Meta descriptions: the two lines under the headline.
Under every blue headline in a Google result are two lines of gray text. That is the meta description. It does not change where you rank. It changes whether the guest who sees you clicks you or the park below you.
IN ONE PARAGRAPH
The meta description is a sentence or two in the page's code that Google usually shows under the result headline. It is not a ranking factor. It is the reason a guest clicks. A park's description should say, in about 110 to 160 characters, what the page offers and one reason to choose it: "Full-hookup pull-through sites and cabins five minutes from the west entrance to Yellowstone. Open May through October." A missing description makes Google pull random text from the page instead, which is usually worse. We check every page for a missing description, one outside the length range, and one reused across pages.
What a meta description is
A short summary in the page's code: <meta name="description" content="...">. Google shows it under the headline in results when it matches the search; otherwise Google picks a fragment from the page. It also appears when the page is shared in some apps. It has no direct effect on ranking. It has a large effect on how many of the people who see the result click it, and clicks are what bookings come from.
What it looks like on a park website
- No description at all, so Google shows the first text it finds, often the navigation menu: "Home About Sites Rates Contact."
- The same description on every page, copied from the homepage.
- A description written for a search engine instead of a person: "RV park, campground, RV sites, camping, cabins, Buena Vista, Colorado, best RV park."
- Two hundred characters that get cut mid-sentence.
- A description that says nothing a guest wants to know: "Welcome to our website. We look forward to your stay."
What a good one says
The offer and a reason, in plain words, inside the length. Examples:
- Homepage: "Riverfront RV park in Buena Vista with 60 full-hookup sites, 8 cabins, and a walk to the hot springs. Open April to October. Book online."
- Monthly page: "Monthly RV sites in Prescott from $650 with water, sewer, 50 amp, and laundry on site. Long-term guests welcome year-round."
- Cabins page: "Four cabins with kitchens and porches, a short walk from the west gate of Yellowstone. Sleeps up to six. Pets welcome in two."
Numbers, places, and a season do more than adjectives. The guest is comparing results; give them something to compare.
What it costs a park
Two parks rank next to each other. One shows "Home About Sites Rates Contact." The other shows sites, cabins, the hot springs, and the season. The second gets the click, and Google notices which result people prefer. Over time the park with the better description creeps up, and the one with none slides. It costs nothing to write and it is skipped on most park sites.
How to check your own site
- Search Google for your park's name and read the two gray lines. If they are a menu or a random sentence, you have no description.
- Do the same for "[your town] RV park" and compare your lines to the parks next to you.
- View the page source and search for name="description". Count the characters in the content.
What we do about it
Every page we build gets a description written by hand for that page, inside the length, with a fact a guest would act on. No two pages share one. We revisit them when Search Console shows a page getting impressions but few clicks, because that pattern almost always means the description is not earning the click.
Questions about this.
Do meta descriptions affect Google rankings?
Not directly. Google has said they are not a ranking factor. They affect how many people click a result, and click rates influence rankings over time, so a good description helps indirectly and a missing one hurts.
How long should a meta description be?
About 110 to 160 characters. Google shows roughly 155 to 160 on desktop and fewer on phones, and cuts the rest.
What happens if a page has no meta description?
Google chooses text from the page to show instead, often the navigation or the first paragraph, which rarely reads as a reason to click.
Should every page have a different description?
Yes. A description copied across pages tells Google the pages are the same and gives the guest no reason to pick one page over another.
Want this checked on your park site?
Send us the address. We run the full check and tell you what we found, in plain words. SEO for parks starts at $250 a month.
Part of the RV park SEO guide, section: The technical check. Previous: Title tags: the headline Google shows. Next: H1 headings: one per page, and it should say what the page is.