B
Evidence Grade B
Graded
accuracy verified by the review judge
Safe to Cite
Current
62.78%
62.78% -- meta description rewrite rate for Google (2026)
Google rewrites meta descriptions 62.78% of the time according to an Ahrefs study.
Attribution:
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Lighthouse Research Team
Last verified:
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Source verified
Evidence graded
Value
62.78%
Unit
Percentage
Data Vintage
2026
Entity
Geography
EMEA
Evidence Quality
B
Strong, reliable evidence
Sourced from a well-regarded research firm or industry leader with transparent methodology and a reasonably large sample.
Single source - not yet corroborated
Score breakdown
Extraction
50
Source Trust
60
Citation Chain
20
Independence
30
Methodology
45
Freshness
95
Source
Ahrefs
Primary
Tier C
https://nexagrowth.co.uk/blog/meta-descriptions/ ↗
Source Article
How to Write Meta Descriptions: Tips and Examples 2026
- Meta descriptions are short snippets of text that appear in search results, influencing click-through rate (CTR) but not directly affecting search rankings.
- Google may rewrite meta descriptions if they don’t match user intent or are poorly written.
- Effective meta descriptions should use an act…
Original Research
Ahrefs
· Original study ↗
Methodology
Ahrefs study cited by Nexa Growth blog
Methodology documented
Trend Over Time
| Period | Value | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 68% | |
| 2025 | 71% | +4.4% |
| 2026 (current) | 62.78% | -11.6% |
Segmentation
IndustryMedia
RegionEMEA
RoleAll marketers
Channelsearch
Cite this stat
Plain Text
Google: 62.78% meta description rewrite rate. Source: Ahrefs (2026). Via Lighthouse Intelligence -- https://lighthousedata.io/data/google-rewrites-meta-descriptions-62-78
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<blockquote cite="https://lighthousedata.io/data/google-rewrites-meta-descriptions-62-78" style="border-left:3px solid #2563eb;padding:12px 16px;margin:16px 0;font-family:system-ui,sans-serif;background:#f0f4ff;"><strong>62.78%</strong> -- meta description rewrite rate for Google<br><small>Source: Ahrefs (2026) · <a href="https://lighthousedata.io/data/google-rewrites-meta-descriptions-62-78" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lighthouse Intelligence</a></small></blockquote>
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