SEO gets a boost from Google with NEW title and description lengths
By Eileen Brown
Is Google actually helping organic search with these changes? We certainly hope so and it appears to be true. But remember that these changes can also go back or change again at any time.
Actually they changed the font size, but this will help all us SEO folks, if they keep it this way, in the long run and in the short term.
Increasing the width of what text displays in the SERP's will increase our SEO footprint for pages we optimize too.
With that in mind let's look at the changes.
Is Google actually helping organic search with these changes? We certainly hope so and it appears to be true. But remember that these changes can also go back or change again at any time.
Actually they changed the font size, but this will help all us SEO folks, if they keep it this way, in the long run and in the short term.
Increasing the width of what text displays in the SERP's will increase our SEO footprint for pages we optimize too.
With that in mind let's look at the changes.
"I want to be number ONE on Google!"
New Title Tag Length
The new title length is 70 characters before Google truncation. This is an increase of 10-15 characters. Pretty significant. The length can go up to at least 71 characters, depending on the letters used (because l and i are small characters).
This could amount to two to four words that could be added to a title (more keywords!)
If you are happy with your titles, you don't need to change anything but check your stats and see what is happening in your industry marketplace with Google. You may find your competition has made changes that altered your location in the SERP's (search engine results pages) for your main keywords. Everyone will be scrambling to add more.
NOTE - Mobile has also increased their title tag length. It is even longer than desktop display titles. Yippee.
This could amount to two to four words that could be added to a title (more keywords!)
If you are happy with your titles, you don't need to change anything but check your stats and see what is happening in your industry marketplace with Google. You may find your competition has made changes that altered your location in the SERP's (search engine results pages) for your main keywords. Everyone will be scrambling to add more.
NOTE - Mobile has also increased their title tag length. It is even longer than desktop display titles. Yippee.
70-character title tags were once the norm on Google.
New Description Length
The new description length per line is 100 characters. This is an increase by about 16-20 characters per line.
However Google is still truncating the descriptions for many search results. What this means is the overall description is only displaying 150-160 characters total right now, for a usual 2 line snippet.
If you have some “short but sweet” SERP results that are under 100 characters, you may want to pay attention to those and start checking your stats and SERP location on a regular basis, since they will reduce your result’s footprint in the SERP's overall.
For those with three line snippets, they are currently 278 characters per line.
Learn much more at the Source at Search Engine Watch --
Google’s recent SERP changes and tests: everything you need to know
However Google is still truncating the descriptions for many search results. What this means is the overall description is only displaying 150-160 characters total right now, for a usual 2 line snippet.
If you have some “short but sweet” SERP results that are under 100 characters, you may want to pay attention to those and start checking your stats and SERP location on a regular basis, since they will reduce your result’s footprint in the SERP's overall.
For those with three line snippets, they are currently 278 characters per line.
Learn much more at the Source at Search Engine Watch --
Google’s recent SERP changes and tests: everything you need to know
Eileen Brown - A web developer and web consultant who has been online since
the "www (World Wide Web) train" has been running on the internet rails.
Long before Google came on the scene. ;)
the "www (World Wide Web) train" has been running on the internet rails.
Long before Google came on the scene. ;)
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