Writing meta descriptions that get clicked

Your meta description is the short paragraph under your page title in search results. It won’t move your ranking on its own; Google has said for years that it doesn’t use it as a ranking signal. But it’s often the deciding factor in whether someone clicks your result or the one below it, and that’s traffic either way.

What Google actually shows

Google treats your meta description as a suggestion. If it decides another passage from the page better answers the specific query, it shows that instead. You’ll see your own description more often when it’s specific, accurate and clearly about the page.

Length isn’t a hard rule, because snippets are cut by pixel width rather than a character count. As a working guide, aim for roughly 140 to 160 characters so the important part isn’t cut off on desktop, and put the most useful words first so mobile results still make sense.

A structure that works

For product pages, a reliable pattern is:

1. What it is, in the words a shopper would search.
2. The detail that sets it apart: material, fit, origin, a key spec.
3. A reason to choose you: free shipping threshold, returns window, warranty.

Collections need a different angle. Describe the range, not one product:

• What’s in the collection, and roughly how many options.
• Who it’s for, or what it’s for.
• The same store-wide reason to buy.

Examples

Product, before: Linen Shirt – My Store as the title, and no description, so Google picks a random line from the page.

Product, after: “Lightweight 100% linen shirt with a relaxed fit. Pre-washed for softness, available in six colours. Free returns within 30 days.”

Collection: “Shop 42 linen shirts for men and women, from relaxed summer button-downs to tailored long sleeves. Made in Portugal. Free shipping over $100.”

Each one is specific and true, and tells the shopper something they’d want to know before they click.

Don’t forget the title tag

The meta title, or SEO title, is the blue link itself, and unlike the description it does matter for ranking. Lead with the product name and its most searched descriptor, keep it to roughly 50 to 60 characters, and add your brand at the end if there’s room.

Doing it at catalog scale

Writing hundreds of these by hand is where most stores give up. Two approaches cover nearly every catalog:

• Templates for consistent product lines, using variables like the product title, type and vendor. Fast and predictable.
• Per-page writing, by hand or with AI, for your best sellers, key collections and anything a template would make read awkwardly.

Descriptions also feed AI assistants deciding whether a page is relevant. More on that in How AI assistants decide which stores to mention.