Meta description length in 2027: the 160-character myth

Aim for about 150 characters and stay under 160, because search results often cut off longer descriptions, but there is no exact limit.

You will see 155, 158 and 160 quoted as the rule. The truth is less tidy, and it is good news: you do not need to count characters like a robot.

Why there is no exact number

Search engines cut a snippet to fit the space on the screen, and that space depends on the device and the letters used. So the cut-off moves. A description that fits on one phone can be trimmed on another. About 150 characters is a safe target, and 160 is a safe ceiling. Marlo flags anything longer.

Google may rewrite it anyway

Search engines can show their own text instead of your description if they think another part of the page answers the search better. That is normal. A good description still helps, because it is often used and it is the one summary you control.

Does it affect ranking?

It is not a direct ranking factor, but a clear description can help people choose your result. Treat it as a short ad for the page, not a keyword list.

How to write a good one

• Say what the page is and who it is for, in plain words.
• Put the important part first, in case it is cut.
• Write a different one for every page. Duplicates waste the slot.
• Skip quotes and stuffed keywords.

<meta name="description" content="A free checker that shows if your page has a meta description and how to fix it. Paste a URL, no signup.">

How often is it missing?

In our audits of 365 homepages, 94 of the 251 sites with two or more issues (37%) had no meta description at all. That is our own sample, not a base rate for the web. Test yours with the meta description checker.

Check your own site

Marlo's free audit crawls your homepage and checks the title, description, headings, canonical and social tags, with the fix for each. No signup.

Written by Marlo's maker. Marlo is open source (AGPL-3.0) and the audit code is public.