Title Tag Length and Meta Description Length Preview Tool – 2015
STOP! There are new guidelines for 2018! Go to the 2018 Title Tag and Meta Description Tool.
Instructions
- Enter your title tag, meta description or URL to see a preview of the Google search results page (SERP) on desktop. The boxes will turn red if you’ve exceeded the pixel limit.
- Enter your keyword to show bolding in the URL and meta description.
- See more information and disclaimers below the tool.
Title Tag Length / Meta Description Length Preview Tool – 2015
Title Tag Length and Meta Description Length Preview Tool - 2015
What Does this Tool Do?
This title tag and meta description length tool simulates what your title tag, meta description and URL look like in Google’s search results for a particular keyword search before May 2016
Why You Need to Pay Attention to Title Tag and Meta Description Lengths
You want better control over what searchers see!
If your title tag or meta description is too short, Google may not use it, and instead pick their own title tag.
If they are too long, Google may either truncate them or not use them. If they don’t use them, they’ll pick their own.
Because title tags and meta descriptions influence click-through rates, you want to give yourself the best chance of having the tags you wrote show up!
Put all the keyword research you did for SEO to work and get your lengths right! Use as much space as you can without going over.
Pixels Not Characters
This tool truncates based on pixels versus the number of characters.
Characters are not a uniform width in the Google search results font (Arial 18pt). For example, the letter “m” spans about 15 pixels, while the letter “i” spans only about 4 pixels.
If we were to follow the general guideline of using about 55 characters in the title tag, Moz determined that about 1 in 20 title tags wouldn’t be truncated. This is pretty good, but we might be able to get fewer truncated tags using the pixel method.
Title Tag Length
We truncated the title tag length at 482 pixels, per Screaming Frog’s latest numbers (Windows and Linux).
Meta Description Length
We truncated the meta description length at 928 pixels, again based on Screaming Frogs’ numbers for Windows and Linux.
Devices
Our tool currently works for desktop only (therefore, it is not responsive!). Do you want the mobile and tablet versions? Let us know in the comments.
Disclaimers
- This tool is meant to show an approximation of how your title tag, meta description, and URL will appear in Google search results. It’s a good estimate, but not perfect. It was last updated on September 13, 2015, which was after the font change to Arial 18 pt.
- This tool simulates desktop searches on Windows and Linux only.
- The keyword bolding works by matching the head of the term you enter in the keyword box. For example, if you type in ‘apple’ as the keyword, it will match both apple and apples (plural version) in the URL or meta description. It doesn’t match related words.
- Even if you get the length correct, Google still might not use your title tag or meta description, for some or all queries.