Google sets no limit on the length of a meta description. Its documentation says the snippet shown in search results is truncated as needed, typically to fit the device width, and that snippets are built primarily from the content of the page, with the meta description used when Google judges that it describes the page better. No character count can therefore guarantee what is displayed. The figure of about 155 characters is a common guideline for where your essential information should already have been said. It is not a Google rule.

What Google's documentation says

The page is How to write meta descriptions on Google Search Central. Its statement on length is one sentence:

"There's no limit on how long a meta description can be, but the snippet is truncated in Google Search results as needed, typically to fit the device width."

As of our reading on 7 October 2026, the page contains no character figure and does not mention pixels. Any specific number you have seen, whether in characters or pixels, is someone's observation of search results and not a Google specification.

Three reasons a count cannot be a guarantee

Truncation depends on the device. A narrower screen has less room, so the same description can be cut at different points for different people. The room is also a matter of rendered width, not of how many characters there are, for the reasons set out in SEO title length: characters vs pixel width.

Google may not use your description. The documentation is direct about this: "Snippets are primarily created from the page content itself." The meta description is used "if it might give users a more accurate description of the page than content taken directly from the page".

The snippet can change with the search. Snippets are meant to preview the part of the page most relevant to what someone searched for, so, in Google's words, "Google Search might show different snippets for different searches."

Put together: a description of exactly the recommended length may never be shown, and when it is shown it may be cut somewhere you did not plan for.

The length control Google does offer

There is one documented way to influence snippet length, and it works in a single direction. The max-snippet rule in a robots meta tag sets a ceiling:

<meta name="robots" content="max-snippet:120">

Google's robots meta tag specification defines it as "Use a maximum of [number] characters as a textual snippet for this search result." Two special values exist: 0 means no snippet at all, and -1 lets Google choose the length. If the rule is absent, the specification says, "Google will choose the length of the snippet."

Three cautions before using it:

  • It is a maximum, not a request. It can shorten snippets. It cannot make Google show a longer one, and it cannot make Google use your meta description.
  • It applies to the snippet whatever its source, including text taken from the page.
  • Its reach is wide. The specification says it applies to all forms of search results and also limits how much content may be used as direct input for AI Overviews and AI Mode.

Related controls on the same page are nosnippet, which prevents a snippet entirely, and the data-nosnippet attribute, which keeps a marked part of the page out of snippets.

What a good description contains

Google's guidance here is practical, and none of it is a number.

  • It is unique to the page. "Identical or similar descriptions on every page of a site aren't helpful". Google suggests site-level descriptions for the home page and page-level ones everywhere else, starting with your most important pages if you cannot write them all.
  • It carries specifics. A description does not have to be a sentence. For an article it can give the author and date; for a product, the price and manufacturer. In Google's words, "A good meta description can bring all this data together."
  • It summarizes the whole page. Google's own bad example is a description that opens with an anecdote and never says what the page covers.
  • It is not a keyword list. Descriptions made of "long strings of keywords" are, according to the page, "less likely to be displayed as a snippet".
  • It is not too short. Google marks a two-word description as a bad example and prefers one that is "specific and detailed".
  • It can be generated. For large sites Google encourages programmatic descriptions, provided they are "human-readable and diverse".

Write it so truncation costs little

Since you cannot control where the cut falls, control what is lost. Here is an invented example for a bike repair page. The first draft is 185 characters:

Welcome to Pedal and Chain. We are a family-run business established in 1998 and we pride ourselves on great customer service. On this page you can find out more about our bike repairs.

The rewrite is 151 characters:

Same-day bike repairs in Leeds from £25: punctures, brakes, gears and wheel truing. Walk in Mon-Sat, 8am-6pm, no booking needed. Family-run since 1998.

Now cut both at 80 characters, an arbitrary point chosen to stand in for a narrow screen:

Welcome to Pedal and Chain. We are a family-run business established in 1998 and
Same-day bike repairs in Leeds from £25: punctures, brakes, gears and wheel trui

The first draft has not yet said what the page is about. Its subject arrives in the last three words of the full text. The rewrite has already given the service, the place, the price and three of the jobs. What improved it is the order, not the length:

  • The subject and location come first.
  • Specifics replace claims: "from £25" does more work than "great customer service".
  • The least important fact, the founding year, is last, where losing it costs nothing.
  • The openers "Welcome to" and "On this page you can find out" are gone.

A practical method

  1. Write one or two sentences that summarize this page and no other.
  2. Put the what, the where or for whom, and the most useful specific in the first sentence.
  3. Add supporting details in descending order of importance.
  4. Paste the result into the Character Counter and select the SEO meta description guideline under Check Against A Limit. Read the guideline as the point by which the essentials should be finished, not as a length to hit.
  5. Do not pad a description that is already complete, and do not delete a useful second sentence only to get under the guideline. If it is cut, nothing essential is lost; if it is shown, it helps.
  6. Check the real result. Search for the page with a few of the queries you care about. You may find Google showing text from the page instead.

That last point is worth acting on. Because snippets come primarily from the page itself, a clear opening paragraph on the page can do as much for your snippet as the meta description does.

Which number to use

Treat about 155 characters as a drafting aid: say what matters before that point and stop when the description is complete. Our Character Counter labels this preset "Common guideline" for that reason. If the draft runs long and you want to tighten it without losing meaning, how to write clearly within a strict character limit has techniques that apply here too.