What a meta description is
A meta description is the 150-ish-character paragraph that sits under the blue link in a Google search result. It tells the searcher what the page is about and is the deciding factor on whether they click your result or the one above it. The HTML looks like this:
<meta name="description" content="The 150-character ad under your title.">It lives in the head of the page, never appears on the page itself, and is read exclusively by search engines and social platforms (when no Open Graph tag is set). That is part of what makes it so easy to overlook: nobody on the team ever sees it during day-to-day work.
Two things to be clear about up front. First, it is not a ranking factor. Google said so in 2009, has reiterated it since, and our own data confirms it. You will not rank higher because of the words in your meta description. You will rank higher because of the click-through rate the meta description earns, which over time signals to Google that your page is the right answer. That distinction matters because it changes how you write the tag: for the human reading the SERP, not for the algorithm.
Second, Google does not always honour what you wrote. Industry estimates put the rewrite rate at around 60 to 70 percent. Google substitutes a sentence from the page body when it thinks your meta is too generic, too brand-heavy, or does not match the query. The remaining 30 percent of cases (often more on commercial-intent pages) get to use what you actually wrote. Aim to be in that 30 percent.
Why it still matters when Google rewrites most of them
The 70 percent rewrite rate has convinced some agencies that the meta description is not worth writing. That logic falls over once you look at the numbers more carefully.
Three reasons it still matters:
- It is the version Google falls back to. Even on queries where Google rewrites, the rewrite often pulls a sentence that resembles the meta description because the body copy and meta were written from the same brief. A clean meta tells Google what tone and angle to mimic.
- It is the social share text. Slack, Facebook, LinkedIn, iMessage and most email previews pull the meta description when there is no Open Graph override. That is a much bigger reach than the SERP for many pages.
- It guarantees consistency on commercial queries. Google honours meta descriptions far more often on commercial queries (where it is helpful to keep the brand's framing) than on informational ones (where it prefers to extract the answer). On the pages that actually convert into leads, your meta survives more often than not.
And here is the cost-benefit equation. Writing a good meta description takes about 90 seconds per page. Even if Google only keeps yours one time in three, that is a CTR uplift on roughly a third of your impressions, for ninety seconds of work. The ROI is absurd.
The recipe: a four-step formula
Every meta description we write follows the same four-step pattern. About 80 percent of our outputs use this structure directly.
- Lead with the answer. The first sentence answers the implied question of the search query. If someone searches "emergency electrician Perth", the meta starts "24/7 electrical callouts across Perth, fully licensed, fixed-price quotes."
- Add credibility in the middle. A specific number, a year, a guarantee, a known location. "Trusted since 2008", "Over 800 jobs in Perth metro", "From Joondalup to Mandurah".
- Finish with a call to action. A real human action: call us, get a quote, book online, read the guide. Not "find out more", which is dead text that adds nothing.
- Mirror the query language. Use the exact words and phrasing the searcher used. If they typed "emergency electrician", do not write "after-hours electrical specialist". Google highlights matching keywords in bold inside the SERP, which lifts CTR another 15 to 25 percent.
That gives you a structure like: Answer + Credibility + Call to action, all inside 160 characters, all in the searcher's own language. Simple to follow, surprisingly few sites do it.
Worked example
Search query: "tax accountant Fremantle"
Bad meta: Welcome to our website. We are a leading Fremantle-based accounting firm offering a wide range of services including tax, bookkeeping, business advisory and SMSF.
Google rewrites this 100 percent of the time. It is brand-led, lists too much, and does not answer the actual query.
Better meta: Tax accountant Fremantle. Fixed-fee returns from $250, registered tax agents, same-week turnaround. Book a free 20-minute consult online or call.
159 characters. Leads with the answer, names a price band (credibility), mentions a turnaround (credibility), ends with two calls to action. Google honours this one most of the time because every sentence inside it earns its place.
Patterns by page type
Five common page types, five patterns. None of these are magic, but they are a useful starting point.
Service page
Answer (service + location). Two credibility markers separated by commas. Call to action.
Example: "Plumber Joondalup. Same-day callouts, fully licensed, fixed-price quotes. Call 0435 462 205 or get a free online quote in two minutes."
Location page
Service in [Location]. What makes this branch different. Local proof point. CTA.
Example: "SEO Fremantle. Local-first agency, real Perth case studies, no offshore content mills. Get a free site audit or call our Freo team."
Blog post (informational)
The promise of the article. What the reader walks away with. Implicit CTA.
Example: "How to write a title tag that ranks and earns the click. Length, formulas, Perth examples, and the five-step framework we use on every client site."
Product page (e-commerce)
Product + key spec. Price or range. Shipping or warranty proof. CTA.
Example: "Sonos Era 100 wireless speaker. 360-degree sound, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, two-year warranty. Free Perth metro delivery, in stock today."
Category page (e-commerce)
What the category covers. Range size or filters. Trust marker. CTA.
Example: "Solar inverters 3kW to 10kW. Fronius, SMA and SolarEdge in stock. CEC-approved, 10-year warranty, Perth metro install. Browse or compare."
For more on how the meta interacts with other on-page elements, the title tags chapter covers what should sit above it and the header tags chapter covers what should sit inside the page once they click.
Mistakes that get them rewritten or ignored
- Match the wording the searcher used. Bold keywords lift CTR.
- 140 to 160 characters. Long enough to use the space, short enough not to truncate.
- Specific numbers: prices, years, suburb counts, response times.
- One call to action at the end, in plain language.
- Unique on every page.
- "Welcome to our website." Lazy and topic-free. Rewritten every time.
- The same boilerplate paragraph copied across every page in the site.
- Pure marketing speak: "premier", "leading", "best-in-class", "industry-renowned".
- Lists of unrelated services separated by commas. Picks no fight, says nothing.
- "Click here to find out more" or any other dead CTA.
- Bold-stuffing keywords in unnatural orders to try to win the SERP highlight.
- Meta description identical to title tag.
The pattern across all these failures: vagueness. Google rewrites vagueness in favour of specifics it can extract from the page. Write specifically, you keep your version. Write vaguely, Google does it for you.
Tools and checklists
Three tools cover almost the entire workflow:
- Search Console Performance report. Filter to pages with high impressions and low CTR. These are the pages whose meta needs work. The exact same shortlist that drives title tag rewrites also drives meta rewrites.
- Screaming Frog. Free up to 500 URLs. Sort by missing meta, duplicate meta, over-length meta. Catches every missing tag in one sweep.
- A SERP preview tool. Yoast, RankMath or any standalone preview. Confirms the meta fits inside the pixel limit on both desktop and mobile before you publish.
For a single-page audit that flags meta description gaps along with everything else on-page, run our free SEO audit tool. For full-site coverage on larger sites, the website audit service handles every URL.
A 60-second meta description checklist
- Is the primary keyword in the first 60 characters?
- Is the total length between 140 and 160 characters?
- Is there one concrete credibility marker (number, year, location)?
- Is there a clear call to action at the end?
- Is this meta unique across the site?
- Does it sound like a human wrote it, not a template?
Perth and WA examples
Three real-world Perth patterns we have rewritten this year.
Trades example. A Cockburn-based roofing contractor had meta descriptions auto-generated from the first sentence of each page, which was always "Welcome to [Brand] Roofing." Across 14 service pages, all 14 metas were near-identical. We rewrote each with a specific roofing service (re-roof, leak repair, tile replacement, gutter install) and a Perth suburb count. CTR across the affected pages lifted from 1.2 percent to 2.9 percent within two months. See SEO Cockburn and the trades SEO guide.
Mining services example. A Karratha-based mining services provider had every page tagged with the corporate boilerplate: "[Brand] is a leading provider of mining services to the Pilbara region." We rewrote each with the specific service (mobile crane hire, drill rig transport, fuel logistics) and a named commodity. The pages started ranking for queries with named commodity modifiers they had never appeared for. The Karratha SEO page and mining SEO guide show the broader context.
Professional services example. A Joondalup-based legal practice had every blog post tagged with an identical 145-character corporate statement of values. We rewrote each to summarise the actual article. Blog page CTR roughly tripled across the catalogue over the following quarter. See SEO Joondalup and legal SEO.
None of these required new content. Pure meta description rewrites, done in an afternoon each.