Table of contents

What is itWhy it mattersUsing the CustomizerFrom General SettingsThe differenceSet a custom meta description What to do if your theme hides the taglineBonusFAQsNext stepsAdditional resources

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WordPress Guide → Admin → Site Description

How to change a WordPress site description

That little sentence under your site title? It does more than you think. Your WordPress site description (or tagline) helps tell visitors—and search engines—what your website is all about.

Whether you’re launching a new brand or just cleaning up placeholder text, here’s how to update your site description the right way. We’ll also walk through how to change your meta description for SEO, and how to tell the difference between the two.

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What is the WordPress site description?

In WordPress, the “site description” refers to the tagline—a short line of text that describes your website’s purpose or focus.

You’ll find it:

In the browser tab, next to or below your site title
In the site header or footer, depending on your theme
In search engine results, if you haven’t set a custom meta description

The default tagline is often something like, “Just another WordPress site.” That doesn’t look great on a business website or blog, so it’s one of the first things you should change.

Why your site description matters

The tagline may seem minor, but it plays a role in how your site appears and performs.

Builds trust: A clear, relevant description tells visitors they’re in the right place.
Improves branding: It reinforces your site’s niche or value proposition.
Affects SEO: Search engines sometimes use it as a fallback meta description if none is set.

Even if your theme hides the tagline visually, it can still appear in your page source and browser tabs, so it’s worth setting.

Change the WordPress site description using the Customizer

This is the most beginner-friendly method, and it works on most themes.

Log into your WordPress dashboard.
In the left menu, go to Appearance > Customize.
Click Site Identity.
In the Tagline field, delete the default text and type in your new site description. You can also update your Site Title here if needed.
Click the blue Publish button at the top to save your changes.

You’ll see a live preview as you type, so you can test how it looks in your theme’s header or tab title.

Change the WordPress site description from General Settings

If you prefer not to use the Customizer or your theme disables it, use the General Settings screen instead.

From the WordPress dashboard, go to Settings > General.
Look for the Site Title and Tagline fields near the top.
Update the Tagline with your new description.
Scroll down and click Save Changes.

This works in any WordPress setup and is a quick way to update basic site info.

Understanding the difference: site description vs meta description

It’s easy to confuse the two, but they serve different purposes:

Feature	Site Description (Tagline)	Meta Description (SEO snippet)
Where it’s set	WordPress Settings or Customizer	SEO plugin (like SEOPress or Yoast)
Who sees it	Visitors (in header or browser tab)	Search engine users (in Google results)
Purpose	Describe site purpose for users	Summarize content to improve SEO and clicks
Overwritten by SEO?	Sometimes hidden or replaced by plugin	Explicitly controlled via meta tag

If you want full control over how your site appears in Google or Bing, you’ll also want to set a custom meta description.

Set a custom meta description using SEOPress or Yoast

WordPress doesn’t include meta description settings by default, but SEO plugins make it easy.

With SEOPress

Install the SEOPress plugin and activate it.
In the dashboard, go to SEO > Titles & Metas.
Click the Homepage tab
Fill in your Meta Title and Meta Description fields.
Save your changes.

With Yoast SEO

Install the Yoast SEO plugin and activate it.
In your dashboard, go to SEO > Search Appearance.
Under the General tab, locate the Homepage settings.
Enter a custom meta title and description.
Click Save Changes.

These descriptions are used by search engines to generate previews in search results, so aim for a clear, compelling summary of your site’s purpose.

What to do if your theme hides the tagline

Some modern WordPress themes don’t show the tagline in the header, or they hide it completely.

If you’re not seeing your description:

Go to Appearance > Customize and look for layout or header settings.
Check if the tagline is toggled off in theme options.
Try switching to a default theme (like Twenty Twenty-Four) to verify if the tagline appears.
If you’re comfortable with code, you can edit your theme files to display the tagline manually using <?php bloginfo(‘description’); ?>.

Themes control where and how site titles and taglines display, but the description still exists in your site’s metadata either way.

Bonus: How to add a dynamic tagline with page builders

A dynamic site description automatically pulls the current tagline from your WordPress settings and displays it in real time, wherever you embed it on your site. If you’re using your tagline in a header, footer, and various page layouts, for example, you only have to update it once, to update it everywhere.

If you’re using a tool like Elementor Pro, you can insert a dynamic site description anywhere on the page.

Edit your page with Elementor.
Drag in a Text Editor widget.
Click the Dynamic Tags icon (stacked dots) in the editor toolbar.
Select Site > Tagline.
The live site description will appear and update automatically when you change it in Settings or the Customizer.

You can style it however you like and reuse it across templates for consistent branding.

Site description FAQs

Go to Appearance > Customize > Site Identity or Settings > General. Update the Site Title and Tagline fields, then save your changes.

To add a custom site description, update the tagline in Settings or the Customizer. To control how your site appears in search engines, use an SEO plugin like SEOPress to set a custom meta description.

The site description is a short sentence known as the tagline that explains what your site is about. It can appear in the browser tab, site header, and some search engine results if no meta description is set.

Use an SEO plugin such as Yoast or SEOPress. These tools let you manually enter a custom meta description for your homepage and individual posts or pages.

Next steps for changing a WordPress site description

Your WordPress site description helps define your brand, shape first impressions, and even influence search results. Changing it is easy—but knowing the difference between the tagline and the meta description ensures you don’t miss a key detail.

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