Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Solved Recommended title length for Google search results
-
I read the recommended title length is 50-60 characters depending on alphabets, etc,.
Anyways, my question is, is there any harm of having longer title?
If all my important keywords are within the 50-60 characters that will show up on search results, I can still make the title longer, it's just that those keywords outside won't have any effect on search results? -
Search engines still read the whole title tag no matter how long it is. The 50-60 character recommendation comes up because that is what people will see in the SERPs.
I'm all for testing different lengths of title tags to see which version gets me the best rankings for the most phrases that are mapped to that URL along with the highest conversion rate.
I've even tested and kept title tags with 80-100 characters because they performed better for me than shorter ones.
Don't be scared to test title tags. You can always change them back and get your rankings back if the test made things worse. One example: I made a change last year to a title tag that dropped the rankings from #3 to not in the top #100 for the main phrase and so I changed it back. As soon as Google recrawled the page, my rankings came back.
- topic:timeago_later,2 years
-
Title tags should be between 50-60 characters in length. Google has not specifically come out and said that title tags should be this length; however, if your title is longer than 60 characters, you risk the chance of it becoming cut off in the middle.
- topic:timeago_earlier,8 days
-
Google typically displays the first 50–60 characters of a title tag. If you keep your titles under 60 characters, our research suggests that you can expect about 90% of your titles to display properly. But if you want to add more characters feel free to add them.
- topic:timeago_earlier,2 years
-
From 40-50 characters are enough getting a look in search engine, you must have already few info about ranking as I know. I found one simple look site that is: http://amazeinvent.com/ having not what you think.
-
Search engines still read the whole title tag no matter how long it is. The 50-60 character recommendation comes up because that is what people will see in the SERPs.
I'm all for testing different lengths of title tags to see which version gets me the best rankings for the most phrases that are mapped to that URL along with the highest conversion rate.
I've even tested and kept title tags with 80-100 characters because they performed better for me than shorter ones.
Don't be scared to test title tags. You can always change them back and get your rankings back if the test made things worse. One example: I made a change last year to a title tag that dropped the rankings from #3 to not in the top #100 for the main phrase and so I changed it back. As soon as Google recrawled the page, my rankings came back.
-
Yes, the ideal length is 50-60 characters. But if you want to add more characters feel free to add them.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Page Title versus H1 title
What's the difference between the Page Title and the H1 title? It seems like both summarize the page. Is it a wasted opportunity to make them the same? Should they be similar but slightly different?
On-Page Optimization | Jan 20, 2017, 3:14 PM | amybethmegjo1 -
What should I be shooting for for search visibility percentage?
Realistically - what's a "good" search visibility score? I'm working on a site that has been around less than a year. We are doing 3 blogs a week with carefully selected keywords. I know it will take time and lots of SEO work - but I'm interested in any ideas on what I should shoot for. Thanks for any thoughts! (Also not a local listing or anything - national search.)
On-Page Optimization | Aug 23, 2016, 2:54 PM | mm19804 -
Snippet showing as domain name with apostrophe, instead of page title when searching for the domain name.
Hi, We have an issue with one of our websites, with the snippet dispaying differently in Google serps when searching for the domain or the website name rather than a search term. When searching for a search term, the page title shows as expected, but when searching for the site by the domain name either with or without the tld, it shows the snippet as the domain name with an apostrophe at the end. Domain is subli.co.uk Thanks in advance for any advice!
On-Page Optimization | Feb 9, 2016, 7:45 PM | K3v1n0 -
Meta Title Pipes and Spacing
I've been doing optimization on a clients website and want to make sure I'm maximizing my characters. Does anyone have any feedback on the spacing in between the pipes ( | ) ? IE: Internet Marketing Company | Denver SEO | Brand Name Do the spaces before and after the pipes play a role in whether the search engines can distinguish the keyword or is it all considered one word if there is no spaces such as: IE: Internet Marketing Company|Denver SEO|Brand Name Any information will be super helpful. Thanks for your help!
On-Page Optimization | Aug 27, 2013, 6:04 PM | RezStreamSEO0 -
Punctuation at the Start of Page Titles
one of my clients appears to be using an exclamation mark (e.g. "! Graphic Prints By Mirrorin - Fun Childrens Graphic Prints") and to be completely honest, I have no idea if this is bad practice or if it wont have any affect from an SEO point of view? Any help would be appreciated because it is site wide, therefore if it is an issue I would like to be able to get it sorted asap! Thanks
On-Page Optimization | Jul 26, 2013, 10:01 AM | ZaddleMarketing0 -
Does Title Tag have to be in the HEAD tag?
We are using templates that load the same header for every page. I'd like to just include a different title tag in the "body" template of each page. If I was to do this, does it affect SEO at all?
On-Page Optimization | Dec 11, 2012, 8:41 AM | moziodavid0 -
Google cached snapshots and last indexed
My question is I noticed today that the snap shots of my main pages were outdated. About a month. Then I clicked on the "Learn More" link about cahced images and Google says "Google crawls the web and takes snapshots of each page. When you click Cached, you'll see the webpage as it looked when we last indexed it." I know this sounds really dumb, but does that really mean the last time Google indexed that page? So the changes I have made since then have not been taken yet?
On-Page Optimization | Jul 25, 2012, 5:11 PM | cbielich0 -
Should I include a "|" for better page title SEO results?
I have seen many sites that include the "|" in page titles and was wondering if there is some SEO value in the practice. Example: Product Name | Company Name Instead of: Product Name by Company Name I have not seen any value in it myself other than a good way to avoid stop words. I wanted to make sure. Currently I have the "by" included in the page titles.
On-Page Optimization | Apr 27, 2011, 7:08 AM | JedHenning0
