page that it judges a better match for a particular query. It is not a penalty, and it varies by query: the same page can show your description for one search and a rewrite for another.
Two things reduce the odds. A description that genuinely matches the page content gives Google less reason to look elsewhere, and a description that contains the searched words gives it a reason to keep yours. Our post on why a meta description is not showing walks through the other causes and what you can change.
Here is the limitation. A better description can lift click-through rate, but it cannot outweigh position. A result lower down the page gets fewer clicks however well it is written, as our look at CTR by position shows. Nobody outside Google can measure precisely how much a description changes clicks for a given query, and Google’s rewrites make clean before-and-after tests hard. Treat description work as a small, cheap improvement, best spent on pages that already rank on page one.
The practical order: write descriptions first for pages with high impressions and weak click-through in Search Console, check each one matches its page, and stop worrying about the rest. More guides like this sit in our strategy archive.
Frequently asked questions
How do you make a good meta description?
Keep it to around 155 characters, write in the active voice, include the focus keyphrase and a call to action, add specifics where relevant, match the page and make it unique.
Should the keyword be in the meta description?
Yes, once. Yoast notes Google is more inclined to use and highlight a description that contains the searched keyword.
Why does Google change my meta description?
Google often rewrites descriptions with text from the page that it judges a better match for the query. Matching the content closely reduces how often it happens.
Do meta descriptions affect rankings?
Not directly. Their job is to win the click once the page already ranks.
The takeaway Write the description as an advert for the page: the benefit first, the keyphrase once, a specific detail and an honest call to action. Make it unique and true to the page, and spend the effort where pages already rank.
