Bulk Meta Description Checker
Check a list of meta descriptions for width, duplication and the things that stop them being used.
About this tool
Checks a list of meta descriptions before they go live: display width, duplication, missing entries and the patterns that stop Google using the one you wrote.
**The limit is pixels, not characters.** Google truncates on width, and "Illinois" and "WWWWWWWW" are both eight characters with nearly twice the width between them. A description that passes a 160-character check can still be cut mid-word. Width is estimated per character here, with the character count shown beside it rather than instead of it — and the estimate is labelled as an estimate, because it is one.
**Duplication is the finding that matters most.** A hundred pages sharing one description tells a searcher nothing about which to click, and it usually means a template is producing them rather than anybody writing them.
Google rewrites descriptions on roughly two thirds of results regardless. That is not a reason to skip them — it picks yours when yours answers the query better than a snippet it could extract.
Common questions
How long should a meta description be?
Roughly 120 to 155 characters, but the real limit is about 920 pixels on desktop and 680 on mobile. A description of narrow characters fits more; one of capitals and wide letters fits less.
Does the meta description affect rankings?
Not directly, and it has not for many years. It affects whether somebody clicks, which affects everything downstream. That is a better reason to write a good one than a ranking factor would be.
Why does Google rewrite mine?
It rewrites descriptions on roughly two thirds of results, usually when the query matches text on the page better than the description does. Writing one that answers the likely query is how you make yours the better option.
Is a duplicate description a penalty?
No penalty. It wastes the space — a searcher looking at three of your results reads the same sentence three times and learns nothing about which to open.