Does Google Still Use Your Meta Description? What 54 Sites Show
Yes, sometimes. Google builds snippets primarily from the page itself and uses your meta description when it describes the page better than the page does. It is not a ranking factor. In September I checked 54 therapy practice websites in the US, and 22 of 52 didn't give every page its own description.
Does Google still use meta descriptions?
It does, as one source among several. Google's own documentation says snippets are primarily created from the page content, and that it sometimes uses the meta description when that gives a more accurate description than text taken from the page. It also says the snippet can change from one search to another, because it tries to match what the person typed.
So the honest answer to a client is neither "yes" nor "it's dead". The description is a suggestion Google can take. Your job is to make it the best suggestion on the page, so that when Google does take it, the result says what you want it to say.
Is the meta description a ranking factor?
No. Google said it plainly in 2009, in the same post where it confirmed it ignores the keywords meta tag: it sometimes uses the description for snippets, but not in ranking. I haven't found anything Google published since that says otherwise.
What a description can change is the click. Two results in the same position don't get the same clicks if one reads like a clear answer and the other like a list of keywords. That's a reason to write it well, not a reason to stuff it.
The three questions get mixed up in client conversations, so it helps to separate them:
| The question | Short answer | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Does it help me rank? | No | Google Search Central blog, September 2009 |
| Does Google show it? | Sometimes, when it describes the page better than the page text | Google Search Central, Control your snippets in search results |
| Does it help people choose my result? | It can, because it is the pitch under your title | Same document: "like a pitch" |
| Do AI assistants read it? | I can't show you that they do | No public documentation I can cite |
Why does Google ignore the meta description I wrote?
Usually for one of three reasons. The description doesn't match the search: someone asked about fees and your description talks about your approach, so Google pulls the sentence about fees from the page. The description is a list of keywords instead of a summary, which Google's guidance asks you to avoid. Or the description is the same one you used everywhere, so it says nothing about this particular page.
The first reason isn't a problem to fix. If Google shows a better sentence from your page for a specific search, the page did its job. The other two are yours to fix.
How many service sites repeat the same description on every page?
Fewer repeat it than skip it. I read the home page and up to three more pages on each of 54 private therapy practice websites in ten US metros. On 52 of them I could read at least two pages.
5 of the 54 have no description on the home page. 18 are missing one on at least one of the pages I read. 7 reuse the same description on two or more pages, and 3 of those also have a page without one. Put together, 22 of 52 sites (42%) don't give every page I read its own description. Across 345 sites in six samples, including five in Latin America, it was 158 of 324, almost half.
I checked my own site the same day, with the same rule, on the 46 addresses in its sitemap. 42 have their own description. The 4 that don't are the blog's category pages, which Squarespace builds on its own. That's the usual shape: the pages you wrote get one, and the pages the platform made for you get nothing.
What should a meta description say on a service page?
What the page answers, for whom, and one specific detail a person would want before clicking. Google's guidance asks for descriptions that are unique to each page, relevant, and summaries rather than keyword lists. For a service page that usually means the service, the client it's for, and a fact like location, format or what the first session looks like.
There is no character limit in Google's documentation. The snippet is cut to fit the screen, so put the useful part first. Mine run between 90 and 155 characters, and the ones I like best are the ones a person could read aloud.
A weak one: "Therapy services. Anxiety, depression, couples counseling, trauma. Contact us today." A better one: "Couples therapy in Pasadena for partners stuck in the same argument. In person or online, evening sessions, and a free 15 minute call first." The second can only describe one page, which is the point.
How do you check whether Google kept yours?
Search for the page the way a client would, and compare the text under your result with the description you wrote. Then search for the exact name of the page. If Google shows your words in one search and page text in the other, that's normal: it's choosing per search.
To find the missing and repeated ones in bulk, open your sitemap and check each page's source for meta name="description", or run a free crawler that lists descriptions per URL. Prioritize the home page and the service pages, which is also what Google suggests when you don't have time for every page. And if a page isn't appearing at all, the description isn't the problem: start with why a page can be indexed and still not show up.
Search Console won't show you the snippet, but it shows impressions and clicks per page. A page with impressions and almost no clicks is the one whose title and description deserve a rewrite first. I explained how to read those numbers in measuring visibility in Search Console.
Questions I get about this
Should I leave the meta description empty and let Google decide?
No. Google says it uses the description when it's the better summary, and an empty one can never be. Write one for the pages that matter.
Is it a problem if my description is longer than 160 characters?
Not by Google's documentation, which sets no limit. It only gets cut on screen, so the first sentence has to work alone.
Does the meta description matter for ChatGPT or Perplexity?
I have no public source that says how much. What does matter, for every machine that reads your site, is that the page itself answers clearly. That's the part I cover in making a site citable for AI search.
Can I write the same description for similar pages?
Google says identical or similar descriptions on every page aren't helpful. Use a site-level one on the home page and page-level ones everywhere else.
What I can and can't claim
The numbers come from 54 private therapy practice websites in the US, read in September 2026: the home page and up to three more pages each, recording whether each page had a description and whether any text repeated. The 345 add five samples from Latin America with the same method. What I can't tell you is how often Google rewrites a snippet for these sites, because that changes with every search and I didn't measure it.
If you want me to check the descriptions and the rest of the technical basics on your site, that is part of the audit, or you can book a strategic fit call and we'll look at it together.
