Opinion... writing meta descriptions is (mostly) a waste of time
Agree or disagree – and if so, why?
My reasoning:
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Google will, more often than not, ignore your beautifully optimised meta description and rewrite it based on a user's specific search / what generates the best CTR.
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Searchers almost certainly don't read them
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The very fact Google ignores them a lot of time shows they're not an important ranking factor.
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Writing "a good meta" is actually quite time consuming
Exceptions:
- It's still important for major landing pages, such as your homepage and (sometimes) top-level navigation pages.
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Disagree.
I don't think that people should spend as much time as they tend do (meta descriptions are not a ranking factor, and people obsess over them).
But Google will bold search terms if they appear in the meta description so I can be an opportunity to stand out if you understand what search terms the page will rank for.
Writing a good meta description does not need to be time consuming - write a 1-2 sentence teaser for the page and make it keyword rich. It can be done in 5 minutes and ought to be part of the publishing process.
Google does re-write meta descriptions, so you have a point there - but it doesn't no harm to give Google a head start by providing a meta description you wrote.