Meta page description
Status
- Research completed
- Draft completed
- Pending
- Required not completed
Pending
This standard will be pending for one year. Agencies will be required to comply with this standard on September 26, 2025.
Standard
Summarize the content of the page in the meta description tag. The description should be unique and include key information about the page content.
Why
The meta description supports accessibility and discoverability. The meta description will often appear in search results pages instead of a snippet of page content. The description, along with the HTML page title, helps a person decide whether or not to click a search result.
Applies to
Executive branch agency websites and digital services that are intended for use by the public
Acceptance criteria
These conditions must be met to comply with this standard.
- Every page of your site must have a unique meta page description.
- Meta page descriptions must be at least 50 characters to ensure that they provide enough detail about the page’s content.
How to implement
These are tips to help you implement this standard.
- Include a description in the meta description tag for every page of your website. The meta description tag is part of the
<head>section of a web page. - Page descriptions should summarize the content of a page. Descriptions should be written in plain language and include the most important information.
- Try to keep descriptions to between 50 and 160 characters. Descriptions that are too short might not include enough information about the content of the page. Descriptions that are too long often get truncated on search results pages.
Examples
These examples show the HTML code for meta page descriptions.
<meta name="description" content="Find out how to check the status of certain VA claims, decision reviews, or appeals online.">
<meta name="description" content="Learn steps you can take to lower your risk for health problems from high blood pressure, such as heart disease and stroke."/>