Length of URL before it's truncated in the SERPs

How long should the URL be

[JRabasa]

Hi,

Does anybody know how many characters Google displays before truncating the URL? J. Nielsen recommends < 75 characters for usability and clickability. I'm looking for a similar rule of thumb.

Thanks,

.john

[tedster]

I see urls in the current SERPs filling two lines before truncation at around 105 characters.

I aim for the area Jakob mentions, rather than pushing it higher. Plus when he writes something, it is usually backed by the extensive and expensive user testing done by his Neilsen Norman Group. It's not just some guy "expressing hisself", in other words, it's something worth considering seriously.

[WiseWebDude]

I use very long URLs and have NO problems. They actually "pick" words from the end of a very long URL, if need be, as well.

Most of my URLs end up being 150 characters or less...and I KNOW Google "sees" the end of the URL (its bolded for the searched for term). So I know you can have at least 150 characters and be just fine.