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A SERP preview tool that measures pixels, not characters
The SERP preview tool measures your title and meta description in pixels, the way Google cuts them, and shows what is left on desktop and on a phone. Add your search term and it also tells you whether that term sits in the part people see. Google publishes no limit: titles and snippets are truncated as needed, usually to fit the device width. The numbers below are measurements, not rules.
Characters mislead because letters differ in width. In 20-pixel Arial, the font the common measurements use, a W is 19 pixels wide and an i is 4. Sixty i's fit easily in a title; sixty W's are almost twice too wide. That matters most when you write in more than one language: German capitalises every noun and builds long compounds, French adds accents and longer prepositions, and both run wider than English with the same message.
| What | Desktop | Phone | What Google itself says |
|---|---|---|---|
| Title tag length | About 600 pixels, 50 to 60 characters | Two lines, often 70 to 80 characters | No limit, truncated to the device width |
| Meta description length | 146 characters shown on average, around 920 pixels | 136 characters on average, around 860 pixels | No limit, truncated as needed |
| With a date in front | About 90 pixels less, some 14 characters | The same | The date comes from several signals on your page |
| Font in the measurement | Arial, 20 pixels for the title, 14 for the description | The same | Google names no font |
The tool measures every letter in your browser in Arial, cuts at a whole word as Google does and adds the dots. On desktop your title gets about 600 pixels, on a phone two lines. Switch on the date and the tool takes its room off your description.
Character counters against pixel rulers
Two ways to keep a title in bounds, and where each falls short.
- A title full of W's and M's
- Counting charactersLooks fine at 60 characters
- Measuring pixelsShows it gets cut sooner
- A title of i's, l's and spaces
- Counting charactersCuts it shorter than needed
- Measuring pixelsLeaves room for a benefit or your brand
- German and French versions
- Counting charactersOne limit for every language
- Measuring pixelsMeasures each language version on its own
- Quick in your CMS
- Counting charactersYes, most show a counter
- Measuring pixelsPaste the title into this tool
Write to 60 characters as a rule of thumb, then measure the titles of your key pages in pixels, per language.
Sixty characters on the ruler
The same number of characters, not the same width
The letter i, 60 times
267 px60 charactersfits easily
The letter W, 60 times
1,133 px60 charactersalmost twice too wide
Custom Cakes in Ghent | Baked Fresh for Your Date | De Korenaar Bakery
662 px70 characterscut after “De”
Steuerberatung in Gent | Beratung für Unternehmen | Muster GmbH
602 px63 charactersjust over, in German
Room for a meta description
Desktop, 146 characters on average
about 920 px
Phone, 136 characters on average
about 860 px
Desktop with a date in front
date94 px go to the date, about 15 characters
Widths in Arial, 20 pixels for the title and 14 for the description, measured on 22 October 2026. Google publishes no limit: 600 pixels and the characters per description are measured guide values. On a phone a title runs over two lines, room for about 70 to 80 characters.
One title in four languages
The same title for an accountant in Ghent, written in the four languages a Belgian firm often needs. Measured in 20-pixel Arial, with a hyphen as separator.
| Language | Long version | Pixels | Short version | Pixels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| English | Accounting and Tax Advice for Freelancers in Ghent - Peeters & Partners | 648 | Accountant in Ghent for Freelancers - Peeters & Partners | 508 |
| Dutch | Boekhouding en fiscaal advies voor zelfstandigen in Gent - Peeters & Partners | 695 | Boekhouder in Gent voor zelfstandigen - Peeters & Partners | 533 |
| French | Comptabilité et conseil fiscal pour indépendants à Gand - Peeters & Partners | 681 | Comptable à Gand pour indépendants - Peeters & Partners | 526 |
| German | Buchhaltung und Steuerberatung für Selbstständige in Gent - Peeters & Partners | 716 | Buchhalter in Gent für Selbstständige - Peeters & Partners | 518 |
All four long versions run over 600 pixels; the German one by more than a hundred. All four short versions fit, because they start with the search term and drop the second service. Two lessons for a multilingual site: measure each language version on its own, and write each title for the term people search in that market, not as a translation of the English. Google also asks that the title is in the same language and script as the page; a German page with an English title is one of the cases where it rewrites. More on building sites like this in multilingual website development; K&A Law is one of ours in four languages.
Why Google rewrites your title
Google does not always use your title element. By its own count in 2021, it used the title element around 87 percent of the time. Otherwise it picks text from your page: the main visible title, your H1, og:title, other prominent text, or the text of links to your page. Google names these reasons to rewrite:
- Half-empty titlesonly a separator and the site name.
- Obsolete titlesa year that has passed, on a page that still applies.
- Inaccurate titlesa title that does not say what is on the page.
- Micro-boilerplatenearly the same title across a series of pages.
- No clear main titleseveral headings of equal weight; Google then takes the first.
- Another languagea title in a different language or script from the page.
Length plays a part. Zyppy measured 80,959 titles on 2,370 sites: titles of 1 to 5 characters were rewritten over 96 percent of the time, titles of 51 to 55 characters least, around 40 percent, and titles over 70 characters nearly always. Keep a title around 600 pixels and make it say what is on the page, and you see it back more often. Google picks up a new title within days to weeks; how long a new page takes is in how long until my website shows on Google. If a page does not show at all, the title is not the problem: try website not showing on Google.
Writing a title tag, search term first
- One search term per pageThe term people should find this page on, per market: "accountant Ghent" in English, "boekhouder Gent" in Dutch. Never two pages on the same term in the same language.
- Put it up frontWithin the first 25 characters, so it survives a narrow screen and a rewrite.
- Add a reasonWhat the searcher gets: a city, a price, by appointment, free returns. Do not repeat the search term.
- Brand last, shortAfter a hyphen, colon or pipe. If it drops off, you lose little: Google shows your site name above the result.
- Measure, then match the H1Paste the title into the SERP preview tool, desktop and phone, for every language version. Give the page an H1 that says the same.
Meta description length: what Google really shows
Google is freer still with descriptions. Snippets come mainly from the page content; your meta description is used when it sums up the page better than your text for that query. In a small Semrush sample, the top 10 for ten keywords in the US, Google showed other text about 72 percent of the time. A good description still pays: it is the text Google picks when it fits, and the one people read when they share your link.
Write one description per page, not a keyword list and not the same sentence everywhere. Put the reason to click in the first 120 characters: that part shows on desktop and on a phone. If you want Google to show no text, there are nosnippet, max-snippet and data-nosnippet; the SEO checker flags a page that says so by accident.
Dates, sitelinks and your site name
For articles, Google sometimes puts a date before the description. It takes about 90 pixels, some 14 characters. Google picks the date from several signals: show a visible date with a label such as "Updated", put the same date in datePublished or dateModified, and never a date in the future. Sitelinks under your result are not yours to choose: Google adds them automatically when the site has a logical structure with clear titles and short link text. The name above your result comes mainly from the WebSite data on your homepage, which is why your brand may sit at the end of the title, or drop out when room runs short.
Good and bad titles, by type of business
| Business | Bad | Pixels | Better | Pixels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hair salon | Home - Studio Lien | 171 | Hair Salon in Ghent - Cuts and Colour by Appointment - Lien | 537 |
| Online shop | Hiking Boots - Buy Hiking Boots - Cheap Hiking Boots - Trekshop | 577 | Hiking Boots - Free Returns Across the EU - Trekshop | 481 |
| Heating installer, ten staff | Heat Pumps 2024 - Thermo-Ast | 282 | Heat Pump Installation in East Flanders - Thermo-Ast | 474 |
| German tax adviser | Steuerberatung in Gent - Beratung für Unternehmen - Muster GmbH | 605 | Steuerberatung in Gent - Muster GmbH | 350 |
The salon's "Home" says nothing, and Google replaces it. The shop fits in pixels but repeats its term three times, which Google names as a reason to rewrite. The installer's title is short enough but carries a year that has passed. The tax adviser runs just over the limit in German; dropping the second phrase fixes it. The salon and the installer aim at a town or region, so their titles work together with a Google Business Profile and local SEO. The checklist for the rest of the page is in our SEO checklist; whether AI answers change any of this, read is SEO dead and SEO vs GEO.
Truncation, rewrites and length
How long should a title tag be?
Google sets no limit but cuts to the width of the screen. On desktop that is about 600 pixels, some 50 to 60 characters. On a phone the title runs over two lines and often shows 70 to 80 characters.
How long should a meta description be?
No limit either. Google shows 146 characters on average on desktop and 136 on a phone. Put the reason to click in the first 120 characters so it shows on every screen.
Why does Google show a different title from mine?
Because your title is empty, vague, outdated or inaccurate, nearly the same on many pages, or in another language than the page. Google then uses text from your H1, the page or the links to it.
Is a long title bad for SEO?
Google does not penalise a long title; it cuts it. The problem is what drops out: if your search term or your reason to click sits at the end, nobody sees it. In Zyppy's measurement, titles over 70 characters were nearly always rewritten.
Do I need a different title per language?
Yes. Write each language version for the term people search in that market, and measure it on its own: a German or French title often runs wider than the English one. Google may rewrite a title that is in another language than the page.
Is my text stored?
No. The tool measures in your browser and sends nothing. Your title and description only sit in the page address, so you can share the preview with a colleague.