The ideal meta description length is 150–160 characters for desktop search results, but mobile displays typically cut off around 120 characters. We recommend targeting 155 characters as your sweet spot—it works across most devices and gives you enough room to include your primary keyword and a clear call to action. Google doesn't use meta descriptions as a ranking factor, but they directly influence click-through rate, which does affect performance. A well-written description that gets truncated loses its persuasive power, so staying within the character limit matters more than most SEO elements that don't directly impact rankings. Pixel width matters more than character count, technically. Google allocates roughly 920 pixels on desktop and 680 pixels on mobile. Wide characters like 'W' and 'M' take more space than 'i' or 'l', so a 160-character description full of wide letters might still get cut. Most SEO tools count characters because it's simpler and close enough for practical purposes. At Ottawa SEO, we write meta descriptions in this order: front-load the primary keyword in the first 8–12 words, include one compelling benefit or differentiator, then end with a subtle call to action. We keep the most important information in the first 120 characters since that's what mobile users see. Google rewrites meta descriptions about 63% of the time based on the search query, pulling text from your page content instead. This happens more often when your description doesn't match search intent or when Google finds a better snippet on your page. That doesn't mean you should skip writing them—your custom description still shows for branded searches and queries that align with what you wrote. If you run past 160 characters, Google shows an ellipsis and cuts you off mid-sentence, which looks unfinished and unprofessional. Going too short—under 120 characters—wastes valuable real estate where you could be convincing someone to click your result instead of the nine others on the page.