Importance of Meta Description in 2021

[goodroi]

How much importance do you place on meta description?

If you have an old site, this is probably a moot point. You are probably ignoring it and letting the pre-existing meta descriptions linger as they always have been. But what if you were handed a 1000 page site? Would you take the time to craft meta descriptions for all the pages? Or only for the top pages (& how would you define a top page)?

Instead of writing 1000 meta descriptions, you could probably craft several good articles. When time & budget is limited where do you prefer to draw the line between meta descriptions & focusing on the visible content for your users?

[lucy24]

At one time G### sometimes used the meta description for their search snippet--although you couldn't do an exact-text search for this text--when no one bit of the page seemed to match. Have they stopped doing this? (Wouldn't surprise me, since the meta description provides information to the searcher that might result in their not clicking.)

[lammert]

I use meta descriptions on all my pages. They are the single most important trigger for a searcher for picking my link in the SERPs over another. I try to tailor them in such a way that it answers some of their questions directly, but with a cliff hanger as an incentive to see the full page.

[iamlost]

As lambert.

While I’m one of goodroi’s moot pointers except that I still craft descriptions for the occasional (site maintenance mode) new page.

Given as Google and other SEs still broadly use my descriptions in query returns it would be foolish to not.
Note: in my experience very very few webdevs/SEOs know how (1) to write a solid meta description or (2) to leverage G’s or other SEs need for same. It is because of that inability that G began rewriting descriptions back in the day.
Note: the title grabs attention, the meta description compels the click.

What has changed is the granularity of SEs especially G interest in page content. Because of this I also pay attention to subheadings (ie H2-6); I’ve noticed that when a meta description is not sufficiently illustrative of the content segment/chunk (a problem especially with long form content) G will often use subheading (or similar) content text when it is appropriately descriptive.

So, for those of us who do not want our content description to default to whatever G creates, we have extended our description writing to far beyond the meta.

Subheadings are not sub-titles but sub-descriptions. Or, where they need be sub-titles a sub-description needs be appended. And descriptions, as titles, are critical infrastructure far far too important to ignore aka leave to Google. My content, my title, my descriptions. Mine, I tell you, all mine!

Good boy, googlebot...
Now roll over...
Now sit up and beg...

[FranticFish]

If I've got control over or input into the page copy (and site plan) then I will write a meta description - even for a contact page. Google once created a snippet for a client's contact page that included their disclaimer and only their disclaimer. NOT a great trust factor when people Google the business :)

I won't write a meta description for a page that could end up in the SERPs for lots of different terms (i.e. a page that I figure is a bit of a mess topic-wise) as I figure it's a waste of time.

The new meta description split lengths (i.e. less pixel with / chars for mobile as opposed to desktop) has got me looking at these again.

I'm reworking a site currently and I'm going to try to have meta descriptions where I say everything I HAVE to within the mobile limit and then see if I can use the extra allocation for bigger screens to get in another call to action - or at least something else helpful. This is just an idea currently I haven't actually tried it.

[buckworks]

From time to time I consult Webmaster Tools to see what queries are getting the most impressions. One by one, I check how my listings look in the SERPs for those queries. If I see room for improvement, I tweak.

What matters here is not just what your meta description says, but how it comes across in the context of the overall results.

As others have mentioned, a good meta description attracts clicks. A search traffic increase resulting from a better CTR is worth just as much as ranking higher, and often easier to achieve.

[JorgeV]

Hello,

I am lazy, and abandoned meta description and keywords years ago, I didn't notice negative or positive impact. I think that, today, Search engines are smart enough to identify the content by themselves.

[lucy24]

meta keywords, if that's what you meant, are definitely a thing of the past. I use them only on my test site, where it says things like “spam, spam, spam, spam, viagra, span, spam, spam” .