agentsiteaudit · Checks · SEO

Meta description length: write the snippet people see in search

The meta description is a short summary of a page, hidden in its code. Search engines often show it under your page title in the results, and AI tools read it as a quick summary of the page.

Our check passes descriptions between 70 and 160 characters, warns between 50 and 69 or 161 and 200, and fails anything shorter than 50 or longer than 200, or a missing description.

In our November 2026 study of businesses selling to AI agents, 44% of the 1,190 websites we checked had a homepage meta description that was missing, too short or too long. See the full study.

Why it matters

It is not a ranking factor, but it is your advert in the results. A clear, specific description gets more clicks than a cut-off sentence or one Google has had to make up from random text on the page.

What our check looks for

• Pass: 70-160 characters
• Warning: 50-69 or 161-200
• Fail: Under 50 or over 200

Check ID seo.meta_description.length · SEO · Low priority

How to fix it

Plain HTML

<meta name="description" content="Alpaca walks in the Itchen Valley, Hampshire. Two-hour guided walks for families and groups, open all year. Book online.">

Put it inside the head of each page. Say what the page offers, who for, and what to do next.

WordPress

Edit page > SEO plugin box > Meta description

Yoast, Rank Math and similar plugins add a box under the page editor with a length bar. Write one for each important page.

Quick formula

What it is + who it is for + one detail + a call to action

For example: "Resin driveways in Hampshire. Fitted in two days, 10-year guarantee. Free quote."

Common mistakes

• The same description on every page.
• Stuffing keywords instead of writing a sentence a person would want to read.
• Going over about 160 characters, so the end is cut off with "...".
• Leaving it empty and letting the search engine choose a random piece of text.

Related checks

• Tell AI agents who your business is: name and contact details as structured data
• llms.txt: how to add a guide for AI agents to your website

Written by Derek Moore, who builds and runs websites for small UK businesses. Last checked 30 October 2026.