> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.37audits.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Meta Description Length Auditor
> Validates that the HTML meta description is present and within the recommended 150–160 character range
**SEO Auditor** — validates that the HTML meta description is present and within the recommended 150–160 character range.
Descriptions that search engines can display in full and that summarize the page.
Search snippets use a unique, readable summary instead of a truncated or invented excerpt.
The HTML `meta name=description` is the snippet search engines often show under the title in results. This auditor fetches the page, extracts description tags with jsoup, and checks presence, emptiness, length bands, and duplicate tags.
## How it works
The auditor loads the audited URL and evaluates `meta[name=description]` elements:
1. **Fetch** — requests the HTML with jsoup (including HTTP Basic Auth when provided).
2. **Extract** — reads `document.select("meta[name=description]")`, uses the first tag's `content` attribute after trim, and counts how many description tags exist.
3. **Rules** — applies missing, empty, far-too-short (1–119), far-too-long (over 180), and duplicate-tag checks (FAIL), then slightly short (120–149) and slightly long (161–180) checks (WARNING). Length rules are skipped when the description is missing or empty.
4. **Aggregate** — any `FAIL` rule wins over `WARNING`; if every rule passes, the audit is `SUCCESS`.
Fetch errors (unreachable host, invalid URL) produce an `ERROR` response rather than a description finding.
## What it audits
Every row maps to one `checkRule*` method and one `CheckCode`. CheckCode suffixes use status ranges: `200` success, `300–399` warning, `400–499` fail.
| CheckCode | Status | When it fires | Recommendation |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | --------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `37A-MetaDescriptionLengthAuditor-400` | `FAIL` | The document has no `meta[name=description]` element. | Add a unique meta description of 150–160 characters on `{url}`. |
| `37A-MetaDescriptionLengthAuditor-401` | `FAIL` | A meta description tag is present but its content is empty after trim. | Put a unique summary of 150–160 characters in the meta description on `{url}`. |
| `37A-MetaDescriptionLengthAuditor-402` | `FAIL` | The meta description is 1–119 characters. | Expand the description beyond `"{description}"` so it summarizes the page in 150–160 characters. |
| `37A-MetaDescriptionLengthAuditor-403` | `FAIL` | The meta description is longer than 180 characters. | Shorten `"{description}"` from `{length}` characters to 150–160 so search results can display it. |
| `37A-MetaDescriptionLengthAuditor-404` | `FAIL` | The document has more than one `meta[name=description]` element; crawlers typically use only the first. | Keep a single meta description on `{url}`; remove the extra `{descriptionCount - 1}` meta description tag(s). |
| `37A-MetaDescriptionLengthAuditor-300` | `WARNING` | The meta description is 120–149 characters. | Expand `"{description}"` toward 150–160 characters so snippets are less likely to be padded. |
| `37A-MetaDescriptionLengthAuditor-301` | `WARNING` | The meta description is 161–180 characters. | Shorten `"{description}"` from `{length}` characters toward 150–160 so snippets are less likely to be truncated. |
| `37A-MetaDescriptionLengthAuditor-200` | `SUCCESS` | Every rule above passed; one `SUCCESS` check is added with the message `Meta description "{description}" is {length} characters, within the recommended 150–160 range.` | — |
## Output documentation
| Status | Description | Test logic |
| ----------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| **SUCCESS** | The page has a single meta description of 150–160 characters | One `meta[name=description]` is present, not blank after trim, and `length` is between 150 and 160 inclusive. |
| **WARNING** | The description is usable but may be padded or truncated in search snippets | Length is 120–149 (`300`) or 161–180 (`301`). |
| **FAIL** | The description is missing, empty, duplicated, or far outside the recommended range | No meta description (`400`); empty content (`401`); length 1–119 (`402`); length greater than 180 (`403`); more than one `meta[name=description]` (`404`). |
| **ERROR** | The auditor could not fetch or parse the page | Network, HTTP, or parse failure in `process`. |
## Risks and considerations
### Search visibility
* Missing or empty meta descriptions force search engines to invent a snippet, which often mismatches the page and lowers click-through.
* Descriptions over 160 characters are typically truncated in SERPs; over 180 characters are almost never shown in full.
* Very short descriptions (under 120 characters) waste snippet space and give users little reason to click.
### Uniqueness and intent
* Duplicate `meta name=description` tags leave crawlers guessing which value to use. Keep a single tag whose content matches this page.
* Reusing the same generic description across many URLs collapses rankings and analytics into one unhelpful snippet.
### Whitespace and encoding
* Leading and trailing whitespace is trimmed before length is measured; a description of only spaces is treated as empty.
* Character count is the Java string length of the trimmed `content` attribute, not a pixel-width estimate used by some SERP renderers.
* Only the first `meta[name=description]` is measured; extra description tags are flagged separately and otherwise ignored.