Background:

• Meta descriptions show up on search engines to describe the page listing being shown (basically telling the user in 1-2 sentences what they will find on that page).
• Each description should be appealing and interesting  to readers, otherwise even a highly ranked page won’t perform well.
•  Example of how a meta description looks on the search engines below:
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• Basically, the Meta description should describe the content you have written in an informative and concise manner.

Keywords:

• If multiple keywords are provided use them once within the meta description (max 2 keywords per meta).
• If only one keyword is provided, use it once within in the 1st sentence.

• Put the meta description at the very top of the content you have written (above the title) unless specified in the style guide.
• Meta descriptions should be 1-2 sentences long, but should not exceed 160 characters.  Characters include spaces and punctuation (simply highlight your description in word, left click the word count at the bottom of the page and a new text box will pop up that will show you characters with spaces).
• Do not include a phone number or address unless requested in the special instructions
• Remember, if a Meta Description is being added to an article or product description, do not include it when figuring your word count. Only the body of the document is counted in the word count, not the Title or Meta Description or any other add-on to the content.