Title Tag Too Long: Title Tag Length Example
I am Baron, Marshal of Moons, Terror of Turks, Keeper of Bears, Ambassador to Cheese, and I have not yet reached the part where I introduce myself properly.
The short answer
- What it is
- Title tag length is the size of a page's title, counted in characters and in pixels. A title can be too long for search results even when the HTML is valid.
- Why it matters
- Search results cut off titles that do not fit. When that happens, the words that sell the page may disappear from view.
- How a crawler should report it
- Report a title issue when the length is under 30 or over 60 characters. Flag desktop truncation when the width in Arial at 20 px is over 600 px, and mobile truncation when the title wraps to more than 2 lines at 313 px.
- Live examples
/lab/title-issues/short/(positive)/lab/title-issues/long/(positive)/lab/title-issues/narrow/(positive)/lab/title-truncated-desktop/(positive)/lab/title-truncated-mobile/(positive)/lab/title-issues/near-miss/(near miss)/lab/title-truncated-desktop/near-miss/(near miss)/lab/title-truncated-mobile/near-miss/(near miss)
How wide a page title can run before it gets cut off
Title tag length has no official limit. The HTML standard sets no maximum, and Google says it does not have a fixed character count for title links. The limit you see in results comes from the space on the screen. Google cuts a long title with an ellipsis when it runs out of room. Long titles often come from templates that add the brand, category, and site tagline to every page.
Width matters more than character count. Letters such as i and l are narrow, while M and W are wide. A 58-character title of narrow letters can fit where a 50-character title in capitals will not. Mobile results wrap the title onto more lines instead of using a single row, so the limit there depends on how the words break. Search engines still read the full title, even when they show only part of it.
A crawler can measure both. Counting characters is easy, and a range of 30 to 60 works as a practical rule. For width, render the text in Arial at 20 pixels and flag anything over 600 pixels. For mobile, wrap the text at a width of 313 pixels and flag anything over 2 lines. Exactly 60 characters is fine, so make sure that the check is not off by one.
To fix a long title, put the main topic first, so that any cut falls on the less useful words. Remove repeated phrases and long tagline text. Keep the brand short and put it at the end, or drop it on pages where it adds nothing. Avoid writing titles in all capitals, since capitals take up more room. Check the result in a preview at both widths before you publish.