Posted 9 hours ago9 hr comment_12337 The title tag is one of the most important SEO elements. It can have a great impact on your rankings. In my experience, optimizing title tags can give rankings a strong boost. There are many different ways to optimize a title tag. One is to make sure it fits within the 55- to 60-character limit (which I think is a bit outdated today). Other SEOs suggest it’s OK to have title tags up to 70 characters long (or longer). There are also concerns that having the title truncated in search results or rewritten by Google can negatively affect organic performance and click-through rate. This article explores the basis for such concerns, Google’s official statement about title length, and my findings after analyzing 10,000 title tags of Google’s SERPs. Example of title tag cut off in SERPs Technically speaking, the number of characters for a title tag that Google can display in SERPs is measured in pixels. When your title tag is too long, Google can cut it off like this. The title tag update and the aftermath In August 2021, Google changed how it creates titles in search result snippets. Google often shows searchers a title that is different than your HTML title tag. HTML title tags may get rewritten in SERPs when they are: Too long. Stuffed with keywords. Missing or containing repetitive “boilerplate” language (i.e., home pages might be called “Home”). Once the update was released, it caused an uproar in the SEO community. Many SEOs reported incidents where the title rewrite went “horribly wrong.” Some reported incidents where the title tag was replaced with the URL slug. Chatter in the SEO community also revealed many cases of Google substituting <title> tags in search results with other page elements like: H1 tags. Image alt texts, File names. Even text not found in the page’s source code. The key takeaway from the title tag update is that “Google wants shorter titles displayed in SERPs.” This shift caused some panic among SEOs, prompting many to double down on creating short, character-limit-compliant titles to avoid rewrites. The confusion It is clear to everyone that Google wants shorter titles in SERPs. But does that mean they will use the titles displayed in SERPs (which may be potentially cut off or rewritten) for rankings instead of the HTML title? This has led many SEOs to assume that longer titles will either get cut off or rewritten, and Google will not consider them for rankings, but will consider the new title displayed in SERPs for rankings instead. What is Google’s official statement about title length? In a Search Off the Record episode, Google’s John Mueller asked Gary Illyes about title tag length: “I have a question that is, maybe, just a yes or no thing, Gary. Is there a value in having title tags that are longer than the displayable space and the sections of it?” To which Illyes gave a very clear and precise answer, “Yes.” He added: “The title length, that’s an externally made-up metrics… Technically, there’s a limit, like how long can it be anything in the page, but it’s not a small number. It’s not 160 characters or whatever– 100, 200, 20, or whatever.” And recommended to: “Try to keep it precise to the page, but I would not think too much about how long it is and whether it’s long enough or way too long. If it fills up your screen, then probably it’s too long, but if it just one sentence that fits on one line or two lines, you’re not going to get a manual action for it.” If we refer to Google’s documentation on SERPs titles (a.k.a., title links), there’s no recommended length or character limit specified for the title tag. Dig deeper: SEO for page titles and meta descriptions: How to win more clicks Get the newsletter search marketers rely on. Business email address Sign me up! Processing... See terms. Would having longer titles impact rankings? If longer title tags can get cut off or rewritten in SERPs, wouldn’t that impact rankings? The answer is no, consistent with Mueller’s statement during Google’s SEO Office Hours on Dec. 11, 2020. Whether your titles are cut off or rewritten in SERPs, Google still uses the HTML title tag for ranking purposes – not the displayed version. I believe we shouldn’t shorten titles just for the sake of it. The title tag is one of the few ranking factors we can directly control, and I always aim to use it fully while avoiding spammy tactics like keyword stuffing. My analysis I want to put this argument to rest, so I went ahead and analyzed the titles for a randomly selected set of 100 keywords that fall into a diverse range of categories as follows: Top of funnel (TOFU). Middle of funnel (MOFU). Bottom of funnel (BOFU). Local intent keywords. Navigational intent keywords. Niche-specific keywords. Seasonal/trending keywords. Long-tail keywords. Examples of such keywords include: “How does solar energy work.” “What is machine learning.” “History of electric cars.” For each of the 100 keywords, I pulled the top 100 results and analyzed their title lengths. Here’s what the graph and data show: Position RangeAverage Title Length1-1042.211-2042.921-3044.231-4044.441-5044.151-6044.361-7044.571-8044.481-9044.891-10045.8 Here’s what this data means, along with my experience: Google seems to prefer displaying shorter titles. The average title length in the full sample (100 keywords × 100 URLs = 10,000 titles) falls between 42 and 46 characters. If your titles are long, Google may cut them off or rewrite them, often by removing branding text or replacing the title with different on-page elements. From my experience manually analyzing title tags using Google’s NLP demo tool, I’ve noticed that shorter titles tend to be more precise, clear, and to the point. Based on the above, I recommend making titles as precise as possible without keyword stuffing or unnecessary repetition. Try to keep them within the 46-character limit. If you feel your optimized title cannot fit into 46 characters, I recommend still pushing the page live and monitoring what Google chooses to display. Also, make sure the H1 is short and within the 46-character range since Google might use it instead as the SERP title. Either way, titles impact your CTR, and it appears Google favors shorter titles – likely because users prefer them too. Dig deeper: Meta tags for SEO: What you need to know Conclusion Shorter title tags tend to perform better in search results. My analysis shows that Google often chooses to display shorter titles, which likely aligns with user behavior and leads to better click-through rates. This suggests a preference not just from the algorithm, but from users themselves. So, should you always shorten your titles? Not necessarily. It’s more important that titles are clear, precise, and aligned with search intent. If you need more characters to convey value or clarity, use them. Avoid keyword stuffing or trimming titles just to hit a character count. Google’s tendency to favor shorter titles doesn’t mean shorter always ranks better. It simply means you should be intentional – optimize for clarity and relevance first, not just length. View the full article
