How to write meta descriptions for website

Meta descriptions are the 160-character snippets that appear below your page title in search results. While they don't directly impact rankings, they significantly influence click-through rates, which your clients care about more than anything else. Write them as persuasive copy that makes someone actually want to click your result instead of competitors' results above or below you.

The most effective meta descriptions answer the implicit question a searcher is asking. If someone searches "best CMS for small business," they want to know what you'll deliver. Instead of "This article discusses content management systems," write "Compare the 5 easiest CMS platforms for small business owners with no technical skills. Setup in minutes, not days." Notice the second version addresses a specific pain point and sets an expectation. You're selling the click. Keep them between 150-160 characters because Google truncates longer descriptions on desktop and mobile, and anything beyond that wastes space. Write unique descriptions for every page—your homepage deserves a different description than your blog post about local SEO. When you reuse the same meta description across pages, you're essentially treating them as interchangeable, which they're not.

Include your primary keyword naturally if it fits without forcing it. Google bolds matching keywords in search results, which draws the eye, but this only works if the keyword appears genuinely in your description. Don't keyword stuff or write awkwardly just to include a term. For service pages, communicate the core benefit immediately. Instead of "Learn about our digital marketing services," try "Drive qualified leads with our data-driven digital marketing strategies. Custom campaigns for B2B companies." For blog posts, hint at the value without giving away the entire answer—"Discover why your Google ads have low conversion rates and the specific fixes that increased our clients' ROI by 34%." This creates curiosity that makes people click.

For your agency's clients, create a simple template they can follow: opening hook that addresses their need, specific detail or benefit, and a micro call-to-action when appropriate. Train them that meta descriptions are marketing copy for search results, not an HTML tag to ignore. The description is often the final decision point between your client's page and a competitor's, so it's worth spending an extra minute to get it right.