Title Tag & Meta Description Character Counts: A 2025 Guide

Marketers still ask: How long should a title tag or meta description be? In 2025, Google’s answer is nuanced. While character counts help predict what will display in SERPs, they’re not strict ranking factors. This post explains the ideal lengths, the history of changes, and why you should prioritize clarity and relevance over numbers.

Are title and meta description character counts still relevant for SEO? Yes, but not in the way most people think. While you’ll often hear “keep titles under 60 characters” or “meta descriptions should be 160 characters,” those numbers are more about how things display in Google’s search results than about strict ranking rules.

Character Counts Are A Guide, Not A Rule

Google doesn’t penalize you for going over 60 characters in a title or 160 in a meta description. Those numbers simply reflect how much text usually fits in the search results before being truncated.

• Google sometimes uses your <title> tag as-is.
• Other times, it replaces it with your page’s <h1>
• And frequently, it rewrites the blue link entirely — using its own wording.

In fact, in Q1 2025, studies showed Google was rewriting title tags about 76% of the time. That means obsessing over perfect character counts is less important than getting the key information into the title early and making it relevant to the page.

Title Tags: What To Focus On

The <title> tag is (usually!) the blue clickable link that shows in Google’s search page results.

• The <title> tag remains a structural on-page SEO element.
• Its main purpose is to serve as the clickable blue link in search results.
• While Google indexes the full tag, it only displays what fits in roughly 60–65 characters on most devices.
• Aim for 60–65 characters for optimal display, but don’t force truncation.
• Prioritize keywords and clarity in the first half of the title.
• For ecommerce sites, longer titles are common due to brand and product names. Since you can’t shorten brand names, accept some truncation and focus on relevance.

Why ecommerce titles are tricky

Ecommerce titles often include brand name, product name, fragrance, and size, which can easily exceed display limits. For example:

• Shorter (fits easily):
  Sodasan All-Purpose Cleaner 1L Refill (37 characters)
• Longer (gets truncated):
  Marcel’s Green Soap Hand Soap Lavender & Rosemary Refill Pouch 500ml (69 characters)

Since you can’t shorten the brand name in this second example, prioritise the most important details and accept that some truncation may happen.

Meta Descriptions: Still Worth Writing

The meta description is the black text under the blue link in Google’s results.

• It’s not a ranking factor, but it can improve click-through rates.
• Google often rewrites meta descriptions, but providing a good one still gives you a chance to control messaging, when Google decides to use it.
• Google will also look at the first paragraph in your page to see if it can pull out a good snippet that fits in the display size of 150-160 characters, so concentrating on the first sentence in your first paragraph is also a best practice tip.
• Best practice: aim for 150–160 characters (desktop) and around 150 characters for mobile.
• Try to include a call-to-action or benefit in the first 100 characters. Eg: ‘Buy [product name] online… ‘

How Length Guidelines Have Evolved

Google has updated title and meta description display lengths several times over the years. Here’s a quick history:

• Pre-2016: Titles under 60 characters; descriptions up to 155 characters; both influenced rankings.
• 2016: Titles expanded to up to 70–78 characters.
• 2017–2018: Descriptions briefly expanded to up to 320 characters (some CMS still show this prompt).
• 2019: Descriptions pulled back to up to 150–170 characters.
• 2020/2021: Desktop snippets up to 156–165 characters; mobile up to 118–121 characters.
• 2021: Google began rewriting title tags heavily and SEO practitioners shifted to 50–65 characters.
• 2024/25: Current practice: up to 60–65 characters for titles; up to 160 characters for descriptions on desktop (slightly shorter on mobile).

The Bottom Line For 2025

Character counts are about display, not indexing. Google reads the whole tag even if it truncates it. Longer titles/descriptions won’t hurt you, they just might not fully show in search results. Google may rewrite what you have written anyway, so make sure to put the most important information at the start of your title and description, and back it up with information in your first paragraph too.

Don’t sweat exact character counts. Use them as a guide, not a rule. Write titles and descriptions that clearly describe your page and entice clicks – even if Google decides to rewrite them.

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