Google Is Now Testing AI-Generated Meta Descriptions

In a recent announcement from Brody Clark on LinkedIn, Google is now testing out AI-generated meta descriptions. Let's take a look at that in action.

What This Looks Like in Action

Here we have a search for "how to get oil stains out of clothes Reddit." You can see in a couple of examples, it's got the Gemini symbol, which is Google's AI or large language model, and it is basically summarizing the thread with AI.

For now, we're only seeing this test on Reddit threads.

Google Has Been Rewriting Meta Descriptions for a Long Time

It's important to note that Google has been rewriting meta descriptions for quite some time. And currently, it still does. Remember, this AI thing is still just a test.

In a Search Engine Land article, it states Google rewrites somewhere between 60% and 70% of all meta descriptions, depending on what study you look at.

The Big Takeaway

The big takeaway here with what Google currently does and what it's testing with AI is that it's just not a worthwhile activity to manually write meta descriptions anymore.

In fact, it's not even super efficient to write them with AI. Google is mostly rewriting them, and it's looking to incorporate AI into rewriting them as well.

Data-Backed Support

I've got a little support for this. Mark Williams Cook is basing his thoughts on this on data and testing. You can see right here: we don't recommend writing meta descriptions anymore.

So in both cases, he feels like it's not a worthwhile activity. There's plenty of other things you can be focusing on, and that's our agency stance as well.

Watch Out for Outdated SEO Audits

So watch out for this sort of thing, and make sure the initiatives in your SEO strategy make sense.