Meta title and description length checker
Automotive photography for dealerships and private owners in Dubai. Rolling shots, statics, and full campaign shoots, booked around your inventory and delivered ready for listings and social.
Google's desktop metrics - Arial 20px title, cut around 580px; Arial 14px description over two lines, cut around 990px.
The desktop result is 652px wide - scroll it sideways, or switch to Mobile.
Type a title and a description and this measures what Google will actually print: in pixels, using the same font metrics the results page renders with, on every keystroke. It runs entirely in your browser. Nothing is uploaded and there is no signup.
Why pixels, not characters
Every character counter is a rough proxy. Google doesn't stop at 60 characters, it stops at a width, and it renders titles in Arial - where a capital W is close to three times the width of a lowercase i. Two titles of identical length can be cut in completely different places, which is how a counter that says 58 characters still gets you truncated. Counting characters tells you when to start worrying. Measuring the rendered width tells you whether you're actually over.
The limits, roughly
- Desktop title: around 580px, which usually lands somewhere between 50 and 60 characters.
- Desktop description: around 990px, usually 150 to 160 characters. Google fits it into exactly two lines.
- Mobile title: around 920px, because a mobile title wraps onto a second line instead of being cut short.
- Mobile description: around 1300px, so phones show a little more of it, not less.
What actually gets lost when you go over
Google cuts at a word boundary and adds an ellipsis, so the sentence still parses. It just stops before it makes its point, and that's the real cost. If the reason to click sits in the last three words of your title, the reason to click is the part that gets deleted. Put the thing that earns the click at the front and let the brand name be the expendable bit at the end.
Google rewrites descriptions, and that's fine
Google generates its own snippet often enough that people conclude the description doesn't matter. It does. It's the default Google starts from, and a specific, relevant description inside the limit gets shown most of the time. The ones that get rewritten are the vague ones: boilerplate that would describe any page on the site, or a keyword list with no sentence in it. Write it as a reason to click rather than a summary of the page and it survives more often.
How to write one that survives
- Lead with what someone is actually searching for, not your company name.
- One promise per title. A title with three pipes in it makes none.
- Keep the important half of the description in its first line - the second line is the one that gets cut.
- Write for a person deciding between ten blue links, not for a crawler.
- Check it again after publishing. A CMS will cheerfully append a site name you didn't ask for and push you over the limit.
Then move on. Titles and descriptions are worth a real pass on the pages that bring you work, and almost nothing on the ones that don't.
FAQ
How long should a meta title be?
Under about 580 pixels on desktop, which usually means 50 to 60 characters. Past that, Google cuts it mid-thought and the ellipsis costs you clicks. Width is what counts: wide letters like W and M spend the budget faster than i and l.
How long should a meta description be?
About 920 pixels on desktop, typically 150 to 160 characters. Mobile fits a little more. Google rewrites descriptions it doesn't rate, but a tight, relevant one inside the limit usually gets shown as written.
Why measure pixels instead of counting characters?
Because that's what Google does. It truncates at a fixed width, not a character count, so two titles of the same length can cut in completely different places. A character counter is a proxy; this measures the real rendered width using Google's SERP font metrics.
Do desktop and mobile have different limits?
Yes. Desktop titles render at Arial 20px and cut around 580px. Mobile titles are smaller and wrap to a second line, so roughly 920px fits. Descriptions get around 990px on desktop and 1300px on mobile. The device toggle applies the right metrics.
Will Google always show my meta description?
No. It writes its own snippet for a fair share of results when it thinks the page answers the query better than your description does. You still control the default, and a specific description inside the pixel limit is used most of the time.
Is the tool free, and is anything stored?
Free, no signup, and nothing is stored. The measuring happens in your browser on a canvas element - what you type never leaves the page.