ONPAGE · SEO GLOSSARY

Meta Description

An HTML tag that describes a page's content; used by search engines to generate SERP snippets when relevant to the query.

Definition

The meta description is an HTML `<meta name="description" content="...">` tag that summarizes what a page is about. It does not directly affect rankings, but it does influence click-through rate: Google displays it (or a generated alternative) as the snippet below the title in search results. Descriptions should be between 120 and 160 characters and written as a clear value proposition or call to action.

Why it matters for SEO

A well-written meta description improves click-through rate, which compounds over time — more traffic to the same ranking means Google sees engagement signals that can protect and lift that ranking. A missing or duplicate meta description leaves Google to auto-generate one, often pulling a random sentence from the page that may not be the most compelling. Pages with duplicate descriptions across multiple URLs also look low-quality in bulk crawl analysis.

How DeepSEOAnalysis checks this

The audit flags pages with missing meta descriptions, descriptions over 160 characters (may truncate in mobile SERPs), duplicate descriptions shared across two or more pages, and descriptions that contain keyword stuffing or placeholder text. It also flags descriptions that are under 70 characters as potentially too short to be useful.