Title and Description Length Is Measured in Pixels

"Keep your title under 60 characters" is some of the most repeated advice about title and description length. It's a useful rule of thumb, but it isn't how Google decides where to cut a title. Search results truncate titles and meta descriptions by pixel width, so two titles with the same number of characters can fit or fail depending on which letters they use.

Why title length in characters is only an estimate

Letters have different widths. A capital "W" takes up several times the space of an "i" or an "l". A 55-character title full of wide capitals can be cut off, while a 65-character title of narrow letters can fit.

Google shows titles in a space roughly 600 pixels wide on desktop, and the snippet below it in roughly two lines. In practice, titles are safe up to about 561 pixels at the display size Google uses, and descriptions up to about 985 pixels. Anything wider gets an ellipsis.

What happens when a title is too long

Two things can happen. Google can cut the title with "…", losing the end of it, often your brand name. Or Google may rewrite the title entirely, using your H1 or other text from the page. Either way, you lose control of the first thing searchers read.

How to measure title and description length in pixels

Use a pixel-based checker

A good SERP preview or crawler measures each title using the real widths of each character in the font Google uses. Our site crawler and meta tag tools measure titles at 561px and descriptions at 985px.

Watch out for HTML entities

If your title contains an ampersand, it is written as & in the page source. A checker that counts the raw source sees five characters instead of one, and over-reports the length. The width should be measured on the text as displayed.

Practical rules for titles that fit

• Put the main keyword first. If anything gets cut, it will be the end, not the part that matters.
• Drop filler words. "A Complete Guide to…" and "Step-by-Step" add width without adding meaning.
• Treat the brand suffix as optional. " | Brand" is nice when it fits; when it doesn't, drop it rather than lose the end of the title.
• Avoid long runs of capitals. Title Case is fine; ALL CAPS is very wide.

Practical rules for meta descriptions that fit

• Write one complete sentence or two short ones, ending on a full stop, rather than trimming a paragraph.
• Never cut mid-word. Descriptions generated automatically from the first 155 or 160 characters of a post often end with half a word, which looks broken in search results.
• Front-load the benefit. The first half of the description is what most people read.

A real example

We rewrote 89 titles and descriptions across our own site that were too wide. For example, "GDPR Kit Tutorial for Beginners: Make Your Site Compliant Step by Step" measured 630px and was cut off. "GDPR Kit Tutorial: Make Your Site Compliant Step by Step" measures 507px and fits, with no loss of meaning. Descriptions were rewritten as complete sentences under 985px instead of being trimmed.

Summary

Character limits are an estimate; pixel width is what Google uses. Aim for titles under about 561px and descriptions under about 985px, put the keyword first, write descriptions as complete sentences, and measure the text as displayed rather than the raw HTML. A pixel-based checker, such as the one in our audit tools, takes the guesswork out.

Frequently asked questions

Why is character count only an estimate for title length?

Character count is only an estimate of title and description length because letters have different widths. A capital W takes up several times the space of a lowercase i or l, so two titles with the same number of characters can fit or be cut off depending on which letters they use. A 55-character title full of wide capitals can be truncated, while a 65-character title made of narrow letters can fit. Google displays titles in a space roughly 600 pixels wide on desktop, and in practice titles are safe up to about 561 pixels at the size Google uses.

What happens when a page title is too long for Google?

When a title is too wide, one of two things happens. Google may cut it with an ellipsis, losing the end of the title, which is often where the brand name sits. Alternatively, Google may rewrite the title entirely, using the page's H1 or other text from the page. Either way, you lose control of the first thing searchers read. To reduce the risk, put the main keyword first so anything cut is the less important end, drop filler words such as A Complete Guide to, treat the brand suffix as optional, and avoid long runs of capitals.

How should meta descriptions be written so they are not cut off?

Meta descriptions should be written as one complete sentence or two short ones that end on a full stop, rather than created by trimming a paragraph. They should never be cut mid-word. Descriptions generated automatically from the first 155 or 160 characters of a post often end with half a word, which looks broken in search results. The benefit to the reader should be front-loaded, because the first half is what most people read. Descriptions are safe up to about 985 pixels, and their width should be measured on the displayed text, not the raw HTML source.