Why pixels matter more than characters
Google cuts titles and descriptions by width on screen, not by character count. A title of capital Ws runs out of room long before one of lowercase i’s and l’s. Character-count rules (“60 for titles, 155 for descriptions”) are rough averages of that pixel limit.
This preview measures every character with Arial’s published font metrics at the sizes Google’s desktop results use (about 20px for titles and 14px for descriptions) and compares the total with the commonly observed limits of roughly 600px for titles and 920px for descriptions (about 680px on mobile). The truncated text you see in the preview is cut at the last whole word that fits, followed by an ellipsis, as Google does.
What Google does with your snippet
- Titles may be rewritten when they are very long, stuffed with keywords, or don’t match the page. Google’s own documentation says it uses the
<title>element in most cases but may draw on headings and other text. - Meta descriptions are used when they describe the page better than an extract would. For many queries, Google shows a passage from the page instead.
- Dates, site names and breadcrumbs sit around the snippet and change what fits.
Writing a snippet that earns the click
- Put the most important words first, where they survive truncation.
- Make the title match the search intent: a question gets an answer-shaped title.
- Use the description to add what the title can’t (a number, a benefit, a reason to choose this result).
- Write a unique title and description for every page.
Worked example
Here is what the SERP Snippet Preview returns for its built-in example. Click Try an example in the tool above to load it, then change it as you like.
Title tag: How to Write Meta Descriptions That Get Clicks (With 12 Examples)
Meta description: Learn how to write meta descriptions that earn clicks: ideal length in pixels, what Google rewrites, and 12 real examples you can adapt for your own pages today.
URL: https://example.com/blog/meta-descriptions
Site name: Example Blog| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Title width | 602px |
| Title chars | 65 |
| Description width | 997px |
| Description chars | 161 |
Questions
How long should a title tag be?
Aim to stay under about 600 pixels, which is usually 50–60 characters. Put the key words first in case it is cut.
How long should a meta description be?
Up to about 920 pixels on desktop (roughly 150–160 characters) and 680 pixels on mobile (about 120 characters).
Why does Google show a different description?
Google may replace your meta description with text from the page when it judges that text more relevant to the search query.
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