Title tags for SEO: length, truncation and rewrites

A title tag is the <title> element in a page's <head>: the name on the browser tab and the first source Google lists for a result's title. Google sets no limit on its length and truncates the title link to fit the device width. It is one of the two meta tags that shape a search result.

Where the title tag lives

The title tag lives once in the <head>, as plain text between <title> and </title>, and it describes the whole page. A page that sells a backpack on example.com might carry this:

<title>Atlas 40 Travel Backpack, 40 Litres | Example Outfitters</title>

The H1 is a different element with a different reader. The H1 sits in the visible page and greets somebody who has already arrived; the title appears in search results, on the browser tab, in bookmarks and in the history list, where the reader has not arrived yet. The two often carry the same words, and that is fine, but they are written for two different moments.

How long a title tag can be

There is no maximum. Google's documentation on title links says so in one sentence: "While there's no limit on how long a <title> element can be, the title link is truncated in Google Search results as needed, typically to fit the device width." That page was last updated on 2025-12-10 and checked on 2026-10-09.

The cut is a matter of width, not of character count. A title made of wide letters reaches the edge sooner than one made of narrow letters, and a phone reaches it sooner than a desktop. Crawlers estimate where the edge is. Screaming Frog's SEO Spider flags titles over 561 pixels and over 60 characters, and its documentation describes the pixel figure as an approximation of the latest truncation points, which Google adjusts frequently. Those were its flags when checked on 2026-10-09.

A working target Aim for roughly 50 to 60 characters. That keeps the words that matter inside the visible line on most screens without squeezing the title into a label. It is a target for writing, not a rule: nothing breaks above it, and nothing is rewarded for landing inside it.

What truncation removes

Truncation removes the end of the title and leaves the beginning, so the beginning is where the page has to be named. If the title opens with the site name or a slogan, a narrow screen may show nothing else.

The mechanism is the same one that shortens descriptions, measured in rendered width on the screen that shows the result; the full account of why character counts are only a proxy sits under meta description length and applies here unchanged. The practical rule for titles is shorter: name the thing first, qualify it second, brand it last.

Previewing a title before it ships

A preview is only useful when it renders width rather than counting letters. Crawlers such as the SEO Spider show each title with its estimated pixel width, and standalone snippet previews render a single title the same way. Their figures are estimates of today's screen.

The check that settles it is the live result. Search for the page by a query it should answer, read the title as it appears, and repeat on a phone. If the visible part still says what the page is, the title works, whatever its count.

When Google shows a different title

Google builds the title link automatically and may not use your title tag at all. Its documentation says that the generation of title links "is completely automated and takes into account both the content of a page and references to it that appear on the web."

The same page lists the sources it draws on: the content of <title> elements, the main visual title on the page, headings such as <h1>, og:title, other large and prominent text, other text on the page, anchor text on the page, text in links that point to the page, and WebSite structured data. The title tag is first on that list, not the only entry.

The documentation also names the common reasons a title gets replaced:

• Half-empty titles, such as a site name with nothing before it.
• Obsolete titles, where the page shows this year and the title still says last year.
• Inaccurate titles that no longer describe what the page holds.
• Micro-boilerplate, where many pages share one title and differ only in a detail the title leaves out.
• No clear main title, where several headings carry the same weight.
• A language or script mismatch between the title and the page.

Each of these is a fault in the title rather than a whim of the engine, and each is fixed in the page. The parent page covers the same behaviour for titles and descriptions together; this list is the title-only part, taken from Google's own wording.

How to write a title tag

• Name the page, not the site

  The title competes with nine other results about roughly the same subject. A concrete noun from this page beats a phrase that would fit any of them.

• Put the distinguishing word first

  Where pages differ in one attribute, such as a size, a model or a season, that attribute belongs at the front. Titles that differ only at the end look identical once truncated, which is how duplicated titles are born on large sites.

• Add the site name once, at the end

  Google's documentation suggests a site name at the beginning or end, separated by a hyphen, colon or pipe, and notes it may drop a site name that repeats what the result already shows. At the end it costs nothing when truncated.

• Match the visible heading

  Google reads the main visual title and the <h1> as alternative sources. When they agree with the title tag, there is nothing better for it to choose.

• Keep it current

  A title with a year, a price or a status ages faster than the page. If it changes, change it in both places.

Compare two titles for the backpack page:

• "Example Outfitters | Quality Gear Since 2010 | Atlas 40 Backpack"
• "Atlas 40 Travel Backpack, 40 Litres | Example Outfitters"

The second keeps the product in view on any screen. The first spends its opening on words every page of the shop already shares.

Where nobody wrote one

A page without a title tag still gets a title link; Google assembles one from the sources above, and the result is whatever the page happens to offer. Filling that gap from what each page says, without touching titles somebody wrote, is what meta titles and descriptions written where missing covers.

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