diff --git a/Doc/html/index.html.in b/Doc/html/index.html.in
index 54b5a257631..899b809f1e4 100644
--- a/Doc/html/index.html.in
+++ b/Doc/html/index.html.in
@@ -2,6 +2,9 @@
   <head>
     <title>Python @RELEASE@ Documentation - @DATE@</title>
     <link rel="STYLESHEET" href="lib/lib.css" type="text/css">
+    <meta name="description"
+          content="Top-level index to the standard documentation for
+                   Python @RELEASE@.">
     <style type="text/css">
       a.title { font-weight: bold; font-size: 110%; }
       ul { margin-left: 1em; padding: 0pt; border: 0pt; }
