How long should a title tag be?

Google has no fixed character limit; it cuts titles by pixel width, which on desktop works out to roughly 50 to 60 characters. Put the words that matter first, so a cut title still says what the page is.

What range does EngineeringScore flag?

Titles shorter than 10 or longer than 65 characters, counted on the rendered title text. A missing title is reported by its own check.

Does the site name count toward the length?

Yes. The whole text is counted, including a " | Brand" suffix that a template adds to every page, which is often what pushes a title over.

Will Google rewrite my title?

It can. When a title is very long, repeats keywords or does not match the page, Google often shows other text instead, usually taken from the main heading.

SEO Small

Title length: how long should a page title be?

Fix page title length

Search engines truncate title tags at roughly 50-60 characters (about 600 pixels) when rendering results, and titles under about 10 characters usually mean a missed opportunity to communicate what the page is about. Staying within a sensible range keeps the title fully visible and meaningful.

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Why it matters

Titles that are too short waste an opportunity to describe the page, and titles that are too long get truncated with '...' in search results, hiding the message you're trying to send.

How to fix

1 Rewrite the title to fall within roughly 10-65 characters.
2 Front-load the most important keywords or brand information.

Fix it in your stack

HTML

One <title> in <head>; lead with the words that describe this page.

<title>Pricing for small teams · Example</title>

Next.js

App Router: a template in the root layout adds the brand once, each page sets its own part.

// app/layout.tsx
export const metadata = { title: { template: '%s · Example', default: 'Example' } };

// app/pricing/page.tsx
export const metadata = { title: 'Pricing for small teams' };

WordPress

Edit the SEO title in your SEO plugin. Yoast SEO and Rank Math show a length bar while you type, and their title template decides whether the site name is appended.

Common mistakes

Stuffing the title with every target keyword, pushing it well past the truncation point so the important part gets cut off.
Appending a long, repeated site-name suffix to every page title, eating into the budget available for page-specific content.
Optimizing purely for character count without checking that the title still reads naturally to a human.

How to verify

1 Measure the title length and confirm it falls within roughly 10-65 characters.
2 Preview the title in a SERP-simulator tool to see whether it gets visually truncated.
3 Read the title as a searcher would and confirm it clearly conveys the page topic.

Questions

How long should a title tag be?: Google has no fixed character limit; it cuts titles by pixel width, which on desktop works out to roughly 50 to 60 characters. Put the words that matter first, so a cut title still says what the page is.
What range does EngineeringScore flag?: Titles shorter than 10 or longer than 65 characters, counted on the rendered title text. A missing title is reported by its own check.
Does the site name count toward the length?: Yes. The whole <title> text is counted, including a " | Brand" suffix that a template adds to every page, which is often what pushes a title over.
Will Google rewrite my title?: It can. When a title is very long, repeats keywords or does not match the page, Google often shows other text instead, usually taken from the main heading.

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