Wikipedia:Short description

Wikipedia:Short description

The short description of a Wikipedia article is a brief phrase, with a specific format, designed to work together with the title to indicate the article's scope and content. It is a form of metadata that appears in search results, mobile displays, and other locations where space is limited.

Purpose

Short descriptions serve multiple functions within Wikipedia's ecosystem. They provide quick context for readers browsing search results, help disambiguate articles with similar titles, and improve the user experience on mobile devices where screen space is limited. The descriptions are particularly useful when multiple articles share similar names, allowing users to quickly identify the correct article they're seeking.

Short descriptions are displayed in various locations including Google search results, Wikipedia's mobile interface, and link previews on social media platforms. This makes them an important tool for helping readers find and identify Wikipedia content across different platforms and contexts.

Format and guidelines

Length and style

Short descriptions should be limited to approximately 40 characters, though this is a guideline rather than a strict limit. The description should be a brief noun phrase that complements the article title. It should not be a complete sentence and should not include the article title itself.

For biographical articles, the format typically follows the pattern of profession, nationality, and time period. For example, the short description for a footballer would be "Burundian footballer". The description should answer the implicit question "What is this?" or "Who is this?" in the most concise way possible.

Content requirements

Short descriptions should be:

• Concise: Use the minimum number of words necessary to convey the essential information.
• Neutral: Maintain Wikipedia's neutral point of view, avoiding promotional or biased language.
• Accurate: Reflect the actual content and scope of the article.
• Complementary: Work together with the article title to provide context, not repeat it.

Implementation

Template usage

Short descriptions are added to articles using the {{Short description}} template, which should be placed near the top of the article's wikitext. The basic syntax is:

For articles that should not have a short description, editors can use:

Template:SHORTDESC:Template:Testcases other

This explicitly indicates that the article should not have a short description, which is different from simply not having the template at all.

WikiProject efforts

The WikiProject Short descriptions is an organized effort to populate all Wikipedia mainspace articles with suitable short descriptions and to improve existing descriptions. This project coordinates editors' efforts to ensure consistency and quality across Wikipedia's short description metadata.

Examples

Common patterns for short descriptions include:

• People: "American physicist" (for a scientist), "19th-century French painter" (for an artist)
• Places: "City in California, United States", "Mountain in the Alps"
• Species: "Species of bird", "Endangered species of South American fish"
• Concepts: "Mathematical theorem", "Economic theory"
• Events: "2020 sporting event", "Historical battle"

Technical aspects

Short descriptions are stored as page properties in Wikipedia's database and can be accessed through various APIs. They are separate from the article's lead paragraph and do not appear in the rendered article text itself, though they may be visible in edit mode.

The descriptions are automatically pulled by search engines and social media platforms when Wikipedia links are shared, making them an important part of Wikipedia's external presentation. This metadata helps ensure that Wikipedia content is accurately represented across the internet.

See also

• Wikipedia:Manual of Style
• Wikipedia:Article titles
• Template:Short description
• Wikipedia:WikiProject Short descriptions