A meta description is an HTML tag that provides a brief summary of your webpage, typically displayed beneath the page title in Google search results. While Google doesn't use meta descriptions as a direct ranking factor, they significantly influence whether searchers click your result or a competitor's, making them critical for organic traffic. The optimal length is 150–160 characters. Google truncates longer descriptions with an ellipsis, cutting off your message. Mobile displays are even tighter, closer to 120 characters in practice. Every character counts when you're competing for clicks against nine other results. A strong meta description answers the searcher's intent immediately, includes your target keyword naturally, and provides a reason to click. For a Toronto plumber targeting "emergency pipe repair," something like "24/7 emergency pipe repair in Toronto. Licensed plumbers arrive in 60 minutes. Upfront pricing, no overtime charges. Call now" works better than generic copy about quality service. Google rewrites meta descriptions roughly 70% of the time, pulling content from your page when it believes that better matches the query. This happens more often when your description is too vague, stuffed with keywords, or doesn't align with what the page actually covers. You can't prevent rewrites entirely, but tight, relevant descriptions get used more often. At Ottawa SEO, we write unique meta descriptions for every important page, priority-ordered by traffic potential. Homepage, service pages, and top blog posts get manual optimization. For large sites with thousands of pages, we template descriptions using dynamic variables like location, product name, or category, then manually refine the top 20% by traffic. A thin or duplicate meta description is worse than none at all, Google will just generate one from your content, and at least that's guaranteed unique. Treat your meta description as ad copy. You're not writing for Google's algorithm, you're writing for the human who's deciding between your result and four others in three seconds.