Does google tend to favor shorter titles now?

[Peer]

Hi,
we have the feeling, that google tends to favor shorter titles than a few months before.

Since we don´t have that much data, we can´t confirm this. Does anyone know a tool to measure headline length on specific dates, lets say for the top 100 articles of a site? Or do you have own data which would confirm the shorter headline length?

Thanks and best regards
Peer

[aristotle]

My experience suggests that the optimum title length for google's algorithm is 5-6 words. I doubt that this has changed significantly. I suppose that you could do a statistical analysis of thousands of titles accross many different sectors, and get a graphical representation of the overall title length distribution.

I've always tried to choose the title that best conveys the content of the article, whether it's one word or ten words. You also need to keep in mind that google's algorithm often rewrites titles for its search results. In google's eyes the biggest sin is probably keyword stuffing, not a title length that's too short or too long.

[engine]

Welcome to WebmasterWorld, [webmasterworld.com] Peer

When you think about it, it's not worth having a super long title as most people won't read the whole thing.

The answer is to test it on your own site because Google chooses what to show.

For years now Google has changed the page titles and it was recently highlighted when there was a further tweak.

Take a look through this thread where you'll see that many people have different experiences. [webmasterworld.com...]

Also, Google Titles for Web Page Results Updated [webmasterworld.com]

[lucy24]

it's not worth having a super long title as most people won't read the whole thing

That is: most people couldn’t read the whole thing, even if they wanted to.

On my browser, the current tab reads “Does google tend to favor sho[rte]” where the bit in brackets is greyed-out, implying fading-into-the-sunset. (Another approach is trailing off with … when there isn’t room.) The adjoining tab is “Recent Post List - By Pubcon” which suggests that somebody gave a bit of thought to how many characters were likely to display ;) And those are the longest possible displays; if I had a fistful of tabs open, the visible title would shrink to less than 10 characters.

:: insert boilerplate about what’s useful for humans ::

[FranticFish]

You may well already know this, but when it comes to what Google is capable of displaying, the maximum width has been set in pixels for a few years now. There are various free tools that will show you if your desired title will be truncated or not (assuming it's not rewritten).

[martinibuster]

I'm pretty sure it's okay to have a longer title tag than what can be displayed. But it's counterproductive as engine noted.

Also it's important to check out Google's guidelines about it in terms of what they expect to see, which might impact ranking.

[lucy24]

Follow-up that I didn't think of before: Although the browser tab/window itself generally only displays 30 characters or so, the History menu is much more generous. This of course isn't relevant to search engines, but it can be useful to the two people on the planet who actually use their History. (“Dang! What was that page I just closed two minutes ago?”)

[tangor]

Title as required for the page ... but try to keep it as short as possible, that way g has less to fiddle with. :)

That said, G does rename sites based on CONTENT of the page---so keep that in mind.

[RedBar]

It all depends upon the product / subject keywords. If it's a major manufacturer's specific model name and description then that is what many searchers are most probably looking for. If it's a specific product that can be describe in 3-4 words fine but you had better make sure that everything else on the page all ties-in to that product otherwise adding a few extra words in the titlebar does no harm and I have tested this back-to-back.

For informational sites again use what the searcher will most probably be looking for, do not deliberately make shorter titles when the subject requires a longer and more descriptive one. I have many pages ranking number 1 with 3 keywords, those same 3 keywords plus another keyword, then plus another keyword and then plus another keyword, 6-7 keywords however all for totally and utterly different information and image pages but still pertinent to that original 3 keyword subject.

IMHO, don't leave the searcher guessing whilst looking at your page results in all SERPs. Be as concise as possible, be descriptive however do NOT leave out essential keywords.

[tangor]

Be as concise as possible, be descriptive however do NOT leave out essential keywords.

Or more realistically, your title is your first shot to get a reader's attention, so title as NEEDED, not keyworded.

[not2easy]

John Mueller has given an answer for this question now: [webmasterworld.com...]

OK, it is for longer or shorter URLs but should offer insight for Titles as well.