A meta description in WordPress is an HTML meta tag that provides a concise summary of what a page or post is about. It lives in the page's <head> section and typically shows up as the two-line description under your title in Google search results. While it doesn't directly affect rankings, it heavily influences click-through rate, which does matter. In WordPress, you don't edit raw HTML to add meta descriptions. Instead, install an SEO plugin like Yoast SEO, Rank Math, or All in One SEO. These plugins add a meta description field to every post and page editor, usually right below the main content area. You write your description there, the plugin injects the proper HTML tag, and Google reads it when crawling your site. Keep descriptions between 150 and 160 characters. Google truncates anything longer with an ellipsis, wasting your message. Write them like ad copy: include your target keyword naturally, explain what the user gets by clicking, and create urgency or curiosity when appropriate. Avoid duplicate descriptions across pages—Google may ignore them or replace them with auto-generated snippets if they're too generic. If you don't set a meta description, Google pulls text from your page content, which is often disjointed or irrelevant. That's why we always write custom descriptions for client pages in our portfolio, especially for commercial and service pages where CTR directly impacts lead volume. Some themes claim built-in SEO fields, but they're usually barebones. A dedicated plugin gives you character counters, preview snippets, and bulk editing. At Ottawa SEO, we typically use Rank Math for its schema markup integration and performance, but Yoast works fine for most WordPress sites. The key is writing descriptions that make people want to click, not just stuffing keywords into a tag Google might rewrite anyway.