Quick answer
Keep one page-specific meta[name="description"] element in a document. NOTABIS reports multiple-meta-descriptions when the measured HTML contains more than one description element. Remove accidental duplicates and keep the description that best represents the page; the remaining text may still be rewritten in search.
What the issue means
A meta description is a summary in the document head. Duplicate layout and CMS modules can emit conflicting values:
<meta name="description" content="Store winter tyres safely.">
<meta name="description" content="A seasonal tyre storage checklist.">
This is different from the same description reused across multiple URLs, which is covered by duplicate meta descriptions.
Why it matters for SEO
A useful description can help a searcher understand a result, but search engines choose snippets from the description or page content as they see fit. Multiple elements make the source ambiguous and can leave a stale or generic summary in place. There is no ranking penalty attached to the count itself, so fix the page’s content and template ownership rather than adding more copy.
How NOTABIS detects it
The multiple-meta-descriptions rule counts meta[name="description"] elements in the measured HTML and records a page-level issue when the count exceeds one. It does not judge the values, length, uniqueness across URLs, or whether a search engine displays them. Empty content has a separate implementation-gap rule.
How to check it yourself
Inspect View Source and the final DOM, then search layout files, CMS extensions, and route components for description generation. Check the response after redirects and in locale or mobile templates. Compare the surviving value with the page’s visible content.
How to fix it
Assign one description owner in the rendering stack and remove duplicate tags from nested layouts or plugins. Generate a concise, accurate summary from the page’s canonical content source:
<meta name="description" content="Prepare, store, and check tyres between seasons with this practical checklist.">
Escape special characters, avoid keyword lists, and recheck the final response after deployment. A search engine may select a different excerpt when it better matches a query.
When this is intentional or does not need fixing
Private routes, redirects, feeds, and API responses may not need a description at all. A page can also be valid without one if its content is better represented by a generated snippet. Do not preserve multiple tags as a way to target different search queries; write useful page content instead.
Related issues
Read meta description present, missing meta descriptions, meta description length, and duplicate descriptions across URLs. Google’s snippet guidance covers description rewriting.
Run a NOTABIS audit
NOTABIS reports pages with more than one measured description element and lets you inspect the values that the template emitted.