The optimal meta description length is 150–160 characters. This range ensures your full description appears on both desktop and mobile without being cut off by Google's ellipsis. Mobile typically truncates around 120 characters, but Google often shows more on desktop, so aiming for 155 characters gives you the best compromise. Google doesn't use meta descriptions as a ranking factor, but they directly impact click-through rate from search results. A well-written description that uses your target keyword naturally and includes a clear value proposition can be the difference between a 2% and 8% CTR on the same ranking position. That CTR difference compounds into significant traffic over time. Some practitioners push to 300+ characters hoping Google's expanded snippets will show more text. This occasionally works for featured snippets or specific query types, but it's inconsistent. Google rewrites meta descriptions roughly 70% of the time anyway, pulling text from your page content that better matches the searcher's query. Writing a concise, compelling 155-character version gives you control over your primary message while still allowing Google flexibility. At Ottawa SEO, we write meta descriptions that include the primary keyword in the first 120 characters, add one clear benefit or differentiator, and sometimes end with a soft call-to-action when character count allows. For local pages, we include the city name early. For product or service pages, we mention a specific outcome or timeframe. Watch out for duplication across pages. Every page needs a unique meta description, even if you have 500+ URLs like our portfolio. Duplicate descriptions waste the opportunity to differentiate pages in search results and can look lazy to users comparing multiple results from your domain. Also avoid keyword stuffing. Two natural mentions maximum. The goal is persuasion, not density. Technically, Google truncates by pixel width rather than character count: roughly 920 pixels on desktop and 680 on mobile. Characters are just a convenient proxy, and since letters vary in width (an "i" is narrow, a "W" is wide), a description heavy on capitals and wide letters truncates sooner than the character count suggests. This is why 150-160 characters is a guideline rather than a hard limit, and why most SERP preview tools measure pixels. Formulas we reuse across page types, all landing between 140 and 158 characters: - Service pages: what you do + where + differentiator + soft CTA ("Kitchen renovations in Ottawa with fixed-price quotes and a 5-year warranty. See recent projects and book a free consultation.") - Blog posts: the question the post answers + the payoff ("How long does SEO take? Real timelines from 200+ campaigns, what speeds results up, and the milestones to expect at 3, 6, and 12 months.") - Product pages: product + key spec + trust signal (price, shipping, guarantee) - Local pages: service + city early, since the searcher scans for their location Auditing at scale: crawl the site with a tool like Screaming Frog, export descriptions with their pixel widths, and fix in priority order: missing first, duplicates second, truncated third. On a large site, only hand-write descriptions for pages that earn meaningful impressions; templated patterns are fine for long-tail pages Google will rewrite anyway. When Google rewrites yours despite good work, check which queries the page ranks for in Search Console. Rewrites usually mean your description addresses a different intent than the queries sending traffic. Align the description to the winning intent and the rewrite rate drops.