Blog Descriptions Cut Mid-Word, and How to End Them Cleanly

Look at your blog posts in Google and you may see descriptions cut mid-word, like "…answers the questions users are asking, ma". The last word is chopped in half. It looks careless, and it wastes the one sentence most searchers read before deciding to click. The cause is almost always the same: the blog builds the meta description from the first 155 or 160 characters of each post.

Why you see descriptions cut mid-word

Most blog systems need a description for every post, and many generate it automatically:

const desc = post.excerpt.slice(0, 155);

That takes exactly 155 characters, wherever they end. Sometimes the cut lands on a space. Often it lands in the middle of a word.

There's a second, sneakier version: the excerpt is stored already cut. If an excerpt was saved as the first 160 characters of the post, even a clever description generator receives broken text. That's what we found on six of our own posts.

Why character counts are the wrong limit anyway

Google cuts descriptions by pixel width, around 985 pixels, not by character count. A 155-character description of wide letters can still be cut off, and a 170-character one of narrow letters can fit.

How to end blog descriptions cleanly

1. Use the whole excerpt if it fits

Measure the excerpt's width. If it fits within about 985 pixels, use it unchanged.

2. Otherwise, cut at the last whole word that fits

Add words one at a time until the next word would push it over the limit, then add an ellipsis. Strip trailing commas or dashes before the ellipsis.

3. Catch excerpts that were stored cut off

If an excerpt is 155 characters or more and doesn't end with a full stop, question mark, exclamation mark or ellipsis, it was probably truncated when saved. Drop the broken last word and add an ellipsis.

4. Better still, write a real excerpt

Automatic trimming is a safety net. The best description is a complete sentence written for the post, summarising what the reader will learn.

Don't forget the title suffix

The same problem affects titles. Many blogs add " | Brand" to every post title, which pushes long titles past Google's roughly 561-pixel limit. A simple rule fixes it: keep the suffix only when the full title still fits, and drop it for long titles rather than have Google cut off the end.

A before and after

Before: "AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimisation — structuring and writing website content so it directly and concisely answers the questions users are asking, ma"

After (automatic fix): "…concisely answers the questions users are asking…"

After (rewritten excerpt): "AEO stands for Answer Engine Optimisation: writing and structuring website content so it directly and concisely answers the questions people ask."

Check your blog's descriptions

Crawl your blog with a tool that reports description pixel width and look for any ending without punctuation. Our combined site audit includes a crawler that measures titles and descriptions the way Google displays them.

Summary

Descriptions cut mid-word come from fixed character slicing, or from excerpts that were stored already cut. Measure by pixel width, cut at a whole word with an ellipsis, catch pre-truncated excerpts, and write real excerpts for your most important posts.

Frequently asked questions

Why does Google show my blog descriptions cut mid-word?

The usual cause is that the blog builds its meta description automatically from the first 155 or 160 characters of each post. Slicing a fixed number of characters takes exactly that many, wherever they end, so the cut often lands in the middle of a word. A sneakier version happens when the excerpt itself was stored already cut, for example saved as the first 160 characters of the post. In that case even a clever description generator receives broken text. The result looks careless and wastes the one sentence most searchers read before deciding whether to click.

Is meta description length measured in characters or pixels?

Google cuts descriptions by pixel width, at around 985 pixels, not by character count. That is why a fixed character limit is the wrong rule. A 155-character description made of wide letters can still be cut off, while a 170-character description of narrow letters can fit. The better approach is to measure the description's width: if the whole excerpt fits within about 985 pixels, use it unchanged; if not, add words one at a time until the next word would push it over, then add an ellipsis. Titles work the same way, with Google's limit at roughly 561 pixels.

How do I fix blog excerpts that were saved already truncated?

Look for excerpts that are 155 characters or longer and do not end with a full stop, question mark, exclamation mark or ellipsis. Those were probably truncated when they were saved. The automatic fix is to drop the broken last word and add an ellipsis, stripping any trailing comma or dash first. Automatic trimming is only a safety net, though. The best fix is to write a real excerpt for each post as a complete sentence that summarises what the reader will learn, starting with your most important posts. A crawler that reports description pixel width helps you find every affected post.