Meta title length — do you stick to 60 characters or go longer?

[Usk_Digital]

Regarding meta title lengths, I've seen conflicting recommendations. Some advise writing longer titles if they increase keyword targeting and click-through rate (CTR), while others advise keeping them under 60 characters to avoid Google cutting them off.

In practice, what are you all doing? Do you aim for longer titles that may be truncated but may attract more clicks, or do you keep them brief and safe?

 

[morriswayts80]

In my opinion, Google shows the title in 60 characters, and most people keep their title at around 60 characters, but I would like to suggest to you that you can also add more than 60 characters in the title.

 

[Gabriel7979]

The 60-character rule is really a proxy for pixel width — Google allows roughly 600 pixels for titles before truncating, so a title full of wide capitals gets cut earlier than one with narrower characters. The approach that works best is to front-load: put the most important keywords first, then supporting phrases, with the brand at the end, so nothing valuable is lost if the tail gets cut off. It's also worth remembering that Google rewrites titles in a large share of SERPs now, often pulling from H1s or page content, which makes keyword placement and overall relevance matter more than hitting an exact length. Longer titles are perfectly fine as long as the first half reads naturally on its own.

 

[jerryken]

Good question, and the advice does genuinely conflict because both camps are half right.

As Gabriel7979 said, it's pixel width rather than characters that decides where the cutoff lands — roughly 600px in practice. So a title full of narrow letters like 'i' and 'l' can stretch well past 60 characters, while one with wide letters gets cut much sooner.

My own approach:
1. Front-load the important part. Put the primary keyword and the hook in the first 55-60 characters so nothing critical ever gets cut, no matter the device.
2. Don't be afraid of a longer tail after that. If adding a differentiator (location, year, a second keyword) makes the title more compelling, include it. Google will simply truncate the end on narrower displays, and users still see the full version in most desktop results.
3. Watch actual SERP display rather than counting characters. A quick check with a pixel-based preview tool tells you exactly where each title cuts off.
4. Remember Google rewrites titles anyway when it thinks it can do better — a well-structured, descriptive title (even a slightly long one) gives it better raw material to work with than a bare keyword stub.

Bottom line: write for the click first, and use ~60 characters as a guideline for where the essential information must sit, not as a hard ceiling.