How long should an SEO title be?

A title should stay under roughly 580 pixels, which for most sentences means 50–60 characters. Because capitals and wide letters like M and W take more room, the pixel measurement is a more reliable guide than a character count.

How long should a meta description be?

A description should stay under roughly 920 pixels, usually about 140–160 characters. A longer description does not hurt rankings, but anything past that limit is never seen by anyone.

Why does Google show a different title from the one I wrote?

Search engines rewrite a title when they judge it a poor match for the query, too long, or stuffed with keywords. A title that is descriptive, honest and matches the page content is the kind most often kept as written.

Does this tool fetch my page?

No — it measures only the text you type and never visits the address you enter. Nothing is sent to any server.

SEO & Sharing

Google SERP Preview

Type your page title and description to see exactly where each one gets truncated in search results.

Page title Page address Meta description

TITLE —

DESCRIPTION —

What this is

A SERP preview shows how a page appears in a list of search results: the title, the address, and the short description beneath. What decides whether a title is cut off is not its character count but its width in pixels, because letters have different widths — 'illiterate' is far narrower than 'WOMBAT' despite the same letter count. This tool measures your text in the same typeface a results page uses, so the number reflects real truncation.

How it works

The width is measured by drawing your text into a canvas using a typeface equivalent to the one search results use: around 20 pixels for the title and 14 for the description. That measurement happens in your own browser, so the result matches how that same browser would lay the text out.

The limits used here are about 580 pixels for a desktop title and about 920 for the description, which is roughly two lines. They are generous estimates: search engines rearrange their results layout fairly often, and the width differs between desktop and phone.

Bear in mind that search engines frequently rewrite the title and description they display, particularly when your title does not match the query or your description is missing. What you write is a strong suggestion rather than a guarantee — which makes front-loading the important words more useful than hitting an exact length.

How to use it

Enter your page title The width recalculates on every keystroke and is flagged when it passes the limit.
Enter the address and description The address is shown as a breadcrumb trail, as it appears in a real result.
Compare the desktop and phone views The available width differs, so a title that fits on desktop can be cut on a phone.

Common questions

How long should an SEO title be?: A title should stay under roughly 580 pixels, which for most sentences means 50–60 characters. Because capitals and wide letters like M and W take more room, the pixel measurement is a more reliable guide than a character count.
How long should a meta description be?: A description should stay under roughly 920 pixels, usually about 140–160 characters. A longer description does not hurt rankings, but anything past that limit is never seen by anyone.
Why does Google show a different title from the one I wrote?: Search engines rewrite a title when they judge it a poor match for the query, too long, or stuffed with keywords. A title that is descriptive, honest and matches the page content is the kind most often kept as written.
Does this tool fetch my page?: No — it measures only the text you type and never visits the address you enter. Nothing is sent to any server.

Notes

The pixel limits are estimates; search results layouts change over time.
Search engines may display a title or description other than the one you wrote.