---
type: Reference
title: Meta description craft
description: Google rewrites half of all meta descriptions. The other half is yours to lose. Here's how to keep yours intact.
resource: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/snippet
tags: [meta-description, serp, on-page]
timestamp: 2026-06-19T08:00:00Z
---

# Meta description craft

Google rewrites about half of the meta descriptions in its index. The
rewrite happens when the query and the description don't line up,
when the description is missing, or when Google thinks the on-page
text answers the query better.

Your job is to write descriptions that *don't get rewritten* for your
priority queries.

## Length

Aim for **140–160 characters**. The mobile preview truncates around
character 120, but desktop allows more, and Google sometimes shows
two-line previews. Write to the longer ceiling but front-load the
value into the first 110.

## Composition

A working meta description does three things in order:

1. Confirms the page matches the query (mirror the user's intent).
2. Adds a fact, number, or specificity the title didn't have room for.
3. Implies an action the reader can take by clicking through.

```
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Three jobs, 156 characters.

## What gets rewritten

- Descriptions that just repeat the title.
- Descriptions full of brand boilerplate ("We are committed to…").
- Descriptions written for a different query than the page targets.
- Empty meta tags. Google falls back to scraping a paragraph from
  the page body, often poorly.

See [/titles-and-meta/title-tag.md](/titles-and-meta/title-tag.md) for
the sibling element. The title and description should read together,
not redundantly.
