maximum kw meta-desc length

all engines included

[caine]

I have never conclusively found a maximum length of the meta description, that is accepted by all search engines, and not penalised.

150 characters, is what i use, this is a one size fits all position, so if anyone knows of unpenalised excess beyond 150 as a rule with all, or any reason why this is to much, lets get a list going.

[WebGuerrilla]

I don't think there are any engines that recognize the MD tag that are actively penalizing pages that have descriptions that exceed a specific number of characters.

I try and keep descriptions in the 150-200 character range, but I use that guideline simply because that is all that will get displayed.

I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who feels there pages have been penalized for having a large description tag.

How big was it, and what engine did it cause trouble on?

[agerhart]

I share WG's point of view that the only reason I tend to keep mine a certain length is because there is only a certain amount that will be dislplayed.

[Robert Charlton]

I use what I call a 150/250 character range...

My maximum overall length is 250 characters. The first 150 characters are what I know will be displayed, and I include in them the first uses of my target words for the page. This section must also entice the reader.

The rest is for second uses of my main target words, and while it must also work well for the reader, I'm a little sloppier about the prose and more concerned about text density.

I never feel obligated to use the full 250 characters, and always try for as compact a description as I can manage. It depends of course on how competitive the target terms are. You're probably better off if you can focus it all in just 150 characters, but that's not easy.

I also have different descriptions for pages in which company name is included in the title and pages in which the name is not included... and I try to focus my descriptions for individual page targets.