# meta-description-require

> Ensures every HTML document includes a non-blank meta description tag within the head element for better SEO.

A `<meta name="description">` with non-blank content must be present in `<head>` tag.

Level: Error

## Config value

[Section titled “Config value”](#config-value)

* `true`: enable rule
* `false`: disable rule

### The following patterns are **not** considered rule violations

[Section titled “The following patterns are not considered rule violations”](#the-following-patterns-are-not-considered-rule-violations)

```html
<html><head><meta name="description" content="A description of the page"></head></html>
```

### The following patterns are considered rule violations

[Section titled “The following patterns are considered rule violations”](#the-following-patterns-are-considered-rule-violations)

```html
<!-- Missing meta description -->
<html><head></head></html>


<!-- Empty meta description content -->
<html><head><meta name="description" content=""></head></html>


<!-- Whitespace-only meta description content -->
<html><head><meta name="description" content=" "></head></html>


<!-- Meta description outside head tag -->
<html><meta name="description" content="A description"><head></head></html>
```

## Why this rule is important

[Section titled “Why this rule is important”](#why-this-rule-is-important)

The `<meta name="description">` tag is used to provide a description of the page, which helps with SEO.

Further reading:

* [MDN Web Docs - Setting a document meta description](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Reference/Attributes/content#setting_a_document_meta_description)
* [Google Search Central - Meta descriptions](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/snippet#meta-descriptions)