Meta Description
The snippet under your title in results — a click-through lever, not a ranking one.
What it means
The meta description is a short HTML tag summarizing a page. Google often (not always) uses it as the snippet beneath your title in search results.
How it affects your SEO
It’s not a direct ranking factor, but a compelling description increases click-through rate — and clicks/engagement can influence rankings indirectly. Treating it as ad copy for your listing is the right mindset.
Meta Description — frequently asked questions
Does the meta description affect rankings?
Not directly. Its job is to earn the click. A compelling description lifts click-through rate, which can indirectly help rankings through engagement signals.
Why does Google sometimes ignore my meta description?
Google rewrites snippets when it believes a different excerpt better matches the query. Writing a description that closely matches the page and common queries reduces how often it is overridden.
Related SEO terms
The single most important on-page SEO element — your result’s headline.
Describes images for accessibility and image search.
Unnaturally repeating keywords — an outdated tactic that now hurts.
Tells Google which version of a page is the “real” one when duplicates exist.
Is this hurting your rankings?
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