The short HTML summary of a page that search engines may display as the snippet beneath the title in results.
ID
SS-DF-066
Confidence
High · 85
Evidence
Strong
Updated
2026-07-08
Definition
The short HTML summary of a page that search engines may display as the snippet beneath the title in results.
The meta description is a brief summary, usually 140–160 characters, that describes a page's content and can appear as the descriptive text under the title in a SERP. It is not a direct ranking factor, but a clear, benefit-led description that matches the query improves click-through rate, which indirectly supports visibility. Search engines frequently replace it with a passage from the page when that better matches the query, so descriptions should be written as an inviting summary rather than keyword stuffing.