The Ultimate Guide to Blogger Search Descriptions: SEO & User Experience (2026 Edition)

One of the most effective yet underutilized SEO practices for web developers and bloggers is mastering the Search Description.

Recently, a reader of my blog asked an intriguing question: “Can I display the custom rich snippet text I write for Google directly on my blog posts for my readers to see?”

The answer is yes. This technique hits two birds with one stone: it optimizes your site for search engines (SEO) while simultaneously improving the User Experience (UX) by providing a quick summary (TL;DR) for your visitors.

Understanding the “Search Snippet”

When a user searches for a query (e.g., “how to fix a leaky faucet”) on engines like Google or Bing, the results page (SERP) displays three key elements:

1. The Title: The clickable headline of the webpage.
2. The URL: The web address.
3. The Snippet (Description): The two lines of gray text describing the content.

How Google Generates Snippets

Google generates these snippets automatically using various signals. Primarily, it looks for a Meta Description tag in your HTML. If that is missing, or if Google thinks it doesn’t match the user’s query, it will scrape random sentences from your page body.

The Problem: Randomly scraped text often looks messy, cuts off mid-sentence, or misses the point of your article.

The Solution: By enabling Search Descriptions in Blogger, you force the inclusion of a <meta name="description"> tag. This gives you control over what potential visitors see before they even click your link, significantly increasing your Click-Through Rate (CTR).

Why Display the Description to Readers?

The technique originally pioneered by Showeblogin involves taking that hidden SEO data and making it visible on the actual blog post.

Benefits:

• Immediate Context: Readers instantly know what the article covers without scrolling.
• Reduced Bounce Rate: By setting expectations early, readers are more likely to stay if the summary matches their intent.
• Social Media Consistency: When readers share your post on Facebook or X (formerly Twitter), this same description is often used for the preview card, ensuring your content looks professional everywhere.

Phase 1: Enabling Search Descriptions in Blogger

By default, Blogger hides this feature. You must enable it globally before you can use it on individual posts.

1. Log in to your Blogger Dashboard.
2. Navigate to Settings in the left-hand menu.
3. Scroll down to the Meta tags section.
4. Toggle the switch for “Enable search description” to ON (Green).
5. Important: Click the “Search description” text appearing below the toggle. Enter a summary for your homepage (e.g., “Tech tips, coding tutorials, and SEO guides for modern bloggers.”). Keep this under 150 characters.

Phase 2: Writing Descriptions for Posts

Once enabled, a new field appears in your Post Editor.

1. Create a new post or edit an existing one.
2. Look at the Post Settings panel on the right sidebar.
3. Click Search Description.
4. Write your summary.

💡 Pro-Tips for Writing Descriptions

• Length: Keep it between 150–160 characters. Google typically truncates anything longer than 160 characters.
• Keywords: Include your main keyword early in the sentence.
• The Hook: Don’t just list topics. Use active verbs.
  • Bad: “This post is about how to cook pasta.”
  • Good: “Learn how to cook perfect al dente pasta in 10 minutes with this step-by-step Italian guide.”

Phase 3: The Technical Implementation (Coding)

Now, let’s make that hidden description visible at the top of your post body. We will use conditional tags so this only appears on post pages (not the homepage) and only if a description actually exists.

Step 1: Add the CSS Styling

This controls how the summary box looks. We want it to stand out from the rest of your text.

1. Go to Theme > Customize > Advanced > Add CSS.
2. Paste the following code:

CSS

/* SWT Summary Box Styles */
.swt-snippet {
    background-color: #f8f9fa; /* Light grey background */
    border-left: 5px solid #007bff; /* Blue accent bar */
    padding: 15px 20px;
    margin: 20px 0 30px 0;
    border-radius: 4px;
    box-shadow: 0 4px 6px rgba(0,0,0,0.05);
    font-family: 'Georgia', serif; /* Distinct font for summary */
    line-height: 1.6;
}

.swt-snippet-label {
    display: block;
    font-family: 'Arial', sans-serif;
    font-weight: bold;
    text-transform: uppercase;
    font-size: 0.8rem;
    color: #007bff;
    margin-bottom: 8px;
    letter-spacing: 1px;
}

.swt-snippet-text {
    color: #333;
    font-style: italic;
    font-size: 1.05rem;
}

Step 2: Edit the HTML Template

1. Go to Theme > Edit HTML.
2. Click inside the code box and press Ctrl + F (or Cmd + F).
3. Search for <data:post.body/>.
   • Troubleshooting: You might see 2 or 3 instances of this tag.
     • Instance 1: usually for the Mobile view (skip this if you use a responsive theme).
     • Instance 2/3: usually for the Desktop view. This is where you want to paste the code.
4. Paste the following XML code immediately above the <data:post.body/> tag:

XML

<b:if cond='data:blog.pageType == "item"'>
  <b:if cond='data:blog.metaDescription'>
    
    <div class='swt-snippet'>
      <span class='swt-snippet-label'>In this article:</span>
      <span class='swt-snippet-text'>
        <data:blog.metaDescription/>
      </span>
    </div>

  </b:if>
</b:if>

Code Explanation

• data:blog.pageType == "item": This ensures the summary box only loads on individual blog posts, not on your homepage or archive pages where it would look cluttered.
• data:blog.metaDescription: This is a “safety check.” If you forget to write a search description for a specific post, this code prevents an empty, ugly box from appearing. It will only render if the data exists.

Summary of Results

By implementing this, you achieve a professional “magazine style” layout:

1. Search Engine: Sees the meta description tag and displays it in search results.
2. Social Media: Scrapes the tag for link previews.
3. Human Reader: Sees a styled “In this article” summary box at the very top of your content.

This creates a cohesive experience across all platforms using a single input field in your Blogger dashboard.