Checks
Meta description presence
Confirms every page ships a meta description tag with actual text, since without one search engines write your snippet for you.
What this check looks for
The check looks for <meta name="description" content="…"> in the page's <head>. It fails if no such tag exists at all, and fails separately if the tag is present but its content attribute is empty after trimming. Any non-empty description text passes; the description-length check separately grades how well-sized that text is.
Why it matters
A meta description doesn't directly move rankings, but it is the primary source for the snippet search engines display under your title — when it's missing, Google auto-generates a snippet by scraping fragments of on-page text, which is frequently disjointed and rarely as persuasive as copy you'd write yourself. For AI answer engines, the description is often the fastest, cleanest summary of "what is this page about" available without parsing the full body, so leaving it blank pushes the model to rely on noisier signals when deciding whether and how to cite the page.
How to fix it
Add a meta description tag summarizing the page in your own words:
<head>
<title>Wireless Noise-Cancelling Headphones | Acme Audio</title>
<meta name="description" content="Shop Acme's wireless noise-cancelling headphones — 40-hour battery, adaptive ANC, and free shipping on every order.">
</head>Write a unique sentence or two per page rather than a boilerplate line reused sitewide — that also keeps you clear of the separate duplicate-description check.
See how your site scores on this check