How long should a meta description be?

Google cuts snippets by pixel width, roughly 150 to 160 characters on desktop and less on mobile. Say the useful part in the first 120 characters.

What range does EngineeringScore flag?

Descriptions shorter than 50 or longer than 160 characters. A missing description is a separate check.

Does the meta description affect ranking?

Not directly. It is the text most people read before choosing a result, so it affects how many click. Google may replace it with text from the page when it matches the search better.

SEO Small

Meta description length: the right range

Fix meta description length

Search engines display roughly 150-160 characters of a meta description before truncating it with an ellipsis, and descriptions under about 50 characters generally waste the space available to sell the click. Staying in that range keeps the full message visible in results.

Find out whether your site has this problem, and every other check, in one free scan.

Check your site free

Why it matters

A meta description that's too short under-sells the page, and one that's too long gets cut off in search results. Both reduce click-through rate.

How to fix

1 Rewrite the description to fall within roughly 50-160 characters.
2 Make sure it accurately summarizes the page's actual content.

Fix it in your stack

HTML

One tag in <head>, written for this page only.

<meta name="description" content="Plans for teams of 2 to 50: compare features, limits and support.">

Next.js

App Router: in the page metadata.

export const metadata = { description: 'Plans for teams of 2 to 50: compare features, limits and support.' };

WordPress

Edit the meta description field of your SEO plugin per page; Yoast SEO and Rank Math show its length as you type.

Common mistakes

Writing a long, thorough description that reads great in a CMS field but gets cut off mid-sentence in actual search results.
Leaving a placeholder or auto-generated one-line description that is far too short to be persuasive.
Not accounting for the fact different search engines and locales may truncate at slightly different lengths, and aiming for the safe middle of the range.

How to verify

1 Measure the description length and confirm it falls within roughly 50-160 characters.
2 Preview it in a SERP-simulator tool to check for visual truncation.
3 Confirm the description still makes sense and ends on a complete thought if it is near the upper limit.

Questions

How long should a meta description be?: Google cuts snippets by pixel width, roughly 150 to 160 characters on desktop and less on mobile. Say the useful part in the first 120 characters.
What range does EngineeringScore flag?: Descriptions shorter than 50 or longer than 160 characters. A missing description is a separate check.
Does the meta description affect ranking?: Not directly. It is the text most people read before choosing a result, so it affects how many click. Google may replace it with text from the page when it matches the search better.

Ready to see where you stand?

Scan your site and get your Engineering Score with a prioritized roadmap in under a minute, no signup required.

Scan your site