In a Google Off the Record podcast, Gary Illyes from Google discussed the often-debated topic of title tag length, revealing that there are no strict limits on how long title tags should be. He clarified that the industry standards for title tag lengths, which generally range from 50 to 70 characters, are not recommendations from Google but rather guidelines created by the SEO community based on how title tags appear on desktop and mobile devices.
Understanding Title Tag Length:
Title tags are measured in pixels, not characters, and while it’s commonly suggested that title tags should be between 50 to 70 characters long, this recommendation is based on how titles display in search engine results pages (SERPs). If a title tag exceeds this length, it may be cut off in the SERPs, meaning the full title won’t be visible to users. However, Illyes pointed out that this limitation is related to display issues, not ranking factors. Therefore, the idea that title tags must be confined to 70 characters is an external guideline and not something Google enforces for ranking purposes.
Industry Recommendations:
Many SEO tools and experts, including Moz, Ahrefs, and SEMRush, recommend keeping title tags within the 50 to 70 character range to ensure they display correctly in the SERPs. For example:
- Moz suggests a title tag length of 50-60 characters, noting that Google typically displays the first 50-60 characters of a title. Moz also emphasizes that there is no exact character limit since characters can vary in width, and Google’s display titles max out at 600 pixels.
- Ahrefs aligns with this recommendation, advising that title tags stay within 50-60 characters. They describe this as a good rule of thumb since Google starts cutting off titles in the SERPs after this point.
- SEMRush goes a step further, recommending that title tags be limited to 10-70 characters for “effectiveness,” warning that longer titles will be truncated in the display.
Google’s Perspective on Title Tag Length:
When asked directly by John Mueller whether there is value in having title tags longer than the displayable space in the SERPs, Gary Illyes responded affirmatively, saying, “Yes.” He further elaborated that the recommended title tag lengths are not based on Google’s internal guidelines but are externally developed metrics.
Illyes explained that Google’s approach to title tag length is tied to how they tokenize and index a page, not to the specific character count. Tokenization, a process used in natural language processing, involves breaking down text into useful semantic units like sentences and words. Illyes noted that while there is a technical limit to how long a title tag can be, it is not a small number, and SEO professionals shouldn’t overly concern themselves with exact character counts.
Instead, he advised focusing on making the title tag precise and relevant to the page content. He mentioned that while excessively long title tags might not be ideal (e.g., filling up an entire screen), a well-crafted title tag that fits on one or two lines is perfectly fine, even if it exceeds the so-called character limit.
Conclusion:
Google does not officially recommend a specific title tag length. The popular 70-character guideline originates outside of Google, and the focus should be on creating concise and descriptive titles. Google’s official documentation advises writing title tags that give users a quick insight into the content of the page and its relevance to their query. While it’s beneficial to be mindful of how a title tag appears in the SERPs, it’s more important to ensure that it accurately describes the page and is crafted to influence clicks.
Gary Illyes reaffirmed that Google’s ranking algorithms take into account the entire title tag, regardless of its length. Therefore, while the 70-character limit may be a helpful guideline, it should be considered flexible rather than a hard rule.
