Need some advice on title length for SEO

5 years ago

Yes, you can. You are not left out. Long titles, however, show truncated in the search results. As you can see below - an actual result on a search I did just for you:
8 National Parks Where You Can Have an Unforgettable ...

So, stop worrying about penalties and being left out and start worrying about putting what is most important in the first 70 characters

Originally Posted by Dave Earley

Most of my writing deals with dog friendly places such as parks and restaurants. I have a few questions about titles I'd like to get some advice on before I go changing a bunch of mine.

I currently use Yoast SEO for Wordpress, as well as capitalize my title dot com. I get as many green lights in Yoast as I can, but my titles are often too long according to the plugin. Recently I've been checking my titles at capitalize my title dot com, which will give me an SEO score. However, anything outside the range of 5-7 words automatically produces a lower score.

Is it absolutely imperative that a title be in that range? I have two issues with this: 5-7 words drastically reduces creativity, and using the name of a place can automatically result in a lower score.

Example - there is a park near me called Medina River Natural Area. If I want to write about my experience at this place I will probably have to use its name in my title, or else leave it out and attempt to create a "more clickable" title which may not bring the reader to a topic they actually want to know about (this happens to me quite a bit when I click on some titles and I can't stand it). A third option would be to use the name and add to it to make it more appealing. This is what I usually do, but then I get the lower score, and long title warning and all that.

Can I actually tell if I'm being penalized or left out of searches because of the title? What is your best advice on title length?

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MikeFriedman

5 years ago

Originally Posted by Dave Earley

Most of my writing deals with dog friendly places such as parks and restaurants. I have a few questions about titles I'd like to get some advice on before I go changing a bunch of mine.

I currently use Yoast SEO for Wordpress, as well as capitalize my title dot com. I get as many green lights in Yoast as I can, but my titles are often too long according to the plugin. Recently I've been checking my titles at capitalize my title dot com, which will give me an SEO score. However, anything outside the range of 5-7 words automatically produces a lower score.

Is it absolutely imperative that a title be in that range? I have two issues with this: 5-7 words drastically reduces creativity, and using the name of a place can automatically result in a lower score.

Example - there is a park near me called Medina River Natural Area. If I want to write about my experience at this place I will probably have to use its name in my title, or else leave it out and attempt to create a "more clickable" title which may not bring the reader to a topic they actually want to know about (this happens to me quite a bit when I click on some titles and I can't stand it). A third option would be to use the name and add to it to make it more appealing. This is what I usually do, but then I get the lower score, and long title warning and all that.

Can I actually tell if I'm being penalized or left out of searches because of the title? What is your best advice on title length?

Google doesn't penalize anyone for title length, and most of Yoast's recommendations are utter garbage. The whole plugin is trash.

Google doesn't limit the title on number of characters. They use a pixel limit, so it matters which characters you are using. For example, a 'w' is wider and going to use more pixels than a "i'.

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expmrb

5 years ago

First of all dump Yoast then we shall talk!!

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Janice Sperry

5 years ago

Quit using the Yoast plugin and whatever that other site is to "score" your title length.

There are only 2 scores you care about with your title:

How high you can rank it for your keywords
How many people click on it

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dave_hermansen

5 years ago

I would never worry about a Yoast score. I would try to make the titles short enough so that they can be fit without being truncated. As MikeFriedman said, Google does not have a word limit or a character limit - they have a pixel limit. Use one of the following free tools to make sure you are within that pixel limit:

Title & Description Pixel Checker

Title Tag Preview Tool

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Dave Earley

5 years ago

Wow, why all the hate towards the Yoast plugin? Aside from the fact that it makes me slightly OCD about getting all green lights, what is wrong with it? What is a better alternative?

Dave, I checked those two resources you posted, but I don't see how they are any better than the Yoast plugin. The plugin already tells me if the title and description are too long without exiting the site.

So I'm noticing the general consensus is that the appeal of the title is more important than the length, but the length should not be long enough to be cut if possible.

One more question - is it important that the title and slug match, or is that not important? Example - Sometimes I will change a title later after a post has already been shared on social media. The title and slug will no longer match. If I change the slug to match the title, the shared links will be broken and I will need to re-share them or edit them.

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expmrb

5 years ago

If your page content demands your title to be of 10 words long (its hypothetical) then you should make it of 10 words. There is no plugin or any green light of them could tell you what to do!! Always remember in order to satisfy those plugins like Yoast you also may be over-optimizing your page. In that case Google will just ignore everything and put whatever they feels fit for them. If you are looking for an alternative then go for 'All in one SEO Pack'.

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Alex Wills

5 years ago

Optimal title length
Google typically displays the first 50-60 characters of a title tag. If you keep your titles under 60 characters, our research suggests that you can expect about 90% of your titles to display properly. There's no exact character limit because characters can vary in width and Google's display titles max out (currently) at 600 pixels.
https://moz.com/learn/seo/title-tag

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Hurned1980

5 years ago

HI,

Maximum character Length 60-65/512 px.

I'm going to send to 2 links that you could measure your title characters and title pixel.

Always keep your title length 60-65 characters with space. and keep your title pixel 512.

Page Title Pixel Meter - SEO Tool - Webshoptimizer - you can measure your tile by pixel.

Cut & Paste Character count - you can measure your title by character.

check the screenshots as attached.

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KylieSweet

5 years ago

Usually in wordpress i totally ignore Yoast recommendations and i will apply my own strategy of call to action title and description to increase ctr in search.

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outreachpanda

4 years ago

Don't rely on Yoast SEO. Try to limit your title within 60 characters. All you need is to add trigger words and make your title more clickable than others.

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webtechno

4 years ago

Hi Dave, you don't have to worry about being penalized by google or being faced by negative impact as long titles are not a cause of penalty, on the other hand you have to look out for other things as focus on your first 70 characters and focus on those , secondly don't do keyword stuffing on Titles as this can become a cause of penalty.
Thankyou, I hope you'll find it useful.

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Jessicad0505

4 years ago

My suggestion for google title length is 56 char. Add focus keyword and magnetic words in title to generate more clicks.

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amjadshuvo

4 years ago

The title length is better to keep within 70 characters, not more.
Rather try to lessen 2 or 3 characters.

keeping the title actionable and clickable is highly important.
At the time of generating the title, you must emphasize on diction.
Hopefully, It will produce the soul satisfying result.

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innateseo

4 years ago

The bottom line is people read this, this title is more for people than a machine.

Get the point across as quick as possible, worry most about hyping up the topic in a way that wont disappoint the people that click the link.

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neeleshverma

4 years ago

Google has finally made some changes and increased the titles to 70-71 characters at Desktop and mobile is 78 characters. Add focus keyword in the title. The focus keywords in title or description to generate more clicks on your website.

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ananya gupta

4 years ago

Here I share my technique which I use in my SEO title for website below:

Step 1. Find a PRIMARY keyword to target
Step 2. Find LONG-TAIL variations of your primary keyword
Step 3. Draft your BASIC title tag
Step 4. Look at what's unique about your content (and tell people about it)

If want to know more about it then visit CETPA.

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aditi verma

4 years ago

The Title length of SEO play very important role in optimization. The title length of SEO must be 50-60 character.

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ezrankings

4 years ago

I will advise putting your primary keywords within 70 characters in Title.

Google will not penalize you if you are having long Title but its better for you keep your title limit in 70 characters.

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peter stark

4 years ago

please check "performance" on your webmaster and check the most clicked or impression queries and use the relevant titles for desired pages by placing first letter of each word capital and make sure that your title is almost 70 char long not more then that