Meta Description Length Checker
Check description length and search snippet fit.
The meta description is the gray summary under the title in search results. It isn't a direct ranking factor but strongly affects click-through rate. This tool measures character count and estimated width so you can keep it un-truncated yet compelling.
Too short, and the engine may pull an arbitrary snippet from the body instead of your intended text. Check your title length with the meta title length checker, and see how the title and description look together in the SERP preview.
| Characters | 101 (recommended 70–90) |
|---|---|
| Estimated width | 803px (truncates at 990px) |
| Length incl. spaces | 101 |
Search result preview (approx.)
Writing effective descriptions
- Summarize the page in one sentence, then add a call to action.
- Include key terms naturally — matching words are bolded in results.
- Write a unique description per page.
Length thresholds (characters & pixels)
Google truncates by rendered width — roughly 990px on desktop — not by a hard character count. This tool recommends 70–90 characters (Latin), but actual truncation depends on pixels: a string full of wide glyphs like W and M runs out of room sooner than the same count of narrow ones.
| State | Approx. chars (Latin) | Pixel width | What happens in results |
|---|---|---|---|
| Too short | 0–69 | < 770px | Space left over — Google may append an arbitrary body snippet |
| Recommended | 70–90 | 770–990px | Shown in full, filling the line without empty space |
| Too long | 91+ | > 990px | Tail cut with … (mobile cuts even earlier) |
CJK scripts (Korean, Chinese, Japanese) are far wider per character, hitting 990px at around40–45 characters — so for those pages, watch the pixel gauge, not the character count.
A worked example
Take Free IP lookup tool — check location, ISP and hostname instantly. — about 60 Latin characters, comfortably under 990px. On desktop that leaves whitespace, so Google may tack on an extra sentence from your body copy. Add one more benefit ("No signup, results in seconds.") to push the gauge to the top of the recommended band and the snippet becomes fully yours. The same text in Korean would be far wider and risk truncation on mobile (~680px) well before it does on desktop.
Common pitfall
The most common mistake is reusing the same description (or a site-wide tagline) on every page. Google largely ignores duplicate descriptions and auto-generates a snippet from the body instead — so no matter how perfectly you tune the length, your intended copy never shows. The second trap is trusting the old "155–160 characters" rule and writing long: that easily exceeds 990pxand gets clipped. Trust this tool's pixel gauge, not a raw character count.