Pay Attention to Meta Descriptions: HTML Tip for eBay and Ecommerce Sites

The following comes from the linked article - "Organic Landing Pages: A Case Study." It's so important to make sure your meta descriptions are in order, because that's usually what comes up in Google's description below the title of your site or item listing when someone searches for products on Google. Place meta descriptions in your templates and pages so searchers will be able to read a clear description of what you're offering (one that matches the terms they were searching for).

Here's another article on the same subject: http://www.echievements.com/articles/2504

clipped from searchengineland.com Most search engines will either display the meta description under the search result or they will excerpt a portion of more relevant copy from the page itself. Just as much thought goes into crafting PPC ad copy, care should be taken to craft both optimized meta descriptions and optimized landing-page copy for organic search. That way, regardless of what description the search engines choose to display, you'll be covered. After all, it really doesn't matter where your rank if no one wants to click through to your site.