Free meta description length checker

There is no character limit, only a width

Google does not publish a maximum length for meta descriptions and does not count characters. It shows as much of a snippet as fits the space on the device, then cuts the rest with an ellipsis. Because letters differ in width, the same number of characters can fit or not: a line of i and l runs much further than a line of m and W.

This checker measures your text in 14px Arial, the font of desktop snippets, and compares it with two widths:

Both widths are observed values, not published ones, and they shift as Google changes its result layout. Mobile results use a different font, so the mobile figure is an estimate. A description a few pixels under is fine. One that is well over will lose its ending.

The six checks

1. Not too short. Under 70 characters there is rarely enough to tell a searcher what the page offers, and Google is more likely to write its own snippet.
2. Not too long. Measured in pixels against both widths. Passing desktop but not mobile is a warning: the end is dropped on phones.
3. No repetition at the start. If you enter the title, the checker warns when the description opens with the same three or more words, since title and description are shown together. It also catches a word typed twice in a row.
4. Ends with a complete sentence. A description that stops without closing punctuation has often been cut by a character limit in a CMS field or during pasting.
5. Not in capitals. Capitals are wider and harder to read in a block.
6. No unescaped double quotes. In content="...", a straight double quote ends the attribute, so a search engine reads only the part before it. The checker outputs the tag with quotes written as ", or you can use single quotes.

Each check is something a program can measure. Whether the description is persuasive is for you to judge.

Too long is not an error

A description that runs over is not penalized, and the page does not rank lower. It is simply truncated. What matters is what is left: if the first 110 or so characters carry the main point, a cut on mobile costs little.

So write front-loaded. Put what the page gives the reader, and any concrete detail such as a number, a price or a timeframe, in the first sentence. Use the rest for supporting detail that can be lost without harm.

Keep in mind that Google chooses the snippet for each query. It often uses the meta description when it matches what was searched, and takes text from the page when it does not. Meta descriptions are not used for ranking. Their job is to make the result worth clicking. Our guide to writing descriptions Google keeps goes into what to say.

How this differs from the SERP snippet preview

The two tools answer different questions. This one is a checker: it scores a description for length on desktop and mobile and runs objective checks on the text. The SERP snippet preview is a mock-up: it shows the title, URL and description together as one desktop result, and measures the title too.

Use the checker while writing or reviewing descriptions, then the preview to see the finished result as a searcher would. To find pages on a live site whose descriptions are missing, short or too long, run the free SEO audit.