Free tool · Search preview
Meta title and description checker
Type a title and description to see how long they are in characters and pixels, and roughly how Google would show them. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
The <title> tag, or the search title you set for a post.
The <meta name="description"> of the page.
Title
0 characters · about 0 / 600 px
No title yet. Without one, Google makes one up from the page.
Description
0 characters · about 0 / 920 px
No description yet. Without one, Google picks a passage from the page.
Preview
Your title
Your description shows here, cut where Google would cut it.
Pixel widths are measured in your browser with Arial, close to the font of Google’s results, so they are an estimate. Google may also rewrite a title or description it finds less useful.
How it works
Google does not cut titles and descriptions at a number of characters. In its own words, there is no limit on how long either can be, but the result is “truncated in Google Search results as needed, typically to fit the device width”. Width is pixels, and an “m” is about three times as wide as an “i”, so two titles with the same character count can fit differently.
So this tool measures the text in your browser, in Arial at 20 px for titles and 14 px for descriptions, close to how Google’s results are set, and compares it with the widths people commonly measure on Google’s results pages:
| Desktop | Mobile | |
|---|---|---|
| Title | about 600 px | about 600 px (over two lines) |
| Description | about 920 px (two lines) | about 680 px |
What a good title and description look like
- The title says what the page is, in the words people search. Google asks for titles that are descriptive and concise, unique to each page, and free of keyword lists. Your brand can go at the start or the end, after a hyphen, colon or pipe.
- The important words come first, so a cut at the end loses nothing that matters. In practice that is a title of roughly 50 to 60 characters.
- The description summarises this one page. Google may show it when it describes the page better than text taken from the page itself. A unique description with the concrete details (what, for whom, how long, how much) gives it a reason to.
- Roughly 120 to 160 characters fills the space without being cut on most screens. A description that is too short is just as likely to be replaced.
Even a perfect pair can be rewritten: Google sometimes writes its own title link or snippet when it finds the page’s own less useful for a particular search. That is normal and not a penalty.
Sources
Questions
- How long should a meta description be?
- Google sets no limit; it cuts the description to fit the screen. About 120 to 160 characters fits on most screens. What matters more is that it is unique and describes the page accurately.
- Why does Google show a different title or description from mine?
- Google may write its own when it thinks yours does not describe the page well for that search, for example when it is vague, stuffed with keywords or the same on many pages. A clear, specific title and description are used more often.
- Why pixels and not characters?
- Because Google cuts by width. Wide letters (m, w, capitals) use up the space faster than narrow ones (i, l, t), so a character count is only a rough guide.
- Is this exactly what Google will show?
- No tool can promise that: Google changes its layout and may rewrite the text. The preview is a close approximation, measured with the font of Google’s results.
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