Warning Affects: description data quality

Fix “Description exceeds length limit” on Meta Commerce Manager

Meta caps descriptions at 9,999 characters but truncates to ~90 in many placements. Long descriptions don't break catalogs but reduce visible content in product detail views.

What you see in Meta Commerce Manager:

Description exceeds length limit

Descriptions over 9,999 characters get truncated. Past ~90 characters, descriptions don't surface in catalog card views; past ~500 characters, they don't appear in expanded views either.

The optimisation work: front-load critical information in the first 90 characters. Material, key feature, target use case — these belong in the opening sentences. Detailed specs and supporting content can land further down.

For HTML-imported descriptions from CMS systems with markup, strip the HTML at feed generation and rewrite for plain-text consumption.

Top causes

1
Manufacturer-provided descriptions that run to 2000+ characters
2
HTML-formatted descriptions where tags inflate character count
3
Marketing copy designed for landing pages rather than catalog cards

How to fix it

1

Strip HTML tags

Catalogs need plain text. HTML inflates character counts and shows raw markup in some surfaces.
2

Rewrite the first 90 characters

The visible part of the description in catalog cards. Lead with the most compelling attribute.
3

Trim aggressively beyond 1000 characters

Past 1000, additional content adds little to relevance and just bulks the feed.