Here are the 10 most important guidelines for writing optimized meta descriptions.

1. Meta description Length – Keep it below 320 characters

As noted above, your meta descriptions should around 160 characters. Try to stay within this range and avoid making your meta descriptions too short or too long.

2. Each page should have a unique meta description

Each and every page or post of your website, including the homepage and category pages, should have a unique meta description.

3. A good description accurately summarizes the page content

Meta descriptions should be informative and interesting. Include all relevant information in your meta description to help users understand if the particular page is useful and relevant to what they are looking for.

Don’t write descriptions that have no relation to the content on the page.

4. Avoid auto generated descriptions

Some CMS automatically generate the description of a page based on what is written in the first 160 characters of the content. This is a bad practice because you may end up with meta descriptions that look like this, which are not search engine or user friendly.

5. Include keywords in your descriptions

I mentioned above that the descriptions don’t have a direct impact on rankings but that does not mean that you should not use keywords in your description. On the contrary, keywords are highlighted by search engines and make your snippet more relevant to the search queries.

6. Avoid generic descriptions

Approach the description of each page in a unique way and avoid writing generic descriptions that don’t accurately describe the page content.

7. Make it actionable but don’t overdo it

Your descriptions should invite users to click and visit your website but don’t overdo it. It’s always a good practice to make a few searches and see what your competitors have in their meta description before writing your own.

You want your descriptions to stand out and not be the same as your competitors.

8. Add the last updated date (if applicable)

Users are always looking for up-to-date information so where applicable add when your page was last updated. This will make your snippet more relevant and interesting to click.

9. Give users reasons to visit your website (add product features and benefits)

If you are selling products, then besides the product features, you can also include benefits of why users should buy from your store like free shipping, returns, money back guarantee, lifetime guarantee etc. Look at the nice example below coming from amazon.

10. Use schemas to enhance the appearance of your snippet

Although the use of schemas does not change the contents of the meta description, it helps in improving the overall appearance of your snippet and makes it a candidate for appearing as a Google feature snippet.