How long should a meta description be?

Google sets no limit and cuts the text to fit the screen. Write one or two sentences and put the important part first; the CMSKite editor counts towards about 155 characters as a guide.

Why does Google show different text from my meta description?

Google picks the snippet for each search. When text on the page answers that search better, it shows that instead.

Glossary · SEO

Meta description

A meta description is a short summary of a page, written in a meta tag in its head, that search engines may show under the page’s title in their results. Readers of the page never see it; it is there to help a searcher decide whether to click.

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An example

In the head of a bakery’s post · html

<title>How Much Does a Wedding Cake Cost? · Rosa’s Bakery</title>
<meta name="description" content="Our 2026 prices for two- and three-tier wedding cakes, what makes a cake cost more, and how far ahead to order.">

It answers the searcher’s question in one sentence and says what else is on the page. Compare a description that only repeats searches:

Not like this · html

<meta name="description" content="wedding cake, wedding cakes, wedding cake prices, best bakery, cheap cakes">

Why it matters for a small-business blog

In a list of results, your title and the text under it are the whole pitch. A small business next to large sites wins the click by being specific: the price range, the town, the actual answer. Google uses the meta description when it describes the page better than text taken from the page itself.

On CMSKite, as on many platforms, the same text is also the description in a shared link’s preview, so it is worth writing once and well.

Common mistakes

The same description on every post. Google: identical or similar descriptions on every page “aren’t helpful”. Each post answers something different; say what.
A list of keywords. Google says these are less likely to be shown as the snippet.
Counting on an exact length. There is no limit, but results cut the text to fit the screen. Put what matters in the first sentence, so it survives the cut.
Promising what the post does not deliver. It wins the click and loses the reader.
Expecting it to be shown every time. Google often writes its own snippet from the page, depending on what was searched.

How CMSKite handles it

One field per post. The editor’s search description counts towards about 155 characters and shows a preview of the result. Leave it empty and the post’s short description is used.
Written for you by AI, if you want. Drafts from Write with AI arrive with a search title and description already filled in, for you to edit.
On the free blog link it is in the HTML of every post page. With the embed, the script sets it when a post opens, which Google reads after running the script. Through the API, it is seo.description in each post, for your page’s head (Making your posts findable).

Sources

Checked on 4 October 2026.

Questions

How long should a meta description be?: Google sets no limit and cuts the text to fit the screen. Write one or two sentences and put the important part first; the CMSKite editor counts towards about 155 characters as a guide.
Why does Google show different text from my meta description?: Google picks the snippet for each search. When text on the page answers that search better, it shows that instead.

Checked 4 October 2026