| Alert Properties | Alert Description |
|---|---|
| Alert Name | Missing/ blank meta description tags |
| Code | P09 |
| Description | Meta descriptions of a web page are either missing or blank |
| Level | Warning |
Page description involving meta tags and meta descriptions provide search engines with a summary of the identity of the page and its content.
A page’s title may have a few words or phrases, whereas a meta tag or description can offer better insight with a sentence or two or even a short paragraph.
The search engine will sometimes use the description tag and description of a page to generate search engine snippets for its results page, if the algorithm believes that the page gives users an accurate description of its on-page content. The page description acts like a pitch for the page, aiming to convince users that the page is exactly what they’re looking for. There’s no limit to the length of a meta description, but search engine snippets are truncated as required, typically to fit in with any device width.
Based on the meta description tags, search engines understand what the page is all about. A missing meta tag makes it harder for search engines to assess the content of the page and could skip mentioning them on their results page.
Best Practices
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To know about writing meta descriptions, read this article How to write meta description?