Member Avatar for kristi99

hi everyone,

Please tell me how long should a title be? Does it really matter? If it is too long, will it not be indexed?

Thanks

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Short answer for : a title that’s “too long” won’t stop Google from indexing the page, but it may be truncated in results or even replaced by Google with a different title if the original isn’t descriptive. Google doesn’t enforce a hard character limit — it displays a title link that’s trimmed to fit the SERP width (measured in pixels), and it uses other on‑page signals when it thinks the title isn’t helpful. (developers.google.com)

Practical guidance that builds on what , and discussed: treat 50–60 characters (roughly 550–600px) as a useful “safe zone” so most desktop/mobile results won’t cut your important words off. Front‑load the page’s main topic or keyword, keep each page’s title unique, avoid boilerplate/keyword stuffing, and put brand names at the end only if space allows. That approach balances clickability (what users see) with the technical reality that Google measures by pixel width, not a fixed character count. (searchenginejournal.com)

Quick checklist and troubleshooting steps you can apply now:

  • Preview titles with a pixel-width tester before publishing.
  • Keep the page <title> concise and consistent with the visible H1 to reduce the chance Google rewrites it.
  • After updates, use Search Console’s URL Inspection / Performance to see how Google shows your title and request indexing if needed.
  • If Google rewrites your title, fix on‑page signals (title + H1 + prominent text) rather than guessing a magic character count.

Example title tag:

<title>Quick Guide to Writing Good Titles — SiteName</title>

These steps follow Google’s best practices and give you the best balance between SERP appearance and real ranking/indexing behavior. (developers.google.com)

Recommended Answers

All 8 Replies

Member Avatar for crunchie

:icon_rolleyes: How long does a title need to be

Member Avatar for melovemoney

Well, it needs to be as long as you need it to be. I think a mistake a lot of people make is trying to squeeze their keywords in there. Don't forget that your title is what shows in the Engines, so making it something that will get clicks is often more important than worrying about squeezing keywords in there!

Member Avatar for canadafred

There's always an innovative way to simultaneously make Titles captivating and search engine friendly.

Member Avatar for janicejan

it's not about the length of the title its about the catch, make it interesting for someone to click on it.

Member Avatar for Robdale

Make a title in such a way that visitors will be forced to click on it. Putting keywords in it does will not affect the sites reputation. As melovemoney has said itself, that title is what shows in the Engines. If there are no keywords in your title then i don't think you will get any better results.

Member Avatar for SEOVancouver

Google will only display the first 66 characters of your page title. Anything after that will get truncated and replaced with ... and has little (if any) SEO value.

You will still get indexed using a longer title, but it won't look as good in the SERPS.

Member Avatar for Robdale

How does the long title affect the SERP?
Anybody?

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