Meta description
A meta description is a short summary of a web page, written into its code, which search engines may show under the result’s headline.
- SEO description
What it means
A meta description sits in a page’s code and sums up what the page is about. Shoppers do not see it on the page itself. Google says it “primarily uses the content on the page” to write the snippet under a result. It may use the meta description “when it describes the page better than other parts of the content”.1
There is no hard limit: “There’s no limit on how long a meta description can be”, though Google cuts the snippet to fit the screen.1 Shopify’s SEO description takes up to 320 characters, and Shopify recommends 160.23 If it is left blank, “the product Description is used”.2
A catalogue can build them from its data. For large sites built from a database, Google says generating descriptions “can be appropriate and are encouraged”, as long as they are “human-readable and diverse”. It also warns that “Identical or similar descriptions on every page of a site aren’t helpful”.1
Think of it like this
It is like the blurb on the back of a paperback. It is not the book, and the shop may print its own summary instead, but a good blurb is what makes someone pick it up.
For example
Built from a freestanding bath’s own row, a meta description might read: “Freestanding acrylic bath, 1,700 × 800 mm and 580 mm deep, in white. Holds 250 litres, no tap holes, pop-up waste included.” At 123 characters, it fits inside the 160 Shopify recommends.3
Why it matters
When Google does use it, the meta description is the pitch under your headline. Google warns that descriptions made of “long strings of keywords” are “less likely to be displayed as a snippet”.1 On Shopify a blank one falls back to the product description, and text past 320 characters “might get cut off in search engine results”.4
Not to be confused with
The product description is the text on the page and in feeds. The meta description is a separate, short summary for search results, and Google may replace it with a snippet of its own.
Sources
- Google Search Central. Control your snippets in search results.
- Shopify Help Center. Using CSV files to import and export products.
- Shopify Help Center. Adding keywords for SEO to your Shopify store.
- Shopify Help Center. Adding and updating products.