Title Tag & Meta Description Length

Your title tag and meta description are your ad in the search results — often the deciding factor in whether someone clicks you or a competitor. Yet the most common question about them, “how many characters?”, is the wrong question. Google truncates by pixels, not characters.

Why pixels, not characters

Letters have different widths. A capital W is several times wider than a lowercase i. So a 55-character title of wide letters can overflow and get cut with an ellipsis, while a 62-character title of narrow letters fits comfortably. Counting characters is a rough proxy at best; measuring pixel width is what actually matches Google's behaviour.

The practical limits

• Title: about 600px on desktop — roughly 50–60 characters.
• Description: about 920px on desktop — roughly 150–160 characters.
• Mobile has different widths, so always check both.

Treat these as ceilings, not targets. A punchy 45-character title is fine; you don't need to pad to the limit.

Google might rewrite it anyway

Sobering truth: Google rewrites a large share of titles and nearly all descriptions when it thinks a different snippet better matches the query. You can't force your exact text. But a clear, well-sized, relevant snippet gives Google less reason to change it — and a missing or truncated one gives it every reason to.

Writing snippets that earn clicks

• Front-load the keyword and value. The first words are what the eye catches.
• Make a promise. Tell the searcher exactly what they'll get.
• Add your brand at the end of the title, after a dash or pipe.
• Write a real sentence in the description — not a keyword list.
• Avoid clipping mid-word; a truncated snippet looks careless.

Preview before you publish

Don't guess. The SERP snippet preview shows your title and description exactly as Google would render them, with pixel meters that flag overflow on desktop and mobile. Generate the tags themselves with the meta tag generator, and check body length with the word counter.