What Is SEO Meta Description?

The meta description in HTML is the 160-character snippet that is used to summarize the content of a web page. Search engines might use these snippets in search results to make visitors understand what the page is about before they click on it.

In short, a meta description is an attribute within your meta tags that help describe your page. This snippet of text may appear in the SERPs under your headline. However, sometimes, search engines pull a snippet of text from the main body copy of the page instead of the meta description.

To find the SEO meta description on any web page, you have to right-click on the page and select “view source” or “view page source”:

Why SEO meta description matters

Meta description tags have a significant impact on your search engine optimization efforts. The most important reason to add meta description is – your meta description acts as “organic ad text.” That means when your ad ranks for a keyword, the search engines will show the meta description as a summary of the page when your potential visitors look for a relevant service. This makes the meta description as important as ad text.

A compelling meta description can improve the click-through rate of your organic search results. That means more and more people can find your page in the search results, and they actually click through and land on your site. So, even if your ranking stays the same, you get more traffic to your site! This can help you boost up your revenue.