How to fix duplicate meta description on BigCommerce

Steps for BigCommerce

1. For a product: go to Products → View, open the product, select the 'Other details' tab, find the 'Search Engine Optimization' panel, and enter a unique description in the 'Meta Description' field.
2. For a category: go to Products → Product Categories, click 'Edit' on the category, scroll to the 'Search Engine Optimization' section, and fill in 'Meta Description'.
3. For standard pages (e.g. About, FAQ): go to Storefront → Web Pages, open the page, scroll to the 'Search Engine Optimization' section, and update the Meta Description field.
4. For the homepage: go to Storefront → Home Page Carousel or Content → Home Page, then edit the default meta description via Store Setup → Store Profile → 'Default meta description' field.
5. For bulk product updates: export your product catalogue (Products → Export) to CSV, populate the 'meta_description' column, and re-import via Products → Import.
6. After saving, verify with a browser or SEO tool that the new description appears in the page source, then request re-indexing in Google Search Console.

What is duplicate meta description?

A meta description is a short summary (typically 150–160 characters) that appears beneath your page title in Google search results. When two or more pages share the exact same meta description text, Google detects the duplication and will often rewrite the snippet itself — usually pulling random text from the page — which rarely reflects your best selling points. Unique meta descriptions give each page its own tailored pitch to shoppers who are scanning search results before they click.

Google explicitly recommends unique meta descriptions for every page, and duplicate descriptions are flagged as a quality issue in its SEO guidance. When Google rewrites your snippet with arbitrary on-page text, you lose control of the first impression your store makes in search results — which directly hurts click-through rate (CTR). Lower CTR means fewer visitors even when you rank well, translating to lost revenue. On collection and category pages specifically, a generic description shared across dozens of pages also signals low content differentiation, which can lead Google to consolidate or devalue those pages in its index.

See the complete Duplicate meta description guide for every platform and the full background.