Meta Description Generator
A meta description will not move your ranking. It decides whether a ranking you already have turns into a visit, and Google only shows the one you wrote about three times in ten. This builds five drafts from six inputs, counts characters and estimates pixel width on each, and shows the strongest one in a mock Google result.
Six fields, five drafts, and a character and pixel count on each so you can see which ones will survive in a result.
- The generator
Five drafts, measured against what Google will actually display
Choose the page type first, because a product page and a guide need different openings. Everything after that is your own material: the keyword written as people search it, one true differentiator, an optional number you can stand behind, and a call to action only if you can afford the characters. Nothing leaves your browser.
Why 155 characters. Google sets no limit on the tag itself and truncates the snippet to fit the device, so this ceiling is a display limit rather than a rule. Around 150 to 160 characters survives on desktop and nearer 120 on mobile, so anything critical belongs in the first 120. Google also replaces the description with its own text for most results — Portent measured 68% on desktop and 71% on mobile across 30,000 keywords — usually when yours does not answer the query, so a description that earns its place is specific enough that rewriting it would lose information. Nothing here is sent anywhere; it all runs in your browser.
- Reading it
The character count is a display limit, not a rule
Google puts no limit on the tag itself. It truncates the snippet to fit the device, which is why the same description reads complete on a laptop and cut off on a phone.
Around 150 to 160 characters survives on desktop and nearer 120 on mobile, and a visible publication date eats into both. The tool counts characters and estimates pixel width, because two descriptions of identical length can truncate differently: capitals and wide letters take more room than i, l and t.
The number worth knowing is 68%. Portent tested 30,000 keywords and found Google replaced the meta description with its own text 68% of the time on desktop and 71% on mobile. Google says it does this when the page body answers the query better than your tag does, so the descriptions that survive tend to be the ones specific enough that rewriting them would lose information.
- Put anything load-bearing in the first 120 characters, where mobile will still show it
- Write the keyword as people search it, not as your category tree spells it
- Expect the rewrite on long-tail queries and spend the effort on pages that already earn impressions
- Getting it wrong
Four ways a meta description wastes its space
Each of these spends characters without giving the searcher a reason to choose you over the nine results around you.
Describing the page instead of the offer
Browse our range of merino wool socks tells the searcher what the title already told them. The description is the only place you get to say why yours rather than anyone else’s, so use it for something that is true of you and not of them.
Using the keyword twice
Repetition does not help the ranking, because the tag is not a ranking signal, and it reads badly in a result where Google bolds matched terms. One natural use is enough. The second costs characters you could have spent on a specification, a price or a guarantee.
Writing to 320 characters
Google briefly displayed much longer snippets in 2017 and the habit outlived the change. Anything past roughly 160 characters is written for nobody: desktop cuts it, mobile cuts it far earlier, and the part you cared about is usually in the half that disappeared.
Leaving one description on a hundred pages
Identical text across a category tree gives Google nothing to choose between, so it writes its own for all of them. If a distinct description per page is not realistic, a pattern per page type with real variables in it — which is what this tool is — beats one sentence copied everywhere.
Our guide to eCommerce SEO covers where titles and descriptions sit relative to the things that do move rankings, and the product description template handles the copy on the page itself rather than the snippet above it.
- Questions
Meta description FAQs
The questions this tool usually raises.
Do meta descriptions affect rankings?
No. Google has been consistent for years that the description is not a ranking signal. What it affects is the click-through rate on a ranking you already hold, which matters for a different reason: a page that earns clicks from a position tends to keep that position.
How long should a meta description be?
Google sets no limit on the tag and truncates the snippet to fit the device. In practice 150 to 160 characters survives on desktop and nearer 120 on mobile, and a visible publication date shortens both. Write the important half for 120 and treat the rest as a bonus.
Why does Google show something I did not write?
Because its own text answered the query better. Portent measured this across 30,000 keywords: 68% rewritten on desktop, 71% on mobile. It is not a penalty and there is no way to force your version. Where it matters, the fix is a description that answers the query more precisely than the page body does.
Does every page need one?
Every page you want clicks on. For a large catalogue, a pattern per page type with real variables in it is a reasonable compromise. Identical text across hundreds of URLs is not, because Google will simply replace all of them.
Does this tool use AI?
No. It is a set of written patterns with your inputs placed into them, running entirely in your browser. There is no API key, no usage limit and nothing sent anywhere. You will still want to edit the result: the point is a draft that already fits the length, not finished copy.
What about the title tag?
The title does more work than the description and it is a ranking factor. The preview here shows a plausible title so you can judge the pair together, but it is not generated to a pattern. Treat that line as a mock-up rather than a recommendation.
- Next
Related tools and reading
GUIDE
Where titles, descriptions and internal links sit relative to the things that actually move rankings.
TEMPLATE
The copy on the page rather than the snippet above it, with a structure that survives being filled in by someone else.
FREE AUDIT
Five working days across six disciplines, including which pages are earning clicks from the positions they already hold and which are not.
Ranking, but nobody is clicking?
That is a snippet problem rather than a ranking problem, and Search Console will tell you exactly which pages have it. The free audit reads impressions against clicks across the whole site and reports which titles and descriptions are leaving traffic on the table.