---
title: "No meta description (seo/meta-description)"
description: "Lighthouse SEO fails pages without <meta name=\"description\">, and search results fall back to a snippet scraped from the page."
url: http://localhost:4173/rules/seo/meta-description
updated: 2026-11-11
---

# No meta description

> `seo/meta-description` is a vetd rule. It flags: No meta description. It runs on every `check`, together with the TypeScript check.

| Fact | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Rule id | `seo/meta-description` |
| Severity | warning |
| Group | SEO |
| Tags | seo, lighthouse |

## Why it matters

Lighthouse SEO fails pages without <meta name="description">, and search results fall back to a snippet scraped from the page.

## How to fix it

Add `description` to the root layout's metadata, or to the page's own metadata/generateMetadata.

## Credit

Based on work by:

- [Google Chrome](https://developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse/overview): Lighthouse SEO fails pages with no meta description.
- [Google Search Central](https://developers.google.com/search): Documents how meta descriptions can be used as search snippets.

## References

- [Document does not have a meta description](https://developer.chrome.com/docs/lighthouse/seo/meta-description), Chrome for Developers
- [How to Write Meta Descriptions](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/snippet), Google Search Central
- [generateMetadata](https://nextjs.org/docs/app/api-reference/functions/generate-metadata), Next.js

## See it

Demos in the vetd Lab:

- [Write a meta description](http://localhost:4173/lab/web-standards/meta-description)

## Related rules

- [`next/missing-metadata`](http://localhost:4173/rules/next/missing-metadata.md)

## Get this text from vetd

MCP: call `explain` with `{ "diagnosticId": "seo/meta-description" }`. CLI: `npx vetd explain seo/meta-description`.

---

[All 92 rules](http://localhost:4173/rules.md) · Previous: [`data/serial-route-fetch`](http://localhost:4173/rules/data/serial-route-fetch.md) · Next: [`seo/link-text`](http://localhost:4173/rules/seo/link-text.md)