How to fix meta description too short on WooCommerce
Expand every meta description to 120–160 characters so Google shows your custom summary in search results instead of auto-generating one.
Steps for WooCommerce
- Install the Yoast SEO plugin (or Rank Math SEO) if not already active: Plugins → Add New → search 'Yoast SEO' → Install → Activate.
- For a product: Products → All Products → Edit the product → scroll to the 'Yoast SEO' meta box below the editor → click the 'Google preview' snippet editor → type your description in the 'Meta description' field; the colour bar turns green at 120–156 characters → Update.
- For a category/tag page: Products → Categories → Edit the category → scroll to the Yoast SEO box → update the Meta description → Save.
- For standard pages/posts: Pages → Edit → Yoast SEO box → Meta description → Update.
- For bulk edits: use Yoast SEO's Bulk Editor (SEO → Tools → Bulk editor → Descriptions tab) to update multiple pages from one screen.
<meta name="description" content="Discover our full range of handmade leather wallets — slim, durable, and personalised. Free UK shipping on all orders. Shop now and find your perfect wallet.">What is meta description too short?
A meta description is the short paragraph of text that appears beneath your page title in Google search results. It is written in your page's HTML and is meant to summarise the page's content in a way that encourages people to click. When a meta description is too short (under ~120 characters), it leaves Google with too little material to work with, and Google will often ignore it entirely and pull a random snippet of text from your page body — text that may be confusing, off-brand, or unhelpful to a potential customer.
Your meta description is prime real estate in search results: it is often the deciding factor between a shopper clicking your link or a competitor's. A well-crafted, full-length description (120–160 characters) can meaningfully lift your click-through rate, which drives more organic traffic and revenue without spending a penny more on ads. Google's own documentation confirms it uses meta descriptions as a source for search result snippets, so a weak description hands control of your messaging to an algorithm. For an ecommerce store, that can mean Google shows a price, a date, or boilerplate navigation text instead of your key selling point.
See the complete Meta description too short guide for every platform and the full background.
Not sure if your WooCommerce store has this?
Run a free SEOLZ audit — we’ll find meta description too short and every other issue across your whole site.
Scan my site free