Description Meta Tag

The description meta tag should contain a brief summary of the current webpage. This summary is used by search engines to display on the search engine results page (SERP) below the title and URL of the website. This gives users the opportunity to read if the website is what they are looking for. The description is also used by social networks when a link is shared in your timeline, or in a message. It may turn the shared link into a rich media card containing the title of the page, the description and an image (if found).

A description can be any length, but search engines will usually truncate them to 160 characters, so we recommend keeping the descriptions under this length. If the description meta tag is missing, too short, too long or if the search engine determines that it is not an accurate summary, then it may replace the description on the SERP with it's own summarization of the webpage, often by using the first paragraph of text that it can find.

<meta name="description" content="This is a summary of the webpage.">

Most Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts recommend having a description for every page that is between 50 and 160 characters. The description should accurately describe the contents of each specific page (not the website in general) and the descriptions should not be spammy or overly stuffed with keywords.