what is the title tag length?

Table Of Content 

In SERPs, an example of a title tag being minimized
The title tag replacement and its consequences
The confusion
What is Google's official stance on title size?
Would having lengthier titles have an effect on rankings?
My evaluation
Size of title tags in 2023

 

In SERPs, an example of a title tag being minimized

Technically, the number of characters in a title tag that Google may display in SERPs is measured in pixels. When your title tag becomes too long, Google might cut it off like this.
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The title tag replacement and its consequences

Google introduced a substitute for title tags in August 2021. This change allows Google to provide a different title to users in SERPs than the one available in the HTML title element.

HTML title tags may be altered in SERPs if they are:

• It's far too long.
• It's jam-packed with essential terms.
• Lacking or having repetitious "boilerplate" wording (for example, dwelling pages may be referred to as "House").

The confusion

Everyone agrees that Google needs shorter titles in SERPs. Does this, however, indicate that they may use the titles presented in SERPs (which can undoubtedly be minimized or altered) for rankings instead of the HTML title? This has prompted many SEOs to believe that lengthy titles will be cut or rewritten, and Google will disregard them for rankings in favour of the new title displayed in SERPs.

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What is Google's official stance on title size?

In an episode of Search Off the Document, Google's John Mueller asked Gary Illyes about title tag size: "I have a question that is perhaps merely a yes or no element, Gary. Is it worthwhile to have i>title/i> tags that may be longer than the displayable house and its sections?" Illyes responded with a crisp and precise "Sure." "The i>title/i> size, that's an outside made-up metric," he continued. Technically, there is a limit, such as how long anything may be on the web page, but it is not a little amount. It's not 160 characters or less—100, 200, 20, or less." And really beneficial to "Try to keep it as close to the web page as possible, but I could not assume too much about how lengthy it is and whether or not it's lengthy enough or far too lengthy." If it fills your screen, it's probably too long, but if it's merely one sentence that fits on one line or two lines, you won't receive a guide motion for it."

According to Google's guidelines on SERP titles (also known as title hyperlinks), there is no really effective size for the title tag.

Would having lengthier titles have an effect on rankings?

Wouldn't it have an impact on rankings if lengthier title tags could be minimised or rewritten in SERPs? Fortunately, Lily Ray asked this question on Twitter and got this response from Glenn Gabe. Mueller stated this in Google's search engine optimization Workplace Hours beginning December 11, 2020.

So, whether or not your titles are cut off or rewritten in SERPs, Google still uses the HTML title tag for ranking purposes, not the titles displayed in SERPs.

My evaluation

I'd want to put this debate to rest. Hopefully, as a company, we will stop advising customers to "shorten" their title tags for the sake of it - merely because a title size metric has been floating in practically all online sites on the issue with no evidence or proof to back it up. I gathered a random collection of key terms and examined the titles on Page 1 of the SERPs for each of these key phrases.
Here are my results after personally editing 645 title tags:

• Google favours shorter titles. Only 79 (12%) of the 645 titles shown in SERPs that I examined had more than 60 characters, with 68 characters being the maximum size.
• 286 URLs (22%) had HTML title tags longer than 60 characters, with 139 characters being the maximum capacity. This means you may exceed the 60-character title limit, have it cut off or rewritten, and still rank on the first page.
• When we filter out sites that have no title tags at all, there have been instances when Google significantly increased the title tag size. As a result, even shorter titles can be redone. This is fairly popular in the names of LinkedIn profile web pages. Instance:
  The HTML title tag for this URL [https://ca.linkedin.com/in/michael-kuch-387740207] was "Michael Kuch | LinkedIn," however Google decided to provide a longer additional descriptive title as follows:
• In 103 of the 645 pattern URLs, the size of the titles displayed in SERPs increased. That accounts for 16% of the overall pattern.
• On this pattern, the most typical size of titles displayed in SERPs is between 58-60 characters (see histogram under).

Size of title tags in 2023

In general, you should not limit your title tags to 55-60 characters. Your titles will be - and must be - as long as you have internal motivation. Title tags are one of the few properties that have a significant impact on rankings and over which we still have some control. Let's get the most out of them. If you're concerned about being minimised or having your title altered, recognize that these are secondary concerns. The highest priority will be given to those who rate correctly. Optimize your titles to rank top even if you exceed the 60-70 character limit. Then, experiment with changing how your titles appear in SERPs. However, if you do not rank, it makes no difference how long your titles are. Technically, title tags are measured in pixels. Title tags should normally be between fifty and seventy characters long. These character restrictions are determined by how titles appear on desktop and mobile devices.